Stereotypes In Movies

There have always been stereotypes in movie films in our society. We all see the white, masculine man being the hero and saving the girl. The black guy is always to die first and women are supposed to be helpless and in need of a man. Gays were shunned and everyone else was maids, butlers and hard workers for the strong white man on screen. What about the people with disabilities? Where do they all fit in and how did we perceive them? We saw them as people we did not see and sometimes monsters in movies. People we needed to fear and stay away from. Yet, through history we have shed a different light on those with disabilities in a more positive way. Benshoff and Griffin talks about people with disabilities have been shown in side shows or freak shows. They were not normal and portrayed to have pity on them. “Disability has also been associated with class, specifically with the idea that poverty somehow causes disability, or conversely that disability results in poverty” (Benshoff and Griffin, pg. 363). Usually, the people with disability are those who are poor and the reason they are different is because they are not part of the upper class. Upper class people are supposed to be normal and “better” than everyone else. In films, physical characteristics

For example, Kenny Baker played R2-D2 in Star Wars. People, who portray disabled characters or are disabled characters themselves, have been winning Oscars in the last two decades. We are starting to realize that we can see them in a different light. We even make the disabled person the hero or the survivor at the end of a movie. We are trying to not see just their disability, but what they can do. I think this is good for us to see on the screen because media really does influence us in how we perceive others. If we see someone as being strong and a hero on screen, we would treat them with respect in real