Celibel Capellan
Prof. Ewan
FIQWS
04-29-2019
The Involvement of Minorities In American Movies
In the history of film making a lot of things such as the way one are displayed, and the way production, direction are done had changed throughout the years. Those changes has 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 had really changed? With what is being displayed or involved in today’s film of course had changed such as the type of people that are being involved or portrayed in our favorite movies. Overtime minorities had been involved and shown in todays type of movies and film but, shouldn’t there be an increase of their involvement? The film industry of the United States should portray an increase of minority involvement on 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 the stereotypes are still there in the movies that people see in their home. Smaranda Stefanovici is the author of the article “Black Stereotypes In American Movies” which discusses about 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 academic. 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 a American movie (Stefanovici 71-72). Now, is not saying that is was the film industries are depicting black people or character as in their films 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 take should be changed to roles that are not based on these stereotypes because it can 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 which is not true to be generally speaking because not everyone lives the same life as someone else.
Even as time goes on and these stereotypes has become very subtle in movies lately even if more African Americans are being included in movies which leaves a great since it all really depends on how they are portrayed as throughout the movie. As stated before 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 that went against a law or got into a gang fight, someone who is in need of help because they are short in money to take for themselves or their family, they lack in the educational field because they are too lazy to do the work or are just too simple minded (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 them in movies since they can mislead people.
African Americans or black people are not the only minorities whom stereotypes should be decreased when they are continuously being portrayed in movies nowadays such as Asian Americans. Even though the stereotypes that Asian Americans have portrayed in movies does not compared to how African American are portrayed as because in movies 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 article “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 that Asian Americans are mostly associated with are the one that portray Asian American as diligent economic and educational successful 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 them, helping bring an open mind and a more realistic movie because not all asians are economically successful or someone who is shy and unsociable.
In American movies, Asian Americans are also portrayed with other stereotypes that Harrod Suarez author of “Straitjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies,” an article about a blogger who depicts the racist and stereotypical portrayal of Asian Americans, help introduce. One of those stereotypes that Suarez mentions are the depiction of Asian Americans appearing to be more feminine than masculine in films, their masculinity is passive (128-129). Thus, the film industry of america should to involve or display more Asian Americans in their movies then people would see that these stereotype that one has of them are not entirely true because not every Asian American looks the same and neither does anyone else in the world. There should be an increase of their involvement in American films for 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 there are some people who say that there should not be an increase of their involvement because they are already included and portrayed in films. While this statement is true where minorities are being represented in films and at times they are portrayed as the main protagonist throughout the movie it still does not bring down the stereotypes. Just because the actor who is acting or play the role of a character that is a minority and who is the protagonist the film does not mean that the character 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 that people have because they are still many more ways that each minority are depicted as. Like mentioned before 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 (Stefanovici 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). Asian Americans are also stereotypically depicted as feminine since their masculinity is passive compared to others masculinity (Suarez 128-129). Thus, one should realize that we are all equal human beings where each and every one of us has a different lifestyle and personality despite from what is being shown in todays movies, these stereotypes that are portrayed by minority characters 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.
Work Cited Page
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
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
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
