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Stereotype influences in movies
Stereotype influences in movies
Impacts of stereotypes
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Identity is a historically and socially established idea. Identity is learned through interaction with different people, including institutions, friends, family, organization, media, and peers. In the film we have discrimination and hindrance that some groups face either by belonging to a particular race, sexual identity or even socio-economic class involves a preconception that brings about different chances in the vast film industry in matters of pay, roles to be acted, being stereotyped and being sidelined especially in Latino movies. I feel much has to be done to get Latinos media in U.S cinema, in a world where media plays a significant role in shaping ideologies of race and ethnicity which should be viewed in the broader perspective of …show more content…
concepts and relationships. (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 3). Film criticism and stereotyping should be a thing of the past if it should not be used to criticize or make Latino cinema less powerful of content.
Most America’s ideas on racial discrimination are based in the era where colonization took place, immigration, the foundation of these ideologies should be examined in the film industry to be empirical if we want to bring equality. Movie stereotyping of Latinos is on the basis that U.S imperialism had to take charge of everything where Latinos acted as laborers and lesser beings in treatment under Monroe Doctrine of 1823. On another hand, Latino film making should be top-class for them to get appreciation on the other side of U.S, just as Hollywood movies have quality filmmaking. We should outline and know the features of a standard film to avoid this enemy called stereotyping of Latino imagery in American cinema. (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, …show more content…
5). Stereotype being a broad discussion starting with concerned individuals who perceive it to be a value-neutral physiological mechanism that creates classification from information a person receives this for my part doesn’t guarantee full definition as the human grasping of knowledge can never be perfect. Another deeper definition that I agree with is that stereotyping by getting the classification of information, analyzing others culture and using preconceived personal opinions without reason to give a negative generalization used by a group against the other out-group. The negativity is what Hollywood feel against the Latinos, due to having little knowledge about the Latinos leading to stereotyped information replacing the lived and the common information repetitively becomes healthy and natural making it hard to change as stereotypes believed. And the fact that Hollywood studio films are controlling the cinema and obviously support their film. (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 18, 24). In-group stereotypes among Americans is making the identity and racial discrimination with the Latinos harder to close the gap between them.
The medicine to stereotyping is knowledge, to change the sociological perspective among the Americans who term themselves as all powerful in the Hollywood and can’t appreciate the Latinos work however much effort is put in the filmmaking. I feel the Hollywood cinema is in a way incompatible to have problems with implementing the standards set. (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 25).
Hollywood filmmaking has different ideas about stereotyping based on several films. Films that criticize Latinos unfairly with prostitute and banditry stereotype, those films that disparage and show some positive stereotype as Lupe Velez went beyond limits of the stereotype and those films that have gone beyond stereotyping by doing the right thing as standards expected of them. (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, chapter 3).
Let me conclude by appreciating the growth of film industry in Latino by the Chicano and Chicana filmmakers who have undertaken the big step from the stereotyping from Hollywood film, and mainstream media to build on the cinema and film to create a new picture of the development of characters and content. I would not encourage Film stereotyping, and strict laws should be formulated to curb this problem that makes the film industry lag in
development.
It is also interesting to mention how in a subtle way it also portrays Vergara’s character as a “gold digger” because of her marriage with an older man. The stereotypes are still present in films and shows “although substantial improvements have occurred over the decades, in many ways these groups remain defined by a limited volume and range of representations” (Tukachinsky, Mastro & Yarchi, 2017). As mentioned before, Latinos are the second largest ethnic group in the U.S., which means the diversity that exists within the group is huge; however, the stereotypes seems to be always the
...e. Cinema can create new or old perceptions of reality through their depictions of ideas or images. Martyrs of the Alamo is a film that created a new perception of nationalism during a period where there were threats against the United States. D.W. Griffin’s productions of the film perpetuated racial images of Mexicans in order to enhance his central theme. Through out the film we see these racializations through the contrast in characters and how different scenes were created to evoke emotions needed to instill this need to belong.
