Popular Culture Review 30.2
the first things to come to mind because of the way popular culture projects life in Hawai ’ i . As someone who was born and raised in Hawai ’ i , and identifies as being part Hawaiian , these depictions are humorous and flattering , and even blatantly degrading at times , but far from the truth .
Media institutions are powerful . Children between the ages of 2 and 17 watch an average of 25 hours of television each week ; adults spend half of their leisure time in front of the screen or consuming other forms of media ; 86 percent of homes in the United States subscribe to a cable TV company ; and 61 percent of Americans have computers ( Elliott 11 ). The United States has the highest Internet penetration rate in the world , with an estimated more than 72 percent of the population being users ( Elliott 12 ). Gerbner et al . suggest that the level of media consumption is related to how people perceive their world ( 47 ). Seeing oneself in media can aid in constructing a view of the self and of the world around the self ( Merskin 334 ). At the same time , not seeing oneself , or viewing a skewed portrayal of the self , could also impact one ’ s identity . Stereotypes can be used to legitimize hegemonic ideals of race and ethnicity .
Past literature has shown that media continue to underrepresent , misrepresent , and skew the representation of particular minorities , such as Asian Americans , Blacks , Hispanics , Native Americans , and Pacific Islanders ( see Kopacz & Lawton , 2011 ; Larson , 2002 ; Merskin , 1998 ; Tan , Fujioka , & Lucht , 1997 ). When depictions are present , they often show native peoples through a narrow range of stereotypes that are considered to be subaltern ( Poindexter et al . 531 ). Negative depictions can be harmful to minorities , as Enteman contends , “ stereotypes impose a rigid mold on the subject and encourage repeat use without revision .... Stereotypes are ultimately used to stigmatize ” ( 20 ). Stereotyping converts real per-
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