Inside the TV show america's next top model it picks girls from around the world to compete in a competition to be a model. Each week the girls have to go through an array of competitions ranging from commercials to modeling to doing runway shows, and are judged off of their looks and progress throughout the weeks. Even Though this seems like a shallow show that continues spreading the old ideologies and views on women as sex objects that are meant to only be looked at. It actually takes the lead in showing the depths of women and is changing the old views and standards of beauty, while showing the different types of women in this country. Therefore, america's next top model should be considered as a feminist work of art. America's next top model (ANTM) works to reinforce, and change many stereotypes, gender roles and old ideologies surrounding women. Inside of the fourth season of ANTM it went against the gender role that women should show domesticity and submissiveness. It fights this by showing Noelle, who was in this this competition despite she had a husband and child. This shows that even when women have responsibilities at home they will still try and follow their dreams, even if it entails being the breadwinner in the home. In season four one of the contestants were kicked out of the competition because she almost fought someone who poured something on her. Even though the show went against those gender roles it still reinforces that women should show purity and piety. And should never show angry emotions in public even if it is instigated. ANTM also works to go against many stereotypes but still enforces some. In our society many people see models as sex objects but ANTM tries to change that view with the contestant Brittany. At the beginning of the fourth season she was almost eliminated because she came off as too sexy. Inside the TV show the judges didn't want the girls to come off as sex objects. But they wanted them to be seen as seductresses to all genders. who can get anyone to buy their products just from their looks. Even though in this society models are seen to be skinny, ANTM tries to change this by letting in competitor Keena who is considered to be a plus sized model. She continued to get really far in the competition but her personality simmered away and she lost. This shows that personality is more important than the pictures, which is a very rare view for models.
As a whole, ANTM sees how society views women and tries to fix it through showing that models have personalities and home lives that helps them as models. It also shows that if women are driven enough to do something they can, even if it goes against the views that society has on them.
The song “Before he Cheats,” by Carrie Underwood has been played millions of times, through headphones, speaker, car radios, and so much more. The song is well known by many and has left a imprint on country music as a whole. The single was one of the first country songs to ever really break the barrier between deep southern country and today’s pop culture music. “Before he Cheats,” won a grammy for “Song of the Year,” as well as recieved many other notable awards.
The song is written from a first person point of view, making it seem as though Underwood wrote it about herself. The song is based around the idea of a man cheating on his significant other, being Underwood, and her reaction to what he has done. She attempts to get revenge on him by taking things into her own hands and messing with him. Although the song “Before he Cheats,” features a woman who shows a great amount of agency, the song also promotes multiple stereotypes of women in America.
The song begins with Underwood talking about her significant other being with another girl. She mentions different things that he would most likely be doing with her, then continues on to insult the girl. One line reads,
“Right now, he's probably buying her some fruity little drink.
Cause she can't shoot whiskey…”
By including this line, Underwood is only putting herself down and making herself seem like a worse person, as well as promoting a stereotype of a jealous, over attached girl. The stereotype of a women being envious of a significant other is a common one. It’s not seen in just movies and television shows, but in also in the way many people think now a days.
The song goes on to show her reaction to what he does. She becomes impulsive and violent, which only further plays into the crazy girl stereotype. The chorus itself has these three lines in it:
“Carved my name into his leather seats...
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
Slashed a hole in all four tires…”
These lines are repeated three different times throughout the song, which leaves the listener with pretty clear picture in their head of what is happening. Carrie Underwood writing about how she commits a legal crime by destroying his property, doesn’t really help demote the idea of a “crazy girlfriend,” or the idea that girl over react to everything.
The point of view can also be flipped here, if brought back to the original point to the song. The actions that the male has been said to take apart in, play into the role of a guy who has no respect for women and treats them horribly. Yes, there is always gonna be people out there that are truly self centered, but not all guys are, that’s for sure. This song just automatically makes the guy out to be a bad person, which isn’t really spreading a good idea of men out there.
Therefore, this song is most definitely not a feminist piece of work as there is no strong argument for gender equality. Even though though Underwood shows agency, by taking matters into her own hands and getting revenge, this doesn’t really put across the best image of women out there.
The TV drama Gossip Girl focuses on the “scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite” through the lens of an anonymous voice called “Gossip Girl.” The series talks about issues of our culture today, but also exaggerates many aspects of the wealthy characters’ lives. While the money aspect of the show in unrealistic for most viewers, the show sends important messages that both perpetuate and defy stereotypes about gender. Although some stereotypes about gender are questioned, the majority of the characters reinforce stereotypes through their personalities and behavior throughout the show.
In the episode “The 16 Year Old Virgin,” male and female romantic relationships are the main focus. The 16 year old virgin is Jenny Humphrey. Her relationship with Damien Delgarde is a prominent issue during this episode. Up until this episode, Jenny has been putting a lot of pressure on herself to grow up as quickly as she can. She has turned from an innocent and preppy girl to a goth, angsty teenager who thinks she knows everything. She wants more than anything to get with Damien because he’s older and more experienced. When she finally decides to ditch school to hook up with him, she realizes what a big mistake she is making because he only wants her for sex. When she tells him she’s a virgin, he replies with, “I figured” and “it’s not that big of a deal.” Shocked, she responds, “It kind of IS a big deal,” realizing that he has no consideration for her feelings. This is a great example of the stereotypical “sex object.” Jenny is someone Damien just wants to have sex with and does not actually care about her as a person.
While Jenny is dealing with the expectations of a stereotypical “player,” Serena is happy in her new relationship with Nate. Nate and Serena have a long history, but ever since the Shepherd wedding, Serena has been particularly unattainable. She is known as the “seductress” of the show. While Nate could be known as a “jock,” who you might consider someone who doesn’t have a single girl on their mind, he really only likes Serena. He confesses that he’s had a huge crush on her forever, and this episode is the beginning of them actually being together. Up until now, Serena has been highly unattainable to Nate, which is why she fits the stereotype of the seductress. While Serena dated Dan (the “geek”), that also fits into a stereotype that beautiful women get with less attractive men.
