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WEEK 8: STEREOTYPES

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This week I read March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. I also looked through the other resources shared on the site for this week. I just wanted to start off by saying I really enjoyed the little comic by Luke Humphris. I feel like as time progresses so does the representation of minorities at a steady pace. Representation of all cultures in the media may not get to an equal footing in my lifetime, but I’m glad that it started becoming more prevalent during it. I always found it so ridiculous how long toxic masculinity was ignored by the public. I think the comic did a great job of addressing a serious issue in a simple yet effective style. He didn’t beat around the bush—he went straight to the point. Although I have not been subjected to this kind of stereotyping (because I am not a man), I’ve definitely had friends and relatives relate to this. I’ve seen this scenario play out in so many movies as well, specifically Asian movies. Toxic masculinity is so apparent in many Asian cultures, and it is so heartbreaking to see how many lives it has taken. With this in mind, I feel like it is no longer necessary to use outdated stereotypes for men, or honestly for anyone. Especially for character development, stereotypes are not the best traits to pin on your characters. People already understand the common “tropes” for certain groups of people, and recycling the same tropes make the same characters. Characters become memorable/ iconic once they break out of those stereotypes and become their own person. No one follows the same set of rules every day of their life, and that’s what makes people so unique and exciting.
With all that said, let’s take a quick dive into March, a great example of representation and historical storytelling. I thought that this was an effective way to tell a tale of such a monumental moment in history. From the powerful dialogue to the strong contrasting black and white images, March brought a whole new meaning to the word “freedom.” I think that more people, students in school especially, should be exposed to work like this. I don’t believe that March was too graphic or inappropriate for youth readers, since they handled a lot of touchy subjects in a mature/ graceful way. I would have loved being exposed to this work earlier. Even though I’m not in the exact minority group that is depicted, I still find this very relatable. Being a minority, I’ve definitely had my fair share of racial slurs and accusations from complete strangers. Moments like the little panel during one of the marches where a passerby shouts “Go back to Africa!” immediately resurfaced those old memories. But that is what made this comic so interesting to read, because it allowed me to feel a connection to the bigger picture.

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