Name That Stereotype Game!

The United States of America has a biracial president and has legalized Gay marriage yet and still stereotypes and misrepresentations of minorities remain pervasive in the media. I invented a game called " Name That Stereotype", to identify the stereotypes that are harmful and hurtful to people of color.

We may think that these stereotypes are harmless but television and the imagery that we see on television have a direct affect on us. Sometimes our minds fail to distinguish between fact and fiction when it comes to television. I met a young lady from South Africa and she said to me, " Black people are nothing like television makes them out to be. I came to the United States expecting to see the images of Blacks like I see on TV. Black people are not always dancing, violent and all Black men don't have large penises." My roommate Vucoje is from Serbian, he explained that his Grandmother has never met a Black person, but warned him to stay away from Black people after watching a television program when a Black man robbed an elderly White woman.

Imagine for a second that Vucoje's grandmother was the HR director for a top company, she has never had any contact with African Americans other than that television program. An educated African American male comes in to interview for the position, do you think that she would hire him?

Imagine for a second that Vucoje's grandmother is on the jury for a criminal case against an African American male who allegedly robbed an elderly White lady. Would her prior "knowledge" from the television show  about African American males and robbery affect her decision?

If you don't personally interact with other cultures, where do yo get your knowledge about them?

Let's Play!

Show: Happy Endings

Network: American Broadcast Company

Character: Brad Williams

Actor: Damon Wayans Jr.

Brad Williams has an " Oh, no he didn't" moment in video clip!

  

Diagnostic:

 Brad Williams is an unemployed African American male that is supported by his highly successful Caucasian wife. While his wife is at work, he stays home and creates funny hijinxs.  He is emasculated by his wife on a daily basis.  In the national advertisement for the show, his two Caucasian male counterparts are engaged in very masculine positions.  He is in an overt feminine position that is not shared by his Caucasian female counterparts. His wife is in an overt masculine position where she has her leg stretched over him to display dominance.   

 Name that Stereotype :

A.      Primitive

B.      Buffon

C.      Subservient

D.      Sambo, black men that were considered very happy, usually laughing, lazy, irresponsible or carefree

E.       Mandingo, Black men that are animalistic or primitive

F.       Mammy

Show: Elementary

Network: CBS Broadcast Company

Character: Dr. Joan Watson

Actress: Lucy Liu

Diagnostic:
 Dr. Joan Watson is a successful surgeon hired by the father of Sherlock Holmes. She is a “sober” companion for recovering drug addict Holmes, who helps him abstinent from his drug addiction. The advertisement for the television show softened Liu’s features to create a doll like effect, which depict Liu in the traditional “ China Doll” archetype projected by the media.

Name that stereotype:

A.      Overachiever

B.      Sidekick to Caucasian counterparts

C.      Mystic minority, minority who display magical or healing powers

D.      Model minority, minorities seems at a higher esteemed than their minority counterparts

 Show: Modern Family

Network: CBS Broadcast Company

Character: Gloria

Actress: Sofia Vergara

Diagnostic:

 Gloria Pritchett is the mother to Manny, a child from a previous relationship and wife to Jay, a wealthy, elderly Caucasian male. She is a loud, feisty, quick tongued Colombian woman born in a small village in Colombia, which is also the nation’s murder capital. Gloria speaks in a Colombian accent so thick that others can barely understand her.

 She is well known for her many mispronunciations, and using phrases incorrectly. She wear super-sexy cleavage revealing outfits that hug her ample curves. She has 29 cousins.

Gloria's Mispronunciations in the video clip!

 Name that Stereotype:

A.      Sexy Spitfire

B.      Hyper-fertile

C.      Thick accent

D.     Unable to speak English correctly

E.      Loud

F.       Latina women are seductive

G.     Latina women don’t like to work

H.     Latinos are passionate

I.        Latinos have large families