This small clip addresses that fact..
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Effect on teenage girls
The overall effect the media has on teenage girls is hugely different. Obviously some girls aren't going to take offense as easily as others. Some insecure girls would look at the pictures and movies and think 'why can't I be like her?' And although most girls are insecure - not all girls think like that. However, if we were to look at other cultures (e.g. not western!), there is a very small representation of them in movies and magazines. Nowadays since there is so much talk about equality - not only between genders but also between races, you would think that there would be an equal amount of races throughout the media, however - if we talk African-American people for example - there is still a very small minority throughout the media.
This small clip addresses that fact..
In Lupita Nyong'o's speech she reads out a letter that a fan wrote to her. In the letter she reads: "I was just about to buy cream that lightens my skin when I saw you on the T.V." There are two huge things wrong with that sentence. Of course, the first being that the young girl wanted to whiten her skin (so she could be excepted). And the reason of course was because there is a very small representation of African-America women in the media, and because we are always seeing beautiful white women, it may have made her think that she wasn't beautiful. And the second - why does skin whitening cream even exist? Because white people are better and more successful - no! Just look at Lupita, Oprah and so many other influential african-american women. The greater effect can damage everyone though - and not only a specific race. Just like many people say - If steroids are illegal for athletes, then Photoshop should be illegal for models!
This small clip addresses that fact..
Girlfriend Magazine Stereotypes
The magazine 'Girlfriend' is a magazine aimed at girls aged 12-17 but is rather bought by girls aged 9-13. This name suggests that its a magazine that can relate to you and that is "your friend." The issue of the magazine that I was looking at had One Direction's Harry Styles on the front cover looking straight into the camera holding a rose across one eye. It was a February issue meaning that Valentines Day was coming up, so for their front cover picture was of Harry presenting you with a rose, suggesting romance and love.
Harry Styles is not only famous for being apart of the boy band 'One Direction' but he is also famous in the younger generation of girls for being good looking. The picture on the front has a little sticker down the bottom saying: "This image was supplied to us retouched." This photo was obviously photo shopped showing Harry with no stubble, plush plum coloured lips, not a hair out of place and perfect smooth-looking skin. Harry is 20 years old and is made to look like he's 16 so he attractive to younger girls.
The front of this magazine has the hot neon pink colour that feature a lot in the writing. This colour pink is more appealing to younger girls and makes me think that this magazine is aimed at younger girls even though majority of the articles in the magazine are about things that should not be viewed by younger members. The stories featured on the cover of the magazine are about how to be popular and stories from the 1D boys themselves. Even before you look inside the magazine, just by looking at the cover, you come to assumption that girls are constantly trying to be cool and popular, and that they're boy obsessed.
As girlfriend magazine is an Australian magazine, you would expect to see a lot of pictures that relate to Australian teens - even New Zealand teens as Australia and New Zealand are such close countries. But majority of the content in the magazine is about American teens, so Australian and New Zealand teenagers can't relate. And not only are all the pictures of American girls but they are also Photo shopped, so the girls can't live up to those unrealistic expectations. One of the pages in the magazine has an advertisement for makeup and says, if you have all of those products then you = gorgeous! However, if you look at the prices for all the products it adds up to almost $200! Suggesting that 'it costs to look beautiful'.
Harry Styles is not only famous for being apart of the boy band 'One Direction' but he is also famous in the younger generation of girls for being good looking. The picture on the front has a little sticker down the bottom saying: "This image was supplied to us retouched." This photo was obviously photo shopped showing Harry with no stubble, plush plum coloured lips, not a hair out of place and perfect smooth-looking skin. Harry is 20 years old and is made to look like he's 16 so he attractive to younger girls.
