How the media shapes the way we view the world - BBC REEL

How Stories Shape Perceptions

Stories in books, films, television, and advertising shape identity, behavior, and how people interpret the world. Because people rely on mental shortcuts to process information, repeated narratives can reinforce beliefs and prejudice—especially when storytelling is dominated by a limited range of voices.

Representation in British Film

The video highlights the underrepresentation and stereotyping of Black people in British film. The British Film Institute found that Black British actors played just 0.5% of roughly 45,000 credited UK film roles between 2006 and 2016.

Limited representation can narrow people’s sense of what they can achieve and leave negative perceptions unchallenged. The video also reports that 64% of UK crime films featured roles for Black actors, while 15% of films featuring Black actors focused on crime.

Stereotypes and Colorism

The video describes recurring stereotypes—including the “mummy,” “jezebel,” “angry Black woman,” “stoic,” “gangster,” “angry Black man,” and “Black best friend”—as products of white storytelling traditions rooted in colonialism, anti-Blackness, and slavery.

Hattie McDaniel’s role in Gone with the Wind is given as an example of the loyal, subservient caregiver trope. After the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, HBO Max removed the film and later made it available with historical context and warnings about racial stereotypes.

The video also discusses colorism. Darker-skinned Black people can face prejudice within the Black community, while media may treat lighter skin or proximity to whiteness as a marker of greater likability, status, or success.

A Call for More Inclusive Storytelling

The video concludes that media can change perceptions and urges viewers to ask whose perspective a story represents. It calls on storytellers to give people the platform to tell their own stories and to portray the full range of Black identities and possibilities.

Presenters and Contributors

• Presenter: Cherry Stewart-Czerkas
• Motion graphics: Maple Shipp
• Commissioning editor: Griesham Taan