POP CULTURE AND

STEREOTYPES

•Generalizations made about the characteristics of specific groups

•Based on an image about what people are like in that specific group

•Generally acquired through media sources

Stereotypes

Views within Pop Culture

•Influences how people perceive other cultures

•Showcases specific stereotypes within society

•Promotes specific characteristics of people

The Media and Understanding Other

Cultures•Perpetuates Stereotypes

•When characterizing particular groups, viewers tend to do the same

•Generalizes ethnic groups ultimately creating judgements

Media

•Movies

•Television

Movies

•Racial Comedies

•Create stereotypes about Caucasian women

•Formulates stereotypes of the typical ‘White American Girl’

•Exaggerates rich teenage lifestyle

Television

•Networks

•Sitcoms

•Reality TV

Networks

Features a plethora of Pop Culture aimed towards young generation

viewers

Sitcoms and Reality TV

• A series featuring a Caucasian single mother purchasing drugs from African American and Mexican Americans.

• Focuses on the minority ethnicities and their relation to the drug epidemic in America

• A sitcom based on multiple ethnicities living together. Real life situations, real people.

• Features personality traits of individuals

• Ultimately creates and formulates stereotypes to cultures unknown to viewers

Crime TV

• The First 48 Hours

• Created in some of the highly populated African American areas

• Focused on crime and involving (but not limited to) African Americans

• Interesting to the viewer creating lasting, unfair impressions

Society can very well base their sole interpretations of ethnic groups from their exposure to stereotypes within the media.

Media and Pop Culture has the power to influence mass amounts of people.

From movies to television shows and music, Pop Culture is all around us.

Without proper exposure to true cultural diversity, Pop Culture will influence how people view other cultures by exploiting ethnicities and creating stereotypes.

References

Bennett, Andy; Barry Shank; and Jayson Toynbee, eds. The Popular Music Studies Reader. Routledge, 2006.

Bell-Jprdan, K.E. (2008). Black, white and a survivor of The Real World: Constructions of race on reality TV. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 25, 353-372.

Beye, B (writer). (2005). ‘weeds’ continues to grow negative sterotypes [Radio series episode]. In News and Notes. NPR.

Kaplan, E. Ann. Rocking Around the Clock: Music Television, Postmodernism and Consumer Culture. New York: Methuen, 1987.

Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for "Blackness." Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995

Reed, T.V. (2011). Popular Culture. Retrieved from http://culturalpolitics.net

Culturalpolitics.net is a great tool to utilize when trying to grasp an understanding of all aspects of culture. It provides a great deal of information in regards to cultures and the effects they have on our social lives. It has specific focuses on Pop Culture, Digital Cultures, Social Movements and Culture as well as other focuses.

Robert. Lichter., S. L.S. (2011) Does tv shape ethnic images?. Retreived from http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/does-tv-shape-ethnic-images

Medialit.org is a site that contains a reading room full of articles. Medialit.org focuses on Media and Values and has an array of articles and subjects to choose from. It is a helpful site that focuses in on education and can be helpful when acquiring information regarding the media.