The front of this magazine has the hot neon pink colour that feature a lot in the writing. This colour pink is more appealing to younger girls and makes me think that this magazine is aimed at younger girls even though majority of the articles in the magazine are about things that should not be viewed by younger members. The stories featured on the cover of the magazine are about how to be popular and stories from the 1D boys themselves. Even before you look inside the magazine, just by looking at the cover, you come to assumption that girls are constantly trying to be cool and popular, and that they're boy obsessed.
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| February Cover of Girlfriend Magazine |
As girlfriend magazine is an Australian magazine, you would expect to see a lot of pictures that relate to Australian teens - even New Zealand teens as Australia and New Zealand are such close countries. But majority of the content in the magazine is about American teens, so Australian and New Zealand teenagers can't relate. And not only are all the pictures of American girls but they are also Photo shopped, so the girls can't live up to those unrealistic expectations. One of the pages in the magazine has an advertisement for makeup and says, if you have all of those products then you = gorgeous! However, if you look at the prices for all the products it adds up to almost $200! Suggesting that 'it costs to look beautiful'.
Statistics from the magazine:
Number of advertisements for:
- Make-up: 9
- Skin care: 1
- Hair products: 2
- Clothing/Jewellery: 20
- Technology: 3
- Health: 2
- Entertainment (books, movies, radio stations): 5
Number of articles about:
- Beauty: 15
- Fashion: 4
- Friendship: 5
- Boys: 9
- Advice: 20
- World Affair/Politics: 0
- Sex: 1
- Diets: 3
- Celebrities: 16
- Readers stories: 4
- Others 5
Looking at the statistics from inside the magazine the same assumptions could be made. Teenage girls are boy crazy and wanting to be cool/popular but it also now suggests that girls are always wanting to change themselves and make themselves look "more beautiful" by putting makeup on and changing their fashion sense to look like celebrities. It shows that this kind of thing is what a normal teenage girl is like.
In this magazine, unlike many others, there are stories about people with disabilities and with cancer. However, there are very few photographs of people with dark skin. But if you look at the other issues of girlfriend magazine there are no stories about disabilities or illnesses and there are no photographs of other ethnicities. So maybe you could see this issue as a one off kind of thing.
This stereotype about teenage girls is not portraying a positive message of teenage girls because as the articles and advertisements suggest, girls and superficial and boy crazy although over half of the girls I know aren't like that at all.
Since every girl is different, the advertisements and images could affect you differently. Obviously if you are insecure, you will take what the magazine says seriously and want the products that its advertising. However, for some girls they might just see it as a form of light-hearted entertainment and just ignore the pressuring advertisements.
Since every girl is different, the advertisements and images could affect you differently. Obviously if you are insecure, you will take what the magazine says seriously and want the products that its advertising. However, for some girls they might just see it as a form of light-hearted entertainment and just ignore the pressuring advertisements.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Disney's Heros
As a child most young girls were brought up watching the famous Disney Princess movies with the typical story line being: girl meets boy, they fall in love, something drastic happens to the girl and they can't be together, the boy rescues the girl and they get married. Right? Wrong. If you were to have a look at each Disney Princess movie individually you would see thats not the case.
Lets take a look at the first Disney Princess movie to be released, Snow White which was released way back in 1937. In this movie Snow White's step-mother was jealous of Snow White's beauty and sent her into the woods with a hunter to be killed. The hunter pitied Snow White and told her to run away and never return. In the woods she found a small, untidy cottage that she thought belonged to orphaned children. So she did what every woman was "supposed" to do and started cleaning and cooking for these "orphaned children". Eventually 7 dwarves come through the door and find Snow White asleep across their beds, so they decide to take her under their wing after hearing about Snow White's story. So Snow White stays with the dwarves and while they go to the mines to work, she cooks and cleans. Back at home her step-mother finds out that Snow White is still alive and decides to venture out and poison Snow White with a poisoned apple that will send her into a deep sleep to which the dwarves will thinks she's dead and bury her alive. So she does just that. The dwarves come home and find Snow White "dead" and to honor her, they put her in a glass coffin on top of hill. Then one day a handsome prince rides by and to pay his respects to Snow White, he kisses her that awakens her from her deep sleep and they ride off together and get married.
