Angelo J. Pompano
Hegemony
Movies have traditionally promoted the idea of hegemony, (political domination) by telling the folklore of the nation as it related to the Anglo power structure. Movie after movie instilled and reinforced the concept of Manifest Destiny and male dominance by those of Northern European decent. As discussed in our seminar, Race, Gender and Ethnicity conducted by Professor Bryan Wolf of Yale University, this historical view of the American culture in which the people in power, or in the center, were considered to have culture and those on the outside were considered to have no culture is called the Metropole Model. People on the periphery wanted to be assimilated quickly into the metropole, or the center since if you were not part of the culture you were not only on the outside but you were also without power. Of course it was easier for Southern and Eastern Europeans and other groups who looked similar to the Anglo-Americans to become assimilated into the culture than for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latin-Americans, and Native-Americans who were excluded on the basis of their looks.
Only in recent years has there been a hint in movies that there may be another story that has been suppressed by those who perpetuated the traditional American myths. We see an example of this in the John Sayles movie
Lone Star
where one character has created a Seminole Museum in his home so that the contribution to America by those of both African-American and Native-American origin would not be forgotten. This historical view of the American culture is called the Borderlands Model. This model works on intersections and recognizes that people can have more than one identity. This model acknowledges that culture is everywhere and thus is a more complicated notion of culture. The Borderlands Model acknowledges that everyone has something to contribute. It acknowledges that many influences came into play to create the American Experience.
As a rule, the contributions of those in the periphery or Borderlands are not going to be found in mainstream movies or even in the historical texts. To find these stories you must dig in the archives as well as listen to the oral histories. Just as in the movie
Lone Star
where the grandfather explains the Seminole/African American story to his grandson, stories passed on through family members are the best way to get the true story. Native-American, African-American, and Latino contributions to the culture of the United States have largely been handed down through oral traditions because these stories have been ignored until recently by the history texts and by Hollywood. It is through the oral traditions that we get the real story of the settling of America since, at best, the traditional myth only deals with people of renown and not the everyday person.
Connecticut has its own oral traditions. One such story is that of Cinque and the Amistad. Thirty years ago the story was not widely known, and except for in a few classrooms not even taught in New Haven which played an important part in the actual events. However, the facts of the story survived until modern times in archives such as the New Haven Historical Society and were kept alive through oral tradition. Finally within the last twenty years or so people have dug in the archives and found the facts. The earliest book that I can find on the Amistad in the New Haven Public Library was published in 1969. Further research has turned up a book called Slave Ship (Original Title: The Long Black Schooner) by Emma Gelders Steren which was copyrighted 1953 by Scholastic. In talking with colleagues who went to school in New Haven I found that one heard the story from her sixth grade teacher in 1971. The rest had not studied the incident in school. Another colleague, who had not actually studied the Amistad in school, remembered that a mural exists on the wall of Troup Magnet School depicting the event. The school was built in 1925 and judging by the style of the mural, it seems to have been done between 1925 and 1935, possibly as a WPA project. This only proves the point that the story was there, but not in the mainstream until recently. This is most likely because it was part of the Borderlands story and not the Metropole story.
Stereotypes
Stereotyping occurs when television and movies portray people acting in a certain way so as to instantly identify them with a certain gender, race, or ethnic group.
The American Heritage Dictionary
defines "stereotype" as (1) a "conventional, formulaic and usually oversimplified conception, opinion or belief." (2) "A person, group, event, or issue considered to typify or conform to an unvarying pattern or manner, lacking any individuality."
Stereotype originally meant a metal printing plate that produced a fixed image. When the word refers to a group of people it means that a fixed image is given of that group. The image is usually negative and based on false judgments that paint every member of the group with the same brush, thus not allowing for individuality. In effect, when media producers stereotype they take away the individual differences that make us all human.
Since their invention, movies and television have perpetuated negative stereotyped images of women as well as racial and ethnic minorities. Subtle and sometimes not so subtle messages are given when the minority character is cast as the bad guy, or at best, as the sidekick while the male of northern European descent is the wise, strong, hero who has the power and makes the important decisions. It is very easy for the broadcast media to fall into the trap of pigeon holing parts for certain groups. For one thing, since television programs and movies are constrained by a limited amount of time for character development, it is a tempting short cut for lazy producers to establish character through the use of stereotypes. This is especially bad because movies and television reach such large numbers of people, especially young people who are highly impressionable. After these negative images are seen several times, the audiences begin to accept them as fact.
