Although Hollywood has begun to feature more and more African American characters in mainstream cinema, we are also finding that black stereotypes are also becoming more pronounced. For example, black men are often shown as angry, while black women are portrayed as loud and sass. This issue is seen among other races portrayed in modern media as well, with Latino characters stereotyped with heightened sex appeal and Asians being shown as largely unable to speak English (Schacht, 2019). 

With limited representation of women and minorities in the media, it is important to understand how this limited exposure can exacerbate perceptions of these groups due to lessened exposure.

Availability Heuristics

Media scholars have long researched and established that mass media can play a contributing role in strengthening stereotypes. Let’s pretend that you have never met a dog in-person. You have never pet one, played with one, or interacted with one in anyway. One day, you turn on the TV, and the popular Disney film Up is playing. The cute and playful pup, Doug, is shown running around, playing, and approaches the humans with utmost excitement.  

The next day, you encounter your first golden retriever in real life. Upon seeing the dog, your brain automatically defaults to the use of heuristics to figure out how to approach the encounter. Heuristics are mental shortcuts our brain uses to help us solve in a quick, and efficient manner. This allows us to make quick decisions on how to engage in the world around using ‘rules of thumb’ we have created based on our past experiences. So, based on your only knowledge of dogs you have seen before from Up, the first thoughts you are going to have about this dog are that it will be playful, energetic, and friendly. And, we won’t give it much counter-thought since we already have a conceptualization put in our head.

What Does This Have to Do With Stereotypes in Entertainment?

 Now, consider the example above, but with people instead of dogs. Let’s say you live in a relatively homogeneous community where the individuals around you all look, act, and think in similar ways. Because your lived experiences have been created with all of these like minded, similarly appearing people, your brain has not yet had the opportunity to be exposed to new cultures and ideas. One of the great benefits of Hollywood and the entertainment industry is that we can bring new experiences and cultures into our viewers' living rooms, thus bridging access, socio-economic and racial divides. But, what happens if our viewers have limited access to knowledge about the topics covered in our content? 

Our movies and films then become the basis for which people create their heuristics and make assumptions around. Thus, if the entertainment industry continues to associate African Americans with heightened rates of crime and cast women as homemakers rather than capable business women, society is more likely to form misperceptions about these groups. Furthermore, research has indicated that we tend to enjoy content more if it shares similar views as our own, so we are less likely to explore content that makes us think critically about our established beliefs, making it hard to unravel peoples’ preconceptions. 

As creators, executives, and talent in the industry, it is important for us all to consider the messaging we create in our movies and films. Remember to ask ourselves: what is the message behind the story I am telling? And, how might the story I am sharing impact those represented?