Uttered by condemned prisoners (to Claudius, the emperor

1
Media stereotypes

• November 29, 2006

2
What does this mean?

• Ave Caesar morituri te salutant!

3
In English

• Ave Caesar morituri te salutant!
• Hail, Emperorthose who are about to die salute
  you!
• Uttered by condemned prisoners (to Claudius, the
  emperor) who were manning galleys and about to
  take part in a mock naval battle on Lake Fucinus
  in AD 52
• Source Suetonius, Life of the Divine Claudius

4
The power of representationand the media

• The CS claim
• Media images dont (merely) capture some
  pre-existent category distinction
• They create (or, at least, reinforce) those very
  distinctions
• Representationsvisual and linguistic
  communicationsare what categorize people to
  begin with

5
Representations as constitutive of race

• Claim of CS
• Race does not pre-exist its naming (or its
  analysis)
• That is, race is not a natural, scientific, or
  biological category
• Not a fact of the objective world
• Rather, it only is a category because we create
  it discursively

6
Media representations, specifically

• How is race portrayedthus, typedin media texts?
• Visually race is (claimed to be made) visible
  via observable physical characteristics
• Skin color
• Hair texture
• Shapes/dimensions of facial features
• Body types and body parts

7
Typing by race in Crash

• What race is Thandie Newtons character?
• How did you type her?
• How does the Matt Dillon character type her?
• How does the character type herself?
• Why does all of this matter
• In the world of the film?
• In real life (to viewers)?

8
From typing to stereotyping

• Like types, stereotypes also rely on the
• simple, vivid, memorable, easily grasped, widely
  recognized characteristics about a person

9
But types become stereotypes when they

• Reduce
• Reduce everything about the person to those
  simple, vivid traits
• Exaggerate
• Magnify or caricature the traits
• Simplify
• Strip characteristics of individuality or
  subtlety
• Fix them
• Without acknowledging changes, developments,
  passage of time, societal change

10
Lets hear from our old pal, Stuart Hall

• DVD chapters 13-15

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What stereotypes do

• Deploy a strategy of splitting
• They divide the normal from abnormal, acceptable
  from unacceptable
• And then exclude/expel what falls in the
  abnormal or unacceptable

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Thus, stereotyping creates and maintains

• Symbolic order
• Acceptable and unacceptable images
• Social order
• Binding and bonding together of us and
  segregation of them
• The them group is abjected (thrown out)
• Symbolically, societally, or both

13
The paradoxes of stereotyping

• They usually serve as cognitive short-cuts
• Some psychologists define stereotypes as
  schemas
• Cognitive structures that contain a perceivers
  knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about human
  groups and their individual members

14
But they are not always so simple

• And they can be self-contradictory
• Stereotypes in US of black men
• Not real men, not adults, immature, children
  boys
• Yet also super-men, super-athletes, over-sexed,
  over-endowed hyper-men
• Primitive, simple
• Yet also wily savages

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What Hall says about this

• Blacks are trapped by the binary structure of
  this stereotype
• Children, yet super-men simple, yet wily
• And are obliged to shuttle endlessly between them
• Sometimes even being represented as both poles of
  the binary at the same time

16
Thus, stereotypes are themselves binary

• They refer as much to what as imagined (or
  feared) in fantasy
• As to what is real (or derived from typing)

17
The cognitive psychology of stereotypes

• One aspect of stereotyping is expectation
• Based on what we do see, we anticipate what we
  expect to see
• The expectation that we should see additional
  features of a schema once we see any features of
  the schema is called priming
• Smoke primes expectations of ?

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Because stereotypes are so pervasive in media

• They are well learned
• And often automatically and unconsciously
  activatedeven if we dont endorse them
• So when we encounter someone of a particular
  social group
• The stereotype (associated characterizations) is
  primed
• And this influences how we process the situation

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Attribution errors

• When we see someone doing something
• Helping an old lady across the street
• Pushing someone off a bridge
• To what do we attribute their behavior?
• How the person is responding to the specific
  situation?
• Who the person is as an individual?
• What group the person is a member of?

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Cognitive psychologists have found that

• Inferences we make about peoples behaviors are
  biased in favor of our own in groups
• If we someone doing something bad
• If the person is in our in group well
  attribute the bad behavior to external factors
• If the person is in an out group well
  attribute it to internal causes

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Similarly

• If we see someone doing something good
• If the person is in our in group, well think
  it represents just how the guy is
• If the person is in our out group, well think
  the person just had to do it, under the
  circumstances (not a reflection of who the person
  is)
• Does anyone remember the Yahoo News captions
  post-Katrina?

22
Media stereotyping, then

• Quickly bringsthrough words/imagesto audiences
  collective consciousness expectations about a
  characters
• value system
• behavioral expectations
• Allows easy communication of complex ideas
• But what happens when stereotypes are based on
  prejudice?

