Movie Stereotypes

Films represent groups to differ from one another due to their physical characteristics. This is especially true in Clint Eastwood's f2008 film Gran Torino. The film follows the changing attitudes of Walt Kowalski, as he learns that cultural difference between himself and his Hmong neighbours are only surface deep. Walt's friendship with his neighbours evolves into a need to save them from the Hmong gangs who harass them, and in doing so, find his own salvation. The characterisation of Walt challenges the stereotypical representation of both the elderly, and war heroes. The representation of the Hmong also challenges dominant attitudes towards this group of people, revealing them to be very similar in values to Walt himself.

The film industry’s portrayal of African American people consists of countless stereotypes and inaccuracies. These depictions lead to an innumerable amount of misrepresentations about the African American community. As the latest wave of black films begins to dawn, the clearer the images become of a collective people. Using my personal experiences as a mixed woman of color, as well as including my academic strengths and goals, and points of view regarding various black films, the content of this paper will examine the representation and stereotypes that can be seen in African American Hollywood.

The media labels Latinos as “Latin Lovers” (oversexed seducers), the “Crook”, and thugs. As for the Asian population, Asian men are considered as geeks, math whizzes, and are viewed as non masculine. Usually, the only time Asian men are viewed as masculine is when they practice martial arts. Asian women can be considered to be one dimensional, sexualized representations, and can also shown as the “nerdy” type throughout multiple shows and films. Native American tropes include silent, stoic men or bloodthirsty warriors.

In recent years, talking animals have been an entertainment for children and parents to enjoy, but this pleasure has shown some concern of what these animals portray in films. American films and television displays stereotypical representation of minorities on screen, but not only in reality on screen, but as well as animation. Therefore, one of the stereotypical representations is Chicanos and their connection with Chihuahuas.

Harmful racial stereotypes have plagued the entertainment industry since blackface minstrel shows began in New York in the early 1800’s. Although the structure of minstrel shows changed over time; the images, blackface, and the caricatures of blacks continued. Early Hollywood films sustained the racist tradition of white actors performing in blackface with numerous silent movies that included white actors playing non-white characters in a particularly stereotypical fashion. Eventually non-white actors were allowed to play themselves in film, however they were cast in extremely prejudiced roles that degraded themselves like “the coon”, “the tom”, “the black buck” or “the mammy” for African American actors, and “the bandito”, “the greaser”, “Latin lover” or the “spitfire for Latino actors. Although there are some productive ambiguities within some of these roles, they are ultimately damaging.

During the 20th Century, it can be noted that minorities have made significant strides in securing their dreams and reaching equality in America. The advances such as the right to own land and the right to vote has defined America to be the “land of opportunity”. Despite the political advances obtained, minorities still suffer from the racist beliefs that have also been ingrained into American society. Although it has been long since these bigoted practices have been upheld by the law, it could be argued that supremacist ideologies and derogatory stereotypes are still seen in the entertainment industry. Historically, the portrayal of minorities, especially African Americans, has been less ideal.

Blaxploitation, a sub-genre of Exploitation, becomes fairly popular with Hollywood Cinema during the 1960’s and 1970’s. These films initially targeted urbanized youth and began to appeal to African Americans as well as White audiences. However, various groups, such as the Coalition Against Blaxploitation, formed to stop production on films of this genre as it typically portrayed Blacks in a negative way. Generally, there are two different interpretations of Blaxploitation films. One being that these films empower blacks and the more accepted idea that these films further stereotype blacks with the inclusion of pimps, sex, drugs, crime and more. Due to the huge protests against the films, the movement died in the late 1970’s(Negative Effects of the Blaxploitation Movement.); however, Boyz N’ the Hood, produced by John Singleton in 1991, represents a resurgence of Blaxploitation, referred to as “neo-blaxploitation” which reflects the stereotypical interpretation of a blaxploitation film. (Fancher)

In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, stereotypes play a major role in the the story line. How the people of the community see the Greasers and Socs impact the actions and results of the main characters. Even though stereotypes differ, all people suffer in similar ways to being labeled stereotypically.

