National_and_Race_Stereotypes_in_Mass_Media

National, racial and religious stereotypes provided by the Mass Media. Stereotypes were developing since humans first appeared. Originally, stereotypes were helping people of one tribe to adapt to unknown world around. Later on, many other kinds of stereotypes occurred, such as gender, racial, religious and national ones. Most stereotypes are misleading, because they don’t provide people with the whole set of information. They make the individual features look similar. Stereotypes generalize people applying to individuals or groups based on their appearance, behavior and beliefs. Stereotypes are usually false, stupid and offensive. Stereotypes have more influence on those people who don’t have enough accurate information about the world and limited range of knowledge and interests. A large amount of stereotypes are created by mass media, literature and even art. Although the media usually misrepresents stereotypes, they are significantly accepted by people in society. Most common kinds of stereotypes are national and race. These stereotypes are often exaggerated and have one main purpose: to join groups of people, call out patriotic feelings, set one nation or race against another or just prepare people for a fight. For instance, during the period of the “Cold war” between Russia and the United States of America, the mass media was working hard to create an enemy image of Russia, trying to terrify people with Russian mafia and for some strange reason in all American movies Russian women were fat and ugly, except for a few. While the Russian nation doesn’t differ from others, because there are various personalities just as anywhere in the world some aggressive, others calm, the rest terrified and so on. And usually people who emigrated from Russia to the USA were not satisfied with governmental policy or the quality of their lives in Russia. So, it was embarrassing and offensive for Russian people who came to the USA looking for a better life and happiness to hear terrible things like: “All Russians are murderers and Mafiosi”. As far as Russian women, they are considered to be the most beautiful women and wonderful wives, for example, Russian model Natalia Vodyanova or tennis player Anna Kurnikova. Another example of stereotyping is from literature. “Just walk on by” is the story written by Brent Staples about himself: a tall strong black man who was an ordinary gay with nothing weird in his behavior. But people were terrified of him because of his appearance which made them think of the stereotype of a rapist, mugger or murder. This stereotype made his life uncomfortable and shameful. To change the situation he decided to dress up more elegant, so people stopped being scared of him. This story shows how the stereotypes can be unfair and spoil life of people. The propaganda of the media is the main source of religion stereotypes as well. The most popular stereotypes are made about Jews, who are believed to be greedy and sneaky people, who don’t believe in Jesus Christ. For instance, the Hollywood famous actor and director Mel Gibson in his movie “The Passion” blames of Jews for the death of Christ. However this fact was officially denied by Catholic Church. The mass media stereotypes are powerful and harmful. These stereotypes are wrong and cruel and definitely have an impact on society. They make people’s relations tense and unconfident. To fight with stereotyping people should use personal experience and self-education. Otherwise, this lack of awareness and misinformation will lead to many cross-cultural conflicts.