Race, in and of itself, is entirely a social construct. Through, cultural, legal, and societal means, people with common biological traits, such as skin color, hair, and facial features were grouped together into “races”, although all humans obviously belong to the same biological species. These classifications were invented purely to create power dynamics. Because of these distinctions, stereotypes began to become associated with different races. In modern day America, unfortunately we see these stereotypes reinforced all too often. Media has often served to perpetuate these stereotypes by portraying them in film, plays, music, and more. As a child, I often watched old looney toons cartoons with my dad. I vividly remember the portrayal of Native Americans in one episode. They were depicted as uneducated “savages” with exaggerated features. As a child who knows no better, this can easily set the groundwork to reinforce centuries-old stereotypes and continue the cycle of racism in America by polluting the minds of young people. People are not born racist; it is taught through exposure to harmful stereotypes. Understanding race as a social construct and looking at media through a critical lens can help offset this cycle and help us strive to be a more inclusive nation and world.
3 thoughts on “Race- JT Windle”
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I have a similar experience with the way blatant racism and stereotypes, and overall cultural inaccuracies are mediated through televised media. I think that it’s pretty well known by know that the movie Pocahontas is historically inaccurate towards the relationship between colonists and native americans. In the movie, Pocahontas and John Smith live happily ever after within freedom and peace, and prosperity, however in real life, from my own knowledge although I may be wrong, Pocohontas was taken from her homeland and was forced into marriage at a young age. I think that it’s super important to broadcast cultural portrayals accurately, therefore assumptions about a culture aren’t derived off of something inaccurate. The movie, as well as other movies, such as astirocats, promote racial stereotypes towards young audiences, which I believe is to be a harmful influence.
I agree with your statement that race is entirely a social construct invented to create power dynamics. I liked your example of the racist portrayal of Native Americans in a looney toon cartoon episode. Because kids are so young, the harmful stereotypes and ideals that they consume in the media can have long lasting impressions on them, thus continuing the cycle of racism. In my hometown, the mascot of our high school used to be the “Red Raiders.” I remember being in elementary/middle school and seeing this image of a red-skinned man with an angry expression and large nose on all of the school sweatshirts, gym/sport uniforms, posters, banners, etc. A few years ago, the mascot was finally changed, but it took many years of debate/approval between the members of the town and the school board. Racist images like this are ingrained into our society in all different types of media and persistence is needed in order to create an anti-racist, inclusive world.
I had a similar experience growing up. Peter Pan was one of my favorite movies. In the movie Peter meets a “native tribe” whose members are dressed in stereotypical native attire. The characters speak gibberish to each other and embody many racist stereotypes of native people. While there are not blatantly aggressive racist actions that take place in the scene, the thought alone of my younger-self, uneducated on native history, absorbing representation such as this is concerning. I am not well versed with information on Native Americans, but I definitely did not understand that movies such as Peter Pan depicted a poor representation. If we continue to foster children with these perspectives, then racism and prejudice will continue to be fostered as well.