Racial Stereotypes In Movies

Racial stereotypes have become a given within everyday American life. A person’s race is used as a way of identifying them, understanding them without verbal communication. Each group of people are victims of stereotypes, whether it be black, white, Latino, or any other. These stereotypes are constantly perpetuated by the media in the United States. The music, movie, and television industries all play instrumental roles in embedding these stereotypes in to the minds of citizens. In today’s music environment, one can find many prominent black artists. These artists produce some of the greatest chartbusters and generate the most hype among fans. However, according to Omi “despite the revenues generated by black performers, blacks remain “grossly
DeMott asserts: “Watch Pulp Fiction or Congo or A Little Princess or any other recent film in which both blacks and whites are primary characters and you can, if you want to, forget about race. Whites and blacks greet one another on the screen with loving candor, revealing their common humanity” (567). This forced portrayal of love and a common bond serve to emphasize the gap between these two races. One realizes almost instantly that what is being shown is not what really is. There is that sense of “difference” that separates people based on common stereotypes. The movies almost make a special effort to portray people of color as equals, despite the highly impoverished environment in which black people exist. The government uses this “newfound friendship” as an excuse to cut vital relief programs for the black commuting. According to DeMott: “Justice Anthony Kennedy can declare, speaking for the Supreme Court majority last June [1995], that creating a world of genuine equality and sameness requires only that “our political system and our society cleanse themselves…of discrimination” (569). A new stereotype has arrived in our society, and that is that blacks and white are friends and can exist completely independent of each other. Due to the movie’s constant portrayal of black-white friendship, black people are not recognized as equals, they are
Blacks suffer from their share of jokes, based on their physical appearance, “capabilities”, and “differences”. The portrayal of black women as overweight and frumpy is seen in many popular movies, such as the character of Rasputia in the film Norbit. For weeks after the release of the film, Rasputia’s character was a popular joke amongst the film’s audience. She was mocked, laughed at because she represented the media’s ideal of what a black woman is. People found humor in her appearance and diction and accepted it willingly. There was no controversy or dispute to this “character