Racial Gender Stereotypes Portrayed in Film

After recognizing the undeniably amount of stereotypical roles used to portray the gender biases, between men and women, in hollywood films this semester, I have learned that Hollywood created these offensive roles for the sole purpose of entertainment. Without doing much research at all, Hollywood will do whatever it takes to produce a movie with these stereotypical roles. For this last blog, I am going to recognize the common misconception of “The Crazy Cat Lady”. From what Hollywood has taught us, the “crazy cat lady” is portrayed as an unmarried, elder women, who shelters a numerous amount of cats so she isn’t “alone”. This character usually lives alone, with no other people, because she is deemed as the socially awkward, weird lady with several cats. An example of this role is Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone. Although this woman is portrayed one way doesn’t mean this is the actual portrayal of a realistic cat lady. As someone who owns two cats and knows people who own two ...

Thorough out the years, we have seen Hollywood create a number amount of stereotypical roles for actors. One exceptionally common role among women is the “gorgeous klutz”. This stereotypical role is portrayed in several movies like The Mummy and The Devil Wears Prada. The “gorgeous klutz” is your typical perfect, beautiful women; except for that she’s clumsy. As far as Hollywood is concerned, awkward, clumsy girls are seen as foolish or less intelligent than others. They do a fantastic job at making us viewers feel as if we’re exactly like this character being portrayed. For example, the famous Hollywood klutz can be seen in Anne Hathaway’s character in The Devil Wears Prada. At the beginning of the movie, Hathaway’s character is an eager woman wanting to personally work for a powerful fashion magazine editor, Miranda Priestly. Throughout the movie, Hathaway is seen as a normal yet clumsy girl for the minor awkward situations she gets herself into. Although this movie is loved and pra...

One of the most common stereotypes towards all people of color, ethnically and diverse groups, are racial acts of painting of the skin. This blatant act of racism consists of a white male or female, painting their face a darker skin-tone; in order to imitate a specific ethnicity. Although there are countless reports to people participating in black-face and brown face, yellow-face is also among the common stereotypes in Hollywood. The common misrepresentation among Asians is that they have yellow skin. Although there may be some truth to this, “skin color ranges from yellow tan to a dark brown depending on the region you live in” (Odyssey). Despite the color of your skin, no person outside of your ethnicity is allowed to imitate or mock someone by the color of their skin. An example of yellow-face being prominent in Hollywood is in the movie Aloha , released in 2015. Aloha is set on the island of Hawaii where caucasian actress Emma Stone, reveals her character as a south pacific isl...

Latinos are often misrepresented in Hollywood. The misconception that is portrayed in these films are often focused on stereotypical roles; such as, “the maid”. For some odd reason, Hollywood loves to cast Latinos as “the help”. Such roles overwhelmingly focuses on actual representations that many people deal with in their everyday lives. These roles have been characterized in Pop Culture. For example, the famous movie Maid in Manhattan , starring Jennifer Lopez, focuses on the life of a maid who falls in love with the wealthy white man. I feel as if this role is demeaning towards Latinas, as they are being portrayed as nothing more but of a maid; which is not true. We are powerful women who are capable of anything. Another show that was quickly criticized is Eva Longoria’s, Devious Maids. Latinos expressed that this show was a “wasted opportunity” for many Latina actresses. Some have expressed that an all Latina leading show could have trumped the common stereotypical roles created ...

In this era of Hollywood, audiences have seen the many stereotypical hispanic roles of a narco-criminal. There are many Spanish-speaking actors who willingly take on this role as a drug lord to give a more realistic persona for these Hollywood films. These roles have gravitated towards hispanic actors based off the very popular, Colombian narcoterrorist, Pablo Escobar. Pablo Escobar was the leader of the Medellín Cartel where he was given the title as, “The King of Cocaine.” Many popular actors like Alice Braga are known to play such roles. Alice Braga, stars in the USA Network show Queen of the South, an adaptation of the famous Mexican telenovela La Reina Del Sur. Her character, Teresa Mendoza, is forced to run and seek refuge in America by starting her own cartel. Although these characters are an adaptation of what is happening in real life, hispanics are not the only ethnicity that are capable of running a cartel. Although it’s more prominent to occur in Mexico, Colombia, etc, the...

There is no doubt that racial stereotypes negatively affect how we perceive others. These types of negative stereotypes are usually depicted in film and television. It’s easy for audiences to pick up these racial perceptions of others and incorporate it into their everyday lives. Since this is normalized in Hollywood, us audience members need to understand just exactly what racial stereotypes are being depicted into such films and need to be acknowledge them. The one racial stereotype against black men is “the Magical Negro”. This character tends to be played by African American men with “special powers who make appearances solely to help white characters out of crises” ( ThoughtCo) . This reinforces the argument that these characters aren’t as valuable or important as the other characters depicted in these films. They are deemed as uninteresting. For example, the movie Evan Almighty , Morgan Freeman played the role of God. God, a supreme being, is played by a famous black male. This ...

