Friends= almost progress

Friends is probably one of the most universally liked shows by my generation. I remember my friends and I would always argue about which Friends character everyone in our group of friends was. I think that is what made Friends so popular- everyone could see similar traits of themselves and their friends in several of the characters. They of course are all so lovable because of all of the shenanigans they get into. In Hana 30th connections' blog about friends, "Gender Representation in Friends- Mr. Daley", Hana surfaces examples that show how every character is a stereotype of their gender. However, Hana is fair in that he/she does give examples of moments when these beloved characters break away from their expected stereotype by showing traits of the other gender. In this blog, I included some of her points and some of my own.

The Ladies.
Monica is the neurotic, cleaning-obsessed, friend that's a chef. This stereotypes women as being innately neurotic and that they should take a house-wife role as cook and cleaner. Monica also used to be overweight when her character was younger. By loosing an incredible amount of weight, this tells girls that they should always be pencil-thin. However, Monica breaks away from the typical woman stereotype because she is opinionated, stubborn, competitive and quite successful in her line of work as a chef. Basically, she is not the demure woman who is afraid to talk back to men. Rachel is the most normal girl of the bunch. She is your typical girl-next-store who is likable, not too intelligent, beautiful, popular, and a waitress who eventually lands her dream job as a buyer at Ralph Lauren. Rachel probably fits into the typical female stereotype the most. She is sweet and loves shopping. She is also not very smart. Her character is non-threatening to men because she is not that successful. She is also quite thin and beautiful. Again, like Monica, she goes against the female stereotype by sticking up for herself when encountered by opposition. She also is not the traditional homemaker and also decided that she wanted to be a single mother. Phoebe is the eccentric masseuse who almost borders on mentally deranged. She is not mentally present the entire run of the show. Phoebe fits the female stereotype by being quite naive, sensitive, and unintelligent. She goes against the stereotype by being openly promiscuous with men and by being carefree about her appearance. Although she is attractive and wears makeup, her clothes are always on the interesting side. She tends to do whatever she wants; she usually does not answer to anyone.

The Boys.
Chandler is the sarcastic, joke-cracking, disgruntled businessman. He fits the male stereotype by being immature and afraid of commitment. He goes against his stereotype by revealing that he is incredibly insecure and sometimes jealous. Ross is nerdy, three-times divorced and a paleontologist. He fits the male stereotype by also being rather immature, insensitive to women, and successful in his career. Ross goes against the stereotype by having a tendency to complain (usually associated with women) and also by crying in one episode. Ross seems to be tuned-in with his feminine side the most out of all of the men. Joey is the struggling actor who loves to eat. He fits his stereotype by fixating mostly on food and women. He is also incredibly immature and childlike. He goes against his stereotype by being one of the more unintelligent characters television has ever seen. He also does not have a very secure line of work.

Overall, I believe the creator of Friends laid a good foundation for our generation to look beyond the expected stereotypes created centuries before.

Gran Torino a.k.a. White Clint's Burden

Two weeks ago, I saw Gran Torino in theaters. In this film, racial slurs are used so often that they become a form of endearment. I definitely stopped cringing after hour one. Besides the predictable storyline, I suppose this film was somewhat enjoyable. But Gran Torino did teach me that the white man (at least Clint) still feels a burden to teach non-whites how live successful lives in a civilized society. And if they are unteachable- they must be eliminated.

Gran Torino attempts to tell a story about a crotchety, racist, white man who befriends his Hmong neighbors after he saves their son from the wrath of the local Hmong gang. After he is showered with gifts (which is blown out of proportion), he feels obligated to attend his neighbor's party. There, he realizes that actually likes these "gooks" and finds similarities between himself and these non-whites. In other words, Clint's racism (although still present in his everyday speech) slowly digresses throughout the movie. He feels an obligation (either through annoyance or actual sympathy-- it's hard to say) to help this family. And boy do they need help: The girl nor the boy can't stand up for themselves, they can't fix a leaky pipe, the boy doesn't know how to get a job on his own, and NO Hmong knows how to do yard work or basic house maintenance. Whites are the only people with money in this movie. Clint's entire white family is obviously well off (yet lacking love-- so sad). And apparently the boy's family can't even afford to buy him tools for his new job because Clint buys them.

Besides Clint's neighbors, all of the non-whites in the movie are "the bad guys". This includes the main Hmong gang who terrorizes the community, the two African-American gang members, and the Hispanic gang members in the beginning. Every non-white in this movie is in a gang! Where are the white gangs? I'm sure they exist if all whites have similar racism as Clint and his Caucasian friends. Clint's white family is well off and successful- they only have rebellious teenagers. The other white young person is a boy who when flirting with the main Hmong family's daughter is encountered by the African-American gang members. Of course, Clint saves the day by scaring off the African-Americans. But the only thing he says to the white boy is "What are you doing here?". Obviously, this good American white boy does not belong in this tough neighborhood filled with non-whites.

Renee (not me) writes about Gran Torino in her blog Womanist Musings: "I continuously marvelled how Eastwood's character was able to assume such a position of superiority based solely in race and have this premise accepted by every single person of colour that he interacted with. " She reveals how Clint's superiority as a white male grounds the movie's plot. How could he teach this non-white family how to be successful "Americans" if they didn't look up to him? How could even SAVE this family from their morbid destiny if they didn't trust him nor ask him for help? Clint also had to detach himself from his own whiteness in order to help this doomed family. He alienates himself from his white family and white priest. He kills himself in the end in order to save this family. He knew he was going to die anyway, so he had nothing to lose by sacrificing his own life. This symbolizes that whites are alive and human-- and non-whites are naturally dead and not human. He had to die in order to give these dead, non-whites a chance to be alive.

Although highly entertaining at some moments, this film fails to stray from common stereotypes already seen in Hollywood about non-whites. It strengthens the stereotype that non-whites can only be American and alive with help from whites.