Jersey Shore

Paul Gill

Culture plays a prevalent role in prejudice and stereotypes. People constantly get judged by society in today’s world, whether its because of their ethnicity, religion, social class, or other reasons. Culture plays as an important contributing factor on the subject of prejudice because people with similar cultures tend to socialize with one another best. They tend to get along better if they are in the same culture because they have the same things in common due to their background. In the Cast of Jersey shore, a group of Italian Americans are made to live together and go clubbing and party every night. This show is very popular because it is appealing to the younger generations, but stereotypes have been exploited, and new ones have been made by Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore portrays a culture of “guitos” or Italian Americans that love to gym, tan, and do laundry. This show is very stereotypical because it is showing a group of people that share the same ethnic background, do certain things which makes them a symbol of Italian Americans today. Although one may get offended at the jersey shore because of its rather outlandish behavior, most look past the stereotypical oddities and enjoy the show for its excitement, style, and lively drama. However, people subliminally form misconceptions of the show and towards the characters, which tend to then be shown towards Italian Americans.

Jersey Shore is basically a show about a group of Italian Americans that have internal conflicts and they love to party. Relationships constantly get torn apart and put back together. The endless drama allows the audience to let go of their own problems and watch these peoples hysterical drama. They claim to be rich in their Italian culture, which makes the public believe that all Italians are like that, therefore, creating stereotypes. Their lack of knowing the Italian language, excessive hair gel, and sparkly clothes make it hard to believe, however, that all true Italians are actually like that. I myself am not Italian, therefore I cannot depict what I feel a true Italian is like, but the point is that no one should judge someone because of the stereotypes hey are categorized in. For all we know, the root of Italian culture may be “gtl”, (gym, tan, laundry) but who are we to judge.

Tommy Hilfiger.. Racist?

Recent updates show that Tommy Hilfiger the designer of the famous brand “Tommy Hilfiger” has stated that only upper-class whites should buy his clothes. They say that he never appeared on Oprah’s show, but who knows. The problem with this is on how he said that African American, Hispanics and Asians should not buy his clothes. It also shows that this whole conflict is a message that is being sent to emails from Oprah. This happened in 1999 so we can’t really tell if it’s true or not till this time. Either way if it’s true or not it still can hurt the people that buy clothes there. Being Hispanic or African American etc. doesn’t matter, a lot of people buy clothes from there no matter their Ethnicity. They also say that Liz Claiborne has also been saying that her clothing, etc. Is not made for black women. As they should on the website they are saying that it’s not true. Looking back into all the websites it shows that Oprah has giving her statement on how she has NOT, NEVER met Tommy Hilfiger. She also says that she said it on her show clearly letting them know on how they’ve never met.

This message was sent to someone via email, and since then they have been forwarding it to everyone they know and those people do the same.

Subject: FWD: Tommy Hilfiger hates us...

Did you see the recent Oprah Winfrey show on which Tommy Hilfiger was a guest? Oprah asked Hilfiger if his alleged statements about people of color were true - he's been accused of saying things such as "If I had known that African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians would buy my clothes, I would not have made them so nice," and "I wish those people would not buy my clothes - they were made for upper-class whites." What did he say when Oprah asked him if he said these things? He said "Yes." Oprah immediately asked Hilfiger to leave her show.

The main stereotype here, is how Tommy is saying that white upper class people only buy expensive clothes, Which is not true an race can buy whatever type of clothes they want. Its unfair to what the people can say either being true or not being true.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/tommyhilfiger/a/tommy_hilfiger.htm

The Office

A popular TV show that shows stereotypes is The Office. The type of stereotype that it can show is how people in a work office can sometimes be crazy. The Office represents the working person can sometimes behave with other people in a comedic way. The show is based around the manager, Steve Carrell, who is Michael Scott. He is the manager off a paper merchant company named Dunder Mifflin in Scranton. Most of the employees in the show don't work and goof around all day long which alot of businesses can relate to.

