Bringing Down the House: An Analysis of the Misrepresentation of the Underestimated
Kayla GrayName
Professor Imbur
English 1110
23 AprilFebruary 2014
Bringing Down the House: An Analysis of the Misrepresentation of the Underestimated
In the movie Bringing Down the House, Queen Latifah portrays an African American woman named Charlene Morton. Charlene is an escaped wrongly convicted felon that seeks out the help of Peter Sanderson, played by Steve Martin, who is a divorced white tax attorney. During the movie Charlene is bombarded with racist comments by Peter’s ex-wife’s sister Ashley, played by Missi Pyle. Peter’s neighbor Mrs. Kline, played by Betty White, is a strong nosy conservative and does not approve of Charlene. Joan Plowright plays one of Peter’s prime clients, Mrs. Arness, who is also very traditional and openly voices her opinion of Charlene (“Bringing Down the House”). Clearly there were various characters who were not in favor of Charlene. Peter even tries to use Charlene’s lingo against her which may be a reason why self-segregation occurs. Most comedies predictably poke fun at racial stereotypes, and for that reason I believe that is why racial stereotypes are so common. In the film, Bringing Down the House, patterns of association, assumptions, and stereotypes are exhibited which may distort a person’s worth and perception.
A typical stereotype intended for whites in this movie is that they are wealthy, conservative and uptight. As for African Americans, the stereotypes are just the opposite: poor, radical and carefree. There are also good examples of how the ranking of social class is related to ranking of races. The whites are the thriving majority, and the African Americans are the suffering minority. Another classical typecast is the whites looking down on the African Americans. The movie shows numerous situations where the white characters treat Charlene as inferior.
In the beginning of the movie Peter and Charlene are shown chatting online and describing each other physical appearances. Soon after Charlene appears on
Professor Imbur
English 1110
23 AprilFebruary 2014
Bringing Down the House: An Analysis of the Misrepresentation of the Underestimated
In the movie Bringing Down the House, Queen Latifah portrays an African American woman named Charlene Morton. Charlene is an escaped wrongly convicted felon that seeks out the help of Peter Sanderson, played by Steve Martin, who is a divorced white tax attorney. During the movie Charlene is bombarded with racist comments by Peter’s ex-wife’s sister Ashley, played by Missi Pyle. Peter’s neighbor Mrs. Kline, played by Betty White, is a strong nosy conservative and does not approve of Charlene. Joan Plowright plays one of Peter’s prime clients, Mrs. Arness, who is also very traditional and openly voices her opinion of Charlene (“Bringing Down the House”). Clearly there were various characters who were not in favor of Charlene. Peter even tries to use Charlene’s lingo against her which may be a reason why self-segregation occurs. Most comedies predictably poke fun at racial stereotypes, and for that reason I believe that is why racial stereotypes are so common. In the film, Bringing Down the House, patterns of association, assumptions, and stereotypes are exhibited which may distort a person’s worth and perception.
A typical stereotype intended for whites in this movie is that they are wealthy, conservative and uptight. As for African Americans, the stereotypes are just the opposite: poor, radical and carefree. There are also good examples of how the ranking of social class is related to ranking of races. The whites are the thriving majority, and the African Americans are the suffering minority. Another classical typecast is the whites looking down on the African Americans. The movie shows numerous situations where the white characters treat Charlene as inferior.
In the beginning of the movie Peter and Charlene are shown chatting online and describing each other physical appearances. Soon after Charlene appears on
Cited: "Bringing Down the House (2003)." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. . Shamieh, Betty. “Censoring Myself.” The World Is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking About Visual and Popular Culture. Eds. Jonathan Silverman and Dean Rader. NYC: Prentice Hall, 2012. 294-296. Print. Shankman, Adam, dir. Bringing Down the House. Perf. Queen Latifah and Steve Martin. Touchstone Pictures, 2003. Film. Tatum, Beverly Daniel. “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” The World Is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking About Visual and Popular Culture. Eds. Jonathan Silverman and Dean Rader. NYC: Prentice Hall, 2012. 279-819. Print.