In
Teaching Television
by Dorothy G. Singer, Ed.D., Jerome L. Singer, Ph.D., and Diana M. Zuckerman, Ph.D., the authors emphasize the influence that television has on children.
Research studies have shown that television has far more power to influence children's attitudes than may have been previously believed. For example, when children watch programs that portray black people favorably, their attitudes toward blacks become more positive whereas programs that portray black people negatively will increase children's negative attitudes toward them. In another study, 40 percent of the white elementary school children surveyed stated that they learned about black people from television. In an instance such as this, it is impossible to ignore the impact of television on children's beliefs and attitudes.
How Gender is Portrayed in the Media
In most television shows and movies females are portrayed as being weak and in the traditional role of mother and homemaker. They are rarely given roles that show them in powerful leadership positions. The ideal woman in the media is portrayed as being unrealistically skinny, which often causes problems for young women who feel they must try to attain the same body image. In Teaching Television, the authors conceded that in recent years, women on TV have been given roles that give them more power and show them to be more intelligent. However, new stereotypes have developed.
The new, more liberated female television character is usually young and beautiful as well as competent. If you compare female and male TV characters, you will find that the females are usually much younger, more attractive, and more likely to use their beauty than their brains.
Men are not totally immune from being stereotyped in the media. Husbands are often portrayed as being henpecked or bumbling Dagwood Bumbstead type nincompoops. At other times, men are shown in the traditional role of father and breadwinner, especially in older movies. There is a scene in the movie
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
, where Jimmy Stewart is ridiculed because no one had ever seen a male waiting on tables before.
Elderly people of both sexes do not fare any better. They are shown as dumb and old fashioned. When children grow up with these representations of gender roles they come to believe that men and women are limited to certain roles and occupations. This limits them when they seek job opportunities.
How Racial Minorities are Portrayed in the Media
If racial minorities are seen on television or in the movies at all, they are usually in supporting parts and rarely in the leading roles. The following are common ways in which different racial and ethnic groups are portrayed in the media:
African Americans are often portrayed as criminals, uneducated, poor, or in the role of servants. This goes back to the very beginnings of movies. In 1915 D. W. Griffith's,
The Birth of a Nation
, presented the KKK as heroes and Southern blacks as villains.
Asians rarely have leading roles in movies or on television. If they do have a leading role it is the part of a martial arts expert. Usually they are shown to be villains, servants, or detectives such as Charlie Chan.
Due to the popularity of the western, Native Americans have had many roles in the movies and on television. However, they are hardly ever in leading roles and are usually portrayed as savages. If they are shown as civilized they are in the role of the sidekick such as Tonto was to the Lone Ranger. The average American thinks that he or she knows a lot about the Native Americans, however, most of what they know is probably the Hollywood myth.
How Ethnic Minorities are Portrayed in the Media
In view of current events, Arabs are another target of discrimination in the media. If they are not portrayed as terrorists, they are shown as oil sheiks. Even in the Disney movie
Aladdin
, Arabs were shown as flying magic carpets and possessing a Genie in the bottle.
Ever since the beginning of the movies, Italians have been portrayed as being Mafia killers, or mustachioed organ grinders with monkeys. It is common to hear their speech patterns exaggerated in imitation.
Mexicans are often seen in bandit roles. If they do get to play a good guy, they play the sidekick. They are often portrayed as lazy and sleeping under a cactus wearing a huge sombrero.
The list can go on and on to include people of Polish, Russian, and South American descent among others. America is supposed to be the melting pot, but more accurately in the case of movies and television, it is more like a molding form. Those who do not readily fit into the mold of the Northern European image are relegated to secondary roles. Gerard Wilkenson, of the national Indian youth council, wrote in
The Indian Historian
in 1974 in reference to Native Americans but his comment applies to all minorities as portrayed on television and in the movies. "Inaccuracies and stereotypes undermine indigenous languages and cultures because the mainstream media promotes assimilation." Assimilation seems to be one of the goals of movies of the last century, especially westerns. The message that a child gets is that if they do not fit the mold they are inferior.