Evaluate Perkins five assumptions regarding stereotypes in relation to the Hotel Babylon sequence we have studied.
Stereotypes are not always negative: Some stereotypes represent good things about people. This means that sometimes it can be positive. The Asian women in Hotel Babylon is immediately showcased as smart and intelligent. She is the one which has the alarm to gather all of the immigrants in one place. When the audience see this they might be less worried because Asian are linked with being smart so they know that she will take care of them.
They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful: White people are considered to be powerful in the clip this also links to the stereotype even though they are not the minority group.
They can be held about one's own group: The white women with blond hair behind the desk links to two stereotypes one for being white, this means that she is represented to be powerful. Another stereotype that she links to is that she is blond. Stereotypically blond people are seen to be dumb and not as smart as people with other coloured hair.
They are not rigid or unchanging: We can see that stereotypes in Hotel Babylon do change over time, especially for Black-Africans. An example of this would be that people are now less racist towards Black-Africans because the stereotype has faded away slightly. However, stereotypes have changed for black people because they are now seen as strong especially in sporting events, so we expect them to do well in things like this. A stereotype we see in Hotel Babylon is that the expected to be uneducated was actually educated and was a former doctor as he helped the women who had fainted. Most of the audience would of thought that the doctor was uneducated because that is what must people stereotypically do, however we did find out later on the truth about him and what he did before he had to move.
They are not always false: It is thought that the stereotype for a small percentage of white people would be that they are racist. This however may not partly false. There are a small percentage of white people who are still racist. In relation to Hotel Babylon the immigration officers are the main ones which are portrayed as racist. It is seen as racist because they usually try to kick people out the country which weren't born in the country leading onto using racist behaviour against them.
Task 2
Explain how Festinger can be used to explain the popularity of programmes like Hotel Babylon or other similar TV Dramas.
In current TV Dramas characters from all different are represented. However, a negative of this is that they get discriminated against throughout the TV Dramas. For example, disabled people. They sometimes use stereotypes for the better. They do this by trying to portray the groups of people in a certain way which will take people change what they think about them. The problem with this is when they start using stereotypical characteristics which would then show a different side to the characters. When they do this they would not be judging the stereotypes as they would be the ones using the stereotypes. TV Dramas use stereotypes so that people know what type of person they are watching and what they should act like. As stereotypically that is what they are like. This also makes it easier for the audience to understand the characters and connect with them more. The audiences enjoy stereotypes because the majority of people understand them and what they are for. Especially people who have grown up around stereotypes.
Because of stereotypes we see in the media everyone now has
their own opinion on different types of people. When people make up what they
think about a particular stereotype to make them change their opinion of the
type of person there would have to be something completely different that we
have ever seen before so it would be something new that has changed their
opinion into something other than it was. Most of the time we watch TV Dramas
looking for things which match with our views, so we can get more confirmation
that what we think is correct.
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