West Side Story Stereotypes

The Film "West Side Story" illustrates how the Puerto Ricans of New York faced discrimination and were used as scapegoats by the American people during the cold war time period to escape their anxieties. Due to the fear of communism and possible nuclear war the 1950-1960s time period was a very fragile time for the American people which produced an air of xenophobia throughout the country. The air of xenophobia is present throughout the play due of the repeated mention of stereotypes about Puerto Ricans and the constant feeling that the Puerto Ricans do not belong. The people of American often dealt with these anxieties in one of two ways, through escapism or through and through the scapegoating. This is made very clear through the comparison of West Side Story to the play The Music Man in the document “West Side Story and The Music Man: Whiteness, Immigration, and Race in the US during the late 1950s”. Like many waves of immigrants, the Puerto Ricans faced discrimination when they arrived and for some time after. This came in the form of people being discriminatory directly to them, housing discrimination and job discrimination. Therefore, the play “West Side Story” expresses the discrimination that Puerto Ricans faced due to the xenophobic nature of the time period.

Stereotypes have been around for hundreds of years, from the “savages” in 1492 after european colonization, to gender and racial stereotypes during the 1930s, and many more still in place today. Everyone has to deal with them, and we all do it in a different way. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee includes characters that break stereotypes to show how they are restricting and harmful.

Stereotype; a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. In the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, and in the short story, “Geeks Bearing Gifts”, written by Ron Koertge, stereotypes are defied by ordinary people. In The Outsiders, Johnny Cade and Darry Curtis face many struggles throughout their lives. Their town in separated into two: the rich and dangerous Socs, and the quiet, tough Greasers. For them, living dangerously is a reality. As a result of their lifestyle, Johnny has become fearful and Darry is considered the toughest man in the gang. In “Geeks Bearing Gifts” aspiring journalist, Renee, interviews her fellow classmates who are classified as “outcasts.” After meeting several students, she realizes her assumptions were incorrect about them. After reading both of these stories, the reader learns that our thoughts about others often revolve around stereotypes and assumptions, but most of these ideas that we have about other people are proven wrong.

White privilege and stereotypes are two ways race can influence a person’s everyday life. White privilege can be defined simply as white people getting special privileges and rights because they are white. This can be seen when a white person gets a job opposed to a person of color or when white people are able to live in nicer neighborhoods while people of color live in crime-ridden ones because white people have more wealth. White privilege has become so normal that most people fail to see it in action. Furthermore, stereotypes can have many harmful effects as well. Stereotypes can be defined as distorted views or inaccurate beliefs about a group of people. Not all stereotypes are bad, but many of them are. An example could be saying that all African Americans are good at sports. However, this is not always the case. Stereotypes may sometimes seem harmless, but these beliefs can impact a person’s life. White privilege and stereotypes are two different concepts, but they both have similar effects that tend to hurt people of color more than they hurt white people. Both of these ideas appear in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, which was directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film depicts white privilege by showing only white people in positions of power, illustrates stereotypes about people of color by having a stereotypical black family, and changes black history by having a white person make achievements that people of color really made.

The social group that is depicted in the opening scenes of ‘Goodfellas’ are white, middle-aged males. They’re portrayed as bad people. This means that even though they are the bad guys, we’re immediately fond of them. The ideological discussion of gangsters is disputed within the film. Gangsters are bad people, so ethnically we shouldn’t like or root for them, but we always do.

Jumping into a burning building is one of the things that the boys from the “Greaser Gang” would do for each other. When the main character, Ponyboy, jumps into a burning church to save children from the flames, his two gang members and family, Johnny and Dally, jump in after him to help get the children out and ensure that he can get out. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton shows two main themes. These themes show many examples of stereotyping could lead to misjudgment of people and to be loyal to the people around you, especially the ones close to you.

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

We have all seen them in TV shows, movies, and music videos from the day. Greasers were heavily stereotyped gang members in the 40s and 50s that were known for their greased hair, switchblades, and leather jackets. How many of those are inaccurate, for greasers are not the only group that have been wrongfully stereotyped. One fictional greaser that has been stereotyped is Ponyboy, the fourteen year old narrator and main character of the popular novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Ponyboy is wrongfully stereotyped to be dumb, rough, and a criminal as are the rest of the greasers.

Throughout the essay, Lugo-Lugo uses personal experiences and builds bridges with her audience to further establish emotional appeals. Carmen Lugo-Lugo is a woman of color, specifically a Latina. Latinos have become so stereotyped, that people’s portrayals and descriptions of them have become so ingrained in their minds that

Over the years, films have been using stereotypes to portray humor through its characters and environment (3). Stereotypes are associated with almost everything and everyone no matter how people classify themselves. For further clarification, stereotypes are associated with people, groups, races, ethnicities, objects and locations. The Longest Yard (2005) by Peter Segal, perpetuates the use of stereotypes to portray its characters and environment through racial, gender, and prison stereotypes. These specific stereotypes are shown throughout the movie and are examples of stereotypes that have been passed down for generations. Films use stereotypes so that they are able to appeal to a larger target audience (3). The purpose of this paper is to analyze common stereotypes of racial, gender, prison, and athlete stereotypes in the film The Longest Yard.

In the film we see issues of race and racism as being a "white" problem, contrary to what we see in society as race and racism as being a "colored" problem. Victor and David Lee both make the statement that to be "American" is to be white. In society we usually see racism as individual acts of violence or discrimination towards others, but as David Lee points out, racism is an invisible system conferring unsought racial dominance by am oppressive group, mainly whites. "White power secures its dominance by seeming not to be anything in particular" (Lipsitz, 135). Victor says how he could get things his mother couldn't get just because his skin was a lighter black than hers. Lee then brings in a picture of Victor and his mother where the difference in skin color can be seen. Lee often brings in pictures of the participants of when they were young, and when they are with their families. This helps the viewers to draw more of identification with the characters.

Do stereotypes stem from a harsh truth, or are they primarily used to degrade groups of people? Female stereotypes, specifically those of a sexist nature, have been prevalent since the beginning of time, and are glaringly present today. In the play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses submissive qualities and sexual objectification pertaining to women to expose female stereotypes in society.

If he speaks up, not only will he put in jail but he will also be humiliated if his colleagues find out. Racism isn’t only towards the black population of the town, it is demonstrated in many other ethnicities as well. Jean Cabot is a woman who believes her race, white, is superior than any other race including black and hispanic. Jean is also very rude towards her maid Maria, and she gets angry at her over the littlest things. She is also convinced that mexicans are gangsters so, when Daniel is changing the locks at her house, she demands that they get redone the next day, fearing that Daniel will sell a copy of her house keys to one of his gangster friends. Farhad, a persian man with a strong accent, is also humiliated by a gun store owner when he’s trying to buy a gun.

In Mohsin Hamid’s, Exit West, there are endless happenings of subverting and/or opposing the generalization of stereotypes. We see this as early as the first page in the novel when we are introduced to the main characters: Nadia and Saeed. As these individuals come from the same culture and area in the Middle East, they both are established people in their own unprecedented ways. Nadia and Saeed were both brought up in the Islamic culture, only taught to follow that and never to stray away from the usual. Although, as we learn more about each character, we discover that the stereotypical norm that much of society believes in is completely changed in this novel. Each character has their own way of expressing who they are whether it be practicing