23
One definition of prejudice

• A negative attitude toward a person or group
• based upon a social comparison process
• in which the individuals own group is taken as
  the positive point of reference (James Jones,
  Prejudice and Racism, 1972)

24
What does this reflect?

• The use of binaries and marking
• My group is
• Normal
• Superior
• Therefore, the other group must be
• Abnormal (or, at least, different from us)
• Inferior

25
Stereotyping of non-whites in US entertainment
and media

• (a whirlwind historical survey)

26
Media stereotypes they dont exist in a vacuum!

• Stereotypical representations in media
• change over time
• almost always reflect political, social, and
  cultural issues/attitudes of the day
• contribute to (and/or reinforce) pre-existing
  stereotypical attitudes

27
The big question

• Do media stereotypes create attitudes that did
  not exist in the first place?
• (Some scholarship suggests the answer is yes)

28
Variety of stereotyping strategies over time

• Invisibility
• Race (i.e., other races) as problem
• Other object, not subject
• Assimilationism
• Ambiguity
• New aesthetics

29
Quick survey by group/type

• Native Americans
• Latinos (and Hispanic Americans)
• Asians (and Asian Americans)
• Black people (Africans African Americans)

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Native Americans

• The first people with whom white Europeans coming
  to this continent (1490s) had to co-exist
• How those Europeans described NAs
• Primitive
• Innocent
• Generous (shared food)
• Dark and handsome in appearance

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The noble savage

• All the stuff on the last slide (primitive,
  innocent, generous, handsome) struck Europeans as
  noble
• At the same time, Europeans commented on natives
• Nudity
• Open sexual relationships
• Cannibalism
• Hence, savage

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1800s (in literature, newspapers)

• Treatment as monolithic (no distinctions made
  among 2000 cultures, languages, etc.)
• Indian problem
• Impediment to white expansion (and thus to
  progress and civilization) and manifest
  destiny
• Translations to stage plays in early 1900s

33
Early 20th-century film images

• Fears of miscegenation in silents (1910s)
• Our white women shall be guarded
• White actors play most Native roles
• Directors found it difficult to teach Native
  actors how to act Indian!

34
1940s historical/Westerns

• Generic Indian stereotype solidified
• Feathers, beads, fringe, halting accent
• Warriors attacking white people

35
Mid-century shifts

• 1950s-60s movies
• White America feels guilt
• Hollywood movies attempt to purge guilt
• 1950s TV
• Tonto Lone Rangers faithful companion
• Positive fought for justice and American Way
• Negative secondary status, stereotypical
  appearance, accent, clothing

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And now?

• Mostly, invisibility
• In movies, TV shows, video games

37
Latinos/Hispanics

• Invisible in North American literature until
  mid-1800s
• Coinciding with battles for Mexican and Texan
  independence, Mexicans portrayed as
• Cruel, inhuman
• Lazy and/or ignorant
• Unclean (greasers)
• (But sometimes Mexican women were described
  favorably)

38
From Mexican to other Hispanic portrayals

• Generally, little or no differentiation in US
  media between Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans,
  Cubans, Puerto Ricans, (Costa Ricans??), etc.,
  etc.
• greaser image migrates from Mexicans to just
  about all other Spanish-speaking cultures
• Silent films Tony the Greaser (1911), The
  Greasers Revenge (1914)

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Latinos/Hispanics in 1930s-40s

• 1930s Hollywood responds to 1922 ban of US
  movies by Mexican government
• And sympathetic reactions by other Latin American
  nations
• Hispanic movie males reinvented as Latin lovers
• Although often played by non-Latinos!
• Other traits quick temper, spitfire, unstable,
  dishonorable

40
Mid-century film TV

• Latino greasers evolve into gang members
  (1960s West Side Story, etc.)
• Positive film portrayals dont appear until 1980s
  (La Bamba, Milagro Beanfield Wari)
• 1950s TV Cisco Kid (1950s adventure hero), Desi
  Arnaz, Zorro
• But mostly supporting characters, criminals,
  servants

41
Advances and retreats

• 1970s-80s a few shows with Hispanic leads
• Chico and the Man, Miami Vice, L.A. Law
• More and more Hispanic performers outing
  themselves after passing for white
• Raquel Welch, Martin Sheen, Linda Ronstadt
• 2003 NBCs Kingpin about Mexican drug lord

42
Asians

• Asian immigration fairly limited before 1900
• White American attitudes toward Chinese and
  Japanese (2 biggest immigrant groups)
• All Asians lumped together
• yellow peril deceitful, devious, vicious,
  threat to national security
• Resentment (because many Chinese immigrants had
  jobsalbeit low-level labor)

43
Asian stereotypes in media texts

• 1916 film The Yellow Menace
• Series of Dr. Fu Manchu films (Chinese
  villainbut played by white actor)
• Mysterious East
• China and its people characterized by vice,
  corruption, prostitution, drug use (opium)

44
Effects of WW2

• Japanese take over as specific yellow peril
• Cruel, inflictors of torture
• But by 1950s-60s, as Japan solidifies role as US
  ally
• Portrayals are more sensitive, positive
• Still, inter-racial romances usually come to bad
  end

45
Flip side of Asian portrayals

• Aspects of model minority
• Asians in film/TV portrayed as polite, bowing,
  wise
• So, other than fully manly
• And, if female, then gracious and submissiveand
  still mysterious