In this story it follows the typical storyline of having to be rescued by a prince in order to fall in love. And Sleeping Beauty (1959) is the same. She falls into a deep sleep after pricking her finger on a spinning needle and can only be awoken by a true loves kiss - which happens after the prince fights a dragon to be able to kiss her. However, these are the only two Disney Princess that have followed the "typical" storyline.
In The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Tangled (2010) the girl is as big as hero as the boy is, doing just as much saving for the guy as he does for the girl. In Cinderella (1950) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) the girl saves herself in order to be with the prince. These two story-lines I can understand being mixed up to the boy rescuing the girl, because normally at some point in the movie the boy plays a part in being a big hero.
However in Mulan (1998), Brave (2012) and Frozen (2013) aren't any thing to do with being rescued by a prince. Mulan is about a girl who disguises herself as a man and joins an all male army to help save China so that she didn't bring shame on the family. Brave is about a girl who sets out to find a potion to bring her mother and 3 younger brothers back to human form after she accidentally turns them in to bears, and Frozen is about a girl who fights a snow storm to find her sister to help her bring back summer after her sister accidentally curses an eternal winter on their home town. These last three stories aren't anything to do with a man so it shouldn't be confused with a man saving a woman.So if you look at it literally, out of the 12 Disney Princess stories only 2 of them follow the "typical" storyline of the man rescuing the woman and the rest aren't.
As a young child, being brought up on Disney Princess movies and watching them over and over again - Disney Princess movies can highly influence the way you look at things and one thing that has stuck in almost every girls brains are the romantic love stories that Disney loves to sneak into every movie. And because of seeing this from a young age, when you get older its what you expect. A boy to sweep you off your feet because thats whats been slammed into your brains since you could pay attention for 2 hours (give or take). And this is why most teenage girls are obsessed with love nowadays. This could also be related to why girls get so insecure, because most of the Disney Princess movie characters are all teenagers, the youngest being 14! So when a girl doesn't fall in love by her teens she may start to think that its because somethings wrong with her - and not just because the disney movies are fake. So they start looking at the appearances and actions of girls in not only the Disney Princess movies but also other movies as well, and this is when teenage girls start turning into the stereotypes the media has displayed for them, so they can fit in (and get a boyfriend).
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| The famous Disney Princesses (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/357/3/6/disney_princesses_with_anna_and_elsa_by_elemental_aura-d6ke31i.png) |
Lets take a look at the first Disney Princess movie to be released, Snow White which was released way back in 1937. In this movie Snow White's step-mother was jealous of Snow White's beauty and sent her into the woods with a hunter to be killed. The hunter pitied Snow White and told her to run away and never return. In the woods she found a small, untidy cottage that she thought belonged to orphaned children. So she did what every woman was "supposed" to do and started cleaning and cooking for these "orphaned children". Eventually 7 dwarves come through the door and find Snow White asleep across their beds, so they decide to take her under their wing after hearing about Snow White's story. So Snow White stays with the dwarves and while they go to the mines to work, she cooks and cleans. Back at home her step-mother finds out that Snow White is still alive and decides to venture out and poison Snow White with a poisoned apple that will send her into a deep sleep to which the dwarves will thinks she's dead and bury her alive. So she does just that. The dwarves come home and find Snow White "dead" and to honor her, they put her in a glass coffin on top of hill. Then one day a handsome prince rides by and to pay his respects to Snow White, he kisses her that awakens her from her deep sleep and they ride off together and get married.
In this story it follows the typical storyline of having to be rescued by a prince in order to fall in love. And Sleeping Beauty (1959) is the same. She falls into a deep sleep after pricking her finger on a spinning needle and can only be awoken by a true loves kiss - which happens after the prince fights a dragon to be able to kiss her. However, these are the only two Disney Princess that have followed the "typical" storyline.
