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The history of stereotypes
African american stereotypes history
African american stereotypes history
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Does anyone really like to be stereotyped? Does anyone want to be looked at and automatically judged just because of the way they look, by their skin color, their hair type, or even the type of clothing they wear? Finding Forrester is a film that in my opinion perpetuates stereotypes. The entire film is based on significantly different racial opinions, opinions of different writing styles and stereotyping of different people in general. Race is a huge issue in the film and many stereotypes are made. Jamal Wallace is introduced in the film as a typical black teenage male who goes to a low class school in the Bronx and really excels on the court as a basketball player. He always plays basketball with his friends in a parking lot. Jamal is dared to go into the apartment of a recluse who watches them play through binoculars. Jamal is caught and, running away in fright Not too many people thought of him as being anything more than that, due to the fact that Jamal makes mediocre grades in his school in the Bronx, he does just enough to get by and to maintain a “C” average. Jamal did not push himself any harder in the classroom than he needed to. Jamal’s passion is writing, He meets a famous old writer named William Forrester through a dare, who has been watching him when he plays basketball at the parking lots. Little do they know when they first meet what a great difference they would each eventually make for each other. William is the first to help Jamal by helping him in his writing. Jamal is a great writer but just doesn’t know it yet. William helps Jamal find himself in his writing, and Jamal prospers into quite a good writer. The help didn’t really stop there either. Jamal would tell William all about his day and Does anyone really like to be stereotyped? Does anyone want to be looked at and automatically judged just because of the way they look, by their skin color, their hair type, or even the type of clothing they wear? Finding Forrester is a film that in my opinion perpetuates stereotypes. The entire film is based on significantly different racial opinions, opinions of different writing styles and stereotyping of different people in general. Race is a huge issue in the film and many stereotypes are made.
There is no shame that everybody had at least stereotyped once in their lifetime. Stereotyping is a common thing that happens whether someone does it intentionally or unintentionally. Some stereotyping causes mixed emotions; anger, sadness, humor, inspiration, many more. Though stereotyping will never be wiped from existence, many people have told their stories and seen from different perspectives when stereotyped. Take, for example, Judith Cofer and Lars Eighner.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is an overused cliché that has been analyze by many people. The movie Finding Forrester, by James W. Ellison, shows this theme in a more analytical manner. The movie focuses on an unusual relationship between a young man, Jamal Wallace, and a famous writer, William Forrester. Jamal is expected to fail in school and only excel on his basketball career, except he excels in both and never stops trying to achieve his dreams. He is faced with several obstacles, including racial comment and stereotypes assumptions by his teachers, peers, and mentor.
Jamal states: “I was wondering if I could bring you more of my stuff. Or maybe I could write something else.” Forrester responds: “How about 5,000 words on why you should stay out of my house!” (IMDb, 2017) This is the first impression Jamal, a black sixteen year old, has of The Window, an old white man who appears to watch people outside his window.
It all began when Jammal had the chance to transfer schools for better opportunities from grades to how he played on the basketball court. His old school never really thought about how different Jamal was from the others because Jamal never wanted to show how wise, or knowledgeable he was. As a community today, people are judged from where they come from and what they look like. To me, this shouldn’t matter; everyone should have the same amount of opportunities as one another. People may never know what someone is capable of if you don’t get to know who they are. Just as Berardinell (2000) says, “Although his streetwise background makes him a social outsider amidst a sear of rich, pampered kids, Jamal's performance on the court and in the classroom earns him the respect of many of his teachers and peers” (p. 1). Since he started this new school, he has been misjudged for his capabilities and creativeness on writing. Not only was Jamal the type of guy that liked to show his intelligence with others, but he always wanted to fit in with the crowd; therefore, he shut down the better opportunities he was given
Turning point occurs when an exclusive Manhattan prep school recruits Jamal for his basketball talent and academic achievement, and he seeks Forrester’s help in dealing with the new environment. Jamal gradually becomes committed not only to his own writing, but to cracking Forrester’s shell.” (p2) Jamal and Forrester are not your usual pair of friends; a 16-year-old basketball player and an extraordinary writer are not two people you usually see together often. Not only do they get closer, they also start to realize what the other needs. They are both extremely different from each other, so they are going to overcome their situations by showing courage in opposite ways.
