Stereotypes In Stuart Hall's 'The Spectacle Of The' Other?

Stuart Hall (1997) wrote about the impact of classifying and stereotyping various forms of difference in society. According to Hall (1997), race, like many other forms of difference, is socially constructed (p. 225). As such, individuals’ racial identity varies over place and time (p. 239). Hall (1997) suggests that stereotypes are used to maintain the boundaries between different groups of people because racial boundaries have proven to be fallible (p. 258). In his text, The Spectacle of the ‘Other’, Hall (1997) offers three different cultural strategies that can be used to combat stereotyping (p. 270).
The first strategy is to reverse the stereotype by changing the way in which the stereotype is viewed (Hall, 1997, p. 270). “To reverse the …show more content…
272). This strategy allows individuals to read negative stereotypes in a positive manner (Hall, 1997, p. 272). When a positive image is created, this “expands the range of racial representations and the complexity of what it means to” be a member of a particular racial group, “thus challenging the reductionism of earlier stereotypes” (Hall, 1997, pp. 272-273). This strategy promotes a range of positive representations of the stereotyped group in question. To further elaborate, actress, Eva Longoria, executed this strategy in order to alter the public’s perception of the Latino community. Latina women have often been stereotyped in the media for working low-paying, domestic jobs, such as housekeeping. Longoria altered the perception of this stereotype when she played the glamorous role of Gabrielle Solis on television show, Desperate Housewives. Longoria showed audience members that Latina women could be intelligent, successful, and live a lavish lifestyle all while embracing their …show more content…
238). Identifying and classifying forms of difference can have both a positive and negative impact (Hall, 1997, p. 238). On the one hand, stereotyping is “necessary for the production of meaning, the formation of language and culture” (Hall, 1997, p. 238). On the other hand, stereotyping “is threatening, a site of danger, of negative feelings, of splitting, hostility and aggression towards the ‘Other’” (Hall, 1997, p. 238). Due to the binary nature of stereotyping, contesting it can prove to be a challenge. I agree with Hall’s assessment of the benefits and disadvantages of the three different strategies of combatting stereotypes. Hall confronted the nature of this issue by highlighting the various ways in which these strategies may or may not prove to be successful. Throughout The Spectacle of the ‘Other’, Hall (1997) suggested “how and why attempting to dismantle or subvert a racialized regime of representation is an extremely difficult exercise” (p. 276). Hall (1997) admitted that “there can be no absolute guarantees” in terms of the effectiveness of these strategies (p.