Election (1999) is a film is about an election at a high school for student council president. In this year’s election teacher Jim McAllister becomes irritated with the only candidate Tracy Flick, as he finds she not deserve to become president. This is partly due to the relationship Tracy had with his best friend and former colleague Dave Novotny. Tracy Flick, Paul Metzler and Jim McAllister tell the story about the election years after high school. As the teenagers tell the story while they are adults and the teacher is also an adult, the viewpoint of the movie is an adult perspective and thus not from a teenager perspective. According to Johanna Wyn Stereotypes from adults “derive more from ‘the desires, fantasies and interests of the adult …show more content…
world’ than they do from young people’s own perceptions and experiences of the world” (32). Thus, the now adult students form these stereotypes that shown in Election instead of their teenage self. Another factor that occurs in the movie is self-justification, as Carol Travis and Elliot Aronson say self-justification “allows people to convince themselves that what they did was the best thing they could have done” (5). This means that the adults in election that are looking back believe they did the best they could. Due to the storytelling from an adult viewpoint about their teenage life’s makes that the story is full of negative stereotypes and self-justification, showing that there is bias against the teenagers in the viewpoint. The adult personages tell several stereotypes through the flash backs, which makes the teenagers seem less of a person.
The first major stereotype is about the affair. While Jim McAllister says, he does not blame Tracy Flicks for the affair she had with fellow colleague and friend Dave Novatny, it becomes clear that he indeed blames her for it. First of all, he becomes concerned that Tracy also wants something more than a teacher student relation when she tells Jim “When I win the presidency that means you and I are gonna be spending a lot of time together. And I for one would really like for that time to be harmonious and productive.” That Jim stereotypes her in that way would be logical as for teenagers to fall in love with someone, the bond with their parents must be weaker as Robert Sylwester describes (50). That Tracy Flick’s mother raises her alone and she does not have a father means that one might think that she has a weaker bond, as she has no relationship with her father. As a result of that she would likely again seek a relationship with an older man. Another stereotype is that the older Tracy Flick talks about Paul Metzler as a popular rich boy, who did think he did not have to work for anything. This is again a negative stereotype of an adult about the then situation. Both these stereotypes show that the adults are full of biases against the teenagers and thus do not understand what the teenagers want in …show more content…
life. Besides the stereotypes that hinder view of the teenagers, there is also the self-justification of the now adults that hinders it.
When Jim McAllister convinces another candidate, Paul Metzler, to join the presidential race the justifying of behavior increases. Firstly, while older Tracy says she is not upset with Paul running against her, however the movie shows that she is upset when she begins working harder. Another justification is when Jim muffles away two votes making Paul the winner instead of Stacy, Jim then says “after all what harm had really been done, nobody was dead.” This statement is again a justification of the self-made choices of Jim. This shows that Jim is biased about his own decisions. Both justifications show that the people are unaware of the dreams of these teenagers and what they want to become in
life. Both the stereotypes and the self-justification show that the viewpoint of adults makes that they are biased against the teenagers. The adults do not have a bias against their teenage self although they show no understanding for any other teenagers, which portrays that they are not considering the dreams and hopes of the other students, while they only consider their own. That they only look at their own teenager live show that there is a bias against the teenagers.
In the essays, “Turkeys in the Kitchen” by Dave Barry, and “Just Walk on By” by Brent Staples, they argue the theme of gender, and racial stereotypes that have been present in our world from the very beginning. Barry suggests through a sarcastic and humors tone that gender stereotypes have been present since before the start of time; he uses a highly conversational style to prove this, as well as narrates to give the reader a better understanding of exactly what he’s talking about. Staples, on the other hand, uses a more authoritative tone to support his theme of racial stereotyping; he also uses the mode of rhetoric exemplification to his benefit, and is able to show the audience that this issue is just as important as the gender stereotypes that take place in our society still today. Barry believes that despite the fact that people are against stereotypes they still will always fall back on them; and Staples believes that people need to change themselves in order to not fit into those common stereotypes. They prove this through the history of gender discrimination in the 19th century factories, and through the 1970-1980’s and also up until today’s racial discrimination in the media. However, if we all hate stereotypes, then why do we always seem to be falling back on them?
One of the problems with this argument is that not everyone in society identifies with these stereotypes. If the audience does not find the characteristics to be true they could shut off thought, thereby defeating his purpose for writing the article. There are no statistics presented in this article. The lack of statistics or other evidence, such as results of surveys, could lead Mr. Leo’s audience to believe that these are his own perceptions. In the seventh paragraph, Leo makes references to Catholics, Asians, Republicans, and Africans.
Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614831,00.html. Levy, W. (2013). The 'Standard'. United States presidential election of 2000.
Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, we are presented with various representations of stereotypes involving numerous characters of all ages. Due to specific encounters, we are faced with repeated stereotypical situations. For example, Walter Cunningham is a poor, misunderstood boy who comes from an underestimated family name. Along with the main character Scout, who narrates the story from a young age and finds herself constantly reminded to be the lady she is not. In like manner, Tom Robinson is familiar with the ways of Maycomb, Alabama who easily loses hope with his case of an alleged rape. Walter, Scout and Tom all validate as victims of stereotyping, but from the goodwill within and taking the time to understand someone beforehand,
For instance, Staples faces many stereotypes. He is a journalist who is consistently judged due to his appearance. In paragraph 1, “As I swung onto the avenue behind her, there seemed to be a discreet, uninflammatory distance between us.” Staples creates an image by describing himself as a monster but his description is based on how the outside world see him. He considers his presence a cause for altering others emotion. According to Stereotypes by Rachel E, “In the United States, some of the longest-held and potentially most detrimental stereotypes are those about African Americans.” This relates to Staples crucial journey to greatness. Staples was perceived as a mugger, a murderer, and a rapist because of his outside image and how others viewed
Throughout the course of my life I have heard conflicting statements about stereotypes. From a young age I was taught that there are no truths to stereotypes, that they are unfair beliefs and generalizations pertaining to a certain group of people. Contrary to what I was taught, I have also heard there is always some truth behind stereotypes. So which is it? Well the HBO television series The Wire has only made answering that question harder. The series has an abundance of characters that seem to fit and defy particular stereotypes. In this essay, I argue that the character Kima Griggs in the television series The Wire has managed to find a balance between fitting and defying the stereotype known as the “mammy”. First, I explain how Kima being
These are all stereotypes, a classification of a person or group based solely off of assumptions and opinion. Stereotypes lead to discrimination and harassment. This movie displays a wide variety of it, Janis is considered to be in the “outside group” and acts all tough against the plastics but in the end we find that it’s simply a defense mechanism because she blows up on Cady and you see that jealousy and anger from Janis. I thought that this went to show that forming these “secluded” groups that only certain people can be in actually brings people further apart. It creates a hostile environment for these young men and women and takes the focus away from why they are actually at school, and what person they truly want to
At the time when Jim and Antonia are growing up, a rigid social structure exists in Nebraska. This social difference contributed to the creation and alteration of their friendship; in part, it is responsible for their behavior toward one another.
According to the oxford dictionary a stereotype is; a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. In the text there are two female stereotypes that are depicted. These stereotypes are, that the girls are sex objects and are only there for the males pleasure and use. The other is, that the older women are typical stay at home mothers, not having a job or a life. The first stereotype is what the play has been written about, the most predominant example is the gang rape of Tracy. This example shows exactly how the boys think of the girls as objects; another example is how Ricko only talks to Tiffany so he can have sex with her. Through
Stereotyping is when a person believes someone has a certain characteristic based on their race. Toni Morrison purposefully does not tell the readers the race of Twyla and Roberta in the story because she wants the reader to recognize how they stereotype others based on how she describes the girls. The only way we know the girls are not the same race is because Twyla says, “So for the moment it didn’t matter that we looked like salt and pepper standing there and that’s what the other kids called us sometimes,” (Morrison 239). Twyla and Roberta are friends in a time period where African Americans and white people were learning how to co-exist with each other so it was a step in the right direction for them to develop a friendship despite their differences. When Twyla first meets Roberta she stereotypes her and says, “And Mary, that’s my mother, she was right. Every now and then she would stop dancing long enough to tell me something important and one of the things she said was that they never washed their hair and they smelled funny,” (Morrison 239). Twyla knew nothing about Roberta when she made this comment but she judged her based on what her mother has told her about people of the opposite race. Twyla and Roberta were both young girls when they first met so the only thing they knew about race was what their mothers or other people told them and during this time period they was a lot of stereotyping and biased
This article contains claims that Jim’s character should not be offensive because of his positive portrayal. The author uses personal experiences and examples from the book to back this claim. His position as an English Professor is important to note.
People being generalized based on limited and inaccurate information by sources as television, cartoons or even comic books (Tripod). This is a definition that seems to go against many public standards. The above words are the exact definition of stereotypes. Stereotypes as understood from the definition, goes mostly hand in hand with media -- only not the regular meaning of the innocent media we know. Media propaganda is the other form of media that is rather described as media manipulation. In this paper, the following will be discussed: first, how stereotypes of ethnic groups function in propaganda, why does it function so well, and finally, the consequences of these stereotypes on the life of Egyptians in particular in society. A fair examination will be conducted on this example of stereotypes through clarification examples and research results from researches conducted from reliable sources. The real association between Egyptians’ stereotypes and propaganda discussed in this paper shall magnify the association of stereotypes and propaganda in general.
“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time” (Malcolm X). The civil rights movement of the nineteen fifties and sixties was an era of enlightened equality and while many shared the common goal of equality, not everyone shared the same vehicle to achieve it. In the March Trilogy that outlines John Lewis’s rise to prominence, there were many instances of internal disputation between leaders within the movement during that time. Consequently, creating sources of conflict between various civil rights organizations and within them. Freedom activists, Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael shared the same goal as other civil rights
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.
The Functions of Stereotypes in Propaganda "A leader with no followers is a guy taking a walk". Good leaders, whether it be opinion or political, rarely if ever walk by themselves. The information they disseminate more often than not leaves them with a hoard of followers that conform to their ideas or cause. Circulated information is known as propaganda. The Webster dictionary defines propaganda as, "ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause".