Lately, I have notice the making of movies and television shows that are borderline degrading and full of cultural stereotypes. Movies such as, “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan,” “The Love Guru,” and “Baby Mama.” “You Don’t Mess With Zohan,” portrays countless stereotypes of Israeli and Pakistani people; the main actors are all white, mainstream comedy actors, such as Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigalow). In this movie, Zohan is very sexual and a lover of hummus to the point where he brushes his teeth with hummus. “The Love Guru,” portrays stereotypes surrounding the Indian culture and practices. Not to mention Television shows such as “Aliens in America,” which portrays the life of an Indian family in the States in a “comedic” way; this show aired on prime time television. I had to ask myself, and others are these movies and the television shows a step forward or backward?
For decades, African-Americans have been heavily stereotyped and ostracized in the media, especially in television and film. In the 1840s, there was black-face minstrelsy, and today it seems like we as a people don’t need others to pretend to be African-Americans and make stereotypical jokes about our culture, however, black people now play those stereotypical roles and continue to help others to perceive us to be a people who don’t take care of their family responsibilities, overweight, “ghetto,” loud and obnoxious, and just plain unintelligent. Of course there are some African-American actors/actresses who refuse to play these roles, and I commend them for that. How can we move forward?
About a year ago, I was enrolled in a Cultural Communication class and I was forced to ask myself, “What is my culture? What does it mean to be black in America?” The latter was not as difficult to answer. It’s a simple task to define the experiences of blacks in America—the good, the bad, and the ugly. However, it’s not as easy to define what our culture consists of. If you allow the media to answer, it’s not a good look; black people are living in the hood, on welfare, recovering from a drug addiction or dying in one, and we all carry guns. Now, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with someone experiencing these hardships or triumphs, but they are not all we’re made of. Unlike most people in this country, our people were forced to be here. We have lost many of our native languages, and sadly, our customs.
Is it okay for society to accept “comedy” at the expense of offending our various cultures? Should we accept this “comedy?” Is it degrading or just plain hilarious? Or, is it both?
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