From watching a DVD about racial stereotyping, the media are much more sensitive these days to making sure they include a mix of races today. Back in the 50s and 60s, media was produced for a white audience so they were the sorts of people included in the media. Then in the early 20th century, there were 'few people of colour' in power, so the media reflected this. However more recently the first black American president was elected, we are constantly surrounded by people from different ethnic groups and few people still hold the belief that anyone who isn't white is inferior, so this again is reflected in the media.
A point they mentioned which I found particularly interesting was "People that aren't racists can make decisions which could cause unfair representation of race". For example if a white person is constantly surrounded by other white people, then of course they are more likely to chose a white actor over a black actor (if both are level on talent etc). And also a quote that I really liked was "visibility doesn't always transfer into equality".
For one of our studies into racial representation, we looked at the film Borat. One of the first things you see at the start of the film is that the wording that comes up on screen in the native language of Kazakhstan. It has been translated poorly into English, but it is intentionally wrong. The people of Kazakhstan are living in slums strewn with litter, the town kindergarden had guns to play with and the blacksmith was also an abortionist! All of these little details are adding up to a negative representation of Kazakhstan and it's people.
We posed the question "Is this type of overt and intentional stereotyping breaking down barriers or fuelling the fire of racism?" and I will now share some of my opinions.
In this film there are many examples or blatant racism purely based on stereotypes. One of the most prominent I feel was when Borat visited the rodeo. In the film you see and American man telling Borat to shave off his moustache because he looks like "one of them bombing Muslims with all that black hair and moustache". To me (and many others) this was a totally irrational comment to make/belief to have. Just because somebody has black hair does by no means imply that they are a Muslim or a terrorist. Also, the man telling Borat to change himself to suit that man's picture of what 'normal' was a disrespectful thing to do. I believe that on this occasion, that people could be led to add fuel to the fire of racism if they weren't aware of Sacha Baron Cohen's intentions when making the film. SBC wanted to expose how ridiculous the prejudgements we make can be. These prejudgements are often based on stereotypes of what we are exposed to via the media - and they are often highly incorrect and offensive to the group/individual we hold them against.
There is another moment in which I felt the audience would find so ridiculous that they would no way take it seriously (and realise that the humour behind it was laughing at the extent we sometimes take our prejudgements to). When Borat enters the hotel room and drinks from the toilet implies that he has never seen a toilet before (so must have a very primitive way of living) and does not know what it's used for. This is such a far-fetched notion that I believe that people would not take it seriously and therefore not believe that this stereotype was at all true.
Personally I believe that the whole point of this film was to take some of the stereotypes people have about certain groups and push these to absolutely ridiculous stereotypes people have about certain groups and push them to the absolute extremes. So that people could actually look at it and laugh at how ridiculous these prejudgements are. There will always be a small minority which will believe these views expressed in the film are for real and justified; but you will probably never be able to change their minds.
The portayle of Kazakhstan was a poor country with low morals and human rights. (For example when we see the local day care centre, the children have guns). This is such an obscene idea and I believe was done to show people how ridiculous it was. This is but a mere example of the ludicrous preconceptions people hold about cultures they do not know much about. And the filn challenges this by pushing these preconeptions to the extremes; so far so that people no longer beleive them.
So in conclusion, I think that the film is helping to break down barriers of racial issues by showing us how ridiculous some of our preconceptions are. At the end of the day, everyone is human and essentially we all don't wish to be prejudged so we should not do so to other. I think the film highlights this crucial moral.
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