Prevalent Stereotypes

From the particular documentary film titled “Ethnic Notions” which we happened to watch in class this week, various time-old stereotypes regarding African Americans from the previous centuries have thus been gradually presented, revealed and shown to us. It would be rather important to keep in mind and note that, although these stereotypes may seem quite ancient and out-dated in general, that does not necessarily mean that these kinds of negatively false portrayals of African Americans that mainly aim to shed them in a bad light (in terms of racial contexts) are not prevalent within the current society as of this apparent point right now. Instead, what is really happening and going on within the current societal environment, is the apparent cultural phenomenon of newly formed subtly covert stereotypes which are constantly being presented by various media platforms out there replacing old ones through this gradually shifting time process that way. But, as one is able to perhaps observe a bit closer from there, it would then be evident to see and find out, as well as possibly draw potential conclusions that, these supposed brand new stereotypes exclusively coming from this apparent new generation/era, aren't actually all that different from the previously preceding ones which lead before them (that are now at the current present being considered/deemed racially offensive/culturally inappropriate) in its very essence/nature that way, as seen with a generally ironic manner/sense.

Take the specific racial stereotype of “blacks are savages” for this instance, which mainly seek to portray African Americans (particularly males) as crime-committing brutes (rather than law-abiding citizens) who seemingly cannot control his or her animalistic and/or primitive urges onto producing crimes within the civilized societal environment generally as a whole, and thus as an ultimate result of that, receiving according lawful punishments of either being locked behind bars or directly executed, as it is the case of representation from the early 1900s/20th century historic black and white filmwork of “Birth of a Nation”, which it contains a specific scene depicting a black man (who was actually a white/Caucasian actor in blackface) pursuing/running after a white virgin in the attempt to rape/sexually assualt her, with the end to that being the white woman throwing herself off a cliff (and by that, officially commits suicide) in order to avoid the potential misfortune that is somehow bound/destined to happen if she does not do differently otherwise. Although this is already an age-long film with historical contexts which is obviously out-of-fashion and probably do not apply to the current so-called “political correct’ cultural atmosphere and/or general rating standards, but the truth is, unfortunately, this sort of negative racial portrayals/depictions of black people are definitely without a doubt still present throughout almost each and every corner of the endlessly ever-expanding world of media culture out there, no matter they be fictionally made-up characters from TV shows/dramas, movies/films, or even online audio books like that. Simply take a quick peek/look at the general representations of African American males within various hit TV dramas for that matter, as reliable conducted statistics and researches show that, an overwhelmingly high percentage of pre-assigned representational character roles dedicated to black people to play in those extra popular moving pictures are still, collectively belonging to one single large stereotype group - that being of the so-called “criminals”, “lawbreakers”, “violators”, and “offenders”. It is indeed, an undeniably evident as well as obvious cultural trend that apparently has its own place within the society in general, but the actual reason behind the raised curious question, that of “why these particularly harmful stereotypes would still be presented and/or is still strongly prevalent, despite the fact that so long of a time has passed, and countless racial/cultural reformation efforts (such as those ones within the Civil Rights Movement Era) has already been made along the way during the entire time process of it?”, would surely come down to be an interesting, intriguing, as well as thought-provoking one that is worth further considering/examining after all. Although it is true that we have already collectively came a long long way since then, but it still does not erase all of the presenting modern circumstances and situations where the minority racial group of African Americans or Black people are still constantly and collectively being undermined/underestimated/undervalued in our culture, through the general representation roles that are being appointed and given to them to portray and play that way, which could be directly shown once everyone turns on their TVs at home - and that, is almost like a modern 21st century adaption/version of the old abolished cultural practice of “blackface minstrel show” in this particular sense, since it for sure contains/has cultural parallels to what famous African American blackface artist Bert Williams was probably experiencing with throughout his entire career/occupation timeline there - that being, generally similar experiences of circumstances which one is almost forced to mock/joke about his own racial existence and to present all those negative stereotypes outwardly to the dominant group (being Caucasian people) as a form of comedy that way, not even mentioning the most ironic part of all, which would come down to the specific scene depicting/showing him getting rejected to be served for a drink at his own local neighborhood bar outside of his job time, simply because of/due to his own skin color/color of skin (as it is stated, during that specific historical time period back then, “whites do not serve blacks”), or as what it turns out to be, even after he has already gained all that well-deserved as well as critically acclaimed popularity, success, reputation of his - which this particular part of the scene was being shown to its audiences within the documentary content itself. Needless to say, this, would also be the exact reason behind the curtain, as of why we would still need more independent black filmmakers, such as leading African American film director Spike Lee out there, within the nation of America as a whole - as for the past times, as for this current moment, and as for the upcoming future altogether that way, so to speak. It is perhaps because of all those unignorably remarkable artistic attempts, which Lee would turn black people, or his own racial group of people, into protagonists or main/central characters within his own filmworks, and by that, would further go on to grant them proper values/virtues, personal dignity, and/or deep spiritual meanings in this oftentimes overly complicated world (thus giving them heart and soul, not only flesh), without representing or portraying them as simply being the “sidekick police officer who is the best friend of the main white protagonist and who happens to be black at the same time” within various different law enforcement shows on TV that way, or even more, simply casting them as those unimportant “criminal thug” figures collectively as a whole.