Through the course of the 30 minute TV show, the workers show how they have to deal with problems that other modern day office workers have in common, of course on the TV show they are more comical. The Office has little fights between its co-workers and the workers pulling pranks on each other. Inside a regular office, they deal with these problems but differently of course. The television show often shows the people looking into the camera during some of the scenes which is to represent that people often act weirdly when they are put on the spot or have to do a presentation.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Office

http://theofficequotes.com

The Office mainly stereotypes an office being influenced to do similar but in ways different ways. We often sterotype people in offices to be hard working, which some are and that they sometimes like to have fun. All of these sterotypes this TV show proves that it is partially right. A common stereotype is that people are in offices and have no fun and are all work work work, but The Office says that people will also have fun while doing it. "True, I may have been the second choice...but I was the first choice' first choice!" - Andy Bernard. The Office can have some perverted jokes and office harassment and that can also happen in real life offices.

Angels Sell

In this day and age, media is worldwide and as technology expands, so does the influence the social media has on its viewers. A simple commercial that lasts no more than a few minutes can have a great impact on society in developing stereotypes and prejudices. Victoria Secret often influence women with their advertisements of attractive, yet scantily-clad women. Thus, these commercials make the statement that all women should look this way to be desirable which forms a stereotype around “attractive” women and soon brings about prejudicial perceptions. In creating these influences, they help to shape society in both a positive and negative way.

Victoria Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie, and beauty products. It is vastly known for their alluring models, or “Angels.” They have made over five billion dollars in sales and 1,040 company-owned stores which are still expanding in places such as the United Kingdom. They promote lingerie in many of their commercials and usually have a yearly runaway show. Victoria Secret Angels, such as Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, and Adriana Lima are known to keep a strict diet and maintain a extensive workout to keep themselves fit. Many of these Angels have helped to attract others, not only to buy their products, but also to create society’s definition beauty based off Victoria Secret’s ads.

Let’s face it, companies are mainly, if not only here to sell their products to the consumer. What do they sell? Anything you want. How? They make their products so tempting that you cannot resist or just enough to make you want to buy it. In this case, Victoria Secret uses the power of their models. Their models create this illusion that you can almost become as beautiful as they are if you buy what they’re advertising. These commercials develop the prefect girl stereotype. Victoria Secret models can be great inspirations to leading a healthy lifestyle, but can also become poisonous to one’s self esteem. This means perfect hair, body, smile, eyes, and plenty of other factors that we cannot always control. In my opinion, this is wrong as it damages a girl’s self esteem and creates this negative image about how a girl should look. Prejudice comes into play when this stereotype develops and people may start feeling the need to label what they see which can end up hurting many people. This doesn’t just apply to women as men experience the same issue and with these commercials, for any gender, can result in high expectations in a new relationship. The truth is, no girl has perfect features and shouldn’t feel the need to measure up to society’s standards as they are a bit too high. I think it’s difficult to understand the purpose of these prejudices and stereotypes as they can be offensive and in my opinion, we need to make ones that would somehow help society instead of attacking one another on some these issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7lLd5YtE58&feature=relmfu

Homophobia is Gay

The Colbert Report, the spin-off of and sister show to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, stars Stephen Colbert, a fake-news pundit who lives his character.   He plays an uber-patriotic conservative, who will often enough declare his anti-gay stance in politics whilst proving the opposite and showing his own homoerotic tendencies.  His character is made for comedy, a satire, so even when he seems to be completely on the right, his character will break -- proving that he is not meant to be taken seriously.  Though the character is meant to be ironic, it still mirrors many of the harsh truths of prejudice and ignorance.  

In the segment, "How to Ruin Gay Marriage", Stephen “plots” a whole plan to become engaged to a gay man, only to insult him at the altar.  Though it starts out hypothetical, one soon catches on that it is part of his character’s back-story, and, as far as the skit goes, not just an idea, but a not-so-warm memory.  He begins to cry about how the other man will never forgive him and that he’s ruined the other’s life, until: “What have I done?  ...Saved marriage, that’s what.”  He sobers up pretty quickly, the homophobic front trying to hide all traces of care for his “mere pawn”. 



Stephen is the representative of the contradiction, of sorts.  By playing a completely homophobic character, he is showing how laughable homophobia really is.  Similar to this is the idea of a homophobic homosexual, some real life examples include politicians Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, and Roy Ashburn, who were all very strongly anti-gay before stumbling out of the closet through various scandals.  This brings up a stereotype found in both popular culture and in reality called the “gay conservative”, which is essentially what Colbert is playing.  Whether gay conservative or homophobic homosexual, the hypocrisy is grand and apparent, especially to those of us who are striving for equality.  



