Stereotyping?!?!?

Throughout my Journey with USC AYA, I have been dreading the last week. As week 3 comes to an end I realize how close our final day is. I know I’ll be leaving this program with so much knowledge thanks to my peers and Professors Lopez and Turner. In these three weeks I have spent with them I’ve learned so much about what I enjoy doing and I have a much better idea what path I have for my future. I’ve enjoyed every moment of it and gained so much confidence in myself. I am excited for what our last week holds for us, even though goodbyes are bittersweet.

This week the lesson that stuck most to me was the race and ethnicity stereotyping we reviewed during communications. Even though we didn’t spend much time reviewing this topic, I feel like it’s an important issue that is present in todays media that deserves awareness.

Growing up I never really saw a lot of people like me on the TV shows I watched. However in these shows that I watched, I found that I had a lot in common with the characters in them. Majority of them were young girls who loved fashion and shopping. Although most of these characters were blonde and blue eyed, I saw myself in them in a way. They had the same interests as me and that’s what kept me captivated. As I grew older I saw a lot more BIPOC people in movies, on late night shows, and TV shows. While It was incredible to see a more diverse version of Hollywood, a lot of it wasn’t genuine.

The idea that a majority of big movies and shows gave us of BIPOC people were encouraging stereotypes rather than embracing the beautiful backgrounds and cultures we have. Directors shouldn’t make actors act “more realistically”  just because they fit a physical description and are believed to act a certain way. Feeding into these stereotypes can give the public a bad and inaccurate perception of minority groups, this all feeds into microaggressions and racism.

Casting directors and Movie producers should be much more aware of this. Yes there is tons of great representation nowadays like Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Storm Reid who have been in amazing shows and films like Never Have I Ever and A Wrinkle in Time, yet there are still so many groups that are underrepresented or badly represented. 

There are so many negatives to Racial Stereotyping and I hope to see Hollywood become more authentically diverse in the future. Not only in the acting aspect, but also behind the camera. It would be amazing to see more BIPOC producing films and winning awards for them. To see them create stories and bring them to life. They deserve just as much recognition as Caucasian people. This can open up so many opportunities for BIPOC and give younger generations authentic idols and cultural stories.

To end this off here are a few authentic shows I recommend to you all!!

• Blackish
• Never Have I ever
• One Day At A Time
• All American