Racism in Film Essays

Racism in Film Essays Racism in Film Essay Racism in Film Essay Everywhere you look you can find some type of racial stereotyping. It’s around us, in the books we read, and the films we watch. Most movies just poke fun at racial stereotyping but some movies show the harsh side of labeling a certain race. After 9/11 many people saw Middle Eastern and South Asian people as terrorists. In airports the tighter security portrayed the seriousness of the US government. However, the firmer security was only leaned toward people with specific last names, and certain nationalities would be stopped for further screenings. Another racial stereotyping present in real life and films are the arrest of dark colored men. Racial profiling against blacks have gone on for decades. The most recent reference was the Trayvon Martin case, in which a 17 year old colored teenager had a hoodie on and 27 year old Hispanic American suspected him of suspicious behavior, and shot him claiming it was self-defense. Colored people are also more likely to get stopped by the cops while driving. Men in Black II poked fun at this when in the movie, the car had a robot driver and it was a white male. Kevin Brown asks, â€Å"Does that come standard? and Agent J replies, â€Å"Actually it came with a black dude, but he kept getting pulled over. † Films usually poke fun at racial stereotyping, but some portray the harsh consequences of racial profiling. The movie American History X is about a neo Nazi group based in the United States, and how their cult discriminates Jews and colored people. Throughout the movie as told in the narration by Danny Vinyard we learn that before going to prison Derek, Danny’s older brother, was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L. A. In film, many racial profiling can be spotted. In Broadway plays, colored people were not allowed to act, thus the white males put on black make up and went on stage to play the black males or females. In the play The Scotts borough Boys the directors use the same concept of showing how racism has declined but still remains. Throughout the play the male black actors would put on black make up portraying how Broadway shows were back in the day. Near the end of the film the actors took off their make ups to show their rue self, this showed a evolution in the unity of all. It showed that people now have more rights than ever before. It shows that the minority should not be shadowed by the majority. Sometimes films don’t intentionally use racial stereotyping or if they do, they aim for a certain target audience. In a Disney movie, Aladdin, the stereotype the viewer is introduced to is the phony salesman, the bootlegger. In reality Arabs are seen as bootleggers. Some commercials have also poked fun at this racial stereotype. In Time Warner Cable ads, there portrays an Arab man trying to sell bootlegs. Also, Indians are portrayed as computer IT’s, as seen in the Metro PCs commercials. Racial profiling will always be there I believe. Even though everyone is the same on the inside, our looks separate us from one another. This separation disrupts a unity amongst us all. Thus wherever there are differences there are gaps, and whenever there are gaps, there are dislikes and oppositions, that leads to racial stereotyping.