Essay On Stereotypes In Gone With The Wind

Movies have been made over the years that have sparked public outcry for being too racist or portraying a certain ethnicity in a poor light. Some would say that the movies are strictly for entertainment and that racism is truly not felt in the films. Two films that have sparked a great deal of public outcry would be Birth of a Nation, which was filmed in 1915. A more surprising film that has upset some people would be Gone with the Wind, which was filmed in 1939. Many people would not assume Gone with the Wind has a film that has portrayed African Americans in a poor light, but it has. On the other hand, Birth of a Nation was truly a film that stereotyped African Americans. Birth of a Nation when released caused riots in many cities and was …show more content…
That question is simple to answer. Portraying stereotypes of any race is morally wrong and harmful. Overtime African Americans have been depicted as having big lips, a big nose, as being lazy and enjoy eating watermelon and fried chicken. This negative stereotype is shown in Gone with the Wind when Ashley Wilkes wants to hire “Darkies” to work the saw mill instead of prisoners Scarlett O’Hara responds, “Darkies cannot be hired because you will have to feed them fried chicken and give them naps.” Latinos are said to eat tacos, take American jobs and also be lazy. Jewish people have been made fun of because of their noses and are always assumed to be good at stealing and taking your money. Stereotypes can be found in every ethnicity and some would say why do they pay any attention to them or why do they feel the need to answer to them. When someone is making fun of you because of your physical traits or traits that have been falsely depicted in films it is kind of hard not to respond. In no such was should a racial stereotype be justified. A justification of stereotype would certainly only cause more problems among other