In The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Tangled (2010) the girl is as big as hero as the boy is, doing just as much saving for the guy as he does for the girl. In Cinderella (1950) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) the girl saves herself in order to be with the prince. These two story-lines I can understand being mixed up to the boy rescuing the girl, because normally at some point in the movie the boy plays a part in being a big hero.
However in Mulan (1998), Brave (2012) and Frozen (2013) aren't any thing to do with being rescued by a prince. Mulan is about a girl who disguises herself as a man and joins an all male army to help save China so that she didn't bring shame on the family. Brave is about a girl who sets out to find a potion to bring her mother and 3 younger brothers back to human form after she accidentally turns them in to bears, and Frozen is about a girl who fights a snow storm to find her sister to help her bring back summer after her sister accidentally curses an eternal winter on their home town. These last three stories aren't anything to do with a man so it shouldn't be confused with a man saving a woman.So if you look at it literally, out of the 12 Disney Princess stories only 2 of them follow the "typical" storyline of the man rescuing the woman and the rest aren't.
As a young child, being brought up on Disney Princess movies and watching them over and over again - Disney Princess movies can highly influence the way you look at things and one thing that has stuck in almost every girls brains are the romantic love stories that Disney loves to sneak into every movie. And because of seeing this from a young age, when you get older its what you expect. A boy to sweep you off your feet because thats whats been slammed into your brains since you could pay attention for 2 hours (give or take). And this is why most teenage girls are obsessed with love nowadays. This could also be related to why girls get so insecure, because most of the Disney Princess movie characters are all teenagers, the youngest being 14! So when a girl doesn't fall in love by her teens she may start to think that its because somethings wrong with her - and not just because the disney movies are fake. So they start looking at the appearances and actions of girls in not only the Disney Princess movies but also other movies as well, and this is when teenage girls start turning into the stereotypes the media has displayed for them, so they can fit in (and get a boyfriend).
Gossip Girl Stereotypes
This clip is from the first episode of the first season of gossip girl, introducing us to characters we've obviously never seen or heard of before.
And it is then, when we are introduced to Blair, the best friend. The narrator speaks when Blair finds out about Serena's homecoming saying: "sure they're B.F.Fs but we always thought Blair's boyfriend Nate had a thing for Serena." The camera then shoots up to Blairs face which shows her looking nervous and she quickly runs to go and find Nate so that they could have sex before Serena could swipe Nate from under Blair's toes. To which the narrator says: "better lock it down with Nate, B. Clocks ticking." An obvious stereotype that we can connect with these two "B.F.Fs, is the controlling best friend that gets everything she wants (e.g. Nate), who's intimidating and is the total IT girl of the school. Blair on the other hand, shows that she's the pushover who is intimidated by her best friend and will do anything - including having sex - to keep what's hers, hers. Nate backs this theory up by his quote of: "I thought you wanted to wait?"
Then we are introduced to Nate, Blair's boyfriend and the one who supposedly has a "thing" for Serena. When we are first introduced to him, he is with his father and a few of his father's friends talking about college. When his father buts in telling his friends that Nate is going to the college that he attended, no questions asked and dismissed all of Nate's other options. And Nate is to scared of his father to disagree.
And then there's Blair's mothers character who is controlling and doesn't really mind what her daughter cares about so long as she looks good. She backs this theory up when she says: "Blair, if your going to wear one of my designs tell me so we can at least get it fitted." By this you can tell she cares about her daughter but maybe not in the right ways.
This small clip can make you draw many conclusions about the characters in this T.V. program that you would probably use to judge teenagers in society. This clip makes teen girls seem completely different to what majority of them are like. In this clip it shows girls that are crazy about gossip and always talking about each other and makes girls seem like sluts - going after each others boyfriends. At the start when Nate says to Blair "I thought you wanted to wait?" referring to having sex, it seems as though Blair has values and almost puts in a good word until Blair blows it all by having sex with her boyfriend just because she was scared Serena would steal Nate. It makes you think all girls are like this, doing whatever they can to protect the things they "love".
