Archetypes In American Culture

Growing up as an Immigrant in America, you grow to learn social conformity is prevalent and plays a key role in the systematic oppression of free thinkers. Social conformity does not only dictate the way you view issues but also makes you shy away from letting your own beliefs be heard. There are many ways people conform, television and social norms being the predominant forces. By having observed these behaviors at an early age, I’ve grown to develop my own moral judgment and have met like-minded individuals who share the same outlook on the ills of society.

The film that I watched for my music appreciate course by the name of Bamboozled is a satire on how the America tends to stereotype African Americans. Even though there are many comedic and humorous bits in this film, there are also very serious social undertones when it comes to the perception of black people in “white America”. One specific and important element that this film uses to portray the racial tension between white and black individuals are minstrel shows. Minstrel shows use to incorporate variety shows, but often had stereotypical and racially offensive towards black people. In a Minstrel show, Caucasians and sometimes African Americans would act out the show in black face. Spike Lee adds on many racial elements on the correlation

“The lives of black men in the US have long been adversely affected by negative public perceptions”(Donaldson). The 21st century consists of a great variety of media forms like video games, television, social media, etc., and during the 20th century it was television, newspapers, and other traditional media forms. Most Black people were mocked and criticized for their lack of knowledge. They were treated as property and not people, an example of this is the lost and found slave ads. These ads gave detailed descriptions of black people and offered compensation if they were found, thus treating them as property and not as people. In the 20th century there was many tv series and movies that had prejudiced displays that encouraged stereotypes. The typical African American male stereotype is displayed as gangsters, post officer workers, athletes, and entertainers. African American women are displayed as maids, sexual objects, and angry. The Disney films Dumbo and Fantasia, both released in 1940, had racist, stereotypical black images. Dumbo, had black crows as jive, slang talking birds that represented African American people. The movie Fantasia’s, black centaurs were happy servants, and the remake film in 1960 eliminated any black representations. The Carmichael Show created by African American male, Jerrod Carmichael, is a 21st century tv series that encourages stereotypes. It is a comedy show that shows the main character as having uneducated parents, a jobless brother, and a ratchet sister-in-law named Keisha. These are all examples of negative portrayals in the media, but not all images are negative. Immediately following the civil rights movement, black people were seen having more positive roles on television. An example is that now films typically give black people the assistant positions, best-friend roles, and the

African-American pop culture and pop culture in general, may be researched by a lot of researchers but I still get the impression that its roots are badly overlooked. Pop culture isn’t only an entertainment but it has some great depth into it that makes it worth learning the subject. In my thesis, I want to give more attention to the development of the African-American culture throughout all these years from the very beginning. How only one race can make a significant changes, not only in their own nation but in the country they’ve been brought to ruthlessly. It’s amazing how the human race that used to be treated literally like animals, representing the lowest class, benefitted the ones that used them in the past with their creativity

The film 'Ethnic Notions ' illustrates various ways in which African Americans were impersonated during the 19th and 20th centuries. It follows and shows the development of the rooted stereotypes which have generated bias towards African Americans. If a film of this kind had such an affectionate influence on me, it is no surprise people adopted these ideas back then. The use of new and popular media practices in those days was more than adequate in selling the black inferiority to the general public. The only purpose of these stereotypes gave a false narrative of black people. They were and are still propaganda to encourage the white society that slavery was "great" and black is inferior.

As the lives of Americans were improving in the 1950s, so was television. Television was quickly becoming a popular part of the American pass time. Watching andstudying these TV ads and showings can be beneficial for multiple reasons. One reasonis it allows us to see how far the country has developed since the 1950s. In addition, it helps us to better understand the people of the 1950s which will help us to better understand the history of the era.

In Sociology, stereotypes are described as "pictures in our heads" that we do not acquire through personal experience. I believe that stereotypes are a mental tool that enforces racial segregation and self-hate. As well justification for dehumanizing minorities. Such as Black women are "Mammy", "Welfare Mothers", "Uneducated", " Inferior", and "Poor". White women are "Pure", "Desirable", "Affluent" and "Superior". These stereotypes are labels that evoke images of oppression, segregation and exploitation of minorities in America. Meanwhile reinforcing the dominance in a social hierarchy.

