Defining The New American Generation

On March 17th, Paramount Pictures will be debuting the trailer of their upcoming feature film Tropic Thunder starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. So what’s the big deal? Robert Downey Jr. is now black. His performance centers on acting as white man cast to play a black soldier in a satirical film. This particular motion picture suggests that the surge of media portrayals perpetuated by the entertainment industry are now truly crossing, blending, and transforming racial boundaries and ideas surrounding race and ethnicity. In conjunction with this notion, I began to think about the presence and representation of multiracial individuals in the mass media and their influence on America’s view of multiethnicity, as my own racial background is in line with the “multiethnic.”

Here's Downey in the upcoming film, he's behind Stiller:


Every time I am asked to define my ethnicity I have to stop and think about which aspect of my multiethnic background I should attempt to expound upon the oh-so-lucky inquisitor. Will I start by informing the individual that I am South African and Israeli? Or should I just save my energy and time, escape the awkward “oh really?” situation, and notify the ethnic reader that I am White? Or American? Participating in the grueling college application process was the first time that the question of my identity was truly brought to the forefront of my personal dilemmas. Being forced to check only one box to inform universities across the country of my ethnicity and racial background simply was not enough; doing so would just give a falsified representation of whom I am. White, a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East accounts for half of me, but what about the other half? My phonotypical features are most closely associated with being White, but can I really disregard, not to mention disrespect, my South African ancestry? Where is my box!

Society today is based on a set of codes that dictate how we interpret ethnicity, forcing us to make sense of the surrounding physical world by attaching particular generalizations and judgments to ones associated cultural and social experience. The Theory of Racial Formation suggests “everybody learns some combination, some version, of the rules of racial classification…forcing race to become common sense – a way of comprehending, explaining, and acting in the world.” The problem with this notion is the mere fact that race has become a matter of “common sense” rather than a process of outlining ones unique and distinct characteristics which serve to create and perpetuate their individuality. As a result, American culture identifies ethnicity by relating a variety of racial assumptions (the majority of which are false) to ones particular phenotypical traits.

As previously discussed, Americans today are not comfortable in their interactions with one another unless they can visibly identify ones ethnicity. Such identification creates a safe haven where both individuals know what associations, conversations, and behaviors are acceptable, providing each involved party with a sense of comfort. It is only now that a generation of multiethnics is emerging as a result of increased immigration in the previous generations.

In conjunction with this notion, I believe that it has become easier for multiethnics to hold on to their identity and refute the need to fit into today’s monoethnic culture because of the recent lust for the exotic that has been facilitated through modern forms of entertainment. Because I live in a generation characterized as the “most racially diverse population in the nation’s history,” such portrayals of multiethnicity have sucked the media dry of monoethnics. In addition, what is characterized as exotic, diverse and different appeals remarkably to the general public. What is most interesting about the representations of these individuals throughout the media is that as more and more multiracial individuals move into powerful positions in our economy and government, the media has been forced to downplay the racial stereotypes that are often associated with people of “mixed” descent. The entertainment industry, instead of marginalizing, trivializing, and placing multiethnics as the Other, are now forced to glorify blurred ethnic diversity as desirable and enviable. The lives of celebrity’s such as Mariah Carey, Tiger Woods, and Paula Abdul, are just a few icons that have managed to hold onto their multiethnic backgrounds, helping to create a more progressive view of multiethnicity. For instance, when Lenny Kravitz, whose mother is black and father is white, was asked what advice he might have for the growing number of biracial youth, he says he would “tell them that it’s a blessing to have an interracial background.”

The rising era defined by multiethnic individuals that has emerged has forced a breakdown of traditional views surrounding what it means to be of mixed descent. Parallel with this suggestion, the technological revolution of the twenty first century, which is the result of increased global broadband speeds, is paired with members of my generation, the generation of the exotic. As we continue to be the biggest advocates and experts on the issues that surround the coming technological era, race will become less and less of an issue in this rising digital world. In addition, modern forms of entertainment have already begun to lift their misconstrued portrayals and associations of race and ethnicity to the general population as more and more multiethnic individuals move into positions of power throughout the global community. Although this is promising, there is still much room for improvement as racism and the violence it provokes continues to exist throughout the world today. Examining myself as a true blend of cultures and ethnicities stemming from my maternal and paternal ancestors is something to be proud of. Even if I never have a box to check, I will always, as does Mr. Kravitz, view my multiethnicity as a hallmark of beauty.

Technology...it's killing us..well, sort of.

We are digital, and Apple knows. On March 7th Apple unveiled their SDK software development kit that finally makes the iPhone compatible with Microsoft Exchange, allowing businesses to bring the hip phone into the corporate world. This merger serves as a prime example of how companies have been appropriating new technologies that truly inhibit the growth of face-to-face communication. Particularly within organizations, the decrease in communication that relies on physical interaction has lead to an increase in employee dissatisfaction, a decrease in job identification and worker productivity. The technological revolution that has taken place over the last twenty-five years has transformed all forms of modern communication, but no one seems to have noticed the enormous shift that has taken place in human interaction and communication as a result of this digital transformation. Technology has replaced human relationships, the foundation for procreation, social stability, and personal development, with the digital screen. In order to combat the negative affects that the technological world has brought on human social interaction, we must understand how technology has changed our ways of behaving and thinking and consciously make an effort to hold on to traditional forms of interpersonal communication.

The average attention span has decreased tremendously because we are always thinking in a three-window world dominated by the television screen, the computer screen, and the mobile phone. The huge number of teens today who are diagnosed with Attention Deficient Disorder and given prescription drugs serves as an indication for just how much technology has truly impacted our behavior. People are no longer able to spend time with one another without their cell phone going off or worrying about scheduling a meeting in their blackberry. With the advent of the mobile phone, a plethora of associated behaviors have been attached to being a cellular phone user. If you call someone and leave a message for that person, that individual is expected to return the phone call within a matter of hours, at most, days. If a person does not return a call within the sociably acceptable time frame they are quickly cast into a category of disproval. Also, the use of cellular technology to communicate eliminates the facial expressions, gestures, and physical innuendos exchanged in traditional forms of communication and may result in confusion and dissatisfaction from all parties involved. Newer technologies, such as the mobile phone, the Internet, and social networking sites, have proven to be addictive forms of communication where users are constantly attached to digital devices exchanging information. Moreover, individuals today feel a sense of withdrawal from units of technology when not completely entrenched in them. So, why does all this matter? To survive…

The reliance on human interaction and relationships throughout the past has provided a framework for education and global stability, the pillars that the future of our existence rests upon. Fewer and fewer people indulge in the act of reading a book because there are merely easier, less effort driven ways to be “entertained.” What is extremely worrisome is the suggestion that today’s children are educated by the Television and Internet and less by their schools and their parents. The lacking of a physical presence in an educational environment tends to remove all emotion involved in learning, an essential component of gaining knowledge and searching for truth. The reduction in the importance of simple behaviors that make a tremendous difference in interpersonal communication, such as eye contact and how to shake someone’s hand, is often the result of technology, as you don’t have to look someone in the eye when you talk to them on the phone. In conjunction with this notion, time and time again leaders throughout the world have claimed to obtain a greater understanding and trust for one another during a physical meeting, visit, or discussion; one can “just tell” a lot about an individual through sharing the same physical space. We must now be consciously aware of technology’s ability to reduce and take away from the power of physical interaction and interpersonal communication and attempt to reiterate this notion to ourselves, and our children, in order to ensure the best possible future for us all.