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Pitch Perfect Stereotyping Part 2: Aubrey
In the movie 'Pitch Perfect' we are introduced to a character named Aubrey. Aubrey is introduced as the typical girly girl. The scene we first see her in is the Collegiate A cappella Finals performance. Aubrey is shown talking to the lead singer of the Bellas and being told she was annoying and a 'slut-bag.' Then whilst performing Aubrey is under so much pressure that while she us singing she ends up throwing up all over the audience.
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| Aubrey played by Anna Camp (http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130531082139/pitch-perfect/images/5/55/Aubrey_Bellas.jpg) |
The next scene she is shown in is the next year and her and Chloe have been upgraded to the lead singers of the Bellas and are recruiting new members. Chloe is the type of character that just goes with the flow and after seeing that no one (that fits the right standards e.g. skinny, beautiful, and can sing) wanted to join she suggests just finding good singers, however Aubrey dismisses the idea and continues looking for the skinny, beautiful singer.
Aubrey could be seen as a stereotypical "mean girl." Because although she's a blonde she's not ditzy, she could be compared Regina George off mean girls. Both of these characters feel the need to be in control of not only a small clique in Aubreys case but also everything else that comes in to her path, including the Bellas group love lives. During the film Aubrey shows us how demanding she is as well as she has a short temper.
Video from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz8m6MgCM1g
One thing that Aubrey loves to be in control of is the Bellas group. Even though Aubrey and Chloe are co-leaders, Aubrey doesn't let Chloe have a say in what they do or even who they let in. One thing about the Bellas is that they don't change their songs for any events, they always sing the same song. Then later on in the movie when Chloe can't solo because of her nodes, she suggests Beca should solo. Beca agrees to if she can do a new arrangement for the group Aubrey says:"well thats not the way we run things around here." And gives the solo to Fat Amy. Aubrey is controlling and everything they do and likes to have things done the way she likes them done, especially when it comes to the songs that their going to sing. They only sing songs made famous by woman and as Beca says: "nothing from the century" because Aubrey "doesn't stray away from tradition." We associate Aubrey with the girl who is obsessed with winning, when actually if you dig deeper into the family, we actually find out that she's just turn it in impress her dad and big accepted into the family as she say: "I am my father's daughter and my father always said if it first you don't succeed then pack your bags."
One thing about these stereotypes is that if you dig deeper into the characters you find out that there's a lot more going on their lives then you actually think. For example if you would look at Regina's character from 'Mean Girls' if you were to dig deeper into her stereotype, because of the information given, she literally is her stereotype, where as in this example Aubrey isn't just the controlling leader she actually has a reason to be controlling.
But the stereotypes from 'Pitch Perfect' that I've discussed in my blog E.G. Aubrey and Fat Amy (click here for blog post) have shown us how people can be so different and how quickly we are to judge someone because of their appearance and the way that they talk and act. This is a message that is often shown in quite a few teenage genre films, for example the big, buff jock actually is a pretty down to earth kind of guy and there are many other examples of this message. However, in a lot of the movies its not, and one thing I'm passionate about is not letting the media affect the way you see yourself. So when we look at the representations made in the media I don't think we should be changing ourselves because of it, I think that the media should rather change the message they put out to us.
