Running Head: MEDIA STEREOTYPING

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Media Stereotyping

Running Head: MEDIA STEREOTYPING

Media Stereotyping: The Effect of Cultural Videos in College Classroom

Kashmira Thakkar

IllinoisStateUniversity

COM 472 – Seminar in Intercultural/Interethnic Communication

Dr. John R. Baldwin

May 10, 2005
Abstract

Utilizing a random sample of 121 participants, this particular research analyzes the undergraduate students’ perception of the East Indian Culture that is formed and influenced by media. A survey of stereotypical perceptions is used to inquire about views that individuals hold of the East Indian Culture. Furthermore, using a one-way ANOVA test a cross analysis is done between three groups to see if media has an impact on student perceptions of the East Indian Culture. The results reveal that media does have a significant influence in shaping one’s stereotypes. These findings validate the Cultivation theory and have implications for educators who choose films as a tool for teaching about a culture. What one chooses to watch and show is of importance because it leaves behind impressions that eventually lead to stereotypical views about a particular culture.

Media Stereotyping: The Effect of Cultural Videos in College Classroom

Introduction

It is said that on an average a person watches up to four hours of TV per day. Aside from the four hours of TV that one watches at home or at any other place, we are constantly surrounded by other forms of media such as newspapers, magazines, internet, etc. All forms of media bring across information and messages that we analyze and interpret, whether it is conscious or unconscious. We rarely stop to think about the impact that media have on us. Implicitly or explicitly media influence us and begin to shape our ideas, our perceptions, and our stereotypes. While we all know that stereotypes are not one hundred percent true, they do have a kernel of truth in them, which is the reason why they have been formed in the first place.

In a fast moving, global world media has become the prime source for information exchange for many of us. Therefore, it is quiet common for individuals to learn about different aspects of life throughTV, the internet, and other forms of media. Among these things are perceptions about other cultures. Forms of media such as TV shows and movies depict what other cultures are like, how they live, what they eat, how they communicate, and so on. The depiction of these aspects of culture in movies shapes our view of that particular culture. Keeping this in mind, this particular study analyzes undergraduate students’ perception of the East Indian Culture through a stereotype survey.

The objective of the study is to not only find out what stereotypes students hold of the East Indian Culture, but to also inquire whether media affects these stereotypes. There are three groups involved in this study. The first group watched a Hollywood movie, second group watched a Bollywood (Indian film industry) movie, and the third group (control group) watched no movie. All three groups filled out a brief stereotype survey afterwards. Results of the study were used to determine if perceptions of students differ depending on which movie clip they saw. As mentioned before, the objective is to see what kind of impact media has on one’s perception of the culture. Apart from this, our objective is to also analyze what stereotypes students hold in general about the East Indian Culture.

Literature Review

Stereotypes

According to the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (2002), a stereotype may be defined as anoversimplified or biased mental picture held to characterize the typical individual of a group. The Color of Words: An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States defines stereotype as “a generalization of what people are like; an exaggerated image of their characteristics without regard to individual attributes” (Herbst, 2001, p. 212). Though the term is commonly applied to human beings, it is quite possible to stereotype objects as well (Nachbar & Lause, 1992). However, for the purpose of this research study we will treat stereotypes within the context of popular beliefs and images that people hold about other groups of people.

Social Beliefs and Stereotypes

According to Lippmann (1922) stereotypes are essentially “pictures in our heads.” (p. 9). These mental pictures are formed not only by one’s own personal experiences, but also through continuous social interaction. Later, Boulding (1956) further discussed the concept of “image” which we all keep in our thoughts about the world. According to Boulding (1956), very few of these images are based on personal experiences. Both Lippmann (1922) and Boulding (1956) realized that what we know about the world – the images and pictures in our heads are byproducts of our interaction with the people and the society as a whole. Consequently, these thoughts or “facts” which we hold about the world result from agreeing with people during the course of social interactions that a particular “fact” is true. Therefore, the thoughts or “facts” are likely to represent the biases of these social interactions.

Recent research in the field of social psychology points to the fact that stereotypical beliefs are implicit in the sense that they are based on ordinary biases rooted in the memory and happen at an unconscious level (Banaji & Bhaskar, 2000). According to Allport (1979), man has an inclination to prejudice. This inclination lies in his natural and normal tendency to form generalizations, concepts, and categories. Often these concepts represent an oversimplification of his world of experiences. Allport (1979) indicates that these concepts and categories sometimes even lack the “kernel of truth” and can be formed based on hearsay evidence, emotional projections and fantasies. Allport (1979) defined stereotype as an exaggerated belief associated with a category. Its function is to justify our conduct in relation to the category. He points out that some stereotypes are totally unsupported by facts; while other stereotypes develop from a sharpening and overgeneralization of facts which in few cases have a “kernel of truth” associated with them.