46
Economic issues

• Hollywood, the TV industry, and the advertising
  industry
• Slow to recognize that non-white groups are
  important markets
• Entertainment industry responds to economic
  pressure
• And also to political statements

47
Anti-prejudice advocacy groups target media
companies

• NAACP (National Association for the Advancement
  of Colored People)
• Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith
• Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
• National Council of La Raza
• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
• National Italian-American Foundation

48
Black media stereotypes

• Roots in colonial period (Puritans, settlers in
  Virginia)
• Color white associated with goodness, purity,
  cleanliness
• Color black associated with evil, impurity,
  filth, spiritual darkness

49
Minstrel shows

• Roots in 1830s-40s New York (Buffalo, NYC)
• Irish immigrantswho were classified as other
  than whiteperformed shows in blackface
• Musical numbers
• Comedic skits
• Blacks not allowed to attend or perform!

50
Examples of minstrel show texts

• In Eric Lotts Love and Theft

51
Post-Civil War literature

• Portrayals motivated by political/social stances
• Resistance to end of slavery
• Resistance to legal equality
• Blacks portrayed as lazy, stupid, sexually
  immoral, fond of alcohol
• And thus not fully humanor deserving of equality

52
D.W. Griffiths pro-KKK Birth of a Nation (1915)

• NAACP protests films exhibition in NYC and
  Boston
• The Negro is represented either as an ignorant
  fool, a vicious rapist, a venal and unscrupulous
  politician, or a faithful but doddering idiot

53
Blacks in other early movies

• Silent era
• The Wooing and Wedding of a Coon (1905)
• The Nigger (1915)
• First talkie The Jazz Singer (1927)
• Starred white actor Al Jolson in blackface

54
Early sound era (late 20s-40s)

• Less overtly racist
• But blacks, when shown, knew their place
• Servants, maids, train porters
• Entertainers (of white people) amusing singers,
  dancers
• Happy, faithful slaves (or servants)
• Broadly comedic characters

55
Changing tide? 1950s?

• Hollywood films start exploring discrimination
• 1960s sophisticated, heroic black male (Sidney
  Poitier, Harry Belafonte)
• 1970s Blaxploitation films (Shaft, Superfly,
  Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song ) exploiting
  more exotic aspects of black inner-city life

56
1980s and 90s

• 1980s resurgence of Black stars with crossover
  appeal
• Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg
• 1990s harsh films in urban settings
• Boyz N the Hood, Jungle Fever, New Jack City

57
1990s-2000s Hollywood

• Many would-be independent black filmmakers
  scooped up by ever-greedy Hollywood
• Mainstream Hollywood aware of lucrative
  African-American film market
• Yet cautious (selective) in its financial backing
  and international distribution of black-produced
  films

58
Major financial successes

• Spike Lees films Shes Gotta Have It (1986), Do
  the Right Thing (1989), He Got Game (1998)
• Forest Whitakers Waiting to Exhale (1995)
• Other successful black directors
• John Singleton, Robert Townsend

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Another recent trend black angels (spiritually
superior godly?)

• Morgan Freeman as God (Bruce Almighty, 2000)
• Morgan Freeman as coach (Million Dollar Baby,
  2004)
• Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox (Batman Begins,
  2005)
• Whoopi Goldberg as fake (?) psychic (Ghost, 1990)
• Cuba Gooding Jr. as an angel (What Dreams May
  Come, 1998)

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More black angels

• Djimon Hounsou as angelic neighbor (In America,
  2003)
• Gloria Foster as oracle (The Matrix, 1999)
• Chris Rock as Rufus, the 13th apostle (Dogma,
  1999)
• Will Smith as Bagger Vance (Legend of Bagger
  Vance, 2000)
• John Coffey as angelic prisoner (The Green Mile,
  1999)
• Denzel Washington (almost always)

61
How to interpret black angels?

• Film scholar Linda Williams
• Such movies allow white audiences to feel good
  about themselves because they feel so much
  compassion for (often suffering) black characters
• Spike Lee interprets John Coffeys Green Mile
  character as modern-day equivalent of old
  grateful slave

62
Krin Gabbards take

• Contemporary black angels based on
  well-established notion that black people are
  highly spiritual beings
• Yet magical black characters in recent films
  dont belong to African-American cultures
• They exist in world uncontaminated by politics,
  prejudice, even death

63
Grabbard (ctd.)

• Such films suggest most white Americans are
  incapable of living comfortably with black
  Americans
• Black angels are outside everyday world of white
  Americans
• (not counting sports and popular music)
• Only enter white America when white characters
  need supernatural help

64
Spike Lees Bamboozled (2000)

• A reminder of 200 years of black stereotyping
• A comment/question about today
• Are offensive racial images solely of the past?
• How do contemporary media perpetuate stereotypes
  based on race?

65
Alison Swans Mixing Nia (1998)

• Why have you never heard of this film?
• Judged to be commercially inviable
• To producers of universal independent films
  too black to be universal
• To Hollywood distributors of Black independent
  films not black enough!
• An authentic black film doesnt involve
  multiracial characters or interracial
  relationships!