Consequentialist Moral Argument
Media is capable of consequentialist value by bringing about a moral achievement: the improvement of the lives of socially marginalized groups in America. This moral achievement is accomplished through the interplay of the media representation of minorities and the societal value of those minority groups. The belonging of a minority within a society is linked to the representation of that minority within the popular media of that society.[1] Social belonging is fundamentally connected to the status of those marginalized groups. Minority groups that are invisible in the media are also invisible in the eye of society. Their suffering, marginalization, and identities are not present in the national consciousness. Most Americans are unaware of their struggles. Diversity and representation are critically important in the field of entertainment media. Indeed, it is the entertainers and directors that have the greatest impact on what we believe.[2] This places power in the hands of those directors and entertainers: they can shape the national focus on minority populations. In a discussion of the recent #OscarsSoWhite movement, Isabel Molina-Guzmán argued the following: “transforming representational regimes means transforming economic, social, and political structures as well.”[3] As the representation of a group changes, the status of that group in society changes as well. The group is more recognized and respected by American culture. This may bring light to a problem that the group faces or diminish the societal prejudice against that group. By providing diversity in representation, media creators provide these consequentialist goods. In the reverse, by failing to represent diversity or operating through tokenism, these entertainers perpetuated the invisibility of minority oppression. Media that provides these benefits is justified as morally good by consequentialist reasoning.
[1] Myria Georgiou, “Diaspora in the Digital Era: Minorities and Media Representation,” Journal on ethnopolitics and minority issues in Europe 58, no. 4 (2013): 85.
[2] Kristin Bezio, “Critical Thinking Class Lecture,” (presentation, University of Richmond Jepson School of Leadership Studies, Richmond, VA, April 11, 2018).
[3] Isabel Molina-Guzmán, “#OscarsSoWhite: how Stuart Hall explains why nothing changes in Hollywood and everything is changing,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 33, no. 5 (2016): 438-454.