I found the television show "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" to break a lot of the stereotypes that are common in society.
Our society has shaped our minds to believe that people of African descent, as we talked about in class, have depictions related to master/slave relationships, danger, and others that show them in a negative way. This may be because it happened in the past, but it is still being used in the media today.
In The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Mr. Moseby (an African American male, shown above), is the manager of a hotel. He is hardworking and must always keep the hotel nice and organized. As far as the episodes show, there are no African American stereotypes that he portrays. He is not considered dangerous or a thief.
A white male, Arwin, is shown as a clumsy plumber who always messes things up. An Asian female, London, is clueless and not very bright, which breaks the stereotype that all Asians are smart. Another female on the show is Maddie, who is Irish. Her family, as the show portrays, is the total opposite of London's rich family. They do not have a lot of money, so she works at the hotel selling candy.
As you can see, this show breaks many stereotypes, which can be a good thing. It makes me think though - are the producers doing that to bring irony to the show or just playing with different stereotypes to show the audience that anyone can be anything? Because this is a show targeted for a younger generation, I'd like to believe that they are showing all the viewers that there really isn't a certain way that specific races or genders act.
A clip of Mr. Moseby teaching London how to drive
While I was younger, I would watch this show and hear the people around me in school talk about how funny the show was. The interesting thing is, they thought it was funny because it was uncommon to see a "dumb" Asian in contrast to a "smart" white girl. In a way, this show reinforces the common stereotypes - only in a different way that we normally see it.
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