Have you heard of 'symbolic annihilation'?

[ha]

"Symbolic annihilation is the absence of representation, or underrepresentation, of some group of people in the media understood in the social sciences to be a means of maintaining social inequality."

[Purple Helen]

No - sounds like socio-babble!

[SUDHAKAR Kuruvada]

Symbolic annihilation is used to highlight the erasure of peoples in → popular communication. George Gerbner coined the term to describe the “absence” (1972, 44; Gerbner & Gross 1976 ; → Gerbner, George ), “condemnation,” or “trivialization” ( Tuchman 1978 , 17) of a particular group in the media. Generally applied to women and racial and sexual minorities, symbolic annihilation points to the ways in which poor media treatment can contribute to social disempowerment and in which symbolic absence in the media can erase groups and individuals from public consciousness.

[new_idea_2007]

Hollywood excels at symbolic annihilation in that it uses base stereotypes in representing minorities. The Chinese meat cleaver-wielding shopkeeper in some movies stands out in my mind as a classic example of symbolic annihilation.