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Sociological literature on the media portrayal of minorities
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Media influence on race
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Lifetime’s new drama, Devious Maids, is a major hit which focuses and revolves around the complex and tangled relationships between rich Beverly Hills families and their maids. The pilot episode starts dramatically, when the maid, Flora Hernandez was mysteriously killed by an unknown person. Later we are introduced to the lead character, Marisol Suarez (Ana Ortiz) pretending to be a maid, who is investigating the murder after her son was accused of being Flora’s killer. The episode also introduces the four other central maids of the show: Rosie Falta (Dania Ramirez) from Mexico, Puerto Rican singer Carmen Luna (Roselyn Sánchez), the senior maid Zoila Diaz (Judy Reyes), with her teenage daughter Valentina (Edy Ganem). All of these maids work …show more content…
Why are all the maids in the show Latinas? Almost all of the people working for the wealthy Beverly Hills families are of Hispanic decent, portraying the most typical negative stereotypes through characteristics, like incredibly strong accents, financial problems, slutty or sexual women who have affairs, illegal immigrants and even criminals. Not only do we see these characteristics being portrayed, but we also notice how the wealthy and powerful characters of the show manipulate, mistreat and disrespect these Hispanic maids, making their ethnicity the focal point of the …show more content…
Comprende?” continues Evelyn. Here the show portrays Flora as a home wrecking slut who is objectified, as well as an illegal immigrant. These negative over-exaggerated stereotypes of not only Flora, but also the spoiled rich wife, Evelyn, shows the ways in which these two classes clash and interact with one another. The fact that Evelyn says the Spanish word at the end, ‘comprende’ (meaning ‘understood’), in a strong English accent, shows how she is making fun of her and her Hispanic culture because of the way she talks English with a strong accent and not very
In the film Mean Girls, teenager Cady Heron was home-schooled in Africa by her zoologist parents. When her family moves to the U.S., Cady finally gets a taste of public school and learns a vital lesson about the cruelty involved in the tightly knit cliques of high school. She eventually finds herself being drug into a group of “the worst people you will ever meet”, The Plastics; and soon realizes how they came to get their name.
Eye witness accounts of events are not always accurate. The accounts depicted by depend on how witnesses read the situation. The same is true when interpreting the depiction of race and/or ethnicity in media productions. Because situations gain meaning through the process of social construction (the interpretation of a situation based on one’s knowledge), the same event can be viewed and internalized by witnesses who render opposing viewpoints. This analysis will compare the depiction and rejection of socially constructed stereotypes relative to race and ethnicity in three situation comedies: All in the Family, The Jefferson’s and The Cosby Show.
The culture and society of the American South can be categorized into a variety of groups through stereotypes from outsiders, politicians, music and among other things. To help depict the American South, literature and films that we have watched in class such as Mandingo, Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Color Purple, Gods Little Acre, Tomorrow, Jezebel, The Littlest Rebel and with special focus on O Brother Where Art Thou will help capture and reflect southern culture to those not accustomed to the ways of southern society.
that Fiona is willing to reach into a bin amongst the past few days of
His life consists of being with different women all day. As portrayed in the movie, Valentin is very dishonest and irresponsible. As one of his affairs, Julia (Jessica Lindsey), claims her baby is Valentin’s, he has to raise the baby on his own. Julia simply leaves her child, Maggie, with Valentin. The audience can see how irresponsible the mother is as well.
AIn the movie, The Grudge (2004), a woman is used to play the four big roles, which are the main character, supporting character, victim who dies early, and the evil creature, which is the dead mother who is now a ghost. The main character, Karen Davis, is an exchange student who works at the same place as one of the supporting characters as a care-worker. Throughout the movie, she learns about the events that brought the ghost into existence, while simultaneously being followed by the ghost. In the end, she attempts to kill the ghost, but it survives and continues to follow her. One of the gender stereotypical characteristics of the main character was her job as a care-worker. Care-workers are people who care for others such as children,
Only 4% of Hispanics make up the cast of prime-time television shows, a miniscule amount considering that Hispanic-Americans are the largest minority group in the US. The ways in which minorities are portrayed in the show have their good aspects as well as bad aspects. This is to be expected since showing all good points or all the bad points isn't a fair perspective of the Latino population. As a show that points out a minority, its necessary to look as the good as well as the bad to find if it is actually a optimistic view of the race or a pessimistic one.
