Stereotypes In The Film Industry

Race has a tremendous impact on society. This problem shows up in the schools, the job market, and in many other places. However, one must ask the question, where does this problem come from? Who is feeding the public the outdated stereotypes that seem to predominate people’s way of life in today’s world? The answer to that question would be the media, and in particular, the film industry. Even in today’s world, Hollywood still not only portrays, but also encourages the spread of racial inequality, both on and off the screen. Through its below average casting of minority actors and directors, its portrayal of these minority groups, and its lack of recognition towards minority actors and their films, the film industry makes it harder for today’s
culture to discourage racial stereotypes and help form new, positive racial identities.
Inequality in Casting and Directing of Hollywood Films As president, you most likely know that many large movie companies, such as Paramount or Warner Bros, do not cast many minority actors or employ minority directors. In addition, when they are cast or employed, these minority actors are often placed in marginal genres as opposed to the genres such as science fiction or fantasy. According to Maryann Erighe in a study for the Journal of Black Studies, only 7% of all directors were black, as opposed to the 88% of white directors (Erighe 556). She then points out that in the most lucrative genres, science-fiction and fantasy, “of all movies blacks directed, less than one out of 20 were sci-fi/fantasy films” (556). In addition, the top ten films at the domestic box office from 2000 to 2011 were all science fiction films. Since minority directors do not direct as many of these films as white directors do, they are thus unable to reach the same levels of wealth as their white counterparts. Erighe acknowledges that while the reasons for this divide may be unintentional, the divide most likely is caused by “deliberate design” (Erighe 562). Since Hollywood is driven by profits, studios attempt to appeal to the majority of their audience, which would be white people. Thus, the movie companies give priority and funding to movies that they believe would appeal to white people and put less emphasis on films that they do not believe would appeal to that audience. However, this problem extends far beyond the world of directors and into the realms of actors as well. In recent years, Hollywood has been accused of “whitewashing,” or the process of having “a white actor replacing a minority actor in the portrayal of a character of color” (Lowery 1). This has been seen in many movies, including the 2010 adaptation of the popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. This film was panned by critics and audiences for casting the mostly Asian and Native American inspired characters as white actors. This trend continues today, seen in films like Ghost in the Shell. This 2017 movie was an adaptation of the Japanese anime series with the same name. However, instead of making casting decisions that reflected the race of the characters in the source material, the director instead chose to cast Scarlet Johannson as the lead and was ultimately criticized by critics and audiences alike. Hollywood’s reasons for this practice are very similar as before. According to Chris Lee, Hollywood is “trying to find the best person for the part [and] when it’s a big-budget movie, it’s going to come down to a business decision” (Lee 2). However, many people ague that this creates a divide between the source material and the film, and even “fails to acknowledge the cultural aspects of these stories” (Quan 1). In addition, this casting decision makes it harder for minorities to see themselves as heroic characters on screen. Thus, one can see that the exclusion of minority actors from larger roles due to financial reasons perpetuates the stereotype that minority actors are not capable of carrying a well-grossing film and reinforces the idea that they are less talented actors. Finally, this practice prevents minority actors from reaching the same level of commercial success as their white counterparts.
Biased Portrayal of Minorities in Films It most likely has been brought to your attention that even when minority actors get cast in parts, the characters they portray are often insulting and conform to old stereotypes.
This problem is rare in that it affects every minority group in different ways. An example of this would be the movie industry’s depiction of Arabs and Arab-Americans in movies. Discrimination against Arabs started as early as in 1921’s The Sheikh. According to John Connes in his 2012 book, the villain in this movie is described as “an oversexed desert royal who carries an English girl off to his tent” (Cones 14). This trend towards insulting and racist descriptions continues throughout the years. Often, Arabs in movies are described as “villainous caliphs,” “shifty Arabs,” “Egyptian fanatics” or even “crazed”, and “wicked” (Cones 14-15, 17-18). This trend continues in the 1990 movie Without My Daughter. Cones quotes Roger Ebert, a well known movie critic, as pointing out that the Muslim characters are depicted as “harsh, cruel, religious fanatics” and that if the film was about any other ethnic group, it would be “denounced as racist or prejudiced” (Cones 24). In addition, films featuring Arabs throughout the years often support extreme violence against this minority, often portraying them as the villains. Finally, these films often include stereotypical actions and events by their minority characters, such as sorcery or the locales of large deserts and tombs. In conclusion, Cones concludes that
the “US film community consistently portrays Arabs in a stereotypical or negative manner…[with] little or no effort to balance their portrayals of Arabs in the same movies or… in other movies” (Cones 26). However, this trend of stereotyping minorities does not only apply to Arabs and Arab-Americans. Other examples of this can be seen with Asians and Hispanics in films.
The 1991 film 1,000 Pieces of Gold depicts a time in Asia where slavery was prevalent, even though it had already been abolished in most of the world. Cone again quotes Roger Ebert, saying “[the] only man portrayed positively in the film is … [a white man]” (Cones 28). Even though the majority of this movie’s cast is Asian, the only character audiences are given to root for is the white male. This movie follows Hollywood’s trend of displaying Asians or Asian-Americans as “enemies, cold, calculating, …, aggressive, …, and as conspiring businessmen” (Cones 29). Hispanics, on the other hand, are often given a different reputation. They can be seen as “jailhouse drug kingpins,” as in the movie American Me, or as people in distress, needing a white man or family to come and help them out, such as in McFarland, USA (Cones 31). In addition, you most likely already know that this trend of stereotyping applies to African-Americans and Native Americans as
well. The effects of these biased portrayals have many effects on the public perception of minorities. As discussed earlier, minority actors are rarely cast in leading roles and are thus cast in the supporting roles, if even cast at all. The leading roles, given to white actors, are often well-written and allow the actor to display genuine emotion and connect with the audience, particularly in dramatic roles. However, the supporting roles minorities are cast in have less depth to them, often relying on stereotypes to flesh out the characters. This results in the supporting cast often being forced to act in accordance with one of the previously described stereotypes, with little room to show depth or growth. The consequence of this is that audiences often only see minority actors in roles that confirm to old biases, rather than roles that actually portray the culture of the minority depicted. As a result, audiences only see minority actors conforming to Hollywood’s stereotypes. This only validates and reinforces the stereotypes for the audiences. The ultimate result is that directors and writers then cast and write parts in accordance with these stereotypes, thus feeding them back to audiences and creating a circle of inaccurate portrayals.