Stereotypes In Popular Culture

As society advances more and more into the modern era, media plays more and more of a role in children’s and young adult’s day-to-day life. Televised and online resources have allowed greater audiences to have access to the entire globe and all of its inner workings, creating more well-rounded citizens for the future. However, this nearly unrestricted media can lead to some deep troubles for younger societal members. Being raised with constant streams of media tends to lead to such networks of information being viewed as absolute. Those that do not fit certain views or ideas are snubbed or criticized for the archetypes that are constantly carried out in these networks. Through the societal tendency of assuming works of media to be completely factual or reliable, popular culture creates lasting stereotypes that greatly affect the way young men and women perceive the world. Many young people find popular shows, movies, and books to become influential on their character and appearance. For example, the

The choices schools make in portraying certain stereotypes as normal can also affect the way children view the world. For example, Native American logos are often used with schools’ sport culture. Non-Native kids, in a school with "Indian" logos, start off in an environment where their limited amounts of knowledge on Native Americans are based on a caricature of a people and the misuse of their culture. These children aren’t taught any different than the stereotypes they grow up with and tend to believe the stereotypes they were taught are factual. “The logos teach non-Indian children that it’s all right to participate in culturally abusive behavior,” as it seems normal to them (Munson 4). At the same time, Native children grow up learning two different ways about their culture, leading to battling themselves on the traditions they were raised with and what their friends made into a recess