Stereotypes in the Modern Media

Abstract

Stereotypes in Modern Media

PANEL ABSTRACT:

The modern world is tainted by gender tension in schools and work places as well as racial tensions like the one in Ferguson Missouri. This panel examines the pervasive gender and racial stereotypes in modern television and film. Using semiotic analysis and the research of gender theorist Steve Craig, the first two papers will examine the use of gendered stereotypes in advertising. The first panelist addresses the use of the man’s man in Marlboro cigarette commercials from the early 1990’s up to the present day while the second panelist analyzes a Mercury Marine add to show the evolution of the man’s man. The last two panelists use sociologist Michael Omi’s theory of racial development to argue that racism was prevalent in past decades, as can be seen in the movie Ghost, and how the hit television series Grey’s Anatomy shows a progression away from racial stereotyping. While stereotypes are still a force in media today, Americans are doing their best to counteract it.