The character of Kong, according to the race reading, independently acts as a semiotic representation of the white man’s perception of black men. The film’s narrative takes us to Africa, asks the audience to embark on an adventure to a land so lost to the modern world that its inhabitants exist side by side with dinosaurs, which Brian McKay argues to be the most “obvious symbol for the perceived primitive nature of Africa and Blacks” (McKay, 2005) The gorilla that they bring back from that island may now be an icon of popular culture in himself, but before King Kong was released there was another image of popular social consciousness that he was associated with, which were the disturbingly dehumanizing cartoons of black people as monkeys popularized

Racial stereotypes in films have typically reflected societies reality. How individuals are able to come to understand what it means to be a black in America is shaped by the social construct of cultural identity. As both reality and social construct shifts, so does Black representation in film. What has not shifted is the fact that we are still living in a white dominated society, where much of the narrative belongs to and is determined by Rich, White Males and where black stereotypes still exist and are continually reinforced in films. Hollywood has typically followed this trend through the use of white directors, discussions of diversity, or even in its selection of Oscar nominees (Donnelly 2016). As a result, many “mainstream” films look to target young males and females, for example, films like The Avengers or the Twilight vampire series. Taking all of this into account, Black film has transcended over time to change the way African Americans are viewed and take control of their own narrative. However as independent Black films seek to influence this change and look to challenge the dominate of White Hollywood, directors of Black films have may find themselves controlling the conversation by either doing the work of talking to a black audience or are looking to talk to general (mainly White) audience about black issues.

Mass media and Hollywood movies create nursing images, using stereotypes. The main goal of Hollywood and all shows is raising their own ratings and getting profit. After watching the old movie“ One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest” with Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher I had as positive and negative emotions as well. I was a little depressed seeing how patients were abused and how nurses were acting like gendarmes. Nurse Ratched, a nurse-tyrant, working in the mental institution, punished everyone who could say “No” to her. She did not treat patients with dignity. Instead, she restricted the patient with their basic needs.

Other stereotypes women were perceived with are being inherently emotional and susceptible to falling in love with their targets. The movie “Allied” is an example of this, which tells a story about a woman who plays a French Resistance fighter who falls in love with a Canadian intelligence officer, during a mission in Casablanca. Throughout the film, they work together to assassinate the German ambassador, and eventually grow strong feelings for one another. The two get married and have a daughter named Anna. The husband learns from the Special Operations Executive (SOE) that they suspect his wife to be a German spy and orders him to spy on her to test if their suspicions are true.

The movie The Namesake brought many stereotypes to mind as I was watching it, speaking english with a deep Indian accent and the arranged marriages. Other stereotypes the movie depicted were majority of the country being poverty ridden and congested. The main character of the movie was named Gogol and was born of Indian parents in America, he experienced two different cultures, what his parents did at home and what he did after he left that household. He was not fond of his name, Gogol wanted to change his name after high school because he thought it would have been difficult for him to go through society with a name like that. After Gogol left his parents house and went off in the working world he was distant. He barely visited

There are over 1,100 films that in one way or another vilify Arabs and Muslims-not to mention other minorities such as African Americans, Jews, LGBTQs, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans (Baird). Movies and shows stereotype Arabs and Muslims, which often times cause hatred and discrimination towards certain races and religions. Stereotyping in movies and shows cause bias discrimination towards minorities, which lead to terrible consequences. Even though movies and shows are mainly fictional and mainly used just for entertainment, these forms of media lead to discriminations such as Islamophobia because they vilify Arabs and Muslims portraying them as a violent and dangerous group.

Argument 1: I agree with this line. Most movies want to shock people by putting in rape scenes but it isn’t always essential for the story. The director illustrated the fact that there doesn’t have to be unnecessary rape scenes in every revenge film to be a good film. We can understand the pain of the women who suffered a lot because the story is well written. Argument 2: The ‘bad quality’ footage throughout the film wasn’t so bad.