As for Chuck and Blair, their relationship both supports and questions stereotypes about gender. Before Chuck was with Blair, he was the stereotypical “player,” using women for his own sexual pleasure. Now him and Blair are together and Chuck has become a loyal boyfriend. He has built an empire and Blair is running her mom’s fashion company. Blair’s business success defies stereotypes that women can’t be powerful, but Chuck’s success by becoming the youngest billionaire makes Blair look completely unsuccessful in comparison. Ultimately, the stereotypes that are questioned in the show are not as prevalent as the stereotypes that are perpetuated. The character traits of these elite teenagers have, for the most part, have been made to fit traditional gender roles.
The media plays a big role in creating social norms in our society, whether it’s through advertisements, television shows, or movies. According to the Nielsen Company, 96.7% of people own a television, this shows why TV shows have so much power in our society. They have the power to emphasize and reinforce stereotypes or they have the power to change social norms. More often than not we see shows reinforcing gender stereotypes. People watch so much television that a lot of the times they believe and think what they see. A show that has become widely popular over recent years is The Office. The Office is an American TV series that aired from 2006 to 2013 and has won several awards throughout its airing, including 5 Emmy Awards. The Office depicts the everyday lives of office employees in Scranton, Pennsylvania who sell paper and printers while also going in depth into their personal lives. While The Office does continue dominant gender stereotypes and ideologies of woman as being sex objects, seductresses, and dependant on men, The Office uses satire to show real life issues going on in the workplace and bring attention to major problems that are taking place.
The Office has a lot of characters that continue the social norms in society that women are sex objects and seductresses. While doing this, it also objectifies women and degrades them to a lesser role in society. For example, Michael Scott, the boss of The Office, gets into a relationship with his corporate boss, Jan, but later breaks up with her. Later in the show, Jan comes back with new breasts. Jan uses her looks and her new breasts to seduce Michael into thinking that she is the perfect person for him. She controls their relationship and controls all the power in it. Jan is the typical gender stereotype for women because she is a controlling, attractive, and a powerful woman. While Jan is a seductress, she is also used as a sex object because all Michael wants from her is her sex. Throughout the show, Jan and Michael have sex everywhere and he does whatever she says to be able to keep that up. He tries countless times to break up with her but he cannot do it because of her looks and sex, not her personality. In fact, Michael tells other people in the workplace that he wants to break up with Jan, but he always falls through. Later in their relationship, Michael realizes that he only cares for her sex and breaks up with her. Michael’s associates were the ones who pushed for Michael to break up with her and he finally did. Here, The Office uses satire to show relationships that happen in the workplace and how they affect everyone around them.
Another example in the show that continues the ideology of a sex object is with Meredith. Meredith is an office worker that constantly has sex with anybody that’s willing. All she does is fulfill male’s sexual needs. One time, she had sex with an Outback Steakhouse worker for coupons and sales deals. She carries on the stereotypes that women are “sluts” and dependant on men. These two examples show continued social norms and gender stereotypes that are seen in this show and everywhere in our society even though they might not even be true. While continuing these gender norms the show also shows that women do not have to be restricted to the homelife and can do things outside of caring for the family.
The Office has consistently had five female leads in the show: Pam, Kelly, Phyllis, Angela, and Meredith. Throughout the show, these woman represent strong and dynamic workers that are involved all over the workplace in places such as accounting and sales. Although some of these women do possess some typical female gender roles such as being emotional, they were given enough development and they were very complex characters which allowed for them to be more than just average stereotypes. Many shows have a big male cast and a very small female cast, The Office is an exception. TV shows and movies continue to cast men way more than women which does not accurately depict the real world. In the real world, women represent 51% of our population and The Office enforces that statistic. The Office usually always has 6 female characters and 6 or 7 male characters depending on the season. An example of this is seen in the episode "The Beach Games". In this episode, Michael has received job offers at a new office and he needs to decide who will be his predecessor. He created four teams to compete in various games with four male leaders who are the obvious candidates for the job. Michael assigns Pam the job of being a note taker to help him decide. Throughout the episode, Pam acts as a valuable source of insight by completing all the tasks, showing off her leadership skills, and shows her plans for the future office. While Pam is obviously the best candidate for the job, Michael still over looks her for her male counterparts. This episode gets at a real issue with the treatment and fairness between men and women in the workplace. The show uses this strong core group of women to show that they can have success in the workplace and compete with men in the same fields. It is defying the sense of a patriarchal society because men are not dominating the office place.
The Office uses satire to play on issues that exist in actual corporate offices such as gender, race, sexism, and other stereotypes that they address through humor and and different storylines. The Office represents a very diverse cast, but the show still reinforces gender stereotypes for the sake of humor. Some episodes where this occurs is the "Sexual harassment" episode, where Michael and his friend poke fun at a scandal that is going on in the office. While the episode is obviously blown a little out of proportion for humor purposes, it still gets at an issue that a lot of people face in the modern workplace. Another episode that we satire in is, "Gay Witch Hunt". In this episode, Oscar is offended by one of Michaels comments where he uses an offensive word, Michael later finds out that Oscar is gay and proceeds to tell the whole office about it. This episode, while being hysterical, talks about an issue that many people face in our society and have trouble dealing with. While it might seem like The Office is reinforcing stereotypes and dominant ideologies, ituses those ideologies combined with humor as a gateway to express real life issues that a lot of people would not pay attention to without humor. There are countless episodes in The Office that use satire to get at real issues, stereotypes, and ideologies in our society which makes is so good. Satire is used in countless shows but it stands out in The Office because of how it expresses things going on in the country.
