Ethnic stereotypes in popular culture

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Ethnic stereotypes in popular culture, involve a stereotypical representation of the typical characteristics of a members of an ethnic group in music, literature, print media, film and the performing arts that is often false or over-simplified. Because of the strong influence of the United States on the pop culture industries, many of these stereotypes emerge from North American culture, but many of those are now widely seen in the pop culture of other nations.^{[citation needed]}

1 Music
2 Movies
3 List of significant stereotypical characters in television:
4 List of significant stereotypical characters in film:
5 List of significant stereotypical roles in literature:
6 See also
7 References

[edit] Music

Ethnic stereotypes have recently been the subject of much discussion. This is often associated with the popularity of the hip hop culture. The movement has often indulged in associating African Americans with urban gang warfare. It is believed to have started with N.W.A.'s interpretation of Public Enemy's socially aware message[1], with Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent as more recent manifestations.

The current portrayal of women in rap music has drawn a lot of fire.^{[citation needed]} For example, Prince was widely criticized for his portrayals of black women, predominantly stemming from his music videos. An earlier example is The Rolling Stones with their portrayals of black women in their songs like "Some Girls". Pop music presents the "Barbie style": blonde hair, blue eyes, skinny, mindless sex items.

[edit] Movies

For years, Hollywood's unofficial but de facto casting policy limited actors of color to character roles based on ethnic stereotypes. These roles ranged from bit parts to supporting roles or secondary leads.

One cliché in American war movies depicting American soldiers in World War II is that they very frequently create self-consciously "diverse" teams of soldiers that end up as ethnic stereotypes themselves. Central casting would assign each featured military unit a Jewish American, an Irish American, an Italian American, and a European American with a Southern or rural accent. In more recent films, these units are also assigned a Latino and an African American, in spite of the historical fact that American military units in World War II were racially segregated. (This is not an exclusively cinematic phenomenon, but dates back to Shakespeare's Henry V, with its Scottish Captain Jamy, Irish Captain Macmorris, and Welsh Captain Fluellen.)

In the 1970s, a series of feature films that came to be known as blaxploitation movies brought stereotypical black American culture to the screen. Proponents argued that at least African American actors were getting work in leading roles, but opponents believed the perpetuating of stereotypes was more harmful than helpful.

In the 1990s, film director Spike Lee received criticism for his portrayals of African American females based on ethnic stereotypes. In the same decade, Quentin Tarantino was castigated for casting Pam Grier in a 'blaxploitation'-type role (Jackie Brown), particularly by African American male film directors. Feminists rallied to the director's and the actress's defense, countering that these black male directors did not strive to provide work for black actresses.

For a list of film roles based on ethnic stereotypes, see also stock character

[edit] List of significant stereotypical characters in television:

Hop Sing in Bonanza
Florence Johnston (Marla Gibbs*) in The Jeffersons and Checking In
Tonto in The Lone Ranger
Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx*) and "Aunt Esther" Anderson (LaWanda Page*) in Sanford and Son
Benson DuBois (Robert Guillaume*) in Soap and Benson
Beulah in Beulah.
"The Mexicools"* and "Cryme Tyme" in WWE
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from The Simpsons

Notes:

Although cast in stereotypical roles, Marla Gibbs, Redd Foxx, LaWanda Page, and Robert Guillaume successfully played them against type.
"The Mexicools" also act as a parody of stereotypes, riding "Juan Deer" lawn mowers.

[edit] List of significant stereotypical characters in film:

Blacks

"Mammy" (Hattie McDaniel) and "Prissy" (Butterfly McQueen) in Gone with the Wind
"Birmingham Brown" (Mantan Moreland) in the Charlie Chan films
"Uncle Remus" (James Baskett) in Song of the South
"Stepin Fetchit" in various roles/films
"Sunshine Sammy", "Farina", "Stymie," and "Buckwheat" in the Our Gang short films
"Tillie" (Isabel Sanford) in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
"Annie Johnson" (Juanita Moore) in Imitation of Life

Note: Although Juanita Moore plays a stereotypical character in the 1959 version of Imitation of Life, it is largely a satire of the 1934 version melodrama, and the use of the stereotype is in part ironic.

Asians