Race, Gender and the Media Blog #2

So last monday we watched a video that talks about how specific cultures are seen in the media. Native Americans are always seen as living in teepees, blacks are seen eating chicken and watermelon, and asians are always doing kung fu.

It's sad to say that the only thing that shocked me was how they left out two white "cultures" that are always misrepresented. I guess, because they are white, it's okay. They didn't have Italians in the video. This is strange to me because Italians are always classified as being in the mob/mafia, wearing gold chains, having mistress and killing people. Isn't that miss representation and stereotyping? The Italians I know don't do any of those things.

Let's not forget hillbillies. My family comes from the mountains of Tennessee where the world "hillbilly" is actually a good word. Hillbillies were people that lived on the mountains and fought for the "billy yanks" of the north. Mountain people didn't need slaves in the old days and so they were against it. Now days, hillbilly means someone who sleeps with their sister, lives in a trailer, is lazy and doesn't have a steady job. It pretty much goes hand in hand with redneck (which has also turned into a bad thing when really it meant people who worked the fields and got sunburned) What I find interesting is that no one is complaining about those groups being misrepresented in the media. Don't they have feelings too?

I mean, my family doesn't get offended and instead, usually turns it into a joke. Why can't other cultures just see it as a joke? No one is doing it to offend people really because if that was the case, no one of that culture would be willing to act in those movies. The guy who played Mr. Myagi never said "I'm not doing Karate Kid  because I don't think they are representing asians properly."

Cultures are constantly making fun of themselves but that allows others to think its okay to do it too. The only way I think we can stop this type of stereotyping and misrepresentation is showing respect for our own culture first. Then, I think everyone will follow. Might sound rude but thats how I feel about it. All in all I think that if its such an issue, cultures would start saying no to roles and things in the media that make them look bad. The case is, they don't.