In our society, the media controls what people think and what people believe in because everybody watches TV and movies. A lot of people do not realize that these shows are reinforcing dominant ideologies because they are so used to seeing them. If our society is going to change the typical gender stereotypes and ideologies to what our society is actually like, it starts with the media. In particular, The Office puts women in the workplace and uses satire to express societal issues but continues ideologies and stereotypes in the workplace that are seen as normal even though they might not be true. A lot of women in society have power and work outside of their homes but the media does not portray them that way. The Office uses satire to criticize todays culture and how it translates into the workplace. The Office uses satire to demonstrate the ridiculousness of discriminating by gender, race, or sexual orientation in a comedic way while also bringing attention to real life issues going on in corporate offices.
Left to right: Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan
Hidden Figures, a recent movie about the women “computers” at NASA who sent the first American into space, is one example of a new trend of gender stereotypes in media. Previously, a revolutionary female role consisted of the Ultimate Kick-A** Take No Shit Anti-Stereotype woman, but now media is beginning to show women who do stereotypical things while still on the whole defying stereotypes. In Hidden Figures, each of the three main female characters all have a story line revolving around her home life, as mother or wife, which is balanced with the story of their intelligence and their jobs. The movie attempts to show this balance with a few of the men, but unfortunately almost all of the male characters have male stereotype as their whole identity, making Hidden Figures portrayal of male gender roles far less progressive.
Early on in the movie, there is a transition scene in which the women drive home from work together, and then we are shown a snippet of each of their home lives. They are all mothers and wives (or widows). This scene demonstrates the domesticity that these women possess, the role of the mother and the wife that they all play. There is no woman in the movie who does not fall into these roles. However, given that the scene just before was them at work defying every feminine stereotype of submissiveness and non-ambition, the viewer is left with a stark contrast that only goes to show how women are multidimensional
and can be both stereotypical and not at once.
Another place where the domestic stereotype is both proven and disproved is in one of the main storylines of Katherine Johnson finding a second husband, Jim. At first glance, this appears to reflect the age-old trope that a woman is nothing without a man. However, when her prospective love interest says something sexist, Katherine is immediately enraged and stops pursuing him. Jim is then left to win Katherine’s love, a complete role reversal of the trope originally hinted at. While the overall endgame of marrying off the woman is there, some credit is due in reversing the traditional gender roles and giving the woman agency over her love life, again showing both women and men defying stereotypes to an extent.
Jim is one of the few token men who treat Katherine and her colleagues with true respect. When Jim slips up and says the infamous line, “They [NASA] let women do that kind of work?”, he immediately regrets it and works to apologize to Katherine. The other man who breaks the mold is Al Harrison, the head of the research center where the women work. He commends her for her intelligence, takes her opinion into consideration, and works to make NASA a welcoming place for her and the other women.
However, these two seem to be the few token “good” men. The rest of the men working at NASA are rude and derogatory towards Katherine, because of both race and gender. Being the supposed epitome of STEM workers, they fall into the geek stereotype, where they think they are infinitely smarter than any woman and refuse to listen to any evidence that would convince them otherwise. Though there are a few defiant male roles in this movie, the majority of them do fall into a sexist and tired stereotype.
Certainly in the past few years we have been seeing a lot of media with women who break the mold by departing from the stereotype as much as humanly possible. Hidden Figures takes a new spin in which women are allowed to fit stereotypes and still be unstereotypical. However, the movie also falls trap to the more broad trend that men’s roles have not changed nearly as much. Men in media are still subject to heavy stereotyping, and those who break the mold tend to be token outliers rather than the norm in any given work.
The television show Breaking Bad is about a high school chemistry teacher in New Mexico named Walter White who has been diagnosed with cancer. Not knowing how he would be able to pay for it, or leave any money for his family if he ends up passing away, he starts a life of cooking and selling meth. Throughout the story he meets many diverse characters. Some of theses characters can fall into the trap of having stereotypical, but the characters are so round and multifaceted as to not be stereotypical.
An example of a deep character in the series is Gus Fring, a black man who is the very top of the drug operation in New Mexico and Walter’s boss. He is very stern and strict and even resorts to murdering one of his most trusted employees to try and scare Walter and his assistant straight. One the surface that may look like a typical brute stereotype of a black man, but if you look into his motivations for his actions you can see he is much more careful and calculated than he lets on. Ever since Walter is first deffered to Gus, he was told how careful of a man he was. His highest priority is keeping his industry running without any kinks or chances of exposure. He is very intelligent and deliberate looking deeper into his character, which is contrary to most stereotypes of black men in America. From a Mexican drug peddler who just wants to care for his disabled uncle to a white drug addict with deep morals struggles and care for children, the show Breaking Bad has many characters that may seem stereotypical at first, but turn out to be very dynamic and round, transcending the grip of racial stereotypes.
A murderer was always portrayed as the “bad guy”until the television series Dexter was released in 2006. This show takes place in Miami, where the main character, Dexter, lives. Dexter is a natural born killer who’s father raised him to kill by a certain code, only killing criminals.
The show starts out with Dexter killing someone, leaving you feel uncomfortable about him. As the show progresses, however, you build a connection with him. You find yourself hoping he doesn’t get caught. This is mainly due to the normal life the writers of the show make him live. Dexter has many friends and co-workers that you learn to love, and some that you learn to hate. The show features characters of many different ethnic backgrounds, which a lot of series don’t.
However, what’s often overlooked is the sheer number of stereotypes that are woven into the heart and base of the show itself. Therefore, although Dexter incorporates racial diversity in the show mainly promotes stereotypes by what they often make the characters do or say depending on their race.
Right off the bat, the show starts with having the main character as a powerful white male in his thirties and pushes minorities to the side with slightly more minor roles. However, there is a few characters that defy stereotypes, for example Lieutenant LaGuarda. She is a powerful latina who runs the entire police department, yet while the show progresses, her character does too. They end up protecting her as a loud, annoying, emotional woman, who let’s her personal issues affect her work and let’s love interfere with official police work.
