Betsy Tuitavuki

Professor Derr

Communications 1500

1 March 2020

Movies have been around for over 100 years. It has been a form of human connection,

an outlet for creativity and social bonds as well. Though it has evolved in various ways,

movies and its content walk a slow progression to mirroring the diverse, ever evolving world

we live in. The film industry has released movies that reinforce expected gender norms and

stereotyped people of color and their culture. Through characters, dialogue and plot many

movies have often reinforced stereotypes, whether for comedy or in ignorance. It’s crucial to

become aware of such ways and analyze who holds the power to allow this.

Movies tell stories, typically of people and their journey through obstacles. The

audience grows a connection with the characters as they see them develop, or not, through the

film. As a child, I watched many movies and would find myself internalizing the female

characters. I wanted to learn to be like them, or I hoped that my life would turn out like theirs.

Especially the Disney princess movies, I longed for their life. ​Xu, Huimin, et al state that

when children see stereotypical narratives, they will attempt to fill those roles in their own

life. Included in their research was a study about Disney movies which resulted in children

associating beauty with popularity (Xu, Huimin, et al). In early films, women were portrayed

as housewives or sexually objectified. An article by Liz Ford explained how women and girls

were “four times more likely than men to be shown wearing revealing clothing.” These

women characters are stereotyped as objects, often emotional and dependent on the men in

the movies.
 Exposure is very beneficial when creating a movie. The audience often has only ever

seen a certain ethnicity through film. Hollywood has a long history of white-washing people

of color and even using them as caricatures. Tom Pollard wrote about how after Pearl Harbor,

Hollywood began raking out war films which many “negatively stereotyped depictions of

Asians, especially Japanese” (3). Pollard later lists and goes into detail about several fairly

new movies like ​Unbroken (2014), Olympus Has Fallen (2013), a​ nd ​No Escape (2015) ​that

showcase Asians as the enemy and very aggressive. African American people have been

ridiculed and shamed since the beginning of films. Though ​Birth of a Nation ​is critically

acclaimed, it “glorified the Ku Klux Klan and stereotyped southern blacks’” ​(Campbell et al.

535)​.​ These specific and constant stereotypes become the norm in the eyes of people who

aren’t familiar with these ethnicities. When I was younger I also saw certain minority groups

as what was depicted negatively in movies. While there is progress, there is still a huge lack

of representation of other cultures in not only supporting characters but especially main

characters in movies.

Without dialogue in movies, we would have silent films. Dialogue and the powerful

use of words can change entire tones for movies. I admire films the most when I catch

memorable lines. A character in a movie can one small part but with one memorable line, can

be remembered for years. With these uses of dialogue, caricatures of a person’s cultures can

be demeaned with just a few words. In several movies, a person of color can only be defined

by their accent and how they “butcher” english words. The way they talk is even used for

comedy like in ​Sixteen Candles ​with the character Long Duck Dong who is a walking talking

stereotype.

A study in 2017 analyzed almost one thousand movie scripts. Several results showed

that “black characters swore more” and “latinos spoke more about sexuality” (Litpatrick).
There is an assumed way people of color are to act and speak in movies that allows the

audience to generalize the entirety of that ethnicity. Not only people of color, but the study

also found that women in movies used “language that reinforced stereotypes” (Litpatrick).

Their lines were generally emotional and family-related while men’s lines were more about

achievement. Also they researched that, in most films if a female character were to be

removed, the main plot wouldn’t be affected (Litpatrick). This can support the idea that a

women’s dialogue is not as important as their male counterpart, which also supports the idea

that women are only an object in most movies.

Plot is one of the first questions I have when looking at a trailer of a new movie. I

typically ask “What is the movie about?” The plot and it’s overall theme are important factors

when creating a film. Hollywood has a long streak of placing white males as the all powerful

and brave hero. As mentioned earlier, female characters were commonly dependent on able

men. Their problems were solved right away with the help of a man. This idea occurred in

movies that depicted white men as the savior for underprivileged people of color. In movies

like ​Dances With Wolves,, Blood Diamond, ​and ​Last Samurai, ​the main white male character

“saves” people of color. The problem with these plots is that it assumes that people of color

are always in need of white people to save them. Furthermore, it paints a picture that people

of color can’t achieve without help from white society.

​Mathew Hughey wrote about the complexity of Black stereotypes in movies where

they played characters that are “saviors” to their white counterparts. He further explains how

in movies like ​Bruce Almighty ​and ​Green Mile, t​ here is still an underlayer of stereotypical

racism. Morgan Freeman plays “God” but is “first introduced as a janitor, mopping floors in

an unoccupied building” (Hughey, 556). In ​Green Mile, ​Michael Clark Duncan is on death

row and has supernatural powers and when found out he’s innocent and offered freedom, he
refuses and dies. This trope reinforces the idea that Black people, though poor, help out

everyone. It’s harmful in that in most movies with this trope, the person of color isn’t deemed

“fit” to save the world themself and instead is a “sacrificial servant” (556) . Hughey described

this as the Black person not seeking to “change their own impoverished status but instead use

their ‘magical power’ to correct the wrongs in a white world,” (556). This trope is among

many others that reinforce stereotypes not only on people of color but also on women and

people with disabilities. The list goes on and on.

One can begin to think how movies allow characters, dialogue and plots that reinforce

stereotypes. The first thought that came to my mind was writers. Behind all movies are

writers. In an interview with Indiana University and student Karen Bowdre, she brings up the

importance in asking what are writers intentions when writing stereotypical characters. She

explains further that there are a lot of different reasons and open-ended answers. Because we

live in America, race is always a sensitive topic but Bowdre suggests in having an open and

honest conversation about it is the first step (Bowdre). In the same study I spoke about

earlier, regarding researchers analyzing movie scripts, results also revealed that there were

seven times more male writers versus female writers (Blumenthal). Additionally, results also

disclosed that “if female writers were in the writers room, female character representation on

screen was on average 50 percent higher” (Blumenthal). In John Cones’ ​Patterns of Bias in

Hollywood Movies, h​ e highlights the fact that “movies mirror their makers” (5). Cones later

discusses that movies will be made in the taste of executives and producers (Cones, 6). With

this thought in mind, it makes sense that white males dominate this industry and want white

males to be the stars, the heroes, in film. Inclusivity is crucial when creating movies that

include different kinds of people. While it may seem a given to ask people who experience

and are similar to the fictional character one wants to create, it still seems widely unaware for
people in the film industry. To have an inclusive movie, a diverse one, the industry must

employ and bring diverse people to work on it.

From analyzing the different ways in which movies reinforce negative stereotypes to

questioning why such stereotypes are still prominent in today’s film industry, I was able to

take a look at how I’ve seen these stereotypes. Like other people, I used to gaze over them in

movies. But I think that is one of the easiest ways to internalize them and have these

subconscious negative thoughts about the people who are harmed by these stereotypes.

Movies are such an integrated part of the American life. The film industry has the opportunity

to bring awareness to various cultures and break down these outdated, damaging stereotypes.
 Works Cited

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of Engineering,​ 1 Aug. 2017,

viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2017/08/central-female-characters-movie/. Accessed 28

Feb. 2020.

Campbell, Richard, et al. ​Media & Culture.​ Twelfth ed., Boston/New York, Bedford/st.

martin’s, 10 Dec. 2018, pp. 535. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

Cones, John W. ​Patterns of Bias in Hollywood Movies.​ Algora Publishing, 2012, pp. 5-6.

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Ford, Liz. "Geena Davis: Damaging Stereotypes On Screen Limit Women's Aspirations |

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www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sp.2009.56.3.543. Accessed 27 Feb. 2020.

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