Social Beliefs and Mass Media

Different forms of mass communication include newspapers, magazines, television, popular cinema, music, literature, internet, textbooks, etc. According to Newspaper Association of America (NAA), in the year 2004, 1456 newspapers have been published in the morning and evening editions with a total circulation of 55,185,351 newspapers per day with a readership of 57% of men and 52% of the entire population (NAA, 2004). According to A.C. Nielsen Co. report (1998), the average American watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV each day. By age 65, the average American will have spent roughly 9 years watching TV. Almost 98% of American homes have at least one television. The report also indicates that 6 million videos and 3 million library items are checked out everyday. According to the National Association of Theater Owners (2004), there are a total of 36,652 movie screens, with a total of 1.53 billion admissions in the year 2004 alone. Few sociologists would refute the fact that this huge exposure to different forms of media could play a big role in creating the so called “images” (Boulding, 1956) and “pictures in our heads” (Lippmann, 1922) which result in the formation of stereotypes.

Media Stereotyping

In popular culture, people are often stereotyped around characteristics of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, vocation, and nationality (Nachbar & Lause, 1992). The following section reviews relevant research literature available on general media stereotyping around the characteristics of age and gender.

General Media Stereotyping

According to Rutherford (1994), women in television advertisements are depicted as feminine, showing their beauty, grace and sexual attractiveness, while men on the other hand were associated with outdoors, sports, cars, driving, and relaxing. Rutherford (1994) further emphasized the fact that women are often associated with the images of homemaker whereas roles within the home and work environments that demand expertise and authority are often associated with men. A content analysis of the New York Times coverage of 1995 Women’s NCAA Basketball tournament indicated that there were three times as many stories, photos and graphics on the men’s tournament when compared to the women’s tournament (Silverstein, 1996). The analysis revealed that the New York Times coverage perpetuated the “women are not aggressive” stereotype (Silverstein, 1996) and trivialized the women’s tournament. A study which investigated a random sample of 91 MTV music videos which were broadcasted in 1993, depicted men as more adventuresome, violent and aggressive when compared to women. More than nine out ten stereotypically male occupational roles were portrayed by males on MTV and all stereotypically female occupational roles were portrayed by females (Seidman, 1999).

Comic strips, which are one of the most widely read forms of humor in American popular culture, appearing in the Washington Post between 1970s and 1990s were analyzed comparing humor and ageing. Findings indicated that older adults are stereotypically represented as unattractive, out-of-touch and not so intelligent people (Hanlon, Farnsworth, & Murray, 1997). For the purpose of this research study, we will be concentrating on the racial and ethnic stereotyping in media. The following sections review the relevant research literature available on media stereotyping of various ethnic minorities.

Media Stereotyping of Ethnic Minorities

Cultivation theory sometimes also referred to as cultivation hypothesis or cultivation analysis was an approach developed by George Gerbner (Chandler, 2000), to study whether and how television watching may influence viewers’ ideas of what the world is like. According to cultivation theorists television has long-term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant. In essence cultivation theory states that continuous exposure to mass media namely television, creates and cultivates attitudes that are more consistent with the media version of reality than with the actual reality (Chandler, 2000). Television in this case acts as a socializing agent that educates viewers on a separate version of reality.

Cultivation theorists argue that heavy viewers tend to have more homogenized or convergent opininons than light viewers. This cultivation effect is one of “level” or “homogenizing” opinion and is called “main streaming effect” (Chandler, 2000). According to Gerbner, this “main streaming effect” results in heavy viewers of violence on television coming to believe that incidents of violence in everyday world are higher than light viewers with similar backgrounds. As a consequence, heavy viewers tend to believe that the “world is a nastier place” than do light viewers. This is a direct effect of misjudging the amount of violence in the society and is called the “mean world syndrome.” Gerbner, further points out that congruence between the viewers’ everyday experiences and the depictions on television will result in a double-dose effect, boosting the cultivation process. This is referred to as “resonance” (Chandler, 2000).

Cultivation theory has often been criticized by researchers for being over-simplified, not considering several other forms of media which can contribute to cultivation and not dealing with several factors such as demographics, age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic background that can affect a person’s experience while watching television (Chandler, 2000). In spite of its limitations, cultivation theory continues to hold an important place in today’s society. The following section reviews the literature based on media stereotyping of different minorities which inherently “cultivate” cultural perceptions of ethnic minorities.

African Americans

Research literature reviewed indicates that popular media including television, newspapers, websites and films often portray African Americans in stereotypical representations. A content analysis of 1,699 television commercials (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000) aired on popular television programs with high ratings between 1992 and 1994 indicated that African American men are often stereotypically portrayed as hyper masculine or menacing and aggressive in nature. The findings also indicated that African American men are less likely to be at home and are less likely to be passive/emotional when compared to their white counterparts, which are common stereotypical beliefs held against African Americans (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000).