As well as Vince Masuka, an asian science geek, that’s socially awkward, and always ends up creeping people out. He always is shown in the lab typing away, or blabbering on about some science innovation and the rare times they shoot him outside the lab, he is hitting on girls and getting shot down due to him lack in social skills.
One of the biggest stereotypes on the show is Jamie Batista. She is the captain of the force’s sister, and plays a stereotypical role of a hispanic nanny and caretaker. She takes care of Dexter’s son every single day and is always willing to drop whatever she is doing to come help him no matter what the case or what time of night.
Overall, Dexter promotes many more stereotypes than it demotes, when it comes to latinos, asians, and even some whites. This is seen in social media and entertainment everywhere, not just in Dexter. However, this being said, progress has been made in the right direction, and it will hopefully continue to progress.
Grey’s Anatomy is a well-known drama series about a group of medical interns in a renowned surgical program. The cast of Grey’s Anatomy is primarily white, though three or four of the lead roles are filled by minorities. Each drama-filled episode of the show follows two main story lines: one diving into the complex personal and sexual lives of the interns and doctors, and one looking at medicine and patients. It does not take a long time to notice the patterns between which characters are in romantic situations and which characters’ identities are solely developed through interactions within the hospital. Throughout the entire show, especially prominent in the first and second seasons, the personal lives of white female doctors become the main focus. Through this focus on white females and the in the desexualtion of black, female doctor Miranda Bailey through her lack of love life within the show, Grey’s Anatomy reinforces the archetype of the Mammy.
The Mammy was a big, fat, fast-talking, dumb, black slave woman who took care of the big house and any children on the plantation. She was not beautiful or sexy, nor was she the object of any man’s desires. In Season 2 Episode 12 Grey’s Anatomy, the desexualization of Dr. Bailey is briefly addressed when, after years of friendship, one of her co-workers has no idea that she has been married for years. When asked by her friend why she never mentioned her marriage at work, Dr. Bailey replied, “You never asked.” On the surface, and probably to most people viewing the episode, this interaction seems like an issue of bad friendship. However, The disinterest of this white male lead in Dr. Bailey’s personal life, especially when he is heavily involved in the personal lives of most of the white female doctors, shows the inherent dismissal of her as a desirable woman because of the color of her skin. In that same episode, Dr. Bailey is called back to the hospital for an emergency and she is wearing a dress. Upon seeing her, one of the white male interns says, “Wow, you look like a girl!” This same intern slept with countless white female doctors who he had no trouble seeing as girls, though he interacted with them in the same professional setting that he saw Dr. Miranda Bailey in every day. The discussions of Dr. Bailey’s life outside of the hospital last for a total of forty two seconds of the episode and the scene immediately switched to one following the love story of a white female intern and the date between Dr. Bailey and her husband was never talked about again. Dr. Bailey grew to a character defined by her job and strict work ethic, incapable of having a story line revolving around her personal life or love in general. The Mammy archetype being reinforced through the character Dr. Bailey was so deeply rooted in the writing of Grey’s Anatomy that it was not only demonstrated through her interactions with white male characters, but also in the overall structure of the show which managed to story lines of love when it came to its dark characters.
The character of Dr. Miranda Bailey was developed in 2005 when Grey’s Anatomy first aired, and although it ran until 2016 and Dr. Bailey’s character had plenty of time to grow more complex or dive into her personal affairs, her story lines remained primarily professional. Since Grey’s Anatomy, however, shows like Scandal, featuring a black female lead with a personality far beyond sassy or mean and professional have been developed. This growing variety, depth, and complexity in the roles obtained by black women is important in preventing the enforcement of stereotypes that can be traced all the way back to the Jim Crow South.
The Proud Family is a television series that aired on Disney Channel in the early 2000s, based on teenager Penny Proud and her African-American family. Although the television series ended in 2005, it is still relevant today because, since it first aired when I was so young, it was one of my generation’s first encounters with racial stereotypes. Throughout the television series, The Proud Family perpetuates some racial stereotypes while also rejecting others because some individual characters, like Trudy Proud, do not follow common stereotypes versus black mothers while, in contrast, other characters, like the Gross Sisters, perpetuate racial stereotypes throughout the series.
The series rejects many common racial stereotypes throughout the episodes. In general, the series itself was the first Disney Channel television show to have a black lead, breaking a large racial barrier on a very popular network. In the series, one prominent character who rejects common racial stereotypes against African Americans is Trudy Proud, Penny’s mother. Black motherhood is historically denounced and constantly questioned so it is extremely rare to see a strong black motherhood role in the media. Trudy Proud is a strong woman, who is the main financial, emotional, and physical supporter of her family and works as a veterinarian. In addition to her job, she is the mother of three children and an influential mentor to her oldest daughter, Penny, helping her as she navigates her teenage years. This rejects racial stereotypes because Trudy is caring and concerned with family affairs and makes good money at a respectable job, characteristics not commonly given to African-American characters on TV shows.
While the series rejects some common stereotypes against African-Americans, it also perpetuates many more. As previously mentioned, black mothers are commonly stereotyped as absent caregivers. This stereotype is perpetuated by Penny’s best friend, Dijonay, who has many misbehaved siblings whom she has to care for herself because there is no other authority figure to do so. This also perpetuates the idea that black children are disobedient. In addition to Penny’s friend, Penny’s father takes the role of the stereotypical “coon” because he is known to be a business failure who is lazy and irresponsible. Oscar Proud preserves the stereotype of a lackadaisical black father. Finally, the criminal stereotype which states that black people are dangerous, is perpetuated by the Gross Sisters. These are girls at Penny’s school who bully and take kids’ lunch money. To make the stereotype more real, they wear ragged clothes and their skin is blue to illustrate that they are “ashy”.
In conclusion, The Proud Family is still relevant today, even though it ended over ten years ago, because it planted the seed of African-American stereotypes in young viewers of Disney Channel, like myself. Before I realized it, the television show set a standard for what I expected to see in the media. While it rejected a few stereotypes, it also accepted many more, giving me false ideas about what to expect in my life and in media. The series also connects to other works of culture because the generalizations made against certain races remains a common factor in many popular television series, movies, and many more.