Over the course of this past century, the depictions of assimilated Latino characters has improved a great deal. Early portrayals of Latino assimilation generally proved to be a montage of unrealistic caricatures which seemed to convey the filmmaker's creativity more so than true representations. This formed the manner in which the American people at large viewed not just Latino characters attempting to assimilate, but also those who were not. As Cine-Aztlan puts it, film "manipulates the human psychology, sociology, religion, and morality of the people, in a word the ideological super-structure of modern capitalist society" (pg.275, Chicanos and Film). As the years went by however, mainly because Latinos started gaining power in the film industry and depicting (as opposed to creating) Latino characters, the images of Latinos who were adapting (either by choice or by societal force) to the lifestyle and values of the United States, grew more and more representative of what was actually taking place outside of the film studios. Today, most portrayals of assimilated Latinos are fairly accurate. The forces to which their modification is portrayed are not so much representative of middle-class White America however, but rather that of Urban Hip-Hop culture.
As showed in the film, Latino American often misrepresented and underrepresented both in front of and under the camera. American Hispanic often portrayed as lazy, unintelligent, greasy and criminal. Hispanic women often pictured comfortable sexuality as prostitution in film production; while Hispanic actors limit to criminal characters such as drug dealers, gangster, and provide the power for the white American. Audiences have less interaction with Latino in their real world might be easily framed by media images regarding the race and ethnicity. The lack of Hispanic history and culture understanding allows these media portrayals to change and form unfavorable behavior and attitude against Latino communities.
As previously mention the films main focus is on the United States economic relationship and impact on Latinos and Latin countries. Primarily we see how Latinos are treated here in the U.S. and the hardships the face along with how the U.S. affected other countries like Guatemala, or more specifically how influential United Fruit Company was, and how its presence affected the nation. One major example of this was the coup that the US backed to overthrow the democratically elected government of Guatemala after they confronted the United Fruit Company. We also see how the U.S. military affected these nations, one well known example being the
...he ‘Cesar Chavez’ film will, with any luck, influence Hollywood to create more movies that reflect our diverse American stories. Filipino Americans are California’s biggest Asian American group, California’s third largest minority group, and the second biggest Asian ethnicity group in the United States of America. Chicanos/as and Filipinos are the two of the fastest rising ethnic collections in the nation. With more documentaries like ‘Delano Manongs, literature, and more ethnic studies discourse set on the promotion of accurate representation of history that bring the experiences of Filipinos in California’s labor movement to light, an opportunity to erase the history of erasure is presenting itself. In sum, it is imperative that a substantial place for Filipino descendants in US history is not buried or elapsed, especially within a popular form of media like film.
Latino portrayals in the media of theatre and movies have had negative affects for the Latino community but there are roles that are slowly becoming positive for their community. Not only have Latinos been portrayed negatively through stereotypes but they have also been ignored from American Media. When Latinos are actually present in different forms of media a very consistent type of Latino is portrayed. The words Hispanic and Latino already come with an image of that specific person who has dark features and an accent. When it comes to stereotyping Latinos in the media whether it be Hollywood or Broadway they tend to translate everything negatively through the roles they play. The audiences’ lack of understanding different Latino cultures allows the media to manipulate and reinforce myths on Latino communities. Rita Moreno from the film West Side Story had to overcome many stereotypes in order to achieve her fame. "Before 'West Side Story,' I was always offered the stereotypical Latina roles. The Conchitas and Lolita’s in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else. After 'West Side Story,' it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories”
Andre, Judith. “Stereotypes: Conceptual and Normative Considerations.” Multicultural Film: An Anthology. Spring/Summer 2014. Eds. Kathryn Karrh Cashin and Lauren Martilli. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013.
Thompson, Nicole A. "Mo' Latinos, Same Problems: Negative Portrayal of Latinos Continue in the Media, Despite More Latino Talent on the Screen."Latin Post RSS. N.p., 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 May 2014.
