The American Dream
The Saints of the Media: Irish, Russians, and Italians
Don’t judge a book by its cover. One of the most cliché sayings ever imagined onto the planet. While this cliché may be extremely overused, there is some truth to it. Whether or not we want to admit, we all judge people the first time we meet them. More often than not, stereotypes about that that group of person also come to mind. These range anywhere from gender, ethnic, and even socio-economic stereotypes. Because of the unavoidable nature of humans to profile people as soon as they meet them, the media is able to portray certain groups of people a particular way. Interestingly enough, when this happens, people never really seem to make a fuss about it; matter of fact, most audiences actually relate to the characters being this way due to a long circle of stereotyping and media using the normal stereotype of the time. Take the Disney classic Mulan for instance. The movie is about a Chinese girl who sneaks into the military. Everyone who she trains around is good at martial arts, thus showing the national stereotype Disney cleverly planted into the movie. However, The fact that a national stereotype is present within a movie does not make it bad. My favorite movie, The Boondock Saints, is full of national stereotypes that all contribute to the overall success of the movie. In Troy Dufy’s The Boondock Saints, national stereotypes are played out by the three major character groups of the movie: the Irish, the Russians, and the Italians. The two protagonists of the movie, Connor and Murphey MacManus, play out the national stereotype of the rowdy Irish-folk. During the opening credits the brothers are shown at their job in a meat packing plant. When Connor comes in from a smoke break, Murphey hits him upside the head with a fish. Connor then throws his brother onto a table and jokingly punches him while yelling “Who’s the king now?” Shortly after this scene, the boys get into a bar fight with a few Russian
Don’t judge a book by its cover. One of the most cliché sayings ever imagined onto the planet. While this cliché may be extremely overused, there is some truth to it. Whether or not we want to admit, we all judge people the first time we meet them. More often than not, stereotypes about that that group of person also come to mind. These range anywhere from gender, ethnic, and even socio-economic stereotypes. Because of the unavoidable nature of humans to profile people as soon as they meet them, the media is able to portray certain groups of people a particular way. Interestingly enough, when this happens, people never really seem to make a fuss about it; matter of fact, most audiences actually relate to the characters being this way due to a long circle of stereotyping and media using the normal stereotype of the time. Take the Disney classic Mulan for instance. The movie is about a Chinese girl who sneaks into the military. Everyone who she trains around is good at martial arts, thus showing the national stereotype Disney cleverly planted into the movie. However, The fact that a national stereotype is present within a movie does not make it bad. My favorite movie, The Boondock Saints, is full of national stereotypes that all contribute to the overall success of the movie. In Troy Dufy’s The Boondock Saints, national stereotypes are played out by the three major character groups of the movie: the Irish, the Russians, and the Italians. The two protagonists of the movie, Connor and Murphey MacManus, play out the national stereotype of the rowdy Irish-folk. During the opening credits the brothers are shown at their job in a meat packing plant. When Connor comes in from a smoke break, Murphey hits him upside the head with a fish. Connor then throws his brother onto a table and jokingly punches him while yelling “Who’s the king now?” Shortly after this scene, the boys get into a bar fight with a few Russian