Miss India America begins with what seems like what would be a show about an ambitious Indian girl, Lily, who has her whole life planned out, and never lost until she loses her boyfriend, a supposed petroleum engineer. She does puts herself in the only situation that makes logical sense. She enters a beauty pageant so she can win Miss India California and then go on to win Miss India National, which just so happens to be the title that Reshma, her ex- boyfriend's current girlfriend, holds.
Lily is presented as not only the stereotypical smart Indian but also as the stereotypical female that is presented in rom-coms, high achieving, wants to be a brain surgeon (like her father) and incredibly needing her boyfriend. Almost every single parent has a strong accent and high scholarly jobs: doctors, engineers, physicists. Most of the parents also play the typical indian parents that culture makes them out to be, pushes ideas forward, family is everything and so is tradition
In the pageant; however, Lily meets a variety of people who challenge the traditional Indian stereotypes. Sonia, who appears will be the antagonist, is actually friendly and kind to Lily, Lily actually becomes the one who sabotages Sonia and despite sabotaging her Lily still wins the pageant. One of the competitors is really perky and also really into tennis One of the judges is a famous Indian actor who is a drunk who distraught over an ex girlfriend. The dancer who teaches Lily who is presented as the “perfect Indian daughter” has a secret white boyfriend, and does not get along with most of the female characters. And one of the judges is a famous Indian actor who is a drunk who distraught over an ex girlfriend.
After the pageant Lily acknowledges her mom as a writer, she writes poems and while she is successful, her job is more free and artistic than the other parents. And. while competing nationally instead of trying to appeal to “Traditional Indian Beauty” she presents herself as who she actually is instead of that Idea. Lily never gets back with her boyfriend or finds a new guy.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TFA) is generally regarded as a groundbreaking film for its leading roles being acted by a black man and a latino man, both of whom break the stereotypes that men of color are violent, sexual, and emotionless. However Kylo Ren and his potential redemption arc perpetuate the idea that white male criminals are simply “troubled boys” who will be excused their crimes, contrasted with the demonization and imprisonment of men of color.
Iconic opening scene to TFA. At 2:15 Finn is smeared with the blood of his fallen comrade
which causes him to make his choice not to kill (shown at 3:54).
Before the movie premiered, media buzzed with the news of a black stormtrooper, setting the stage for TFA’s series of broken stereotypes. Having two actors of color in leading roles defies the Hollywood standard that white people are the ‘default’ hero. Finn, the black stormtrooper, again broke the mold in the opening scene when he decided “[he] wasn’t gonna kill for [The First Order]” after being ordered to massacre a town. Finn’s refusal of violence contrasts the idea that black men are inherently aggressive and dangerous. His compassion for Rey to the point where he risks his life to save her from Kylo Ren, destroys the idea that black men are emotionless. It also breaks pattern by being an interracial relationship. Poe, another lead, is played by Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac, who has stated that he is working to make Poe defy the stereotype of the ‘Latin Lover’ by making the role about Poe’s piloting skills rather than romance.
Despite TFA’s progressive portrayal of men of color, the movie and its fanbase enforce the stereotype that white criminals are not responsible for their actions. Kylo Ren leads a violent, terror-based regime, which should seem an obvious crime. Yet Kylo’s parents deny that their son is responsible for so much destruction, claiming that “it was Snoke [who] seduced our son to the dark side” rather than Kylo’s own choice. The fanbase has added onto this portrayal of Kylo with a steady stream of fan theories surrounding the Kylo Ren Redemption Arc, all of which boil down to “Kylo did some bad things, but chose good in the end so it’s ok”. That people are willing to excuse Kylo of murdering innocents and showing no regret for his actions seems to reflect the stereotype that white men who do bad things can be forgiven, no matter the heinousness of their crime. Although TFA defies stereotypes about black and latino men, the movie enforces stereotypes that white people can be redeemed from even the most vile crimes.
In the movie Star Wars- The Force Awakens, race stereotypes are enforced and denied. This movie came out in 2015 and has definitely come a long way since the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, in 1977. In A New Hope there were no main characters that were African American. However, in this recent Star Wars movie, Finn is an important character (not a main character) and is African American. The main character, Han Solo, however, is white. Han is seen as the superior man in this movie, which plays into the white male stereotype. However, Finn is not portrayed as the stereotype, he is seen as kind and gentle instead of aggressive, and falls for Rey, the female main character. This movie shows and breaks stereotypes at the same time by promoting the white masculine man who is usually the main character in action movies, while also showing a kind and caring black man as an important character in the movie as well.
During the movie, Han is portrayed as the wise man with the knowledge and skills to keep you alive. Han was a chief figure in the Rebel Alliance and has power in this movie. When they are on the Falcon, the Rathtars come and Rey asks “What are you going to do,” Han replies “Same thing I always do, talk my way out of it.” This shows Han’s power. When Finn first meets Rey, he runs over to save her because she is being attacked by people who want BB-8. Finn wanting to help defies the aggressive and intimidating label put on African American men. Finn asks Rey, “What happened to you. Did he hurt you?” when they find Rey during one of the scenes. This shows his gentleness and love towards Rey.
In most action movies, like Indiana Jones and the Mission Impossible movies, the main character is a white man. This movie does play into that stereotype while also taking a new path, a path that is putting African American men as characters that are not always the “bad guys,” but as the same roles that the white actors play.
Ghostbusters 2 was released in 2016 as a sequel to the first film that came out in 1984. Throughout the film, Ghostbusters carries on the stereotype that whites are smarter than blacks and the stereotype of the “typical street black woman”. While supporting these stereotypes, the movie also defies the stereotype that women are unable to do what men do.
