Stereotypes on TV

Why stereotypes can be good or bad depending on timing

The life cycle of social integration:

• Token characters based on stereotype
• Token characters without stereotype
• Substantial characters heavily stereotyped
• Substantial characters without stereotype

In an excellent article called Much Apu About Nothing Rohin claims that The Simpsons show a positive  attitude toward stereotype in the characterisation of Apu. He is a main character  - ("Had The Simpsons been a live-action show, Apu would have represented the first regular South Asian character on a prime time show outside the subcontinent"), embodies deep (and affectionate) cultural insights, and tends to have the last laugh.

Rohin claims that the first stage ("not a token Dr Patel who reads an X-ray and vanishes for a few episodes of whatever series you happen to be watching.") is more likely to be found in British TV, and this underlines the beauty of The Simpsons - it introduces characters that embody their stereotype, explore that stereotype, allowing future shows to feel comfortable with it. And they were doing this whilst other shows were using stereotypes in token roles.

The aim, I think, is not to dispense with stereotypes per se, because that would be dispensing with culture. We can feel that social cohesion is being achieved when characters exhibit their personality (rather than stereotype), and fulfil a purpose to the plot that extends beyond social commentary.

Compare Will & Grace to Queer as Folk, and what I'd argue are polar means to depict homosexuality. In the former, NBC has won awards and accolades for introducing lead gay characters. But is it real? Is it a triumph for gay people, or is it simply a TV executives vision of what gaydom is like? The fact that Will and Jack constantly mention their sexuality, with numb innuendo after pathetic vulgarity, suggests that the show is very much in stage 1. They're defined solely by their sexuality, (and perhaps a little bit of Jewishness, which further underlines my point), and possess all the typical cliches.

By contrast, Queer as Folk is by no means un-stereotypical, but like The Simpsons that's the point - it's deliberate, and useful. It breaks down a few boundaries, and deals with issues that future shows can now take for granted.

I can't think of any meaningful character on British or American TV that is gay, and where their gayness isn't the whole point of their purpose. But even if Will & Grace is making rounded, geniune gay characters more likely to appear in the future (usually this argument implies that they're proving people are willing to watch homosexual characters on TV, which is a stupid argument), they're doing it in an unpleasant way.

There does seem to be a life cycle for social integration, and we're far from the conclusion. But contrast Apu, and Jack, and deside the best means to get there.

Comments

[JRWB]

It continues to surprise me how many straight men seem to think it’s almost their moral duty to be offended by ‘Will and Grace’. I accept all your points, Anthony, but I’d say that really on reflection the style of comedy in ‘Will and Grace’ is no different from something such as the British ‘Coupling’, or ‘Men Behaving Badly’, or any number of other comedies which poke fun at the difference between men and women. Your point pretty much answers that; these too rely on stereotype for their humour, but I think it’s a harder case to make that ‘Coupling’ would present an offensive view of heterosexuals simply because we don’t consider that those are the issues being discussed.

I suppose the homosexual model for Apu, would be the character of Sean in Coronation Street, who I think really presents quite a positive slant on the overtly camp, working-class gay male. On discussing the potential sexuality of another character a while ago, Sean suggested that someone might check his CD collection for Kylie and Madonna:

Sally: Sean, I think that’s quite a stereotypical view of gay men.
Sean: But, I am a stereotypical gay man...

It was a refreshing acknowledgement. The writers of 'Coronation Street' are certainly not suggesting that all gay men are like Sean, no they had the much more offensive storyline before that with what-is-face who got thingy pregnant. But some people are like Sean and it’s actually a good thing that television acknowledges it and doesn’t play him simply for laughs/social melodrama with him beaten up every week.

I’m not offended by ‘Coupling’, but also I don’t find ‘Will and Grace’ offensive either. A reliance on innuendo is not offensive in itself; it reflects a kind of verbal sporting. Yes it is a comedy about gay people (though not Jewish gay people, I thought only Grace was Jewish, I may be wrong on that) and that’s why the jokes are centred that way, but the way stereotypes are used is important to consider too. Comparing say Julian and Sandy in ‘Round the Horne’ with the eponymous character of the Victorian pornographic novel ‘Teleny’ is not quite such a ludicrous paring as you might think. Both rely entirely upon impossible vulgarity, though Julian and Sandy’s references are veiled, they do say some really shocking things which I am certain would receive complaints if broadcast today. (Incidentally, I’m not sure that I hold with this argument that the audience didn’t get what was being talked about. When you hear recordings of the programme, people laugh riotously at jokes that only work if you know the specific sexual act being mentioned.) But whereas J&S always have the upper hand over Kenneth Horne, suggesting something of a positive depiction, Teleny’s vulgarity leads to his suicide. The message of the book, which let’s face it was written solely for the purposes of titillation, is that if you mess around with men’s nether regions (the book itself is not so coy) you will end up killing yourself. And that was the message of most books with gay characters until well into the twentieth century, even those written by gay men. Homosexuality equals unhappiness and suicide -- end of discussion. Now that’s a harmful stereotype if ever there was one. I’m losing my thread here, because I’m trying to remember the ending of Gore Vidal’s ‘The City and the Pillar’, if anyone knows, could they remind me so I don’t have to go and reread it please? The most positive depiction of a queer character recently, I’d say was Captain Jack in ‘Doctor Who’, another Russell T. Davis creation of course.

[AJE]

Thanks for your thoughtful response.

I'm not sure if i'm all that offended by Will & Grace, at the end of the day I just don't think it's funny. I didn't mention the alcoholic in it either - is she a positive stereotype of being a drunk?

I think the whole point of my post was to say that stereotypes are good, but individual personality (which often corresponds to stereoptype) is even better.

[Rohin]

Hey Anthony, thanks for the mention. The issue of stereotypes is an interesting one. As individuals none of us want to be thought of as simply clone-like members of a homgeneous group. But stereotypes exist for a reason I suppose...well let's see how minority groups develop on TV.

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