Sources:
“How to Ruin Gay Marriage”: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/343140/august-05-2010/how-to-ruin-same-sex-marriages
Gay Conservatives: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GayConservative

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The classic Disney princess movie of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is often remembered as the first and foremost full-length animated movie from no other than Disney Studios itself, has brought delight to audiences of all ages. Although this movie is a timeless one and is accessible to viewers of any age, it seems to penetrate the mentality of the younger generation than that of the older. This mentality that a girl or a woman must wait for her "prince charming" to come and sweep her off her feet to ride away on his white horse can sometimes easily be overlooked, when in fact portrays a vast gender stereotype.

The movie focuses on a sweet, innocent princess who lives under the reign of her evil stepmother who is in fact the queen. When the evil queen sets out to be the "fairest one of all" it endangers Snow White's life which forces her with no choice but to flee. Snow White, who has no where to go, takes refuge in a small home owned by seven little dwarves in the forest. Later when the queen soon finds out that Snow White still remains the "fairest one of all", she decides to put matters into her own hands by showing up disguised as an old lady whom Snow White cannot recognize. The evil queen offers Snow White an apple which has been poisoned and persuades the princess to take a bite. Poisoned by the apple, the princess falls into not death but rather a deep sleep. The dwarves, who have grown to like Snow White, are now fairly upset and chase the evil queen away. They mourn and grieve over Snow White's death-like sleep when her Prince Charming comes and wakes her with "true love's kiss."

In this particular movie, we see that gender can be a major factor. Snow White who plays the damsel in distress and the male role of Prince Charming who portrays the character of a dominant figure who sweeps in and saves the day can often times paint a picture in the mind of young ones (particularly the female) that we actually need a man to come and rescue us. It makes it seems as though we sit around all day and wait for that prince charming to come walk through the door. For example, in one of the scenes we see Snow White displayed near a wishing well and she sings, "I'm wishing, I'm wishing for the one I love to find me today" and it creates a whole new scale of what our society thinks of how women need a man. It is very stereotypical to think that all women are just hoping for a man to show up one day and that we would need a male role in any time of rescuing. This movie of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs shows how our society sometimes may view women and it comes to be a perfect example regarding gender stereotypes.

Seventeen Magazine

Seventeen Magazine is a huge influence on many girls throughout the United States. Seventeen’s primary target is teenage girls. Girls tend to struggle with their appearance a lot. This magazine shows girls how they should look like – how to get the perfect body, hair, makeup, etc. It stereotypes what a typical girl should look like, especially in their teenage years.

Nowadays, teenage girls always try whatever they can to look “beautiful”, but what does mean? According to Seventeen Magazine, being beautiful is having the perfect body, nice hair and makeup. Seventeen makes girls insecure, and think that they’re not pretty if they don’t look exactly like the girls in the magazines but little do they know that most of the girls in magazines are edited to look a certain way. The magazine always has somebody famous on the front cover that looks flawless. On top of that, they make it seem like it is possible to look as perfect as they do by saying that they’re just typical girls. Seventeen has a section on how to eat right and get the perfect body (whatever that means), how to put on makeup, ways to do your hair, and the style that’s in at the moment. They also give you advice on sex and relationships. Aside from that, they have ads for everything. They have ads for expensive shoes, cigarettes, purses, perfumes, and many more.

I think magazines and other types of media like this target girls to be perfect, which is something that is impossible to do. It makes girls insecure, and self-conscious about themselves. Not only does it put many girls down, but it may be the cause for anorexia, bulimia, and even depression. We are pushed and pushed to be the perfect girl. In many ways, this magazine tells girls that we must be skinny in order to get the guy of our dreams. In my opinion, everyone is different. No matter how hard you try, you cannot and will not be perfect. We are all beautiful in different ways so we shouldn’t beat ourselves up if we don’t look like the girls in the magazines. We shouldn’t have to feel the need to change ourselves for others. For example, on one cover page it says “perfect hair, skin & makeup” and “look pretty without spending any $$$”. I think girls are already pretty the way they are, and they don’t need to change for anyone else. Seventeen Magazine stereotypes the perfect girl to have beautiful hair, a skinny and tan body, a flawless face with no pores, etc. We are all born beautiful and we don’t have to be like the girls in the magazines. We shouldn’t let media bring us down and make us self-conscious or insecure.

