Theory homework for Ms Frearson in media studies:
To what extent do I agree with Tessa Perkins 5 assumptions?
I do agree that not all stereotypes are negative quite a bit as in TV drama’s it only ever seems to be the character with a bad attitude that labels people with bad stereotypes. For example, in South Park, Kenny McCormick is labelled as a poor nobody be Eric Cartman, but Cartman is a boy who is hated by all the public around him and often seen as a fat sociopath.
However, sometimes, people in general can label someone with a good stereotype. For example, a space captain is usually stereotyped as an intelligent, wise, handsome man with a happy and successful lifestyle. Examples include Captain Kirk from Star Trek, and Zapp Brannigan from Futurama, which is saying something since Zapp is a low-life who has a low intellect and a jerk personality, and yet the characters in the show seem to think of him as a successful captain, those who don’t know him well, at least.
Another example is, surprising enough, people who are paralyzed from the waist down in wheelchairs. Sometimes in a TV show, of someone who has a regular functioning mind and the movement of their arms still there, then he/she can sometimes be seen as an independent, hard working, and smart person. An example would be Izzy Armstrong from Coronation Street.
So overall, there are many examples of good stereotypes, both in fiction and in real life. Tessa Perkins was right about that one.
Another point she made is that stereotypical labelling does not only apply to the poor. Upper class individuals also can be labelled badly too.
For example, in Only Fools and Horses, Boycie is a rich man who hangs around with the lower class on screen. Most of the other lower class characters such as Derek and Trigger sometimes make fun of him. For E.g. Del has taken the mick out of him for being a ‘tight git’ and Rodney called him a ‘Rich snob’ as well.
Another example in The Simpsons is Mr Burns, the richest man in the town. He is often hated and despised by the rest of the people because he is seen as a selfish, heartless, evil old man with money he does not deserve.
Therefore, Perkins is right about this point too. Rich people can be slandered by stereotypes as easily as the poor person.
The third point she made was about the fact that a stereotype can be made within a person’s own group.
An example of this includes ‘Two and a half men’ where Alan Harper considers himself to be a lonely, miserable, pathetic man. And, the other characters more than agree on that. Alan seems to claim himself as these things because the represents his character in a way that it is like that.
A second example is ‘Everybody hates Chris’ where Chris believes that he himself, and his friend, are social low lives with nobody to like or care for them.
So yes, Tessa is also right that it can be done to one’s own group. It usually occurs when one insults themselves or their people when they are made at themselves.
The fourth point she made about stereotypes not changing is false, since the way society looks at things in general changes over time…
For example, in the early 1900’s a wealthy man would be seen as a rich snob since it was uncommon to see someone with lots of wealth. In them days, people were not as rich, neither were they as advanced, meaning rich people could not buy big, expensive, valuable items like a super computer with their money anyway.
In the 21st century, however, even though people may still think that deep down, the rich people are provided with a lot more power and can display it better by being able to afford advanced technology and expensive items. Now that the poor people realise the power of the rich men, they don’t dare labels them snobs in public.
Also, in the 50’s and 70’s, rockabillies were considered decent people, in the 60’s; people were off that whole fad entirely and thought of those people negatively.
So, basically, they are just subtle examples of how stereotypes can change over time.
The fifth and final point she made was that stereotypes are not always false. Even though they usually are, she is right in the sense that some are actually true.
An example of this is in Eastenders’ where Phil Mitchell is described as an angry, mad lunatic. Judging by his actions in the show, this is certainly true as he had had many fights and aggressive moments in the show.
Another is the character of Batman in the Batman franchise that is seen as an anti-hero. This is a correct stereotype aimed towards him as while he fights for good, he also hurts a lot of people, some who turn out to be innocent. Particularly the recent The Dark Knight movie, where on the cover he burns down the building just to show he is a superhero there to help supposedly.
Therefore, some examples can be true, as Tessa says, though mostly not.
A grade work:
Relating to point 1, about all stereotypes being negative, what can be argued is that the entire concept of this is a method of people being horrible to each other for petty amusement, rather than genuinely meaning it. Basically, the entire concept of stereotypes can be to just hurt people verbally and make them feel weak about themselves. Some stereotypes can be positive also, such as complements. However, most of the time, they are just used for slander, and they usually mean nothing as statements anyway. Such as in ‘Only Fools and Horses’ when Del labels Rodney as a ‘plonker’ and an idiot. He may not always mean it, but it’s a very of insulting him when he is mad.
Relating to point 2, it can be argued that while stereotypes can also apply to the rich, the poor suffer the most from this slander. While that is considerably true, that is due to the fact that statistically, more poor people exist than rich ones. That means the stereotypes towards the poor will be used a lot more since there will be more people to label. It is just an effect of population classification percentage in a way, not necessarily people hating a single individual who is poor over one who is rich.
As far as point 3 goes, a stereotype that one aims towards ones own group will not be used as often and frequently as a stereotype used towards other groups. This is because one may only classify themselves as a certain category of personality type when in an intensely serious situation, such as their wife dying in a car crash. Relating to the Alan Harper example, Alan only considers himself to be a lonely, miserable loser in scenes when he is feeling miserable. Whereas other characters label him as that all the time whenever they just want to verbally abuse him for their own pleasure. So, while a stereotype aimed towards one main group does sometimes happen, it is uncommon at least in comparison to labelling of other groups.
Point 4 has an interesting factor to it. While stereotypes do tend to change over time, Tessa wasn’t completely wrong as the original stereotypes from the past do not leave peoples thoughts; they are just forgotten by society. However, then can come back. A real life example involves politics, while in the early days of the political system, no one ever participated without force, and it was only due to compulsory law that you had to take part. If anyone didn’t, not only would they be slandered, but also fined. The term ‘Biggot’ among others was used to refer to anyone who didn’t vote in those days. Even in the mid 20th century, some of the political members of society thought of non-interested individuals as things like this. While in recent years this attitude has not been common in usage, Gordon Brown recently referred to one of his own supporters as a ‘Biggot’ in a huge story. So, stereotypes do change, but the originals are not always forgotten.
Finally, even though I claimed point 5 to be that not all stereotypes are false, they usually are. I noted out exceptions which provided examples as to why both I and Tessa were correct. But, when you think about it socially, most stereotypes are seemingly negative based. The reason for this is the point I made earlier about people using these for slanderous purposes. While there is the occasional good stereotype based on the rich being powerful or the old being wise, a lot of stereotypes are in fact negative. Technically, stereotypes being referred to as negative could be considered a stereotype in itself, since many of them are negative with certain exceptions. A stereotype based on another set of stereotypes.
So basically, while not all stereotypes are false, many of them are, which is why is seems that way to people.
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