One thing that Aubrey loves to be in control of is the Bellas group. Even though Aubrey and Chloe are co-leaders, Aubrey doesn't let Chloe have a say in what they do or even who they let in. One thing about the Bellas is that they don't change their songs for any events, they always sing the same song. Then later on in the movie when Chloe can't solo because of her nodes, she suggests Beca should solo. Beca agrees to if she can do a new arrangement for the group Aubrey says:"well thats not the way we run things around here." And gives the solo to Fat Amy. Aubrey is controlling and everything they do and likes to have things done the way she likes them done, especially when it comes to the songs that their going to sing. They only sing songs made famous by woman and as Beca says: "nothing from the century" because Aubrey "doesn't stray away from tradition." We associate Aubrey with the girl who is obsessed with winning, when actually if you dig deeper into the family, we actually find out that she's just turn it in impress her dad and big accepted into the family as she say: "I am my father's daughter and my father always said if it first you don't succeed then pack your bags."
One thing about these stereotypes is that if you dig deeper into the characters you find out that there's a lot more going on their lives then you actually think. For example if you would look at Regina's character from 'Mean Girls' if you were to dig deeper into her stereotype, because of the information given, she literally is her stereotype, where as in this example Aubrey isn't just the controlling leader she actually has a reason to be controlling.
But the stereotypes from 'Pitch Perfect' that I've discussed in my blog E.G. Aubrey and Fat Amy (click here for blog post) have shown us how people can be so different and how quickly we are to judge someone because of their appearance and the way that they talk and act. This is a message that is often shown in quite a few teenage genre films, for example the big, buff jock actually is a pretty down to earth kind of guy and there are many other examples of this message. However, in a lot of the movies its not, and one thing I'm passionate about is not letting the media affect the way you see yourself. So when we look at the representations made in the media I don't think we should be changing ourselves because of it, I think that the media should rather change the message they put out to us.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Pitch Perfect Stereotyping Part 1: Fat Amy
In the movie 'Pitch Perfect' there are many stereotypes that aren't normally shown in most teenage movies. For example the character Fat Amy.
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| Fat Amy played by Rebel Wilson (http://www.blackfilm.com/read/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Pitch-Perfect-8.jpg) |
Fat Amy isn't your usual "fat girl" stereotype that you see in movies. In most movies we see the fat girl who is insecure about her weight and wants to change the way she looks. There are two typical stereotypes of overweight female teenage characters. One being the one we see often, the insecure, shy girl who stays in the background. Or we get the funny, sarcastic girl who's constantly being heard. Fat Amy (obviously) comes under the second stereotype. In Pitch Perfect we have the character Fat Amy (who has chosen to be called Fat Amy).
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| Scene from the movie when we first are introduce to Fat Amy (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/55/41/cf/5541cfc5edfd802e01aa39c16146e168.jpg) |
Fat Amy is the type of "fat girl" character that makes a joke out of her weight and is quite confident about it too. She even sometimes comes across as quite cocky about herself as a person. Rebels character dominates most scenes she is in with her snarky, hilarious comments about either herself or the other characters in the movie.
In most teenage movies we are shown that the girls in these movies have to buy the most expensive clothes and accessories to fit in, however in Pitch Perfect, Fat Amy wears normal and casual clothes throughout the entire movie showing the audience she's not going to change for anyone. And even so she is accepted even though she didn't do these things. Throughout the movie she is shown surrounded by her friends, whether it be the Bellas or a group of guys she hangs out with at the pool. I think that one of the reasons people have accepted her the way she is, is because she doesn't feel sorry for herself and isn't miserable all the time. Instead she is comfortable about the way she is and isn't afraid to boast about herself in a humorous way.
In some of the scenes we can see her throwing out some nasty comments towards Cynthia Rose about being a lesbian, like when the Bellas were having a confessions moment and Cynthia Rose was about to share her confession Fat Amy calls out "lesbihonest."
Video from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC8pJYLVgv0
But she also shows a soft and shy side in a couple of scenes that you wouldn't expect to see. For example in one of the Bellas rehearsals when they are deciding who should solo, Beca's name gets put forward, Fat Amy tries to hint that she want a solo and says "someone else might be equally as excellent... and they might be shy and not wanna come forward and say the wanted a solo." So although Fat Amy wanted the solo, she didn't put Beca down whilst trying to get one. Also when the Bellas are just about to perform at the finals, Fat Amy has a soft moment and says to the group: "Even though some of you are pretty thin, you all have fat hearts, and that's what matters." Whether or not this was just a soft moment or it being insecure about her weight, Amy shows us that she almost has two sides to her: The funny, jokester side and the soft, sentimental side.
