Typical Stereotypes Of The African American Population example essay topic

Stereotypes in Children's Television: "The Proud Family"The Proud Family" is a children's program that runs daily on The Disney Channel and on Saturday mornings on ABC Kids. It is a TV-G rated program. The show is about an African-American family with the last name Proud. There is a mom, dad, three kids, and a grandmother. The main character of the show is the oldest daughter named Penny Proud who is probably in junior high. Also, some of Penny's friends are in the show.

All of the characters in this show are stereotyped by many things such as race and gender, including Penny. The first stereotype I noticed about the show was the way the cartoonist drew the different characters. All of the African-American characters were drawn with enormous lips and huge noses. Meanwhile, the two Caucasian characters in the show were both drawn with wider heads and seemed smarter than the other characters in the show. Also, all the African-American characters talked in a dialect while the Caucasian characters talked slower.

In addition, all of the African-American characters all called each other "broth a", which is another stereotype, because not all African-Americans call each other that or like to be called that. There are many stereotypes made about the main character Penny. First, her race is the main issue in the show. She is shown drawn the same way as the other African-American, with the bigger features described before.

Penny also has a kind of attitude about her, which is also often associated with African-American females. Not only is she stereotyped by race, but by gender as well. She is shown as the smart and understanding friend, probably because she is the main girl character in the show. For example, when her friend, Dlionay, has a problem with a boy, Penny is the one that helps Dlionay out and gives her advice and helps her try to win back the boy. However, there were also other gender stereotypes in the show as well.

The girl, Dlionay was often shown as the kind of "damsel in distress". A few times a boy was sent to rescue her. For example, one of her friends was stuck out in the water and instead of getting him herself, she plead to the other boy to please save him. This shows the stereotype that men are stronger and braver than women and that women need their protection.

Other than Penny and Dlionay, there were other characters in "The Proud Family" that fit the typical minority stereotype as well. There were two radio hosts along with a few others that fit the stereotype that minority characters are goofy and lazy. For example, the radio announcers sang and made funny voices and also said silly things. Then, they were in a way stereotyped as lazy because but there were overweight and ate all the food at the eating contest, and these are things that are associated with laziness.

All of the stereotypes shown in the program help to reinforce society's views of gender and racial identity. The way that the characters in this program were stereotyped might lead children to believe that all African-Americans call each other "broth a" and then a child that watches this show might call someone African-American that one day and get into trouble. This program did nothing to try and break away from what society views a specific race as, and instead the program reinforced it by using typical stereotypes of the African-American population. My reaction to the character of Penny is mixed. I did like her as a character because she was compassionate and cared about her friends and family, and I believe this can help to teach children that are watching this show that these values are important in life.

However, I wish they would have gotten away from the typical African-American stereotype and would have not made Penny with such enlarged features and not talk so much the way she did. I would like them to change this because I feel that in a way they cartoonists are making fun of African-Americans by over exaggerating their facial features and speech dialect. Also, I don't believe with these characteristics there can be an accurate portrayal of the general African-American population and that they are depersonalizing the characters by making them all look so much alike. Penny was also very thin in the show, as were all of the other female characters except for the older grandmother. I think that if I was creating the show I would have not had all of the characters be so skinny that it is unrealistic, because it can give children in real life confidence problems with their weight, even at a young age. I believe that this is a good program for The Disney Channel and ABC Kids Saturday Morning to air because of the lack of whole African-American families on television, especially in programs for young children.

I believe that this show can help kids learn more about another race compared to having just one African-American child in another show, which often happens. According to our book, Media Effects and Society, "television viewing was positively associated with self-esteem in African-American children, especially girls. Strom an suggested that African-American characters in television shows might explain television's positive impact on self-esteem" (Perse 171). I believe that this is true because the young African-American children now have an entire family of African-American characters that they can relate to. As we learned in class, children are more likely to learn from and imitate characters they can connect and associate with. I believe this show is a good show for them to learn from because all of the characters were good people and had good intentions in mind.

The only real problem I encountered in this show was the way the physical appearance of them was portrayed. The research in our book also tells us that television can not only have an impact on a child's self esteem, but can give children schemes about groups in society that they have no experience with. Therefore, it is important not to stereotype ethic groups or genders in these types of shows. However, I believe that even though children might see the typical physical stereotypes of African-Americans, this show is good for children to see because the characters are kind to each other and it portrays a loving family and home and great friends for the children. I believe that overall this show gives a positive image of African-American characters to everyone who watches. Even though there were some stereotypes of race and gender, it didn't affect the overall message of the program, which was to help out friends when they are in need and make sure your family is important in your life.

This show was funny as it was compassionate. If I had children I would like them to watch this show because almost all of the other shows I saw on television before choosing to write about this one had Caucasian characters or animals and the main focus of the show. I believe that this program, "The Proud Family", gives a great deal of diversity to The Disney Channel's and ABC Kids other programs and gives children more of an opportunity to relate to a character and learn that minority people are in important part of out population as well.

Bibliography

Perse, Elizabeth M. Media Effects and Society. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2001.