Sociology 255

I’ve been thinking about our discussion in class yesterday about racial stereotypes in the media, and I’ve been wondering–we really only talked about black stereotypes, but what about other racial stereotypes? It seems to me that the media, especially now, uses all types of common stereotypes for comedic effect.

Immediately the example that comes to mind is Seth Rogen. His comedy revolves around the same stereotype (in every, every, EVERY single movie. But that’s another topic entirely) of the stupid, lame white kid. And why? Because people find it funny. It draws upon commonly known stereotypes of white males for comedic effect.

Shows such as the Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy all use over-exaggerated stereotypes for comedy as well. We all think that it’s just funny, but do you think that this actually helps perpetuate racism? Not intentionally, but unintentionally? I feel like the modern form of comedy that is popular now revolves so heavily on using stereotypes that there might be an observable effect to all of this what seems like light-hearted comedy. What do you all think?

Since we were talking about interracial best buddies in the media today in class, I immediately thought of “Scrubs.”

Does “Scrubs” handle blackness like most other shows? What does JD calling Turk “super chocolate bear” and “black whale” say about race relations? Or does it even say anything at all?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbb-kGE0AiI

For those who haven’t heard, Beyonce Knowles will be starring in the soon to be realeased film, Obsessed, alongside Idris Elba and Ali Larter.  imdb.com describes the movie with the following sentence : A successful business man (Elba) with a beautiful wife (Knowles) becomes the target of a female stalker (Larter).  After watching the trailer, though, I began to wonder if some people may view this movie in a different light. 

I’ve heard the stereotype that white women (especially attractive ones) will basically do anything to catch themselves a successful black man.  (Some say this is how they land so many professional athletes.)  There’s also the one about white people being crazy in general.  (Remember, the black man may shoot the person next to him, but the white man will kill all of us.  Thanks Dr. Pitt.)  Does this movie play into those stereotypes, or is it just a coincidence that Ali Larter plays crazy well?  (Heroes 1st and 2nd season. ) 

Then again, there could be several other reasons for these casting choices.  If the races were reversed, I’m sure the public would respond with the argument about the media’s derogatory depiction of black women as aggressive, hyper-sexual, and somewhat unstable (Omarosa).  And perhaps they felt the need to use characters of different races in order to appeal to a broader audience that may not necessarily have been reached if all the characters were either white or black.  (Never underestimate the power of a black superstar on the silver screen.  Wait and see how many people go and see The Soloist even though they could care less about cellos or Beethoven.) 

What does the class think?  Am I reading too much into the races of these characters?   (Being in this class has had that effect on me.)  Either way, I do think this will be a great movie.

Ok, I wrote this as a comment in response to another blog post and then got carried away researching the following information.  So I’ll add it as an independent post.  Here’s what I responded to.

So, I was watching the “Lion King” with my friends Friday night (because I have a vibrant social life). They all claimed that the monkey, Rafiki was Disney’s racist way of portraying Africans. What do you all think? Is it purposefully racist? Or are my friends racists for acquitting Rafiki with Africans?

Prior to this new movie (with which there seems to be a multitude of issues as addressed in another post), lots of people complained that of the big Disney cartoons that had black actors in them, they “all” had those actors playing animals.

The only big Walt Disney features (since, say 1989) that had notable blacks play animals are as follows: The Little Mermaid (Samuel E Wright as Sebastian), The Lion King (Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi), Mulan (Eddie Murphy as Mushu), Dinosaur (Alfre Woodard as Plio, Della Reese as Eema), Brother Bear (Michael Clark Duncan as Tug), and Home On The Range (Cuba Gooding Jr as Buck).  Obviously Lion King, Dinosaur, Brother Bear, and Home On The Range would do so; all of the characters were animals.

There were many movies that cast notable Black actors as “human “: Hercules (black women as the five Muses), The Emperor’s New Groove (Eartha Kitt as Yzma), and Atlantis (Phil Morris as Dr. Sweets, Cree Summer as Princess Kida), Lilo and Stitch (Ving Rhames as Cobra Bubbles), Treasure Planet (Roscoe Lee Browne as Mr. Arrow), and Meet The Robinsons (Angela Bassett as Mildred).   If you wonder why they’re making such a big deal out of The Princess and the Frog given the leading roles for Eartha Kitt and Cree Summer, it’s because Disney has had White, Asian, Arab, Mermaid, and Native American princesses.   Princess Tiana is the first Black one.

In many Disney features (Toy Story, Aladdin, Beauty and The Beast, Pocahontas,  the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Chicken Little, The Wild, and Bolt), there were no notable black actors in them at all.  I’m especially, but pleasantly, surprised about Tarzan and The Wild.

Recently, I attended a seminar about the portrayal of the Black family in America on television. After a myriad of comments about the positive effects of the Cosby show, someone brought up the point that it seems that it is solely the responsibility of Black television to document the race in a particular light (i.e. as successful black people with the Cosbys. They went further to say “I don’t live like the Cosbys, so why would I wanna watch it?”). Similarly, they said that a show like “Good Times” would never make it in today’s times because of this perceived responsibility. Do you think this is true?

I made a comment earlier last week about the hypersexualization of black people, and subsequently I stumbled across this Old Navy commercial. Now clearly, I don’t think it’s a racist commercial. But what does it really convey? I mean a naked black mannequin doll? It’s no secret that black men have been portrayed as savage sexually superior antithesis to white men, and black women have been portrayed as subhuman, irresponsible, and promiscuous.

Not to mention, the bizarre white man and barking dog respond to the suddenly naked wife and mother raises an eyebrow. How interestingly cryptic that the “predator” is now the white man and the Black man is trying to protect his wife from his roving eye. I don’t know what do you all think?

In class on Wednesday, Dr. Pitt discussed how if Seinfeld’s friends had been black, the show would have ended in two weeks. In the reading for tomorrow, the authors discuss how Muslims are only portrayed as terrorists or belly-dancers in the media. It’s true that there seems to be so many shows that have white casts, with the occasional black guest. When I asked my friend why she thought why they did this, she replied “well, we don’t have an extremely diverse group of friends either.”

So, are casts of TV shows simply reflecting reality? Is reality reflecting TV? And, how would “Friends” or “Seinfeld” or any other prime time show be different if there was diversity?