1. Meaning,
Representation &
Values pt. 4
Year 12 Media Production & Analysis ATAR
Stereotypes and the
dangers in their
naturalisation
Representation of
subcultures and
associated values
3. What are
stereotypes?
Recap
An oversimplified representation of
a group of people. A few
characteristics are selected to
represent the group while many
other characteristics are ignored.
The representation is repeated until
it is assumed that all people in the
group are like this.
4. Stereotypes
Stereotypes act as a shorthand for delineating
character.Though they may involve some truth
about social realities of people’s lives, they are
limiting because:
- They suggest that a particular characteristics are
shaped by many people
- They suggest that these characteristics are part of
the essential nature of these people (that is they
are genetic, or biological) rather than connected to
any social realities
- In many instances stereotypes are used
disapprovingly by dominant groups to describe
subordinate groups.
Looking back at films, comics and popular literature
of the twentieth century you will find that the history
of white representation of other cultures and
peoples is dominated by stereotypes.
Many people believe that only
media texts depicting people of
colour and racial conflict are
about race, but it is also the case
that texts that have all white casts
are also making an implicit
ideological statement about race
by naturalising whiteness and
portraying it as the norm.
5. The DangerousSavage vs theCivilisedWhite
When white and other characters are depicted together we see how
stereotypes are connected. Early twentieth century representations
differentiated between the civilised white and the savage other.This
stereotype portrays people of colour as dangerous and animal-like.
When the two groups are portrayed together it is invariably to
demonstrate a fundamental opposition in their natures and ways of
being that justifies white violence – coded form as the honourable
retribution against savages – and suggests that whites need to
exercise control over native populations in order to tame them.
The whites are thus shown to be heroic, more intelligent and more
in control of their emotional and more rational.
6. The Noble
Savage
The noble savage is a variation on he dangerous savage
stereotype. It too sees people of colour as uncivilised, but
puts this in a positive light.The noble savage draws from
the notions that civilisation can be regarded as corrupted
and unnatural, and thought that people living outside of
European civilisation were pure and noble because of
their relationship with nature, their distance from the
decadence of European civilisation. Non-Europeans were
thus thought to have a higher morality than whites.
While this stereotype portrays people of colour as
morally superior to whites, it is still limiting as is locks
them into a pre-determined mould, denying them their
own histories, glossing over specificity of their own
cultures, and portraying them as incapable of change.
Whether people of colour are portrayed as savage or
childlike, poor or rich, etc. they are always presented
as being in need of white control and authority, thus
justifying white power.
7. Dangers in the
Naturalisation
ofStereotypes
While it may seem like we should just stop
paying attention to stereotypes, it often isn’t
that easy. False beliefs about our abilities easily
turn into a voice of self doubt in our heads that
can be hard to ignore. In the last couple of
decades, scientists have started to discover
that this can have damaging effects on our
actual performance.
This mechanism is due to what psychologists
call “stereotype threat” – referring to a fear of
doing something that would confirm negative
perceptions of a stigmatised group that we are
members of.
8. Dangers in the
Naturalisation
of
Stereotypes
Stereotype threat leads to a vicious circle. Stigmatised individuals
experience anxiety which depletes their cognitive resources and
leads to underperformance, confirmation of the negative
stereotype and reinforcement of the fear.
Researchers have identified a number of interrelated
mechanisms responsible for this effect, with the key being deficits
in working memory capacity – the ability to concentrate on the
task at hand and ignore distraction.Working memory under
stereotype threat conditions is affected by physiological stress,
performance monitoring and suppression processes (of anxiety
and the stereotype).
Neuroscientists have even measured these effects in the brain.
When we are affected by stereotype threat, brain regions
responsible for emotional self-regulation and social feedback are
activated while activity in the regions responsible for task
performance are inhibited.
9. Dangers in the
naturalisation
ofStereotypes
Negative stereotypes are harmful to
people of colour because assumptions,
rather than personalized information, can
justify the denial of educational,
employment, housing and other
opportunities.
Even so-called positive stereotypes can be
harmful it is theorised that stereotypes
about athletic skill and musical abilities
push African American youth away from
college in favour of efforts to become
athletes or entertainers, professions in
which statistically speaking, the vast
majority are destined to fail.