Actors (mainly white) dressed up in ridiculous garments, decorated themselves in stereotypical ways (extremely dark skin and red lips), and behaved in a primitive way which was associated with black fellows. Onlookers were amused, as black men were getting embarrassed against their will. There are individuals who believe that the symbols of African-American men in society helped develop a system in which blacks were “marginalized and helped to shape white perceptions around blackness for more than a generation.” In his book From Jim Crow to Jay Z: Race, Rap, And The Performance of Masculinity, Miles White believes that minstrelsy has been prevalent for quite some time.

Even now we still have some Americans who use a more modern form of the coon to mock and ridicule successful African Americans in our society. One example is during the 2008 presidential campaign, in which Barrack Obama was targeted by modern racists who created photo shopped images depicting him in big clothes, eating watermelon, fried chicken, and mispronouncing his words. These modern day racists went as far as including his wife and daughters in these images. A form of the coon has even made an appearance in a modern day movie franchise, or at least being accused of being a coon. The Star Wars movie franchise was accused in 1999 of creating a racial stereotype of a coon in the form of a character named Jar Jar Binks. In which critics claimed that Jar Jar, “a bumbling dimwitted amphibian-like character, spoke Caribbean-accented Pidgin English, and had ears that suggested dreadlocks” (Pilgrim); Jar Jar looked like the latest in black cinematic

According to the clips, in what ways do media representations of ethnic and racial minorities rely on stereotypes? Discuss a film or TV show that shows a negative stereotypical representation of a racial minority and than do the same for a positive example. In what ways does this representation challenge racial stereotypes?

Each day, people make decisions that are influenced by what is considered normal in society. Whether it’s the clothes they wear, the activities do, the things they say, or the way they act, everybody participates in conformity on some level. The archetype of conformity is represented all throughout the short film, Destino, and the Broadway play, Sunday in the Park with George, by showing how one can stay true to themselves despite social norms, how one is forced to conform to social norms within society, and the struggle of attempting to remain true to oneself despite conformity around them. Is it always in one’s best interest to conform to these social norms?

Stereotypes. They have attached themselves to you since birth, determined on how you look, how you act, your nationality, or the most common factor, the color of your skin. However, it’s not entirely the general populus’ fault. We put labels based on what we see. Things like television shows and movies contribute to this; whether it be a hispanic man portrayed as being illegal, or an asian man portrayed as an owner of a laundromat. Therefore, it is our view the negative stereotypes of African Americans in movies and TV shows has a impact on how they view themselves and can adversely affect their holistic development.

In the 19th century, the history of American entertainment had one popular and peculiar form that was referred to as the blackface minstrel act. The act was supposedly an American indigenous act that was performed by artists who were black faces. At first, the act was predominantly done by white people who wore black faces to depict how African-Americans spoke and acted, but eventually, there was a recorded increase in African-Americans themselves who too wore the black faces. The acts included a variety of comic acts, African-American music, comic skits, and dancing (Minstrel Show). However, with the shows’ popularity, it was also quite clear that the acts were highly depicted as racist towards the African Americans. This notion comes about from the fact that the acts portrayed African Americans as lazy, ignorant, and as those who loved music and dancing regardless of any other facet of life. Surprisingly, the history of the minstrel acts has over the time infatuated both black artists in the modern day and a clique of white artists locally referred to as “wiggers” which translates to white artists who want to act as black artists (Blacking Up: Hip-Hop 's Remix of Race and Identity).

Movies and dramas are some of the artistic innovations of the human beings. They remind us of the traditional beliefs, customs and the way of life. TV dramas, for instance, are one way of teaching people about their past using an entertaining approach where characters take different roles symbolically to pass a message to the audience. Movies however, make scenes vivid and emotional as they bring a clear picture of what happened using moving images. That said, movies make it easy for one to remember, especially on parts that they find interesting or scarring. More recently, there have been a vast number of movies and TV dramas depicting African-American history. These have been under great scrutiny by blacks themselves because injustices are

Although there were changes to the contest of the show, the African American minstrels maintained the original idea of performing color and performing gender for the entertainment and satisfactory of the audiences. The African American minstrel performers were able to provide a “realness” to the performances. With some performances including scenes from a plantation like setting, the African Americans were able to provide “trueness” to the show by the fact that they were black and not just acting black. The black minstrel advertised themselves as authentic. The black minstrels turned the negativity portrayed the South that African Americans were stereotyped to be from, into a poitive living area were residents were relatively happy with their