Stephen Bonnycastle in his criticism, In Search of Authority, explains stereotypes as, "The system (sometimes known as “the patriarchal order”) that causes the majority of men and women to take on these different roles ... hidden, like the rules of grammar in a language."(10). When a stereotype is introduced into a situation for a extended period of time, it is psychologically proven that it will become an expectation. Stereotypes prove to act as an obscuring lens into which most people view the world. When a person is unaware of a culture, race, gender they mainly use the stereotypes to judge them against. Stereotypes are not just a generalization of a group of people, "stereotypes warrant a closer analysis, because they powerfully shape the reality of gender differences..."(Brody 396). The effects of stereotypes go deeper than just male and female, race against race, "everyone is vulnerable to stereotype threat, at least in some circumstances"(reducingstereotypethreat.org). Stereotypes overall cause negative side effects, some fatal. These side effects are psychological as well as physical. People who
From a filmmaker’s perspective, there are a number or reasons why stereotypes continue to appear in movies. First of all, they require almost no creative effort. It’s a lot easier to portray a character like Debbie in Knocked Up as a typical nagging wife that the audience could easily grasp than a dynamic character with interesting functionality. On another level, it’s almost a subconscious effort to put stereotypes into their films. As Shaheen asserts, filmmakers grew up watching movies portraying stereotypes like heroic westerners defeating the Arabs afflicted by disgusting stereotypes (Shaheen 55.) So it’s only natural that they would repeat said stereotype on a subconscious level not requiring a second thought about it (Shaheen 55). However, as Shaheen states, if someone brought it up with them and they realized the implications of their mistakes they would most likely stop said practice (Shaheen 55). From the audience’s perspective, stereotypes continue to appear in movies in an easy and comforting way. They require little thought from the audience and actually protect their self-esteem (Andre 73). Andre states they reassure the audience’s superiority and shields the ruling class from viewing their behavior (Andre 73). As in Iron Man 2, the stereotypical Russian villain is crushed by Iron Man and War Machine reassuring the audience of America’s superiority over the Russian terrorist
Firstly, the movie showed physical violence against someone because of their race. This is portrayed when the combined teams arrived at Gettysburg College for camp. One black man puts a poster on his wall above his bed. Another white man says to take down the poster. When the black man refuses, tension rises, and a fight breaks out. If another white man had put a poster above their bed, there wouldn’t be a problem. When the black man did it, it was not accepted. Another time physical violence was displayed because of someone’s race was when a brick was thrown into Coach
Stereotyping can have a very negative impact on how we choose to see and communicate with others. Stereotyping is simply assuming or believing unfairly that all people with a particular characteristic are all the same. This can lead people to have a bias and even a lack of empathy when communicating with others. Stereotyping can also cause people to judge someone based on appearance and perceptions, before they have even met an individual. On the other hand, stereotypes can allow us to predict an individual’s behavior; a useful “trick” when it comes to communicating with other. Therefore, stereotyping can have both negative and positive drawbacks.
One of the biggest issues depicted in the film is the struggle of minority groups and their experience concerning racial prejudice and stereotyping in America. Examples of racism and prejudice are present from the very beginning of the movie when Officer Ryan pulls over black couple, Cameron and Christine for no apparent reason other than the color of their skin. Officer Ryan forces the couple to get out of the car
Stereotyping has been a huge problem in society for many decades. Everyone does it whether it is race, looks, and language or body types. If society did less stereotyping our society might be a little more complicated and more peaceful. If you look different, dress different, or act different out of the norm you are being judge or stereotype. I was always taught do not judge a book by its cover. That phrase is very powerful and if society followed that phrase we could be a more peaceful community.
Stereotyping is something that occurs on a regular basis in every culture in which I have been privileged to encounter. Sometimes it can be neutral in a preliminary assessment of someone, and at other times can be very harmful to the person being stereotyped. To stereotype people often demonstrates ones’ own ignorance and foolishness.
Before we get into the movie specifically, we should first talk about representation and how race is represented in the media in general. Representation is defined as the assigning of meaning through language and in culture. (CITE) Representation isn't reality, but rather a mere construction of reality and the meaning behind it. (CITE) Through representation we are able to shape how people are seen by others. Race is an aspect of people which is often represented in the media in different ways. Race itself is not a category of nature, but rather...
To sum up, stereotypes are something that will more than likely be here to stay. Their are going to be some people who will live up to that stereotype and some who will prove it wrong. What the movie Crash did was show us life through the perspective of each race to see what they deal with on a day to day basis. We see how someone lives up to their label and how It only proves that everyone deals with prejudice. It also just showed us that the minorities are misrepresented in the media and it should change the way they are displayed in order to change the way they
Stereotypes In the Media Stereotypes play an important role in today's society and particularly in propaganda. According to the Webster's Dictionary, stereotyping is defined as a fixed conventional notion or conception of an individual or group of people, held by a number of people. Stereotypes can be basic or complex generalizations which people apply to individuals or groups based on their appearance, behaviour and beliefs. Stereotypes are found everywhere in the world. Though our world seems to be improving in many ways, it seems almost impossible to liberate it from stereotypes.