Ghostbusters 2 has four women, three of which are scientists, who catch ghosts throughout New York City. The problem with this is that the three scientists are white, while the other women is portrayed as a street black woman. An example of this is when the non-scientist Patty, played by Leslie Jones, says “You guys might be scientists, but i know New York”. This has been criticized heavily because it promotes the stereotype that whites are smarter than blacks. It also carries on the stereotype of the “street black woman” because it is saying that they are not smart and their only knowledge is through their street knowledge. Another example is when one scientist says, “We are scientists...plus Patty”. It seems as if she is only there to help guide the three scientists to their success, not hers. She is being used for their gain, but she is not gaining anything herself. It also perpetuates the stereotype of “street savvy black women” by having Pattyś contribution be through her knowledge of New York. She let them be the “brains” of the group while she contributes through her familiarity to the street life. While continuing these stereotypes the movie also defies stereotypes at the same time.
The major difference between the two Ghostbusters films is the cast. The first Ghostbusters consists of four main characters who are males while the main characters in Ghostbusters 2 are woman. This is big because it defies a major gender stereotype that women cannot do everything men do. Having a predominantly female cast shows that women are just as talented as men and can do everything they do and in this case it’s catching ghosts. In a lot of movies women tend to be a part of the supporting cast rather than having a main role and this movie switches that around completely. This movie puts woman in the main roles of the film that have not been seen in a lot of other films.
While Ghostbusters 2 is a funny and classic movie, it has many stereotypes that are hidden at first glance but when you take a deeper look they are clearly there. There are many movie that you think might not contain stereotypes but if you take a deeper look, stereotypes tend to come up. These stereotypes can change your perspectives on the film as a whole. Ghostbusters 2 is a perfect example of that.
The typical cubicle workplace. Endless clicking away and checking the time to see if you can leave. America has many of workplaces, and the common stereotypes that is both associated with the workers and the job itself are still very relevant to today's culture. The Office, an American- made comedy created around the style of it's British made counterpart tells the stories of a cast of odd but regular people at a paper company in Pennsylvania. Once (and still) a very popular show, the cast is shown in such a way that each stereotype surrounding its very specific set of people is very clear for comedic effect.
Let's start with the obese guy. Three of the many stereotypes incorporated with large people include being slow, clumsy, and being overly obsessed with food. Throughout the entire show, Kevin Malone is shown as both of these stereotypes in the film such. This can be seen around the middle of the series. Kevin has just made a big pot of stew, and is happily bringing it into the office. He however trips, hurling is newly made stew into the floor. Out of desperation (and this is sad), he drops down and starts to try to scoop the stew back into the pot with his hands. Although this is very funny, the show uses the stereotypes already common in society and puts it into this character to get the most out of this comedic act. Here is one out of the many acts the show uses these stereotypes to portray Kevin in a funny way.
Another common stereotype would be that women who aren't married by their mid 30-40’s automatically become non social and cranky “cat lady”, who make up for the lack of loving by buying and keeping lots and lots of cats. Angelina Martine is the perfect example of this. In one such episode, the fire alarm in the office begins to go off. Now although the fire is a false alarm, the staff doesn't know this and everyone begins to go into a panic. The camera pans over to watch Angelina start to pull multiple cats out of her drawers and toss them into the now broken ceiling to save them from the fire. In another example, Angelina starts to talk about her relationship with her sister. She continues by telling us that she hasn't talked to her sister in 16 years, because of some fight she can't even remember, and remarking the she is that good (at fights). These examples use these stereotypes to mold the character in the show.
Here are just two examples of stereotypes used, although there are many more used in the show. This however applies to much more than The Office, as media everywhere uses these common stereotypes to increase the number of viewers or enhance their popularity in american culture. I think comedies however use this most of all, as these stereotypes can make some funny scenes.
In the commercial “brotherly love” for Coca Cola there is a trend that has been going on in movies, TV shows and other TV programs for a long time. This trend is that all boys are fairly violent and rough with each other and everything in general. Other movies that show this are How to eat fried worms, The karate kid and Diary of a wimpy kid. This commercial is not true because of how they interpret most boys in this way, but it also is true because of how they present one boy who is not like all the others.
This issue is important to discuss now because of all the pressure put on young boys to be tough and strong, similar to how there is a different pressure on girls to be dainty and delicate. Specifically in this commercial at the very beginning the “main character” of this commercial who is a young boy is shown captivated in a video game while his brother pushes him around. This is already expressing this stereotype, but it is not done there. Later towards the end of the commercial the boy is sitting on a bench while three other boys come up and start picking on him, similar to how his older brother did in the beginning. The ending of this commercial is otherwise sweet when the boy's older brother who was picking on him saves him from these bullies, but to do this he shows toughness so it is still proving the argument.
This stereotype applies to several other movies, TV shows and other pop culture in addition to the ones already named. Others are Lord of the flies (where someone ends up getting killed), The outsiders (where someone gets shot) and Dog Fight (an entire play about boys fighting). I have also seen this type of behavior in school with friends and other people that I don't even know, this behavior shouldn’t be very common but it is.
Kanye West is a man almost everyone knows, and most likely has an opinion on. Kanye, the controversial rapper known as “yeezy” is infamous for having a bad reputation and responsible for being self centered and crazy. Being one of today’s most talked about celebrity, he has a very powerful influence on culture and is also a very strong reflection of it. Kanye’s music is apart of a very popular culture trend that enforces previous stereotypes and also creates new ad questionable controversial ones as well. In one of Kanye’s most popular song “Bound 2” released in 2013 reflects today's society and ideals for men and women. “Bound 2” depicts a false stereotypes on the ideology of what a man is, how marriage is valued in American society, and how love is conveyed in order to be true.