Nobody is born ignorant nor racist. Racism is passed down through older people by teaching the younger generation stereotypical claims. The same goes for Film/TV; by portraying false assumptions about a specific race or gender. An example stereotype that is portrayed in many films and television, is the “Awkward Indian”. A famous stereotypical role is, Apu, from The Simpsons . Apu is an Indian convenience store owner played by a white male actor, Hank Azaria. Azaria portrays this character with a heavy, thick Indian accent. Throughout the series, creators fail to mention that Apu is Hindu. This can lead to major religious controversy which can then depict Hinduphobia. Although there is some unfortunate truth to this, the main problem with this role is that it’s a modern day stereotype for brown face. Even though it’s only a cartoon, it continues to be offensive and racist.  

In recent years, there has been an increase of racism showing in Hollywood films. Many famous films are guilty of perpetuating racial stereotypes that reflect on common prejudices. For example, the most common perception of Asians is the “small-eye” stereotype. Even though this stereotype is used for prejudicial behavior, this is a false assumption. An example of the “small-eye” stereotype being used, is character Mr. Yunioshi, from the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s . Mr. Yunioshi, a charismatic caricature, was portrayed through this common stereotype during the scene where he kept bumping into all sorts of objects. This scene refers back to the “small-eye” stereotype and gives the portrayal that asians are hard of seeing based on their “small-eyes”. You would think that Hollywood would end it here; well, you’re wrong. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Mr. Yunioshi was played by white actor, Mickey Rooney; making this role an example of yellow-face in a popular Holl...

Hollywood films portray false assumptions about the “nerdy” girl, by usually claiming that these weird girls have never had sex. The “awkward virgin” misconception has framed into societal standards, that many people look down upon. For example, the common misconception is if you don’t lose your virginity by a certain age, then you are automatically weird. There are a variety of reasons as to why women choose to not give themselves up to anyone. We have acknowledged that some of these reasons may consist of moral values, religious beliefs or just not ready to take the next step. False misconceptions of this stereotypical role can only lead to negative examples for young girls watching these films. Roles like this should be created as a positive light to help younger viewers understand the concept of sex. For example, the series Jane the Virgin , centers around a young writer who happened to be saving herself until marriage. Jane Villanueva, played by Gina Rodriguez, was raised in a re...

There is no denying that women in Hollywood are still being portrayed as the typical female stereotypes. Now that we have discussed the “sassy black girl” and the “spicy Latina” roles in films, this stereotypical role isn’t seen too much in modern day movies. According to Sheknows, “ If you're a nerd, as far as Hollywood is concerned, you've never gotten laid”. This role of the “awkward virgin” has definitely had it’s attention in the past, from films in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Hollywood has characterized this female character as a model minority and doesn’t fail to portray these women as nerdy, conservative individuals. For example, a famous role of an “awkward virgin” is, Josie Geller, from Never Been Kissed, played by Drew Barrymore. Throughout the movie, Josie is a timid, shy woman who may be too insecure about herself. She is seen as the typical nerdy girl who wears glasses and dull colored clothes, who doesn’t know how to interact with men; hence why she is a virgin. How...

As a devoted fan of movies and TV shows, there is no shock when it comes to the portrayal of the typical Latina stereotype. These prevailing roles that are being portrayed by famous Latina actresses validates the stereotypical Latina. There are a variety of stereotypical roles; for example, a cleaning lady or a bystander who speaks little to no English. However, the one constant role that I see in numerous films is the typical “spicy” Latina character. The term “spicy” refers to a strong willed individual with an overly confident personality. Although this typical role doesn’t necessarily sound all bad, it continues to give a non-accurate depiction of Latinas. For example, the famous character from ABC’s Modern Family , Gloria Delgado-Pritchett played by Sofia Vergara, perfectly depicts the stereotypical “spicy” Latina character. Vergara’s character gives a false assumption of reality by the portrayal of her extremely loud and obnoxious character. Not all Latinas are like this. Also, ...

We as an audience are still witnessing how women are being portrayed as the typical female stereotype in Hollywood films. No surprise here! The stereotypical role that typically irks me the most, is the “sassy black friend”; particularly seen in Romantic Comedies. This character is rarely portrayed as the protagonist and only as the supporting character. For example, actress Wanda Sykes is known to play this “sassy” character many times in Romantic Comedies like, Monster-in-Law . Although whoever takes on this role never fails to impress with her comedic talent, I’ve noticed that this is a reoccurring role among black women mostly. Why is that? The only reason I can think of as to why these roles are repetitive is because of the misconception on how black women can be loud, dramatic and have an overly confident personality. Not saying these characteristics aren’t necessarily bad; however, it should not be the only thing these women are known to be. Many black actresses are insanely ...