In one of our readings, Michael Omi and
Howard Winant have this to say:
“Our ability to interpret racial meanings
depends on preconceived notions of a racialised social structure. Comments such
as, “Funny, you don’t look black,” betray an underlying image of what black
should be. We expect people to act out their apparent racial identities indeed
we become disoriented when they do not.” (59, Racial formations in the United
States; from the 1960s to the 1990s)
This basically sums up our attitudes
towards racial stereotypes; we assume that all members of a particular ‘race’
share certain characteristics, be that physical, cultural or behavioural, and
we expect people of that race to embody those characteristics. Our instincts do
not take into account diversity in individuals and when we do encounter someone
who goes against our preconceived stereotype, we, to use Omi and Winant’s
words, ‘become disoriented’.
Suzanne has mentioned multiple times in our
lectures that we can understand and know about stereotypes without necessarily
believing them to be true. Understanding stereotypes can be useful in film and
television production. Hollywood and mainstream western television constantly use racial
stereotypes as ‘shortcuts’. To quickly and efficiently explain the background
and personality of a character of colour, they simply insert them into a
limited box that forces a stereotype upon them. However, this can also be
incredibly dangerous – the more we see the same types of characters of colour
portraying the same stereotypes, the more we associate their race with those
particular characteristics and forget about diversity within races. Meanwhile,
the dominant group of white characters in media are granted massive diversity
and complexity.
I’ve also found that stereotypes can be a
major source of humour, particularly with people of colour sharing and exposing
stereotypes that they have been subjected to. Often we people of colour each
experience the same kinds of comments which can range from incredibly offensive
to hilarious and insignificant. YouTuber JusReign, a Punjabi-Canadian, takes
advantage of these stereotypes and his skits are full of comments directed at
Indian people and the experiences of Indian people in western countries. I’ll
leave you with a popular video of his to enjoy –
intended to be light-hearted and comedic, don’t take offense if you’re a ‘white
guy’.
Knowing what stereotypes are before implying them is critical when discussing a particular group and/or race. You have covered that well and I agree with your judgment. You make a point towards the end of your blog that "stereotypes can be a major source of humour”, this is very true as it is constantly shown throughout TV programmes, movies/films and advertising. Nearly everything nowadays has either been labelled or racially stereotype in certain categories and sometimes been placed in a hierarchy. Sure stereotypes whether it is racist or not, can be rather funny but to constantly acknowledge this term whether it is in advertising or not tends to always end up in a negative outcome. Exactly as you have mentioned above within your blog. Thus, people tend to imply these funny racial stereotypes, but little do they know how much that impacts on a certain ethnicity. Also, in some cases lead to widespread offense.
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