Bound 2 depicts a the ideal for what makes a man and how a man should act. Throughout the song Kanye contemplated whether he should give up his past lifestyle in order to be with the women he loves. He is tired of meaningless flings and unrequited love as revealed in the hook “I know you're tired of lovin', of lovin' With nobody to love, nobody, nobody” Kanye knows that his new love also feels the same way, and in order to be happy, he needs to be with her. Kanye also remembers his past lifestyle and past relationships throughout the song. He is aware of his known bad reputation and how he is considered a player. In the song he admits to being a heartbreaker. He tends to have a “leave a pretty-girl-sad-reputation”. He is referring to his very public breakups with Alexis Phifer and Amber Rose. Kanye also references how he is “backstroking” through women in order to perfect them .By saying this he admits to using women for his own personal gain. He is also conveying an ideal that men should be with many women in their life, and in fact are helping women by doing this. They are helping these women by giving them practice or guidance. Because Kanye has such a prevalent influence in culture, his own personal life is being held up as a pinnacle for other men to live up to.
Kanye also reveals his own stance of marriage. Kanye is starting fresh with his new love in order to be with her forever, and soon get married. He is “bound” to one women for the rest of his life and is ready to be with her effortlessly till he dies. In the line “but first, you gon remember how to forget’” he is explaining how his new love will ultimately forget about his past mistakes and bring forth her unconditional partnership despite his previous blunders. This depicts the idea the fairytale lifestyle that is marriage and partnership. Kanye is expressing that when in a committed partnership, it is the duty to one partner to completely forget about the misbehaving and questionable antics of the partner, without any type of backlash or doubts. This unrealistic portrayal of partnership and marriage disguises the rough and troubling truth that today’s relationships go through. Overall Bound 2 is an untrue story because of the way it idealizes both men and women and unrealistically personifies modern love and relationships.
A love story that makes everyone swoon and even shed a tear may be more than just a cute couple. Up the movie is a true story because it questions gender roles. The main character's wife, Ellie, is shown as being brave and emotionally strong while he, Carl, is seen as emotional and dependent throughout their love story montage. This opposes what society views as the ideal man or woman and makes this tremendous love story into a true one as well.
During the opening scene of the movie, Carl wanders into an abandoned house to find Ellie for the first time. At first sight, it is not apparent whether Ellie is a girl or a boy, this is important because it limits first impressions of the character based on gender. Stereotypes about women in today's media might lead a movie-goer into believing that Ellie is dainty and emotionally fragile; however, this is not true. Pixar has created a girl that is neither, fearless Ellie dreams big about exploring and traveling. Even her male counterpart, Carl, is overwhelmed by her outgoing and fearless personality upon first meeting her.
Up’s love story is true because it depicts how real American women are independent and courageous. Characters similar to Ellie are becoming more common in mainstream entertainment. Strong female leads are seen movies such as The Incredible s, with Helen Parr a female superhero, and Inside Out, with a hockey player named Riley. Hopefully movies such as these three will help young American girls defy expectations. By challenging female stereotypes, this decade's favorite love story becomes even more epic.
The movie Courage Under Fire relates to recent changes in the United States military. Women, for so long, have not been able to fight in combat positions in the U.S. military. All combat positions are now open to all women. Women were and are still seen as weak, emotional, and not fit for the military. Courage Under Fire shows a female Captain in the Army, Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan), during the Gulf War, who does not represent this stereotypical female. She is the commander of a Medevac Huey. Her and the soldiers she commands sees other soldiers in distress and helps them just before their own helicopter goes down and then they become in trouble. She shows courage, strength and heroism
in a scary, hostile and dangerous place. These characteristics make her stand out to the higher ranking men in the military. Walden ends up getting killed for her act of courage under fire and receives a Medal of Honor. Giving this Medal of Honor to Walden, a female, is difficult because this is not a typical scenario. This movie shows a true women defying cultural stereotypes through her strength, power and courage in war.
In this movie, Walden refuses the female cultural stereotype in many ways. Just being a soldier in the Gulf War, Walden defies the stereotype that women cannot fight and handle being in a war. Because she is the commander of a Medevac Huey, Walden stands up to men and makes decisions and gives orders that they might not agree with. Women are supposed to take orders from men in our culture, so this is seen as not right to the men she is in charge of in some scenes in the movie. Walden ends up dying as a result of being shot after their helicopter goes down. Because of how she acts when she gets shot, she is seen as different and not normal. She is strong despite her getting injured. Just the fact that Walden went into the military and succeeded is a cultural backlash, being awarded the Medal of Honor is a specific event of how she succeeds in this field. Walden being the commander of this unit and her power that she has is definitely not a normal thing. She rejects the stereotype that men are “in charge” of women, she shows this when they are waiting for help after the helicopter goes down. She says “No surrender” to the other soldiers in a stern voice, this shows her commitment. She also makes a statement that they are not leaving the area where the helicopter went down because they have an injured soldier, she doesn’t want to risk his life or any other soldiers, this shows her loyalty. In the scene when she gets shot, she says “I gave birth to a nine-pound baby, asshole. I think I can handle it.” Walden shows toughness, strength and fearlessness to the other soldiers. Walden’s personality, character traits in war and the fact that she is in war is a unique and realistic part of our society.
Captain Karen Walden in the movie Courage Under Fire represents what our cultural thinks is false for women. Women in America are supposed to act, look and think a certain way. Women are put into categories and certain things are expected from them. This stereotype affects many cultural aspects of our society and everyday life. It is normal in our society for people to question women with jobs or hobbies that are reserved for men. These stereotypes are all around us and are even portrayed in movies and t.v. shows. Like Walden, women should defy stereotypes and do what they love no matter what other people think.
Call of Duty, a game played by over 175 million people, is deceiving us all. The stereotypes that are portrayed in this video game have been around for a long time, and this game contributes to the problem similar to songs, advertisements, movies, and so much more. Call of Duty is portraying a false image of women, and men though common stereotypes. They have failed to add women characters for years, they portray men as they must be good looking and strong, and include extremely limited options for female players.
