Stereotypes

A "stereotype" is a generalization about a person or group of persons. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. In the absence of the "total picture," stereotypes in many cases allow us to "fill in the blanks." Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the stereotype is unfavorable.

For example, if we are walking through a park late at night and encounter three senior citizens wearing fur coats and walking with canes, we may not feel as threatened as if we were met by three high school-aged boys wearing leather jackets. Why is this so? We have made a generalization in each case. These generalizations have their roots in experiences we have had ourselves, read about in books and magazines, seen in movies or television, or have had related to us by friends and family. In many cases, these stereotypical generalizations are reasonably accurate. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we have stereotypes about persons who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact.

Television, books, comic strips, and movies are all abundant sources of stereotyped characters. For much of its history, the movie industry portrayed African-Americans as being unintelligent, lazy, or involved in violence and drugs. As a result of viewing these stereotyped pictures of African-Americans, for example, prejudice against African-Americans has been encouraged. In the same way, physically attractive women have been and continue to be portrayed as unintelligent or unintellectual and sexually active.

In conclusion, Stereotypes are developed by a series of isolated behaviors by a member of a group which was unfairly generalized to be viewed as a character of all members of that group.

That's a wrap, Walter!

After reading Public Opinion and digesting all of the information, I've noticed that Walter Lippmann addresses many issues in this book. His main focus is on stereotypes, and also the fact that media creates the pictures that we have in our heads. The reason that the public has these stereotypes is because the media puts these ideas into our heads. The action that media takes is multifold. It acts as the gatekeeper and agenda setter of society. Media chooses what it wants individuals to know and feeds it to us through various sources of medium. In this way, Lippmann hints to the idea that our society is not a democracy at all, but in fact, the public is controlled by the gatekeepers of media.
Technological determinism ties into this idea. Technological determinism is the idea that technology determines history and drives society. In a more specific sense, technology (media) determines how individuals in society react and the choices that people make every day. We act on the pictures in our head implanted by the media. This creates society.

The solution that Lippmann proposes to stop the media from holding this power over the public, is a call for intellegencia- the individuals who are educated and thus will educate the public and cause individuals to participate and think critically. The intellegencia will help the public become media literate, and end the power that it has over society. In this way, media will not be able to set their agenda and act as the gatekeepers, but we as society will be guided by individuals who are educated and will lead us to become a better society.

This book was hard to read at times, but it was very interesting. It's hard to fathom that I knew so little before reading this book on how the media can have a chokehold on us as a society. It is only after we realize this, and become educated enough to stop it, that we can create a change in society and be our own gatekeepers.

Letter to myself: My role.

Dear Zac,
Become more knowledgeable when it comes to other cultures. Treating everyone the same is obviously a step towards equality, but shielding the fact that a black person has darker skin than yours hinders you. Take steps in learning that race does in fact matter. It would be great if it didn't matter, however, this class along with centuries of historical dates along with important figuers wouldn't exist if it didn't matter. Martin Luther King's dream unfortunately will always be a dream, but we in fact can take steps in making it more of a reality. As I leave Westminster College, I will take these values that I learned from this course and apply them to my daily living.

The Golden Years: Shine brighter than most think

Come to Mueller Theater on May 8, 2007 to watch "Body and Mind", created by myself, A. J. F., Heather Davis, and Bill Sadler. This documentary attempts to debunk any stereotypes that people, especially young people, have about the elderly. Listen as five older folks open up and tell what it is really like being old. This will truly open up your eyes, and shed a new light on the rapidly increasing elderly population.

Documentary update

We have the majority of our filming complete. Now it's a matter of editing what we have and trying to fit it within the appropriate time frame. We interviewed a total of 5 residents. I was really amazed as to what these people had to say. As A.J. said in his blog, one of the residents gave us some pictures from different parts of her life, from her senior high school picture to pictures of her as an older woman. It really was a neat experience going over there and listening to all of the different experiences these people have had.

The name's Doubtfire, dear

Robin Williams can make you laugh, he can make you cry, and he can even make you think. "Mrs. Doubtfire" is his best performance to date and also the funniest film of the 90s. Daniel Hillard (Williams) is a father of three who is very much a kid himself. After throwing a birthday party for his 12 year-old son who is failing in school, his angered and upper-class wife Miranda (Sally Field) files for divorce. Their yelling scene in the kitchen is one of the great dramatic moments in the movie. The courts decide to award full custody to Miranda for three months until Daniel can prove he is a suitable parent. This won't do for Daniel has to see his children more then once a week. He decides to go to his gay brother, a makeup artist, and transform himself into a 65 year-old woman and pose as a nanny Miranda needs to look over the kids. Not only will he be able to hang with them, but he also will be getting $300 a week. The disguise works and the rest is movie magic. "Mrs. Doubtfire" is 125 mins. yet feels too short. I wanted more when it ended. Williams has such talent here. His voices are hilarious and Mrs. Doubtfire is a scream. Sally Field also does a very good job as Miranda Hillard, who seems upset that just because she's an organized woman people detest it. People, that is, except Pierce Bronsan, her new boyfriend Daniel is mad jelous of. Field's anger scene in the finale in a restaurant is True Sally Field. Great film, the best of the comedy genre in the 90s.

Crashing and mending

Chopped up and linked together like a chain, Crash tells the story of people from wildly disparate walks of life as they collide and intersect with one another. Each life is in some way personally affected, changed, damaged, or victimized by racism. They’re also all in some way guilty of racism themselves. A racist cop molests a black couple, only later to risk his life to save a black woman; an honest cop protects a black man from discrimination only to later discriminate against someone himself. There are no easy answers in Crash and though sometimes the characters rise above their baser fears and intolerance, no one leaves the film unscathed.

From the opening scene, where Don Cheadle offers his philosophies on life and violence in LA, I knew that I was in for a good ride. As a rule, my mind races ahead, successfully anticipating what is going to happen next, but with "Crash," I was often way off. Nevertheless, each storyline was believable in the context of the whole. At one point, I felt that my own belief system, especially with respect to racial and ethnic prejudices, was being challenged, and I was not always pleasantly surprised by what I found inside of myself. By the end, however, I wasn't feeling so bad, realizing that no one character was free from prejudice (except perhaps the child) and that no one incident could be fully understood in isolation; fortunately, we are left with the understanding that redemption is within everyone's reach, depending, I suppose, on what fate has in store on any given day or at any given moment. Even though it would be easier to see this as a movie about issues revolving around the color of our skin or the country we are born in, I found it to be more about being human and dealing with the countless misunderstandings, whether we realize it or not, that we take part in each day, and that, despite our weaknesses, we are capable of amazing acts of courage, and, despite our goodness, we are capable of much evil, any of which transcends color, country of origin, religious belief, or economic status.