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Evaluating ethnic minority representations
When moving on to the evaluation of these portrayals, several clips were used to get the discussion started. As we cannot discuss every group’s discussion of each clip, we will limit this account to the overall patterns and the most salient findings. To start, it is worth noting that the focus groups were not introduced as being ‘about’ ethnic minorities. Although the clips were chosen to illustrate different portrayals of ethnic minorities in Flemish and American fiction, many respondents did not pick up on that. In the discussion after each clip, most groups did not spontaneously comment on this issue, which confirms the point made above: to many, it is not much of an issue when watching fiction. Methodologically, this suggests that much research on the reception of images relating to ethnic minorities may unwittingly attune the viewers to this issue in the first place. We should be careful not to push ethnic minority respondents towards critical responses by one-sidedly focusing on problems in representation.
Commenting on a clip showing the sympathetic Moroccan Mo and the Polish Waldek fooling around while doing a paint job, most groups agree that this is a positive and realistic portrayal. They discern the program maker’s attempt to breach negative images and both Flemish groups even comment it would be good to occasionally have a less positive character:
Ineke: ‘Yes, it’s sometimes too good, so in the end it’s not realistic anymore.’
Heleen: ‘Yes, they don’t dare to represent them negatively.’ (Flemish girls)
Overall, the Dutch and Flemish respondents think characters from ethnic minorities are portrayed positively and realistically. The ethnic minority respondents are also generally satisfied with Mo and Waldek, situating them against a backdrop of negative and stereotypical portrayals. Commenting on Mo’s blue-collar job, the Moroccan girls comment:
Amal: ‘A job is a job.’
Bonnita: ‘It doesn’t matter.’
Nadia: ‘At least he’s not just sitting at home, so at least they can’t say he’s taking advantage of unemployment benefits.’ (Moroccan girls)
The Turkish boys generally agree, thinking Mo and Waldek are realistically represented as quite normal and cool guys:
Mehmet: ‘I thought it was good that Mo didn’t stab anyone. (laughs) They were just both working like normal people, making a bit of fun, fooling around. I liked that, mostly foreigners are still the baddies on TV, right?’
There are also more critical voices, for instance from the group of Turkish girls who comment on the stereotypical menial job.
Overall, ethnic minority respondents are more sensitive to stereotypes, which also becomes apparent in the clip from Thuis with the Moroccan student of medicine Youssef, who recounts the police immediately suspected him of stealing when in fact he was getting something from his car. While most respondents think this is a realistic situation of everyday racism, and appreciate the way in which it is criticised, some consider this as a negative and stereotypical representation because Youssef is linked to crime. This illustrates how hard it is for fiction – however well-intended – to get it right in a context where few alternative representations of ethnic minorities are available. The burden of representation is heavy and can only be lightened through increased diversity on screen.
A similar tension arises around the clips from equal opportunities telenovela Emma. The program reflects on gender roles and one clip shows how Birsen’s husband Veli is very jealous, while another one shows how he takes care of the household while she is out working. The Flemish and Dutch groups mostly state that jealousy is not linked to ethnicity and comment on the positive, progressive gender portrayal. Ethnic minority groups are more mixed. For instance, the Turkish groups state that jealousy is quite typical of Turkish men.
Hadise: ‘Yes, that’s typical. That does happen with us.’ (...)
Emina: ‘Yes, Turkish guys are generally really jealous. But I don’t mind that much, [because] then you know they really love you because they are worried about you.’ (Turkish girls)
The Moroccan girls agree that in their culture too, men are generally jealous, but they still think it is quite a stereotypical portrayal, as do the Turkish boys. Similarly, the Turkish and Moroccan groups think that the portrayal of ‘new man’ Veli is not realistic.
Elif: ‘That’s not realistic, really. It’s just not that way in our culture. OK, there are differences between older and younger Turks, we are more modern, but the woman working and the man not working, that’s really impossible.’ (Turkish girls)
All the same, some think that the portrayal of Veli’s traditional friend Osman is too stereotypical and old-fashioned. Again, it becomes clear how hard it is to get it right: while more traditional portrayals may be considered as stereotypical, progressive and politically correct representations may be considered as unrealistic by members of the group that is portrayed.