It's The BAD Girls Club

On Oxygen’s The Bad Girls Club stereotypes are often brought up. Such as “You white trash piece of garbage!” or “Get your hands off my bag they’re worth more than your paycheck!” Notice how both quotes have exclamations because of the yelling that goes on in the house. The Bad Girls Club is a representation of human stereotyping because of the girls that are in the club and how they act towards each other. In BGC, 7 bad girls all live together in a house, all of different place and mostly different races. On the newest season there are 3 black girls, 2 white girls, 1 Latina, and 1 girl who identifies as Lebanese. All the girls stereotype each other and then pick and pull which stereotypes to bring out into the open, most of the time by screaming and yelling.

In the Bad Girls Club, Nastasia (one of the black girls) constantly talks like she has grown up in poverty all her life and resents anyone that has money. She plays into the ghetto black girl stereotype. Angelique (the Latina girl) corresponds to the chola stereotype of having dark makeup and red lipstick on; another characteristic of the chola stereotype is talking with a very heavy latin accent. Angelique plays into the stereotype because when she goes into the confessional booth she suddenly loses her accent… Priscilla (the white girl from Staten Island) constantly plays into the far east white girl stereotype. Priscilla talks with a heavy Staten Island/ New Jersey accent, goes and gets fake tans, and is always clutching her Louis Veton handbag. Every girl fits into one stereotype or another. Like stated previously Nastasia calls one of the white girls “Poor, white trash.” This was on the third night of being in the house, which means all Nastasia knew about the white girl was the stereotype.

On BGC all of the girls can be seen as stereotypes. They all fit into one stereotype or category at some point. Examples of the girls fitting stereotypes can be seen in the paragraph above. It just shows how people play into a stereotype or category in present day. Even though they are all just girls living in a house they see each other as ghetto or trashy or high class. But in the house class or economic level does not matter, they are all on the same level. Even when they are on the same level they still try to belittle each other by picking on insecurities and stereotypes.

Crash: A Movie on Prejudice

Crash, a 2005 film, is the story of life in Los Angeles from a number of unique, racially diverse perspectives. The entire purpose of the movie is to illustrate in great depth the prejudices and stereotypes that society uses to blame others for their own troubles. Today racism especially, and stereotypes in a broader view, are greatly influential in everyday life, whether we choose to acknowledge them or not. It is neither comfortable nor easy to admit that society is still so biased and prejudiced due to a thing as simple as the shade of mans' skin. This film's purpose is to make quite clear that present day America remains unjust and prejudice, and that no matter how hard one may try to overlook this bitter truth, it cannot be avoided. Stereotypes and prejudices play a massive role in our present society; men still judge and are judged simply by the tone of their skin.

The entire story of Crash is an intertwining connection between a wealthy black man, two young white cops, a Mexican locksmith, an Afghan family, and a white district attorney. Every scene is drenched in awful stereotypes, and each character in the movie is either set back, disturbed, or fighting against these prejudices. The Afghan family's store is robbed, and they blame the Mexican locksmith for failing to correctly fix the locks. The wealthy black man is pulled over by the young cops, and his wife is inappropriately groped by one of the white cops. The Caucasian district attorney is car jacked by two young African American men who feel that they are unfairly stereotyped by the white population surrounding them. There are many small stories weaved together to illustrate the prejudices that live and thrive in Los Angeles. It is, fundamentally, a story of prejudice.

The opening scene of Crash involves Ria, a Latino detective in the LAPD, in a heated argument with an Asian woman who has just rear-ended Ria's car. The story begins immediately with a quarrel between these two women who use racist arguments to blame and offend one another. This work is attempting to breakdown and illustrate just how constantly and harshly society judges based upon race or other stereotypes. The unique perspectives from different characters show the audience the different ways in which people judge and are judged.

The end of the movie is so adeptly woven that the audience realizes it has been prejudiced even while watching the film. It is well done, but it is sad to contemplate the reality of how prejudice separates us all.

It's Not All Drama

In many ways, we are a product of what we see. When things are presented to us in a glamorous or sensationalized way, we tend to consider those things as good and become some version of it. That is the reason that shows which portray teenagers or high schoolers in a negative (or in some cases, positive) light can be damaging. Some of the most highly-rated shows are ones either predicated on the belief that high schoolers are overly dramatic, promiscuous and combative or ones that glamorize the plight of certain teenagers. While it is good to bring certain issues to light that we have been afraid to talk about in the past (Sex, sexual orientation, drugs, etc), when those are the only elements shown, you can cross the fine line between warning kids about potential horrors and perpetuating the actions and situations that you show.