One of the reasons that over-weight characters do not feature in teen genre films is because the stereotypical teenage girl is a skinny beautiful girl, and if they are featured they are normally insecure and are only in the movie to be back up characters and support the main characters. For example all the overweight characters on mean girls are all there to sing Regina's praises and lift her up, they were all insecure and shy and were just wanting to be like her.
Monday, 10 February 2014
What is a stereotype?
The dictionary meaning (http://dictionary.reference.com) of the word stereotype states that a stereotype is a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held a simplified and uncommon by members of a group. This basically means it is a way of categorizing people by the way they act or look.
Stereotypes are used in the media all the time, not only on T.V. programs but also in movies, magazines and more. When stereotypes are used in movies and T.V. programs, the reason is quite simple. In movies and T.V. programs, the producers don't have hours and hours to build up an entirely new character. When they use a stereotype we can immediately relate to that character. For example: the ditzy blonde, the smart Asian, the snobby private school girl. Since the stereotypes are easy to relate to it makes the movie or T.V. program easier to watch. In T.V. programs, using stereotypes is the one way they get more viewers because then the show is easier to understand.
Not only is a stereotype something we use in the media, but something we use in our everyday life. When you meet someone for the first time, their body language, the way they talk, the way they dress and the way they walk could all affect the way you see them. Within the first 15 seconds you already have an opinion of them, this opinion is often is made without have a full conversation! For example you may be walking down the street and see a kid caring all his books and think "wow! he's such a nerd!" but actually there might be a story behind it all.
Some negative stereotypes even carry dangers to them. This is not only a downfall of stereotypes but it could cause the person you've stereotyped to be bullied because of it. An example of this could be linked back to most teenage movies. Linking back to the nerd stereotype in teenage movies, if you were to think about it, you never see a cool, popular nerd which often results in the nerd being bullied and feeling bad about himself and his self-esteem goes down.
Here's a link to a story regarding the "nerdy" kid. Its a bit of a read, but worth it.
http://www.jaredstory.com/you_never_know.html
Thanks for reading this!
Feedback is welcome :)
Stereotypes are used in the media all the time, not only on T.V. programs but also in movies, magazines and more. When stereotypes are used in movies and T.V. programs, the reason is quite simple. In movies and T.V. programs, the producers don't have hours and hours to build up an entirely new character. When they use a stereotype we can immediately relate to that character. For example: the ditzy blonde, the smart Asian, the snobby private school girl. Since the stereotypes are easy to relate to it makes the movie or T.V. program easier to watch. In T.V. programs, using stereotypes is the one way they get more viewers because then the show is easier to understand.
Not only is a stereotype something we use in the media, but something we use in our everyday life. When you meet someone for the first time, their body language, the way they talk, the way they dress and the way they walk could all affect the way you see them. Within the first 15 seconds you already have an opinion of them, this opinion is often is made without have a full conversation! For example you may be walking down the street and see a kid caring all his books and think "wow! he's such a nerd!" but actually there might be a story behind it all.
Some negative stereotypes even carry dangers to them. This is not only a downfall of stereotypes but it could cause the person you've stereotyped to be bullied because of it. An example of this could be linked back to most teenage movies. Linking back to the nerd stereotype in teenage movies, if you were to think about it, you never see a cool, popular nerd which often results in the nerd being bullied and feeling bad about himself and his self-esteem goes down.
Here's a link to a story regarding the "nerdy" kid. Its a bit of a read, but worth it.
http://www.jaredstory.com/you_never_know.html
Thanks for reading this!
Feedback is welcome :)
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