When Call of Duty was first released in 2003, there was absolutely no women characters involved, and till a year ago there still wasn’t any. In 2015, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, they included their first female character option. This doesn’t make much sense considering the fact that the ban on women being excluded from the military was officially lifted in 2013, and women have played a role in the army up until then anyway. Considering the fact that there was two Call of Duty's produced from the time the ban was lifted till the first female character was introduced, it just seems like they didn’t see women as being a key role in the military. This isn’t even mentioning the fact of all the female players that were forced to chose a male character for so long. This plays into the stereotype that women don’t play video games when in fact 48% of women, when asked, said that they have or do play video games. All this considered Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 features their first ever female character, and while this is a great improvement, they have failed to correct many of the parts in the transcript, and no matter what gender your character is, there is many times where you will be referred to as a he. This being said, there wasn’t much attention or effort put towards the female character, which is only hurting the game further.
Ever since the first version of Call of Duty came out, they have depicted men that have huge muscles, tattoos, and good looking in general to be in war. This just simply isn’t true, and isn’t even possible. Not every man can have the same body type and the extreme muscles that the male characters have in the game. Also they only just came out with the first African American character in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which is even worse considering the fact that they have played a part in our military since the arrival of black slaves, during the times of colonization. This isn’t even mentioning the number of African American that have played the game since the very beginning and the growing number over the years.
Overall, Call of Duty, throughout the years has been feeding into these American stereotypes. Whether it’s about women in the war, the way males and females appear, or just who is playing the game itself, the game has not been accurate, but is slowly improving over time, and hopefully will take a big step forward with their next release.
I am a nerd. A huge one. Most of my friends are nerds too. My life is probably best chronicled by a series of obsessions, bouncing from one hobby to the next like some sort of socially awkward pinball. So when someone like me, someone who spent the past six years on message boards and in hobby shops, says that nerd culture sucks, I'd like to believe that it holds some weight.
Gamergate, for those of you unaware, started in 2013 when someone named Zoe Quinn made a game called Depression Quest, a game chronicling Quinn's experiences with depression. Critics were lukewarm, but most of them praised the (admittedly short) game as an insightful look into the mind of someone with depression. The community, on the other hand, thought it was awful. One user left a review saying, "This game is free and I still want a refund". The schism between these two points of view was so stark that it brought about a massive conversation that left everyone shouting and nobody satisfied.
Rumors went around that Quinn slept with game critics who then gave her good reviews. As a supposed ex-boyfriend's testimony came out, online harassment reached a fever pitch. Someone released her address to the public, several people sent rape threats. Over and over, the community rallied around some woman who they felt was too invasive of gaming culture, and made their life a living hell. Media critic Anita Sarkeesian made several videos about sexism in video games, and as a result received death threats from people saying she didn't know what she was talking about. Someone threatened to bomb a university where she was scheduled to give a speech.
At the same time, popular video game media outlets like Kotaku and Polygon began railing against "Gamergaters", which led the community to dig into their past as well in an attempt to prove that they too, were corrupt. One by one, media outlets turned against this movement, calling the gaming community misogynistic and childish. The inevitable response from the community was some condemnation of ethics proven by an article , and the cycle began anew. The death knell of #gamergate came when it received national attention, and the general public condemned the movement as being childish and sexist.
From the perspective of video game journalists and feminists, Gamergate was about the problems in video game culture. From the perspective of "Gamergaters", it was about "ethics in video game journalism", which should give you an idea of how detached from reality this movement was. They saw themselves as modern-day investigative journalists, uncovering the filthy crimes of a corrupt industry while crusading against the tyranny of political correctness. What they were actually doing was going on a series of baseless witch hunts, making several people miserable and reinforcing stereotypes about nerd culture along the way.
These stereotypes are not baseless. This is not some small group of hateful trolls, emerged from the darkest depths of the internet. This is a culture fostered in the days when being a nerd was something to be ashamed of, not something a pop star mentioned casually in a GQ article. Nerd Culture is what happens when a group of antisocial white guys spends 30 years isolated from the outside world, and then corporate success throws the door wide open. Suddenly anyone can spend hours playing video games without having to be an outcast. Being a nerd used to be a trial by fire- now it's just an adjective. For someone who had to go so much to earn that title back then, it's frustrating to think that new initiates got the title but don't deserve it.
Which brings me to women in gaming. From the perspective of a community that was predominantly male for decades, women look like outsiders. From the perspective of a community of social outcasts, women seem complex and inhuman. From the perspective of women, video games and video game culture are really interesting, but there's this massive online presence constantly demanding that they prove their worth. When Anita Sarkeesian makes one mistake in a video, there are a thousand angry men citing it as proof that she isn't a "real gamer". When Zoe Quinn makes a below average game and gets good reviews, they see the walls of their boys-only club caving in.
Nerd culture was originally created by boys, for boys. Decades later, the demographic might be changing, but the stigma still hasn't. But maybe if us nerds could stop walling women out, we could build a community that I'm not ashamed of.
America's next top model (ANTM) works to reinforce, and change many stereotypes, gender roles and old ideologies surrounding women. Inside of the fourth season of ANTM it went against the gender role that women should show domesticity and submissiveness. It fights this by showing Noelle, who was in this this competition despite she had a husband and child. This shows that even when women have responsibilities at home they will still try and follow their dreams, even if it entails being the breadwinner in the home. In season four one of the contestants were kicked out of the competition because she almost fought someone who poured something on her. Even though the show went against those gender roles it still reinforces that women should show purity and piety. And should never show angry emotions in public even if it is instigated. ANTM also works to go against many stereotypes but still enforces some. In our society many people see models as sex objects but ANTM tries to change that view with the contestant Brittany. At the beginning of the fourth season she was almost eliminated because she came off as too sexy. Inside the TV show the judges didn't want the girls to come off as sex objects. But they wanted them to be seen as seductresses to all genders. who can get anyone to buy their products just from their looks. Even though in this society models are seen to be skinny, ANTM tries to change this by letting in competitor Keena who is considered to be a plus sized model. She continued to get really far in the competition but her personality simmered away and she lost. This shows that personality is more important than the pictures, which is a very rare view for models.