There are two shows, or types of shows, that I want to focus on. First are the shows Degrassi and (the reboot of) 90210. Degrassi has lived off the same premise for a decade now: they follow a diverse group of high schoolers throughout their high school years and document their troubles. If you count the original, 90210 has been doing the same for even longer. The next show is MTV’s hit series Teen Mom. While it is (hopefully) designed to educate teenagers about the potential consequences of promiscuity, I think that it has accomplished the opposite most of the time. Even more troubling is the fact that this was the spin-off of a similar show, 16 & Pregnant, and has spawned a spin-off itself, Teen Mom 2. Again, with these shows, we are coming dangerously close to crossing the line between education and glamorization.

The problem with Degrassi and 90210 and other shows like them are that they rarely display any positive aspects of high school or being a teenager. Nearly every episode of every show is melodrama, for both programs. There is constant feuding between students over ”relationships” and other trivial issues, dangerous use of drugs and alcohol, discrimination and bullying, insecurity, promiscuity, and many more of the negative issues that high schoolers face. In earlier episodes of Degrassi, there are even stabbings and shootings. While I am a proponent of shows that depict real issues, at what point is it too much? At what point do teenagers start to embrace the drama that they see constantly on TV and slowly evolve and morph into an example of it? High school isn’t all bad. It isn’t always drama. At least, it doesn’t have to be. And we don’t have to always portray it as such.

The issue with Teen Mom and shows of that type are similar, but different. While teen pregnancy is an issue (although, like many things, I think it’s always been a big problem but is just reported more nowadays), I certainly wouldn’t call it a normality. Furthermore, the actual show isn’t a very realistic representation of the hardships that *most* teen girls who do get pregnant actually go through. Most of the time, the girls shown have stable families, homes, and boyfriends/husbands who are at least in the picture. That isn’t usually the case. If you want to enlighten teenagers to the dangers of teen pregnancy, then show us the girl who’s single, on welfare, and is ridiculed at school. Show us the guy who has to drop out of school to get a job. The way it is now, the show makes the situation seem manageable and plausible most of the time. And like Degrassi and 90210, it displays these issues as normal and commonplace. It’s not fair to most teenagers. We aren’t all troubled. Sure, we all have hardships, but it isn’t all strife and dissension, and usually doesn’t have to be.

Link: Degrassi Season Preview - Drama, conflict, various things and situations going awry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5qlHeu1SPc&feature=related

Jackie Chan Adventures

Jackie Chan Adventures is an animated television series on Kids' WB, Cartoon Network as well as Disney XD. It is Based on the film star, Jackie Chan, and related to many of his actual works. These series portrays stereotype amongst their ethnic background of China. It also interprets stereotype amongst age. It shows prejudice amongst other ethnicsities showing certain images as to be part of the China.

Jackie Chan Adventures is about a young amateur archeologist who lives with his uncle and neice.Jackie Chan finds magical artifacts that some how tie him into with working with secret agents also known as the Section 13. In these shows, he faces conflicts with ninjas as well as other bad guys. In the times Jackie spends with his uncle, he is often lectured with old ancient teachings his uncle begins to tell him. When facing conflicts with the 'bad guys', Jackie Chan is only capable of overcoming these struggles by using his martial art skills. The reason for the 'bad guys' attacking on Jackie Chan, is for the shield he has found. The immortal spirit, Shendu, is trying to get the artifact that Jackie has found.

To elaborate on how it is stereotypical amongst ethincity, it shows dragons, ninjas and that they conjure mystical and supernatural teachings where as other shows do not show. The grandpa in the series bases all of his teachings off of ancient stories that Chinese strongly believe in. In the theme song of the show, it has dragons flying around as well as cutural flute music off of the Chinese heritage. This is stereotypical because it also shows immortal figures where as other cartoons such as Rugrats, Tom and Jerry, Popeye as well as many others, do not show. As a Chinese character he is shown to know marital arts rather that kickboxing or other self defense moves. His niece is shown to be always getting is trouble which is stereotypical about young children stating that that kids are always falling into difficult situations. Jackie Chan is a perfect example of sterotype based on ethnicity showing certain habits based on certain cutural backgrounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96-Dcpq_2P4

Awkward

The television show Awkward is relevant and important because it deals with the struggles of a teenage life with stereotypes. This show depicts stereotypes within the characters that are portrayed in the show.

