Celibel Capellan

Prof. Ewan

FIQWS

05-01-2019

The Involvement of Minorities American Movies

In the history of making film, a lot of things such as the way one is displayed and the way productions are done have gone through a lot of changes throughout the years. Those changes had to do with the change in era, the upgrade in technology, and what the people like but, can one really say that what is being displayed on today’s movies has really changed? With what is being displayed or involved in today’s film of course has changed, such as the type of people that are being portrayed in our favorite movies. Over time minorities have been involved and shown in today’s movies and films but, shouldn’t there be an increase of their involvement? The film industry of the United States should portray an increase of minority involvement in their movies because it helps decrease the amount of stereotypes people have on them.

Black people are finally displayed in American films far more than they used to before in American history. With their portrayal in movies and films the stereotypes people have on them slowly went down throughout the years of their involvement but one cannot deny that these stereotypes are still alive in the movies that people see in their home. Smaranda Stefanovici is the author of an article called “Black Stereotypes In American Movies”, which discusses the type of stereotypes American movies display black people as and how two children from two different movies fought against these stereotypes with their personality traits, hardships, achievement, and knowledge. The stereotypes of living in a poor neighborhood, being fatherless, having a single mother struggling to support their kids, and going against the law are mostly shown through or portrayed with a black character in American movies or films (Stefanovici 71-72). Now, I’m not saying that film industries are depicting black people or the character they as in their productions because black people are also portrayed as people with superior athleticism and people who are relatively religious (Stefanovici 71). Even though their portrayal of excelling in things related to athletics is good, these roles that black actors play should be changed to roles that are not based on these stereotypes because it could cause people to be misled into thinking that this what majority of black people or African Americans have become and this is how they act in their real life.

Even as time goes on and the stereotypes on black people have become very subtle in movies lately no matter how many African Americans or black people are being included in movies, it all really depends on how they are portrayed throughout the movie or film. A lot of the stereotypes that were mentioned before by Stefanovici are mostly shown by black people, meaning that majority of the time you will see a black actor playing the role of a character who is either a criminal, someone that went against a law, or someone who gets into gang fights. The character would have also been someone who was in need of help because they were short in money to take care for themselves or their family or either they lacked in education because they were too lazy to do the required work (Stefanovici 71). Therefore, the involvement of black people in American movie or films should be increased in order to lower the amount of stereotypes that are portrayed by the type of characters they play in movies since those types of characters could mislead people into thinking that almost all black people behave and talk this way.

Even though the stereotypes that Asian Americans have been portrayed as in movies does not compare to how African American are portrayed because in movies or film Asian Americans are usually portrayed as a person with great intelligence and achievement like author Monica H. Lin, Virginia S. Y. Kwan, Anna Cheung, and Susan T. Fiske stated in their article called “Stereotype Content Model Explains Prejudice for an Envied Outgroup: Scale of Anti-Asian American Stereotypes” (34-35). Unlike the black people or African American stereotypes, Asian Americans are mostly associated with stereotypes that portray them as diligent economic and educational successful people despite being portrayed as some who is also shy and unsociable with other people in the movie (Lin et al. 35). Yet again these stereotypes that are portrayed by Asian Americans need to be decreased for the roles that Asian American actors have to play are less associated with these stereotypes. An increase of Asian American involvement could help bring an open mind and a more realistic movie to the viewers because not all Asians are economically successful or shy and unsociable.

In American movies, Asian Americans are also portrayed with other stereotypes that Harrod Suarez helps introduce in her article called, “Straitjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies,” which is about a blogger who depicts the racist and stereotypical portrayal of Asian Americans. Suarez mentions the depiction of Asian American men appearing to be more feminine than masculine in American films because their masculinity is  more passive than others (128-129). Thus, the film industry of America should involve or display more Asian Americans in their movies so that people could see that these stereotype are not entirely true because not every Asian American act the same way and neither do they live the same way. There should be an increase of their involvement in American films so that people can see and understand that these stereotypes are not true.

Even though there should be an increase of minority involvement in American films in order to decrease the amount of stereotypes that people have, there are some people who say that the involvement of minorities in American movies is already enough because they are already included and portrayed in films. While this statement is true where minorities are being represented in films and at times are portrayed as the main protagonist throughout the movie it still does not bring down the stereotypes that film industries use to portray minorities. Just because the actor who is playing the role of a minority and who is the protagonist of the film or movie does not mean that the minority is not portrayed with some stereotypes that people have of them.

Overall, African Americans and Asian Americans are not the only minorities who have been portrayed in movies through stereotypes because they are still many more who had been depicted through stereotypes. Like mentioned before by Stefanovici, black people are usually portrayed as someone who either lives in a poor neighborhood with a single struggling mother, or are provided with education but do not put enough effort instead they put that effort in sports (71-72).  As for Asian Americans they are mostly or usually portrayed as people who are economically and educationally successful but are shy or unsociable with other people (Lin et al. 35). Suarez helped mention that Asian Americans are also stereotypically depicted as feminine since their masculinity is more passive compared to others masculinity in American movies or films (128-129). Thus, one should realize that we are human beings with different lifestyles and personalities despite what is being shown in today’s movies. These stereotypes that are portrayed by minority should be decreased in American films by including more minorities since it can demonstrate to people that all minorities are not associated with these stereotypes. When watching a movie with a friend or family member or when producing a movie, remember and realize that not every minority is associated with stereotypes that people have because everyone is not the same.

Works Cited

Lin, Monica H, et al. “Stereotype Content Model Explains Prejudice for an Envied Outgroup: Scale of Anti-Asian American Stereotypes.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 31, no. 1, 2005, pp. 34–47. Sage journal, https://journals-sagepub-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167204271320

Stefanovici, Smaranda. “BLACK STEREOTYPES IN AMERICAN MOVIES.” Studia Universitatis Petru Maior. Philologia, no. 17, 2014, pp. 70–75. EBSCOhost, https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=fab351c1-672b-431d-8fc7-760da374adf8%40sessionmgr4007

Suarez, Harrod. “Straitjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies.” Journal of Asian American Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, 2013, pp. 128–130,136. Project Muse, https://muse-jhu-edu.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/article/501363