Ethnic Stereotypes In Popular Culture Article Index for
Ethnic
Website Links For
Ethnic
 

Information About

Ethnic Stereotypes In Popular Culture




Ethnic stereotypes in popular culture, involve a stereotypical representation of the typical characteristics of a members of an ethnic group in music, literature, print media, film and the performing arts that is often false or over-simplified. Because of the strong influence of the United States on the Pop Culture industries, many of these stereotypes emerge from North America n culture, but many of those are now widely seen in the pop culture of other nations.


Music

In recent years, ethnic stereotypes in popular music have come under fire. This is often associated with Hip Hop Culture , but goes back much further; Prince for example was widely criticized for his portrayals of African American women, particularly in his music videos. Even earlier, The Rolling Stones endured some criticism for their portrayals of African American women in the songs "Brown Sugar" and "Some Girls". Also, the current hip-hop/rap portrayal of African Americans as "gangsta" has contributed to the media pool of misinformation. 50 Cent , for example, has been accused of perpetuating this stereotype. Also, the current portrayal of women in rap music has drawn a lot of fire recently.

Not only in the hip-hop culture is there ethnic stereo-typing. Pop music is known for the barbie style, blonde hair - blue eye, skinny, pop stars. Techno music is known for "ravers" or possibly "druggies", while country music is only listened to by "red-necks" or "hillbillies". These are all stereo-types of music.


Movies

For years, Hollywood 's unofficial but de facto Casting policy limited actors of color to Character Role s based on ethnic stereotypes. These roles ranged from Bit Part s to Supporting Roles or secondary leads.

One cliché in American War Movie s depicting American soldiers in World War II is that they very frequently create self-consciously "diverse" teams of soldiers that end up as ethnic stereotypes themselves. Central Casting will assign each featured military unit a Jewish-American , an Irish-American , an Italian-American , and a Caucasian with a Southern or Rural accent; in more recent films, these units are also assigned a Latino and an African-American . (It should be noted that this is not an exclusively cinematic phenomenon, but dates back to Shakespeare 's Henry V , with its Scot captain Jamy, Irish captain Macmorris, and Welsh captain Fluellen.) This tradition lives on in more recent World War II movies such as John Woo 's '' Windtalkers '', in which the Navajo characters are contrasted against the standard-issue ethnically mixed unit.

In the 1970s , a series of Feature Film s that came to be known as Blaxploitation movies brought stereotypical black American culture to the screen. Proponents argued that at least African American actors were getting work in leading roles, opponents believed the perpetuating of stereotypes was more harmful than helpful.

In the 1990s , Film Director Spike Lee received critism for his portrayals of African-American females based on ethnic stereotypes. In the same decade, Quentin Tarantino was castigated for casting Pam Grier in a 'blaxploitation'-type role ('' Jackie Brown ''), particularly by African American male film directors. Feminists rallied to the director's and the actress's defence, countering that these black male directors did not strive to provide work for black actresses.

:For a list of film Roles based on ethnic stereotypes, see Stock ; List Of Stock Film Roles Based On Ethnic Stereotypes


List of significant stereotypical characters in television:


Note: Although cast in stereotypical roles, both Marla Gibbs and Robert Guillaume successfully played them against type. Yoko Shimada 's character was well-rounded and erudite.


List of significant stereotypical characters in film:


Note: Although Juanita Moore plays a stereotypical character in Imitation Of Life (1959), the film is largely a satire of the 1934 Version melodrama and the use of the stereotype is in part ironic.


List of significant stereotypical roles in literature: