Stereotypes in Literature and Film

Izzy Scott HCOM 225

What is a stereotype?• Dictionary Definition: a

simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group (dictionary.com)

• M y Definition: an over-simplified view of another group of people often stemming from misunderstanding and an unwillingness to look into the complex dynamics of that group

Common Stereotypes

• Stereotypes are commonly based on:• Gender• Culture (including race, religion, etc.)• Age

Common Stereotypes cont’d• Profession• Social and Economic Background• Physical Appearance (ex. overweight, blonde)• Country or State of Origin

Why do stereotypes exist?• Stereotypes often come from a

misunderstanding of the group that is being stereotyped. Instead of looking deeper into the complexities of a certain group, it is easier to just lump them all together. This categorizing creates sort of an “us” vs. “them” mentality. It is all too easy to be subject to stereotyping in America because it is such a diverse country. I believe we are moving in a more understanding direction, but we still have a long way to go.

Why are stereotypes so prevalent in literature and film?

• Literature and film are especially susceptible to stereotypes because the very nature of telling a story requires a simplified reality. They need to create a quick and concise, but relatable background and stereotypes are familiar to most everyone. They often emphasize the difference between groups and portray certain ones as “good” and others as “bad”.

Literature from HCOM 225

• I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou

• When Living Was a Labor Camp by Diana Garcia

• A Voice in Every Wind by Qun Wang

I Shall Not Be Moved• I Shall Not Be Moved is a collection of

poems by Maya Angelou that expose the harsh realities of black life, but also celebrates her identity as a black woman. She tells the stories of black women all throughout history who have different obstacles, but the same strength to overcome them. She also sympathizes with other struggling groups in society such as the working poor.

Stereotypes in I Shall Not Be Moved

• To me, Maya Angelou is more concerned with overcoming stereotypes and differences in I Shall Not Be Moved than she is with exposing them. She speaks of the hardships of blacks, women, and the poor, and the prejudices that produced those hardships, but she is more focused on overcoming them. In the poem Human Family, she expresses how the similarities between people outweigh their differences. She writes, “In minor ways we differ, in major we’re the same. I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike” (p. 5).

When Living Was a Labor Camp• When Living Was a Labor Camp is a

collection of poems that recall Diana Garcia’s experience in the migrant labor camps of California’s San Joaquin Valley. She also writes about her own relationships, womanhood, and racism. Like Maya Angelou, her poems are full of struggle as a Latina, but also full of pride. She has lived a very multifaceted life and allows the reader to adopt a new perspective through her very personal, first-hand account of it.

Stereotypes in When Living Was a Labor Camp

• I think Diana Garcia puts a face to a group that is often stereotyped. Like Maya Angelou, she uses her personal story to give people a glance into the complexities of her life. She doesn’t so much focus on the opinion of other people as much as she goes into depth about her opinions and experiences. When I read her poems, I see her as a very real person that makes a clear statement of who she is, good and bad. She doesn’t shy away from her identity as a Latino woman or her sexuality or her struggles in the labor camp. She embraces them.

A Voice in Every Wind• A Voice in Every Wind is a series of short stories that speak

mostly of the experience of Chinese exchange students in the United States. The main characters’ experiences with American culture awaken them to a lifestyle that is radically different than the one Chinese culture dictates. This contrast produces both good and bad experiences. Some resounding themes throughout the stories are individuality, appreciation, sexuality, changing values, relationships, and culture.

Stereotypes in A Voice in Every Wind

• The stereotypes in A Voice in Every Wind were mostly from the Americans directed at the Chinese students. There was one instance when one of the students’ records couldn’t be found at his American University because the desk worker was looking in the Math and Science Majors when he was an English Major. In one of the stories, the student himself bought into the stereotype that Chinese are good cooks only to create an inedible mess. The book also proves some stereotypes correct, such as that Chinese people are very reserved. However, like the other pieces of literature from class, A Voice in Every Wind shows that there are complexities in the characters’ lives that cause them to act the way they do. One of those complexities is the deep set and strict cultural code of conduct.

Films from HCOM 225

• Come See the Paradise

• Crash

• Gran Torino

Come See the Paradise• Come See the Paradise is about a biracial couple

who has to overcome the racism toward Japanese-American people after the Pearl Harbor attack. After being forbidden from marrying each other from Lily’s conservative father and barred from inter-racial marriage by California law they elope to Seattle where they have a child. When Jack gets in some unjust legal trouble, he is forced to join the army while Lily is simultaneously sent to an internment camp with her entire family. There, they are faced with cramped living spaces, menial jobs, a disconnection with their cultural identity and resentment toward the American government.