Awkward is about a teenage girl dealing with the result of a misunderstanding of an accident that happened to her; leading her fellow peers to believe that she tried to commit suicide to get attention. Thus, making her life awkward.

The characters of Awkward can be seen as stereotypical because of the way they are acting. One example is the cheerleader that bullies the average girl. Like when the girl went to a party and the cheerleader goes up to her and says, “Who invited you?” Another example is the popular boy not being allowed to like an average girl. This was shown when the boy told the girl that no one can know that he likes her.

Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awkward

Glee!

Glee is a very relevant stereotypical show because one of the main characters is gay. A large part of the show focuses on his struggle with bullies and being comfortable in his high school. This show reflects the stereotypes of a gay student in high school, by showing how he, Kurt Hummel, deals with his judgmental classmates and his social status.

Kurt had a very difficult time getting respect from his classmates. Every day he would fear going to school because he knew the football players and popular kids would continue to harass him. For example, one of Kurt's fears was getting "slushied." Getting slushied means that someone would buy a shushie from school, and dump it on someone else's face. It is very messy, painful, and sad. One football player in particular would point out Kurt's homosexuality every day in a very negative way. On top of being gay, he Kurt is also a part of the Glee club, and according to the social status at the school, Glee club is the lowest on the totem pole. So he would feel judged and made fun of and soon enough he became so uncomfortable, that he switched to an all guys school for a while.

I think this show is trying to show how putting down and discriminating against homosexuals can be very hurtful and those who are doing it, may not know how much pain they are causing. The show has the stereotypical football players who rule the school throw shushies at the bottom feeders of the glee club and the gay students. The show also focuses on how the whole glee club always sticks up for each other and is like a family. It shows how they don’t care what other people think and in order to change their classmates’ views about social statuses and homosexuality, they continue to do what they love, singing, and work to be the best at it. It took Kurt transferring to another school for the guy that harassed him everyday to finally realize how mean he had been to the Glee club and to Kurt. He joined forces with a member of Glee club and formed a “No Bullying” club. They patrol the school and stop all bullying and harassment that they come across. This was a huge success for their Glee club because they had a member of the popular crowd sticking up for them. Kurt was also finally able to return to the school, because he felt more comfortable and accepted by his peers. I don’t think that gay students at our school go through anything like what happens on Glee, but somewhere in America some kids may. So this show is a good representation of what could be going on and it may even be inspirational to stick up for one’s self.

Islamophobia in America

Prejudices and stereotypes of certain identities in a society can give a good look at the society itself. Prejudices can often occur because of a single event and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 irrefutably led to some assumptions about a specific group of people in our society. An uncomfortably common and uneducated notion in our society is that the Islam faith is synonymous with terrorism. After that day in September, America was changed forever and an entire religion was alienated as if it had not been their country as well that had been attacked. Like judging a book by its cover, a nation judged a religion by its extremists. These prejudices show how collective fear and ignorance often lead to injustice, even a decade later. The Council on American-Islam Relations, or CAIR, is one of many Muslim groups trying to give Americans an accurate view of the Islam faith and its people. CAIR, the country’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization, released a trio of public service announcements in 2010 addressing America’s growing Islamophobia and trying to bring an end to the irrational and bigoted prejudices that have been made and spread by Americans.

Two of the three public service announcements feature 9/11 first responders describing their actions and reactions that day with the theme of “9/11 Happened to Us All”. A medical responder says that she responded because she wanted to help her fellow New Yorkers and fellow Americans, emphasizing that she is “a clinical pharmacist, a first responder at 9/11, and a Muslim.” The second “9/11 Happened to Us All” PSA features a New York City firefighter and Muslim who describes his emotions after learning that his fellow firefighter and friend was on the list of those who died and the surreal feeling of it all. Both of these individuals show how the 9/11 attacks didn't just happen to one group of people, but to every American, all other identities aside. The third PSA entitled “We Have More in Common than We Think” features four religious leaders of different faiths, including Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, expressing the common message of love and respect in each of their religions. The leaders demonstrate how religions have similar values and should not have stereotypes associated with them or be privileged above one another. CAIR's mission statement is "to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding" and all three videos help to accomplish this task.

