Name:
Course:
Tutor:
Date:
Stereotype, Realism and Struggle over Representation
The reading in this chapter focuses mainly on what is the reality but most turn a blind eye on. What is real and how it has been represented, are two sides of a coin. The media world, political world and the general social structures are used to telling or to being told to the world. As put clearly, “an obsession with “realism” casts the question as simply one of “errors” and “distortions”, as if the truth of a community were unproblematic, transparent and easily accessible, and “lies” about that community easily unmasked” (Shohat and Robert 178).
According to the author, stereotypes will forever display the reality according to how they want the world to perceive it- their own way. Filmmakers have more than enough times, made the antagonist of a real life situation, be the hero in a film. They have put the characters they want, instead of using characters that resembled what happened in real life. This was ironically displayed in brochures after the launching of the movie Hanto Yo (1979). The movie could not even be shot in America and it was based on American Indians.
The stereotypical way of thinking and doing things is displayed even in the political world. What is “preached” and what is done are completely different things. Marx put it the very best way possible by saying “they do not represent themselves; they need to be represented” (Shohat and Robert 182). This could be interpreted to mean many things. Politicians always tell us that there will be equality. People of all color, race, gender and backgrounds are equal in the “eyes” of the law. Sure, they are all equal but one is “more equal than the other”. The two main parties in the United States are the perfect examples. These two are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. If the all equal say is true, why do we have the Republican Party with the majority representatives and followers being white while the African Americans and other races follow the Democratic Party?
The current president, President Barrack Obama, was elected as the president through a democrats’ ticket. Although he was elected by people of all races, it was quite evident who had voted for him the most. Whether it is accepted or not, birds of a feather will mostly flock together. People tend to incorporate into their work what they are familiar with or what will bring out their identity. An African American will tend to vote for his or her own, if such a candidate emerges.
The movie Mississippi Burning brought a lot of criticism when the makers of the film presented the FBI as the heroes of the movie, yet they sabotaged the movement, while the African Americans acted as supporting casts, victims of unfortunate circumstances, waiting for the whites to come to their rescue (Shohat and Robert 179). The makers of this movie were whites. Other movies such as Out of Africa (1985), Rio’s Road to Hell (1931) and Cuban Love Song (1931), amongst others have all been ridiculed for portraying a completely different picture from what the real life presents.
In a recent movie Invictus, the main renowned actor Morgan Freeman, acts as the former president and freedom fighter of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Although the movie has a good story line and the actor is black, why did the filmmakers not pick somebody from South Africa or Africa as a whole? Did they have to choose an American to act the role of an African even though he was an African American? Stereotypes will always speak one thing but present something different on the table. Not what is necessarily real, but what they want to present.
Works Cited
Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]