A content analysis of 813 television commercials aired on children’s television programming conducted by Bang and Reece (2003) also indicated that African Americans were less likely to be shown in home environments and more likely to be shown in food commercials when compared to Caucasians. Cultivation theory suggests that these kinds of portrayals can unduly result in stereotypical beliefs about African American children.

Findings from a content analysis of fifty popular films in 1996 (Eschholz, Bufkin, & Long, 2002) indicate that African Americans are still underrepresented in leading roles in Hollywood and are in general portrayed stereotypically. African Americans are more likely to be portrayed in less serious and comic roles whereas their white counterparts are more likely to be portrayed in drama and action/adventure genres. Furthermore, the occupational prestige of African American actors was less than the occupational prestige of their white counterparts. Ever since the movie The Birth of a Nation was released, African American men have often been portrayed in Hollywood as violent in nature. This is indicated by the ingrained association of African American males with violence in movies such as Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society,Fresh, Jason’s Lyric,Juice, and many others (Pierson, 1997).

Another source (Cripps, 1978) in R. Miller’s edited book, also discusses the movie, The Birth of a Nationin which Griffith derives black images from southern mythology and common racial stereotypes that have long been circulating in the popular cinema. The images in this moviedepict negative stereotypes of African Americans during the Civil War. According to Cripps (1978), African Americans understood the implications of Griffith’s images and as result the NAACP launched a campaign to boycott such films. To reverse the negative stereotypes created by the movie, the NAACP and Booker T. Washington sought to develop a black motion picture company in which they scaled their efforts down to a movie titled, The Birth of a Race (Cripps, 1978).

Furthermore, a source by Pines (1975) states that Blacks are exploited in movies, which is known as “blaxploitation.” According to Pines (1975), the trend of “blaxploitation” in films has been popular through the gangster idiom that started in the movie Shaft and carried on through others movies such as Cool Breeze, Slaughter, and Black Gunn. All of these movies are obsessively geared towards violence (Pines, 1975).

Native Americans

A study conducted by Merskin (2001) on four popular national products: Land O’ Lakes Butter, Sue Bee Honey, Big Chief [Monitor] Sugar, and Crazy Horse Malt Liquor indicates the use of Native American stereotypes in advertising. According to Vrasidas (1996), film industry in US has played a significant role in misrepresentation and creation of stereotyping the image of Native Americans. Vrasidas (1996) discussed “The Western” as a film genre and as a type of American mythology which perpetuated the myths and stereotypes of Native Americans.

Another source byWalker (1998) in Rollins and O’Connor’s edited book states that a movie titled, The Last of the Mohicans is a prime example of how Native Americans are negatively portrayed in popular cinema. The central theme that is depicted in this particular movie is that of barbarism. According to Walker (1998), Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans unfortunately contributed to the history of repeatedly telling the “wrong tale of The Last of the Mohicans” (p. 177).

According to Hilger (1986), there is no doubt that the “wild and woolly westerns” have put in place negative images of Native Americans in the minds of the audience. Although such negative stereotypes exist, some films such as Little Big Man, attempt to be sympathetic to the Native American characters. However, despite such sympathy that is portrayed, yet it still uses Native American characters as only political symbols to criticize contemporary values (Hilger, 1986).

Latinos

A content analysis of newspaper coverage on Hispanics in nine emerging communities (Paulin, 2004) indicates that Hispanics are still stereotypically portrayed as victims who are not in control of their circumstances. A story-line content analysis of six textbooks that are extensively used in grades 7-12 across US indicates that subtle and not-so-subtle adjectives and parenthetical comments were used to reinforce negative stereotypes about Latin Americans as lazy, passive, irresponsible, and somewhat paradoxically, lustful, animalistic and violent (Cruz, 1994).

According to Pettit (1980), a large number of movies depicting Hispanics, portrays three major stereotypes: the dark lady, the bandito, and the clown. Furthermore, Pettit (1980) points out that most Mexican women do not hold key moral positions in popular cinema. In addition, a source by Williams (1985) in Keller’s edited book sheds light on the fact that Hispanic women’s bodies are often reduced to the status of sex objects. This kind of portrayal is for the delight of male subjects who are no less stereotyped than the “lazy Mexicans” who serve as foils in countless “Westerns to flatter the intelligence and energy of the Anglo cowboy” (Williams, 1985, p. 59). Furthermore, according to Williams (1985), films such as Let Katie Do It or Martyrs of the Alamo depict Hispanics as “lazy greasers,” banditos, and sex and dope addicts.