EPISODE 75 — Unspoken Stereotypes Movies Trick You Into Believing

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Source material aside, did you find yourself watching 'Daredevil' on Netflix and thinking: Matt Murdock is a very capable blind man in New York, why does he need the cane, the sunglasses, and the wide-eyed stare? He walks the streets with ease and beats up thugs with horrifying proficiency, why the need for the standard film and television signifiers that yes, he is indeed a blind man?

 

Can't characters be blind, be handicapped, be gay, be Jamaican, be anything other than straight white American men without writers or directors or costume designers slapping the easiest, most stereotypical labels on them?

 

This week on the podcast, Jack O'Brien is joined by Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) and Josh Sargent to talk about the pitfalls of this cinematic shorthand, how certain movie stereotypes unknowingly misrepresent the people they try to epitomize, and why even "a good stereotype," is still wildly reductive of an entire population of people.

[MichelLichand 2]

Isn't the whole reason Murdock uses a cane and glasses is because that plays into the blind stereotype and people think he's fragile and weak, leaving him out of the bidding for who could be Daredevil? I thought they made that clear in the show.

[deekay 3]

RE: Einstein's "insanity" quote.

 

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

 

While it's probably not something he ever said, I really don't think it has anything to do with mental health. Einstein was an outspoken critic of the probablistic nature of quantum theory (despite his work on the photoelectric effect making him a pioneer in the field). In other words, he was a staunch determinist. It makes much more sense to me that this is along the same lines as "God does not play dice with the universe." because in quantum mechanics, you really can do the same thing over and over and expect different results.

[wakefresh 689]

Y'all are killing it lately. Good job on this one.

[Hairy1701 19]

I don't have a Itunes, can I like or leave a comment somewhere that will help out? Other then here I mean.

[souprman 10477]

My first ep of Cracked. Very good and I'll be back.

 

Loved the ref to the Einstein false attributions. My favorite is "The difference between stupidity and genius is genius has it's limits."

Dragnet quotes also a highlight.

Felt the Tony Stark stuff wasn't the best example for your argument since his intelligence is his actual super-power. Because he's a superhero.

Also Less Than Zero is basically Bret Easton Ellis' life so it didn't seem like a good example of 1980's anti-drug propaganda.

Everything else was really on point.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Felt the Tony Stark stuff wasn't the best example for your argument since his intelligence is his actual super-power. Because he's a superhero.

 

 

I had the same thought. The way I see it is Tony Stark is supposed to be a scientific genius, and although I can't remember off hand the the "science" he supposedly learns in one night, I am pretty sure it was at least tangentially related to his field (i.e. he didn't become an expert on biology when his expertise is in physics or whatever). The way I rationalized it is if you grew up playing the piano, it's not so difficult to pick up a new instrument. How the music is written or read wouldn't change, just how it would be applied to the new instrument. So, in this case, I don't think it is outside the realm of possibility that he could learn it in a relatively short amount of time...

 

Nonetheless, as always, great episode!

[ConnorRay 0]

Didn't listen to the whole podcast. I thought you were going to talk about unspoken stereotypes in movies but you just ended up talking about racism; and not even racism in general. I thought you totally missed the mark on "Linsanity". The joke there is not about Asians being weaker or doing less manly jobs in the wild west, especially since they actually did the most manly job in the west; building railroads. The joke and stereotype there is just as simple as "asians are short", and basketball is thought of as a tall man's game. You completely over thought the whole thing. IMO.