The IDC is a center at UB that offers events and activities to celebrate UB’s diversity and to bring awareness to the community on accepting peoples’ differences. One of their programs is the Annual IDC Film Series. This is a film series dedicated to examining modern film from a critical lens. It celebrates heritages and experiences of people in the United States. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, IDC screened Pelo Malo on Thursday September 17th, in the Student Union Theater. Following the screening, IDC held a discussion about the films relevance, gender roles, racism, and what constitutes good
The number of Asian American communities is growing in the U.S. population, however, these groups of people are often marginalized and misrepresented in mainstream media. In today’s mainstream media, there is a visible lack of Asian American representation on film. Asian actors, when given roles in film and television, are rarely cast for central roles and form about only 3% of prime-time characters (Ramasubramanian, 2011). Not only is the number for casting Asian and Asian Americans low, the roles of these characters are often portrayed in the stereotypical ideology which has been present for decades. But why are Asians portrayed the way they are? Why has Hollywood maintained its representational practices when it comes to the portraying Asians? Why do these portrayals persist in the presence of a growing Asian population and racial diversity? What is the significance of the Asian American segment for Hollywood? To what extent does the consideration of the Asian American market influence the way Hollywood portray Asians? These are the questions that surface when watching films, and in the lens of an Asian American, many Asians and Asian American do not fit the mold created by Hollywood. First, I will introduce the range of common film representation of Asians. This literature review will focus on the negative and positive light of Asian representation , the structure of Hollywood film industry and its effect on representing Asian race, the social acceptance of Asian stereotypes, and Asian American’s social identity theories.
Hollywood’s diversity problem is well-known; however, the extent might be surprising to most Americans. According to a 2014 report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television, Film & New Media, found that females comprised only 30% of all speaking characters among the top grossing films of 2013. (Lauzen, 2014) However, minority women faired far worse than their Caucasian counterparts. As a matter of fact, if one looks at the numbers even female characters from other world’s were as better represented in film than some minority women; the numbers are as follow for women: Caucasian (73%), African American (14%), Latina (5%), Asian and other world tied (3%). (Lauzen, 2014) If the lack of representation were not enough consider a 2009 study which found that when minority groups are portrayed on television the portrayal tends to be negative. (Alexandrin, 2009) A study by Busselle and Crandall (2009) found that the manner in which African-Americans are portrayed, often as unemployed criminals, tends to have an influence on the way the public perceives African-American’s lack of economic success. Furthermore, the news media does an equally poor job in the ways that African-American’s are presented; according to the same study while 27% of Americans were considered “poor” in 1996 the images of America’s “poor” being presented by news media was heavily Black (63%). (Busselle & Crandall, 2002) Today, this can be seen in the way that African-American victims of police brutality are depicted in the media. Even when African-Americans are murdered at the hands of police for minor and non-violent offenses (e.g. Mike Brown, Eric Gardner, and Tamir Rice) they are often portrayed as thugs, criminals, and vandals. What’s more, seve...
However, as degrading the stereotypes may be, some directors use these stereotypes to communicate the reality of the situation. For example, when the premise of the plot relates to history of Asian Americans, the inclusion of culture-specific attitudes and accents transforms the movie or TV show in an unidealized perspective of the world. Rather than shying away from what is considered racist, the directors stays true to what is part of society. Therefore, the ethical responsibility is to display these negative stereotypes.
While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...
The film Gran Torino directed by Client Eastwood challenges The issues of stereotypes through the attributes of contemporary assumptions of status, gender and ethnicity. Exploring the themes of absence of a male dominate figure, enabling protagonist Theo to be a feminine figure exploits the idea of gender portrays the Hmong men to be stereotyped.Ethnicity and status also express multiple meanings through the cinematography and the Hollywood narrative style illustrates many representation of the western and eastern cultures These key terms gender, ethnicity and status all intertwine with each other during the entire film. The Hmong culture have been stereotyped by the western culture concerning that the American way is the only way which evidently challenges the ideas and ideologies of the Hmong society. the film illustrates the idea of realism but underlines the factor that cultures outside of America should obtain the manners and ideas of an American to survive in society. there is clear indication that classical Hollywood narrative, mis en scene and cinematography style can support stereotypes about gender, ethnicity and status.