Each PSA is meant to challenge anti-Muslim prejudices and does more than so within the powerful thirty seconds it plays. The short but substantial videos greatly encourage dialogue about religious prejudice and help others see behind the stereotype of the Islam faith. They show how everyone, including Muslims, was affected on September 11, 2001 and Muslim-Americans should not be made out to be any less patriotic simply because of the identities of the perpetrators. A Muslim leader in the “We Have More in Common than We Think” PSA, says, “If we don’t have our rights, you don’t have yours”. This message expresses how prejudices not only infringe on someone’s welfare but also on their freedom and if a certain group’s rights are disregarded, then everyone else’s rights are just as vulnerable. The Islam faith is a peaceful religion with emphasis on respect, virtue, and charity, and these facts should be acknowledged before making any kind of judgment. Religious tolerance is a value that has, in the past couple years, been made more and more difficult but organizations like CAIR show that you don’t always have to sit back and accept the social injustice.

Videos:

“9/11 Happened to Us All”

Medical Responder- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVtup1bB7aM&feature=relmfu

Firefighter- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU5W-iUv8fg

“We Have More in Common than You Think”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhOi5gRkK0M&feature=relmfu

Gran Torino

Gran Torino is perhaps one of the most controversial films of our time in relation to stereotypes. Its representation of Asian-Americans is very condescending and extremely stereotypical. Walt Kowalski, a Korean war veteran, is unhappy with the changes around his neighborhood and is quite unhesitant to express his views about it. The neighborhood Walt once knew begins to change as large numbers of Hmong people begin to move in. These Hmong people are stereotyped as the typical Asian-Americans in today’s society. They are either depicted as passive, weak cowards or hardened criminals. However, the best thing Gran Torino does is reflect the stereotypical Asian neighborhood. There are those Asians who are weak and those that are criminals, but there is absolutely no one to step in and bring order to the situation.

Through out the movie, Walt uses a number of terms to degrade the Asian family moving in next door. Zipperhead, gook, fish head, slope, and swamp rats are all terms Walt uses to insult them. His anger escalates towards them after Tao attempts to steal his Gran Torino out of his garage in the night. Tao ends up working off his crime by helping Walt do neighborhood chores and such, even though Walt originally wanted nothing to do with his repayment. Walt calls Tao a pussy numerous times because of his inability to talk to girls and his passiveness to the neighborhood gang’s bullying. Tao and his family are depicted as helpless and weak while the gang carries on as being criminals. Complete madness has overcome this neighborhood and there is no one there to restore any order. The criminals continue to destroy the lives of the weak and no one is there to stop it. Walt is ultimately able to overcome his prejudice views in an attempt to bring peace to Tao and his family.

The movie ultimately stereotypes a neighborhood being influenced by the large number of Asian immigrants. We often see many Asian families to be passive and soft spoken, just as we stereotype them to be good at math and to be bad drivers. The whole family, and especially Tao in specific are depicted as weak and vulnerable. Tao is forced to do feminine chores like gardening and cleaning the dishes, which shows us his passive attitude. To see the real stereotypes of this movie, you have to dig deeper than the face value. The racial slurs are an obvious point of prejudice, but to understand the real meaning behind the story you have to look at how Clint Eastwood portrays the characters, especially Tao.

Drake and Josh

The teen sitcom Drake & Josh became a comedy hit amongst teenagers as well as a much younger audience. Although the show exhibits laughter and what a typical family may or may not go through, there are some stereotypes that are presented that tends to be the most common in society as a whole. Drake is the brother that is physically better looking, loves rock n' roll, and gets the hot girls while Josh on the latter is portrayed as the unfit, more mentally rational but socially oblivious, "straight A student" who can never for his life be someone like Drake. In our society and culture, we so easily tend to think and classify others just by our appearances and interests.

The show is centered around two step brothers, (Drake and Josh) who are complete polar opposites to one another and come to live together due to Drake's father's remarriage to Josh's mother. As you might already understand, living with a new family and especially sharing a bedroom with a complete stranger (let alone someone whom you might not get along with) might not be the most exciting event of your life. Josh is a character who is always the underdog because has to deal with troubles Drake finds himself into while it seems like Drake is the socially adequate one due to his good looks. But why is it that we always categorize the "fat" or "ugly" people as the underdogs and the "troublesome" or "popular" kids as the dumb ones?

