Media representation does not follow a linear arc from negative to positive

Evidence

A critical cultural studies approach moves beyond linear race rehabilitation theories that suggest both that representations of Arabs in U.S. popular culture are following a trajectory from negative to positive images and that other racialized groups have followed this trajectory as a rite of passage toward assimilation. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 108

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does the civil-rights-era Black representation trajectory actually support the linear rehabilitation model that Alsultany rejects, or was that also more complex?