Media Stereotypes

For the second discussion, our lecture give us a topic about Media Stereotypes. This video above is showing how Media Stereotypes really exist in our life. In this video, they give us one example about media stereotypes. Reel Bad Arabs is about a fact that Arabian people already claimed as a bad people for sometime. Why? it's begin with a movie, and then applied to another movies and become a trademark. Based on research, each week people watch television for 25-30 hours from 168 hours, minus sleep hours (about 56 hours). Time that we used to watch almost half of time we used to sleep. That's why media especially television will really impact to human.


Actually what is Media Stereotypes?

Media Stereotypes are labels that categorize people largely in negative terms, and that can be applied to whole social or cultural groups (lecturer's notes)

Media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in the advertising, entertainment and news industries, which need as wide an audience as possible to quickly understand information. Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people usually relating to their 

class, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, social role or occupation. (http://www.media-awareness)

The effects of media stereotypes can be positive and negative. Positive if the media support some positive things too like campaign to save the world, a movie about world peace, etc. But mostly people don't interest with something like that. They will more enjoy to watch a war movie, crime, propaganda, and another bad things. That's why media stereotypes more leads to negative effects than positive.


Example of Media Stereotypes
There are a lot of example of Media Stereotypes' effects. Here I will set up one example that I think a lot going on and had been my experience, Racism. A lot of medias using racism as their topic for entertain people although racism is a risk topic to discussed. Some movies openly lift racism as their main topic and raises war in the movie.
In disney character, there are some racism that's bring out from that movie


The Merchant from Aladdin

The opening musical sequence from the hugely popular 1992 animated film had to be edited due to
protest from Arab-American groups for saying about the Middle East what most of us were merely thinking.

Sebastian from The Little Mermaid

In this 1989 film, a Jamaican-sounding crab teaches Ariel that life is better "Under the Sea," because underwater you don't have to get a job.

Are we reading too much into it? Do you see anything wrong with how they've drawn "the duke of soul" at 1:57?

Still too subtle? How about at 2:01 when the "blackfish" appears?

The Crows from Dumbo

In this 1941 classic, Dumbo the flying elephant runs into a band of jive-talking black crows who sing, "I'd be done see'n about everything/when I see an elephant fly!"

Lesson Learned:
Come on, blackbirds acting in a manner stereotypically assigned to African-Americans isn't that offensive. At least they didn't just get some white guy to do his best "black voice." Oh, really? They did? And, they called the lead character "Jim Crow?" Um, hey, look over there! It's a convincing, logical end to this argument!

Having outgrown the crude portrayal of African-Americans as black crows, in 1967 Disney decides to portray them as monkeys instead.

Lesson Learned:
All animals in the jungle speak in proper British accents. Except, of course, for the jive-talking, gibberish-spouting monkeys. Did we mention they desperately want to become "real people?"

The tales of Br'er Rabbit are relayed by kindly old Uncle Remus, a black man happily working on a plantation in the post-Civil War South. Disney has never released this one on home video, for some reason.

Lesson Learned:
The late 1800s were a great time to be African-American and possibly on acid.

Thursday from Mickey Mouse and the Boy Thursday (Book)

In this forgotten Mickey Mouse book from 1948, Mickey gets a crate full of West African bananas, and finds an African inside instead! Ha!" The savage soon is confused by Mickey's human lifestyle and commits acts of random violence.

"What's the deal with Africans? If they're not trying to eat it or throw a spear at it, they're worshiping it as a some sort of tribal deity, am I right?"

source : www.cracked.com


The fact that racism already bring out to children movie is a painful. Just like we can say that we already teach to hate each other since we a kid rather than we being teach about world peace.


I have an experience how racism from media really impacts my life. There is a movie (I don't have to say the name) that has a Chinese people in their character. At there the Chinese people act so stupid, stingy, and irritating because of their accent. That movie become famous and somehow the Chinese character becomes really hateful. One time I went home from school. On the way back, there are a lot of men in their motorbike hanging out on the side of the street. Suddenly when they see me, they shout me a stupid Chinese, something like that. It was really hurtful. After that, I'm a bit scared with people hanging out on motorbike.


The conclusion, Media will never stop to produce more racism movie, . The societal and economic factors of racism have become more than just a bias. They are also a profitable industry, in which the elite will continue to suppress the lower class in order to maximize profits. That's why we have to see our self back. Do we have to just eat what we watch, what we hear ? Don't we have to use our brain and heart to filtering everything we accept? Everything is on each  human itself. How we think and act to make a better life, out of crimes and negative things.