Stereotypes in Come See the Paradise

• The Japanese-American internment camps are a part of American history that has been largely ignored, and this movie shows how serious stereotypes can be. The whole reason that Lily and her family were sent to the camp was because people took the actions of a small group of people (the attack on Pearl Harbor) and applied that image to all people of that race.

Crash

• Crash is a string of stories that exemplify some type of stereotype and come together to show the impact of those stereotypes. It follows an LAPD cop and his partner, a black producer and his wife, two black teenagers, a Mexican locksmith, a District Attorney and his wife, a Persian storeowner, and a black cop and his Latina partner. All of the characters either prove a stereotype wrong or learn from their own stereotyping that people aren’t always how they seem.

Stereotypes in Crash• The LAPD cop can’t get medical care for his dying

father and blames it on the black people who got preference over his father in keeping their jobs and a black HMO clerk.

• The cop then takes his anger out on the black producer and his wife by molesting his wife, but he feels he can’t stand up for her because he will automatically get arrested because he is black. Later in the movie, the wife ends up being saved by the cop from an exploding car.

• The District Attorney and his wife get carjacked at gunpoint by the two black teenagers. The wife was afraid when she saw the teenagers, but didn’t say anything for fear of being called a racist. The teenagers were just commenting on the wife’s stereotypical reaction of grabbing her husbands arm when she saw them and then proved her right.

Stereotypes in Crash cont’d• The next day, when they had their locks changed,

the wife wanted them changed again because she thought the Mexican locksmith was going to give their key to one of his “homies”. He had a stereotypical appearance with tattoos all over his body and a muscle shirt, but he is actually a hard-working and loving husband and father.

• The Persian store owner’s store got broken into and vandalized because he looked like he was from Afghanistan and was stereotyped as a terrorist. When the locksmith couldn’t fix his door, the store owner tried to shoot him and would have shot his daughter, but unknowingly had blanks.

• The LAPD cop’s partner requested to work alone because of the cop’s racism. However, when he picks up one of the black teenagers who was hitchhiking, he shot him after he reached in his pocket because he assumed he was pulling out a gun.

Gran Torino

• Gran Torino follows an old man, Walt, and his relationship with his Hmong neighbors. At first, Walt seems to be just a grumpy, closed-minded, racist, stubborn old man. He doesn’t really like his family and mostly keeps to himself. However, when he saved his Hmong neighbor girl from a gang, their family starts giving him gifts and she starts talking to him more about her culture and inviting him over. At first he is hesitant, but warms up to her. Her younger brother is being harassed by a Hmong gang to join and tried to steal Walt’s Gran Torino as an initiation, but got caught. His family sent him to work for Walt as repayment and they form a sort of friendship in which Walt convinces him to get a job instead of try to join gangs. When the gang continues to harass him and rapes his sister, they decide to take action, which he assumes means a shootout, but Walt goes into the fight unarmed, so that he would be killed and the gang would be arrested.

Stereotypes in Gran Torino• The stereotypes in Gran Torino are mostly made by Walt toward other

races. Before he gets to know his Hmong neighbors, he has a very stereotypical view of them. For example, before he goes over to his neighbor’s house for a meal, he asks if they’re going to be eating cat. He also calls his Hmong them “gooks” which was a term for the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. The neighbor girl sets most of his stereotypes straight and tries to submerge him in their culture so he can see that they have a very rich and interesting background. Walt is also a stereotype himself. Old white men are stereotyped as closed minded and racist. For example, when he is sitting in a bar with his veteran friends and making racist jokes and laughing, they are fulfilling a stereotype.

Film outside of HCOM 225

• 10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You• 10 Things I Hate About You is a film about a

teenage boy, Cameron, who moves to a new school. He falls in love with the most popular girl in school, Bianca, but her conservative father won’t let her date. When he makes a new rule that she can date when her sister, Kat, a social outcast does, Cameron devises a plan to pay someone to date her sister. He picks the “bad boy” outcast, Patrick, who actually falls in love with Kat. However, when she finds out that he was paid to date her at first, she breaks up with him. In the end, Cameron gets Bianca and the Kat and Patrick get back together.

Stereotypes in 10 Things I Hate About You

• 10 Things I Hate About You has pretty much every high school stereotype in the book. The school is split into groups of stereotypical jocks, pretty people, smart nerds, outcasts, stoners, cowboys, coffee freaks, and more. Cameron’s guide and best friend is the stereotypical audio visual club nerd. Patrick is the stereotypical bad boy. Bianca is the stereotypical pretty, popular, but kind of dumb girl. Not to mention the stereotypical happily ever after ending, which never really happens.

References• I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou• When Living Was a Labor Camp by Diana

Garcia• A Voice in Every Wind by Qun Wang• Come See the Paradise by Alan Parker• Crash by Paul Haggis• Gran Torino by Clint Eastwood• 10 Things I Hate About You by Gil Junger