The movie “In and out” was first released in September 19th, 1997. To my opinion this film portrays our gender-coded society and I also noticed how open the characters were even if it was in 1900’s. I say that because our society has just started to adapt with the fact of having gay,lesbian,transexual,etc, amoung them without making a problem or treating them any differently.The movie used many different types of stereotypes especially for men. During the entire film, the protagonist was hesitant because he never explored his true sexuality, he was just following what his parents and what he thought would keep him away from all the drama and mistreatment from society.The movie is about a guy named Howard Brackett , he’s a middle class english
This is shown in the article, “Latinos in Mainstream Media Are a Disappearing Act: The Latino Media Gap Crisis”, ”Based upon both qualitative and quantitative data, and utilizing a range of resources from the U.S. Census to interviews with top industry executives, the key findings of the “Latino Media Gap” report include...Latino stereotypes are prevalent in mainstream the media and they restrict opportunities for Latino talent, as well as the public perception of this racial/ethnic group” (Main). This means the roles and the portrayal of Mexican-Americans in the media are damaging their reputations and feeding the false stereotypes already presented in the media today. This could potentially create a society where it is even harder to gain equality for all races, then is already present. While it seems like a large accomplishment, to be represented in the media, especially in lead roles, not many of those roles are ‘good roles’, “By the 1980s, however, Latinos increasingly replaced blacks as Hollywood’s domestics. The 1987 TV show “I Married Dora” was even about a man who married his Latina housekeeper to prevent her from being deported. Even megastar Jennifer Lopez played a housekeeper in 2002’s “Maid in Manhattan,” a romantic comedy reminiscent of the Cinderella fairy tale. The late actress Lupe Ontiveros estimated that she played a maid as many as 150 times on screen. In 2009, Ontoveros told
Stereotypes have become a socially accepted phenomena in today’s society. So socially acceptable, in fact, they have made it onto advertising billboards and into our daily language. We do not think twice as they pass our tongues, and we do tilt our heads in concern or questioning as they pass into our ears. In Judith Butler’s essay “Besides Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy”, stereotypes are exposed and explored. Especially stereotypes pertaining to sexual orientation. Butler explains how stereotypes are unacceptable. She does this in a way which allows her to concurrently explore what it means to be human, and also what humans do or need to make Earth a livable place for ourselves. When examining Butler’s essay, one could say, and
The film being analysed is the Breakfast Club, directed by John Hughes. Trapped in Saturday detention are 5 stereotyped teens. Claire, the princess, Andrew, the jock, John, the criminal, Brian, the brain, and Allison, the basket case. At 7 am, they had nothing to say, but by 4 pm; they had uncovered everything to each other. The students bond together when faced with the their principal, and realise that they have more in common than they think, including a hatred for adult society. They begin to see each other as equal people and even though they were stereotyped they would always be The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club highlights a variety of pressures that are placed upon teenagers through out high school. One of the most challenging aspects of screenwriting is creating characters that an audience can identify with, relate to, and be entertained by.
In this film we see many typical high school behaviors such as cliques, cattiness, and popularity (or lack there of) issues. Many scenes in this movie have an array of stereotypes. Sometimes they are clearly stated and others just seen through attitudes of the actors/actresses character. Also through out we follow the main clique “the plastics” and they have this image they have to uphold. Be perfect, skinny, the best at everything, and in sync with everything they do; or they wont uphold their status. I chose this film because I think it shows a lot of what we have learned in this course and how it is in real life. Clearly the film is exaggerated but much of
In the book Of Mice and Men, the author,John Steinbeck, uses stereotype characters to convey his message. He wants to empathize with his characters as human beings. He uses stereotype characters such as Lennie, George, Curly, Slim, Candy, Crooks, and Curly's wife. Steinbeck's goal is to inform people how life was like for a migrant worker in the 1920's to 1930's.
Cofer states that “It is a one-dimensional view that the media have found easy to promote. In their special vocabulary, advertisers have designated “sizzling” and “smoldering” as the adjectives of choice for describing not only the foods but also the women of Latin America”(110.) This helps explain that part of the blame for the reason why people associate certain things with Latinas is the media. You will often find that the hispanic roles in movies or television shows portray a stereotypical character of a Latina for the entertainment of their audience. “Another facet of the myth of the Latin woman in the United States is the menial, the domestic-Maria the housemaid or counter girl...the funny maid, mispronouncing words and cooking up a spicy storm in a shiny California kitchen-has been perpetuated by the media”(Cofer 112.) This is also creating the misinterpretation that all Latinas are uneducated. Most Latinas, like myself are attempting to get a higher education and by society assuming they aren't trying to get a higher education is belittling all of their efforts. “Since I do not wear my diplomas around my neck for all to see, I have on occasion been sent to that “kitchen” where some think I obviously belong”(Cofer 112.) Cofer also helps explaing that if Latinas do not prove that they are educated everyone will automatically assume that they are not. To have this type of mentality is very ignorant, because a race
Stereotypes are used everyday, by every human, no matter how much effort we put into speaking objectively. Throughout the centuries, stereotypes have been made for every race, gender, or group of individuals. Examples of such include all blonds are unintelligent, all men are meatheads, women are not strong, and so on. These comments are often used to hurt this group in order to make their own flaws less visible. In the book my RC class read, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, many stereotypes were made about greasers that the narrator, Ponyboy, completely went against. Most believed greasers were uneducated, violent, and emotionless, but this protagonist completely shattered this imposed mold that society has crafted for anyone who is part of a