children stereotypes on tv

Stereotypes in Children’s Television: “The Proud Family”

“The Proud Family” is a children’s program that runs daily on The Disney Channel and on Saturday mornings on ABC Kids. It is a TV-G rated program. The show is about an African-American family with the last name Proud. There is a mom, dad, three kids, and a grandmother. The main character of the show is the oldest daughter named Penny Proud who is probably in junior high. Also, some of Penny’s friends are in the show. All of the characters in this show are stereotyped by many things such as race and gender, including Penny.

The first stereotype I noticed about the show was the way the cartoonist drew the different characters. All of the African-American characters were drawn with enormous lips and huge noses. Meanwhile, the two Caucasian characters in the show were both drawn with wider heads and seemed smarter than the other characters in the show. Also, all the African-American characters talked in a dialect while the Caucasian characters talked slower. In addition, all of the African-American characters all called each other “brotha,” which is another stereotype, because not all African-Americans call each other that or like to be called that.

There are many stereotypes made about the main character Penny. First, her race is the main issue in the show. She is shown drawn the same way as the other African-American, with the bigger features described before. Penny also has a kind of attitude about her, which is also often associated with African-American females. Not only is she stereotyped by race, but by gender as well. She is shown as the smart and understanding friend, probably because she is the main girl character in the show. For example, when her friend, Dlionay, has a problem with a boy, Penny is the one that helps Dlionay out and gives her advice and helps her try to win back the boy.

However, there were also other gender stereotypes in the show as well. The girl, Dlionay was often shown as the kind of “damsel in distress.” A few times a boy was sent to rescue her. For example, one of her friends was stuck out in the water and instead of getting him herself, she plead to the other boy to please save him. This shows the stereotype that men are stronger and braver than women...

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...e typical physical stereotypes of African-Americans, this show is good for children to see because the characters are kind to each other and it portrays a loving family and home and great friends for the children.

I believe that overall this show gives a positive image of African-American characters to everyone who watches. Even though there were some stereotypes of race and gender, it didn’t affect the overall message of the program, which was to help out friends when they are in need and make sure your family is important in your life. This show was funny as it was compassionate. If I had children I would like them to watch this show because almost all of the other shows I saw on television before choosing to write about this one had Caucasian characters or animals and the main focus of the show. I believe that this program, “The Proud Family,” gives a great deal of diversity to The Disney Channel’s and ABC Kids other programs and gives children more of an opportunity to relate to a character and learn that minority people are in important part of out population as well.

Works Cited

Perse, Elizabeth M. Media Effects and Society. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2001.