Week 8: Stereotypes
Stereotypes can be a dangerous thing in media, although I think that not all stereotypes are necessarily bad and not all of them are untrue. I think it's a way for people to organize things in a way that makes sense to them, but again they can be dangerous especially if they are taken out of context, or created based off of things that aren't true.
One representation/stereotype we were shown in class was the origin of racial stereotyping of black people in the early to mid 20th century. This is a harmful stereotype, and was made as a joke and holds no truth about the physical appearance or behaviors of black people. This unfortunately found its way into media, and then the butt ends of jokes, which ruined any other representation of black people in media and has taken a long time for our culture to destroy that stereotype.
I think it's important to give truthful and honest representations of groups of people as a whole, but I don't think that that goes without stereotyping at all. Stereotypes are also based off of things that people know as being iconic and recognizable. They become a part of visual language. For instance, you can say that not all black people have dark skin, which is true, but it is mostly common for them to have dark skin, and I don't think that representing a black character with dark skin is offensive in any way.
I think it goes the same way for people of european descent. Not all Scandinavian people have blond hair, but a large majority of them do. It's just a genetic observation based off of the whole, and its easily communicated to larger groups of people.
Going back to the harmfulness of it though, is again taking those things and making false truths out of them and making connections that have bad connotations.
For instance, an attractive woman is wearing something lowcut. That doesn't mean she's a slut, but there has been a stereotype created for women who wear more revealing clothing that automatically makes people assume that she's easy.
Some comics I read were March, and Calamity Jane, and I think that those are great representations of people without being offensive about the stereotypes that they use, and feel much more personal and individualistic.
One representation/stereotype we were shown in class was the origin of racial stereotyping of black people in the early to mid 20th century. This is a harmful stereotype, and was made as a joke and holds no truth about the physical appearance or behaviors of black people. This unfortunately found its way into media, and then the butt ends of jokes, which ruined any other representation of black people in media and has taken a long time for our culture to destroy that stereotype.
I think it's important to give truthful and honest representations of groups of people as a whole, but I don't think that that goes without stereotyping at all. Stereotypes are also based off of things that people know as being iconic and recognizable. They become a part of visual language. For instance, you can say that not all black people have dark skin, which is true, but it is mostly common for them to have dark skin, and I don't think that representing a black character with dark skin is offensive in any way.
I think it goes the same way for people of european descent. Not all Scandinavian people have blond hair, but a large majority of them do. It's just a genetic observation based off of the whole, and its easily communicated to larger groups of people.
Going back to the harmfulness of it though, is again taking those things and making false truths out of them and making connections that have bad connotations.
For instance, an attractive woman is wearing something lowcut. That doesn't mean she's a slut, but there has been a stereotype created for women who wear more revealing clothing that automatically makes people assume that she's easy.
Some comics I read were March, and Calamity Jane, and I think that those are great representations of people without being offensive about the stereotypes that they use, and feel much more personal and individualistic.
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