Although, I grew up watching the show to love and laugh over the hilarious comments they've made, I feel that stereotypes are so easily dismissed in pop culture worldwide. In this particular episode, Josh finds himself trying to seek revenge on his brother, who crashed their dune buggy, so that he would finally have to pay for his mistakes instead of getting away with it. There is a scene where Josh reluctantly agrees to clean up after all of Drake's mess just so that their parents will not find out. This reinforces the idea of stereotyping among the socially advantageous people. I think that our world loves to classify mankind by the way they look and act because it is simply so easy to point fingers and make pre judgements. Drake and Josh is one show that does a good job at portraying how society stereotypes every day.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S2T3zO7IHI&feature=related

Into the Wild

            Into the Wild, a movie and book about a college graduate who leaves everything behind in order to show his distain of Corporate America and promote the ideology of the great writers, such as Leo Tolstoy, Jack London, H.W. Davies, and Henry David Thoreau. Chritopher McCandless, other wise known as a leather tramp- Alexander Suptertamp, goes on a journey that shows his prejudice towards those in the world who are caught up in their goals and their lives. His belief is that they do not truly see what is going on around them, and have become robots in an organized society.

          As McCandless goes through his own journey of self-fulfillment, he goes against society and categorizes all those in it. He talks to a man he met named Wayne Westerberg, he explains to Wayne his distain of the life he came from and the people he knew,  “You know, parents, hypocrites, politicians, pricks.”  Along the way, he finds “watered-down” societies in the Slab City of the Imperial Valley, Salvation Mountain, and the outskirts around the Salton City of California. McCandless never finds comfort anywhere he goes and decides that he will find the world we need in Alaska, The Last Frontier.

            McCandless’ judgments give off the feeling that we all suffer from disillusionment, are all selfish, and need to drastically change our lives or else live a life full of unhappiness and dissatisfaction. His main goal was for  society to understand that its need for judgment, control, and the whole spectrum of people being mean to each other, is not needed, that we all can escape and attain a greater joy in life if we would just be in the moment of freedom and simple beauty. Aside from his want, McCandless had put everyone that had a job, or lived in a big city into the category of society, and as seen above, he believes that those in the society are in serious need of their eyes being opened.

http://www.christophermccandless.info/

Mean Girls

During our years in school, we meet a lot of different and unique people. But sometimes, we tend to put people into these kind of categories that make them stand out in a good or bad way. This especially happens in high school, a place where being the jock or cheerleader puts you on a spotlight, while being a nerd or freak results in ridicule or humiliation. Whenever high school is displayed in popular culture, the statuses of students are always expressed in the same ways. Like being popular is the way to be, and if you do something out of the ordinary, you're considered an outcast. Sometimes, pop culture goes far enough to target different races; like how white people are usually the popular ones, and Asians are nerds, the black people are "gangsters", etc. For some reason, the media likes to portray high school as a place where everyone is placed in groups according to their status. One particular movie that does this is Mean Girls.

In Mean Girls, we are introduced to a girl named Cady Heron, who recently transferred to a public high school after being home schooled in Africa. On her first day of school, she is exposed to different high school groups; like the jocks, the Asians, the sexually active band geeks, the desperate wannabes, the burnouts, and last but not least: the Plastics. She meets two friends, Janis and Damian, who teaches her exclusive details about each group, especially Regina George and her “plastic” friends. After being unexpectantly invited to eat lunch with the them, Cady and Janis thought it would be funny for Cady to pretend that she was their friend. She tries to bring Regina down, to make her reveal all her secrets, tries to convince people that she’s not a queen everyone thinks she is, but actually a cold, heartless person that spreads false rumors in her Burn Book. But soon enough, Cady begins to act like the Plastics to try and fit into the high school scene. She ditches Janis and Damian, tries to get Regina’s boyfriend, and throws a party that backfires; which makes her realize that this is not what she wanted.

Watching this movie, it's easy to pinpoint where each character belongs. By the way they act, to how they dress. Even though these movies show that high school is always like this, in reality, some high schools are not. So why does the media do this? In the movie, the Plastics, or the popular girls, dominate the school. Everyone looks up to them and thinks they're legit, but behind all of that, they're just brats. I think the reason why pop culture does this is to show an image of popularity is everything. That it will get you into the hottest parties and will land you a date with the hottest girl/guy. In the beginning, Cady wasn't intending to think like that, but the more she hung out with the Plastics, the more she wanted to be like them. Time passed by and she realized that this was not what she was expecting. Most of us know that once we get out of high school, the popularity gained doesn't matter anymore. We all start from scratch the time we enter the real world.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/