Advertising and Lesbian/Gay Identity by Fejes, Ghosh’s Confusing’ Exotica: Producing India in U.S. Advertising, Black Sitcom Portrayals by Coleman all discuss how the media constructs and portrays the lifestyles and identities of marginalized groups. The trailer for Sex and the City 2 is an example of how homosexual, African American, and Indian cultures/identities are constructed by the media from an American perspective. Fejes states that advertisements often portray homosexuals to live a glamourous lifestyle. Media constructs them to seem like they all have a high income, live in urban areas, and enjoy the finer things in life, constructing “fake homosexuality”. This is exactly how Sex and the City constructs its homosexual characters. The Coleman article discusses how media constructs African Americans as either being as white as possible, or playing on negative stereotypes. For example, in the Sex and the City 2 trailer, there are no black people shown at all, leading to the interpretation that African Americans in New York City do not live that type of lifestyle. The Ghosh reading discusses exoticism, as well as how the Indian/Oriental culture is portrayed through advertising and media by distinguishing the difference between “us” and “them”. If something is seen as different or exotic, it is deemed as “cool”. In the trailer, it shows how they go to India for a glamourous vacation, however constructing the image of that culture from an American perspective. Therefore, all three readings describe how media constructs the image of these minorities. Because the affluent white american is seen as the norm/ideal, the media constructs minorities stereotypically, which leads to the creation of inequality between groups and how society views these groups.
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