Media Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Media Stereotypes Essay In class we discussed stereotypes that are present in all forms of media, and even in our everyday lives. In the entertainment world, stereotyping helps people quickly understand a character or storyline. We can all quickly recognize the archetypes of the dumb jock, the underprivileged student or athlete trying to rise above their circumstances, and even the religious zealot that lives down the street. These stereotypes aid in the viewer s’ understanding and are also helpful for the show’s writers, who often must fit a build-up, plot, and resolution into a 20-minute time slot. More and more, religious stereotypes are being intertwined into television programming. In fact, stereotypes of religions are not only included in a television show’s storyline, sometimes they play a major role in providing the entertainment value. The stereotypes of religious people in broadcast television focus on any religious people that are current targets of pop culture, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists and others. In a recent episode of the Simpsons, the classic pop culture phenomenon, a new family who happens to be Muslim moves into town, and Bart makes friends with the family’s son. Homer becomes aware of this, and, in his classic tactful manner, asks the family over for dinner to question them to see if they are terrorists or not. Although Bart finds evidence throughout the episode that proves the family must be terrorists out to destroy Springfield, in the end he is forced with the reality that they are just normal Joes trying to have a happy life. Although the stereotype is resolved as the potential terrorists are discovered to be just another family in the neighbourhood, the whole entertainment value of the episode comes from Homer’s assumption that the stereotype is true. People can find this episode humorous because they can relate to the stereotype after recent events in the news. While the story is playing off what has happened (and is still happening) in our own culture, we must question the effect this has on the mind-set of society towards various religious groups. Are episodes such as this reinforcing negative religious stereotypes in our mind (such as all Muslims are terrorists) and, as a result, turning us into intolerant people? My husbands argument concerning the previous question is this: Shows like the Simpsons are just entertainment. The information presented is not necessarily accurate, and it doesn’t have to be. It is purposely offensive and must be very extreme to provide humour, which it does very well and people like it. Just because stereotypes are presented in television content, it doesnt necessarily mean that people are going to treat people the way Homer does if a religious family moves into their neighbourhood. I tend to be on the other side of the issue. As stereotypes about religious people are reinforced by a medium such as television, they are further implanted in our brains and make us more likely to act upon the stereotype when put in a related situation. This can lead to some uncomfortable situations and opportunities to misjudge people. What do you think? Do stereotypes in television reinforce the negative ideas we may have against various religious people, or are they simply providing entertainment and not influencing us, at least not in a significant way?

Theme, Subject and Meaning in Breathless and Citizen Kane :: Film Movies

Theme, Subject and Meaning in Breathless and Citizen Kane Many devices such as theme, subject and meaning reflect different aspects of a film. The time and place that the movie is made are usually affected but this. A great example of this would be the film Breathless, directed by Godard. This is a story of the love between a small-time crook who is wanted for killing a cop, and an American woman who works for a French newspaper. Their relationship develops as the man hides out from the police. Breathless uses the famous techniques of the French New Wave: location shooting, improvised dialogue, and a loose narrative form. Godard also uses cuts that seem, to jump from one scene to another, with what seem to be deliberate \\"mismatches\\" between shots. This is what makes this movie so special. It could never have been made before it had been. It was made in the post worlds War II era in the year 1959. The plot and subjects reflect this, because there really is no major plot except for the one that I have already described. This was a revolutionary movie in that aspect. This movie was made in France, partly because that was where it was set, but mainly because that is where the new director c ould afford to make such a makeshift movie. Another example of a movie that shares such aspects is Citizen Kane. There are many references in this fictional movie to a non-fictional man. This man would be William Randolph Hearst. He was a self made millionaire quite like the main character of the movie. Hearst was also was in the business of journalism. He lived a very eccentric life like that of Kane’s. He was politically involved in the 1930’s as a pro-Nazi and in the 40’s as an anti-communist. This was similar to Kane’s character that ran for office in New York. While Kane enjoyed the luxuries of Xanadu, Hearst had his own castle at San Simeon. These are the similarities on screen between the two, but behind the scenes there was a heated debate over the making of this movie. Hearst did not want this movie made even though it was not exactly a portrayal of his life.

Marion Sparg

Marion sparg Marion Sparg was one of the few white women to join Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress during South Africa's apartheid era. A Sunday Times journalist, she was prompted into action after 32 ANC members and 19 civilians were killed by the South African Defence Force in an attack on Maseru, Lesotho.She would spend the years between 1981 and 1986 in exile where she received training in guerrilla warfare and worked in the ANC's Communication Department on a publication named Voice of Women and thereafter joined the Special Operations Division of Umkhonto We Sizwe In 1986 she was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment on charges of treason, arson and attempted arson. Pleading guilty to all charges, she admitted planting and exploding limpet mines at Johannesburg's notorious police headquarters, John Vorster Square, and also at Cambridge Police Station in East LondonFollowing the unbanning of the ANC, she was released in 1991 at the same time a s fellow treason prisoners Damian de Lange and Iain Robertson, shortly after which she was nominated to the ANC delegation that participated in an early round of CODESA, the multiparty negotiations that led to South Africa's first multi-racial elections in 1994. In the same year, at the age of 34, she was appointed deputy executive director of the Constitutional Assembly, the body that would draft South Africa's groundbreaking 1996 constitution. 1996 she was appointed Town Clerk of the Eastern Metropolitan sub-structure of the Lekoa- Vaal-metropole. [7] Three years later she became the Secretary to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and in 2000 joined the office of Bulelani Ngcuka where she became Chief Executive Officer of the National Prosecuting Authority and the accounting officer of the Directorate of Special Operations, commonly known as the Scorpions.In 2003, amidst a public spat between the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Jacob Zuma, South Africa's then-disgra ced deputy president, anonymous letters were sent to the Public Service Commission (PSC) accusing Sparg, her deputy Beryl Simelane and integrity unit head Dipuo Mvelase (also Deputy Chairperson of the South African Communist Party) of tender-rigging, corruption and nepotism. The Commission found no criminal wrongdoing and referred the matter to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development – the parent body of the NPA.The Department head instituted 30 charges against the three women. South Africa's Financial Mail would describe the allegations as ‘bizarre' after the charges were withdrawn at the formal disciplinary hearing, only to be reinstated two days later. They would be officially dropped in early 2007. In June 2007 she resigned from the NPA to take up employment in the private sector. Marion has since joined Draftfcb Social Marketing, a division of Draftfcb SA.

Race Relations Between African Americans and Whites...

Following what was arguably the most turbulent time in American history; Reconstruction had far-reaching effects on a number of areas of life in the United States. In the Deep South, one of the clearest impacts could be seen on racial relations, specifically between whites and newly-freed African Americans. Legally, dramatic changes had been made at the federal level, providing African Americans with a host of rights that had never been offered them before. It was no wonder, then, that former slave owners in the South rejected these changes and rights, taking whatever steps necessary to keep African Americans down. The dramatic changes that took place in terms of race relations between African Americans and whites following Reconstruction†¦show more content†¦Legally, the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment just a few years after the close of the Civil War, African American men had the right to vote according to the United States Constitution. However, racial relations in the south had deteriorated so greatly that even such constitutionally-protected elements of their lives were unable to survive. Whites passed a number of laws designed to disenfranchise African American men, knowing that without the right to vote, the voices of newly-freed slaves would not be heard. These laws included such measures as literacy tests, poll taxes, property qualifications, and so-called â€Å"grandfather† clauses that denied an individual the right to vote if their grandfather did not vote himself. Race relations in the south had deteriorated so rapidly that even something as basic as voting, something that was to be provided to African American men according to the United States Constitution, was denied them (â€Å"The state†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , 2011). As individuals living in the north became increasingly disinterested with the plight of African Americans in the south, a political change was made, one that would alter the racial relations between whites and blacks f or generations. In 1896, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that would set the stage for continued segregation in the American south with three simple words: separate but equal. When the Supreme Court ruled that separate facilities for whites andShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Strange Career of Jim Crow1336 Words   |  6 Pageswhich shaped our views of the history of the Civil Rights Movement and of the American South. 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