Stereotypes In Battleship, By Walter Lippman

According to Walter Lippman, the systems of stereotypes are the core of our personal traditions and lives. Stereotypes are a well-ordered consistent picture of the world, to which our habits, our tastes, our comforts, our values and our hopes have made themselves thoroughly and widely known throughout the world. They may not be a complete picture of the world, but they are the pictures inside our heads of a possible world to which we have adapted ourselves to. In that world, people and things have their well-known places, and they do certain things that are expected of them. Stereotypes are important because they are the projection upon the world of our own sense based on our values, our positions in the world, and the rights that we have. Lippmann argued that stereotypes
However, as I became more observant of my surroundings and attempted to notice the different representations of gender around me, memes opened up a new window for me. These memes, I realized, serve as windows into the culture I am part of. The meme I chose is a simple meme with a very little caption. It appears to be two frames that show the box cover of the game “Battleship”. In the top half of the meme (first frame) it shows the cover of the box with two males (father and son) sitting at a table after dinner playing and enjoying the game of battleship. Then, in the bottom half of the meme, (second frame) it shows a close up of the box that clearly shows the two females (mother and daughter) doing the dishes. The caption at the bottom simply says “Women, know your place.” These few words have a very large meaning and it plays an exclusive role in the gender roles that take part in our society today. It does use the “joke” that is commonly know that women should be in the kitchen and that that’s their place. I took my time looking for the perfect meme because gender stereotypes have become more and more relevant in media. It bothers me because even after all of this time and