Exposure to Sterotypes

918 Words4 Pages
Exposure to stereotypes In today's culture, children are exposed to more types of stereotypes than in any past generation. The modern age that has brought along more technological advances for this generation has also brought along more venues for children to be exposed to stereotyping. Movies, television, toys, and other marketing products for children are flooded with racial, cultural, and gender stereotypes. The jobs for parents and educators in increasing harder because of the amount of stereotypes in the media and the stores. The movies are the most problematic category for perpetuating stereotypes. Stereotypes are simple, one dimensional portrayals of people in the movies. Filmmakers often rely heavily on stereotypes because they are a quick and simple way to establish a movie character's traits. For example, in children's movies, blond women are portrayed as dumb to make them funnier for children, foreigners are often the villains, and blacks are often the athletes. In addition, teenage characters are often shown to be sex crazed, uncivilized and tend to be lumped into two groups, popular or unpopular. Even though the film industry is more sensitive to issues of culture,gender, and race, there are so many children's movies and cartoons being made that still perpetuate many common misconceptions about groups of people. Because children have a limited experience of the world, they are more vulnerable to being influenced by media stereotypes. Even animated movies have their fair share of stereotyping. For example, the very common and over used Disney heroines are always curvaceous with the same attractive features, regardless of race, and rarely take any physical risks. This is not at all the way reality is, and yet, this is what children are constantly exposed to by movies. The impact that these messages have on children can be quite dangerous for several
Open Document