Award Date

1-1-2002

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication Studies

First Committee Member

Dolores V. Tanno

Number of Pages

121

Abstract

In this master's thesis I analyzed Sesame Street, a well-known and popular model for many children's educational television programs as well as a racially sensitive show, by way of a content analysis. I documented all races represented by the people and human-looking, animated characters and puppets. Furthermore, my study proposed to look at the portrayal of the Hispanic/Latino group and Mexican group; My findings revealed that the population on Sesame Street did not mirror the United States population distribution. Other results revealed the Hispanic/Latino group very rarely reflected their cultural customs, were mostly female and the majority was portrayed in lower class settings. Only eight characters of Mexican origin were portrayed and therefore the data outcomes had no extensive analysis. Yet, the resulting small number of Mexican characters supports the finding that Sesame Street seems to reduce the portrayal of Hispanics/Latinos to a very flat dimension.

Keywords

Hispanic; Implicit; Latino; Look; Message; Mexican; Portrayals; Racial; Sesame; Streets; Unveiling

Controlled Subject

Mass media; Educational technology; Ethnology; Ethnology--Study and teaching

File Format

pdf

File Size

2949.12 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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