Stereotypes In Black Swan

The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee talks about the childhood of the protagonist Jean Louis Finch (Scout) as she grows up in the fictional county of Maycomb in Alabama. Soon after, Scout’s father, Atticus, gets a case of a black man falsely accused of rape, as Scout and her brother, Jem, bear witness to the case as they finally come to realize the prejudice and stereotyping in their own county. Stereotypes are destructive and prevent or discourage individual growth because it can cause violence and harm, it can create barriers within a society and it can change one’s views about something.

Racial stereotypes are things where a person talks about how the other person’s race is. It describes all the “nasty” things in another person’s race. It’s basically gossiping about someone else’s race and ethnicity. Back then, in that time period, there were high amounts of racism and stereotypes, so in that case, a lot of African American people were most likely convicted for doing something they didn’t do. Even though the court is supposed to equally convict or release people who have commited a crime whether it’s Black or White people.

The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in a small town called Maycomb in the 1930s. In this novel the people of Maycomb discriminate against people that they have no background information about or people that are different in some way. An innocent black man is convicted of a crime he never commits, a man is stereotyped to be dangerous and scary and there are gender stereotypes.

there to spread the word of their god, but are being mocked while they do.

To start, stereotypes are deceptive because people place others into cliques based on their appearances. People assume everyone in a clique are the same, even though their true personality may differ from that clique. The first example from The Outsiders in which somebody doesn’t fit in with the stereotype they are given is Ponyboy. Ponyboy doesn’t quite fit in with his clique, the greasers. After Ponyboy is jumped, Darry has a fight with Pony. Darry yells at Ponyboy to think on the streets and to stay alert. Darry is concerned about Ponyboy’s safety: ‘“You must think at school with all those good grades you bring home, and you’ve always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense?”’ (13). Meaning, Ponyboy isn’t like the greaser stereotype. Compared to all the other greasers, Pony is book smart and not street smart. The greasers are smart where it really matters like on the streets. They carry blades to defend themselves, travel as gangs, and know how to get themselves out of a dangerous situation, if they get stuck in one. Ponyboy, however, is book smart. He succeeds at an outstanding level at school and in his academics. Once he is on the street his intelligence doesn’t follow him. He doesn’t use his common sense and he can’t find his way out of dangerous situations. As a result of this Pony gets jumped by the Socs which

Diversity always flourishes when people do not stereotype each other, but do meaningful actions in life. In The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, the author explores qualities of characters in society when challenged greatly and what happens when the general population stereotypes. The book starts out with conflicts between Greasers, who are in poverty, and Socs, who rich and spoiled. Both classes believe the stereotypes against one another, and the characters soon come to realize that not all of them are true, and that all people have their own problems. This all starts happening after Johnny, a suspicious and scared Greaser kills a Soc who was drowning Ponyboy, the main character and narrator of the story, in a fountain.

Stereotypes have been around for a long time. In S.E. Hinton’s book of The Outsiders, the setting takes place in the 1960’s on the West and East sides of town. That’s where people are stereotyped as either a Greaser or a Soc based on where they live. The setting affects the characters by developing their personality based on their status, behavior, and where they live.

What does it mean to be an "outsider?" S.E. Hinton wrote the book "The Outsiders." This is a story about two groups of teens: the Greasers and the Socs. The Socs are popular and have lots of money. The Greasers are not popular and do not have a lot of money. "The Outsiders" teach us about stereotypes, friendships, and acceptance. "The Outsiders" is a timeless novel that people can continue to relate to today.

“We all use stereotypes, all the time, without knowing it. We have met of equality and the enemy is us.” - Annie Murphy Paul. Dallas (From The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton) represents the stereotype of a greaser, and the way people know him as a greaser. Stereotypes change only those who agree with them. His stereotype has been formed by his years in the New York gangs. Not many people truly enjoy his presence, but due to his fear and reputation, they still let him hang out. He’s become a poster boy for the greasers.

Stereotypes run rampant in the literary world today. It is much easier to write a stereotypical character because of the reader expects them to act or respond a certain way and does not require an explanation of their motivation. But much like Chimamanda Adichie warns, “Show a people as only one thing over and over again, and that is what they become” (Adichie 00:09:25-00:09:37). But this issue is often addressed in reference to the protagonist. The hero is always white; the hero is always attractive. The hero never disserves to suffer. Single stories do not just refer to the physical characteristics of the character, though in can and often does. The heroes all tend to look the same so we associate goodness with that specific physical description, but motivations can be just as misleading. All the heroes do good things because they lived the same experiences, so these experiences make someone good. Also society remains so focused on the single story surrounding the protagonist, it often forgets the other main component of a story, the antagonist. But by dissecting the possible motivations for the villains, as my adaption does, I hope to explore the different avenues to villainy and in turn disrupt their single story.

James King is a 15 year old girl who appears to be healthy, though painfully thin for her age. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother in Weston, MA. The two of them travel together a great deal to New York City where James trains as a ballerina at the famous School of American Ballet. James sees her father in the summer time when she trains with Boston Ballet or at the ballet program at the North Carolina School of the Arts. James leads an incredibly structured life with set hours for school work and training, and has little time to just hang out with her friends. Her goals revolve entirely around the dance world and all of her ambitions are set high on eventually being accepted into the New York City Ballet.

On page 235 it states "You knew she was my mother all along," I said, uncertain whether I felt anger or betrayal, or just plain surprise." This quote suggests that Lily has all these emotions stored up and she just wants to let go of all of them. Additionally, later on in the chapter,

In the beginning of the film, Nina was depicted as an average, normal person living in New York that yet lacked the freedom to express herself as a sexually free, young woman due to her mother’s controlling behavior. When she wins the coveted Swan Queen role, the feeling of immense pressure that comes with the role causes Nina to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into a living nightmare. For example, she experiences symptoms such as interpreting normal behavior from Lily as an attack because of Nina’s jealousy toward Lily’s effortless embodiment of the Black Swan (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014). Nina’s attention to negative behavior to Lily is a result of her own imagination – she starts conceiving events that did not happen such as a lesbian fling with Lily and her constant attempts to sabotage Nina’s ability to perform as the Swan Queen. In addition, she suffers through hallucinatory episodes that involve bodily horror, such as her skin tearing off her body and the appearance of an evil twin, every time she reaches a step closer to her full transformation of the Swan Queen.

Nina is also having many hallucinations, besides seeing her sub-personality, she has seen feathers growing out of her skin, her legs crack/bend, and drawings of herself moving and taunting her. Schizophrenia seems to be the conclusion from these symptoms. Nina also is extremely paranoid about others around her and has had hallucinations regarding their betrayal of her. She is delusional in her beliefs of another ballerina trying to sabotage her and take her

Black Swan and Whiplash both feature intense practice sequences that build upon the narrative of obsessing over a craft. This intense and obsessive practice leads up to the conclusion of the films; where each character gives their absolute best performance. Nina’s final transformation into an impure and sinful character is completed when she grows black wings and slams her mother’s hand in her door. During the performance, Nina gets into an altercation with herself and stabs herself in the pure White Swan costume. Andrew transforms into “one of the greats” as he is embarrassed by Fletcher on stage. They both have their careers riding on their performances. They both fail to begin with; Andrew not knowing the chart the rest of the band is playing and Nina falling during act I of Swan Lake. Yet their greatness is proven when they give the final goodbye to their parental figures and former youth. Andrew runs off stage, hugs his dad and his former reality, as he knows his life will never be what it once was. Nina exchanges eye contact with her crying mother as she looks proudly onto her daughter dancing like she never could.