Megara fits the stereotype, but her behavior continually defies expectations. Hercules: Aren’t you… a damsel in distress? Meg: I’m a damsel. Here are some examples: Megara in Disney’s Hercules The key is that including the stereotype has to be a conscious decision. Then you can surprise everyone by proving those assumptions wrong. Putting in a blatant stereotype will cause your audience to pull from their internal file system to make assumptions about your character. It’s possible to make character stereotypes acceptable in your work by subverting them. Bias that sneaks in your work may seem innocent to most of your audience now, but after another generation or two, it will stink like old cat litter. Ideas that are fresh today will be tired tomorrow ideas that are already old don’t stand a chance. They aren’t even content with things happening in known reality - how do you think they’ll like your recycled characters? Exclude younger generations from enjoying your work!Ĭulture is a moving target including obvious cultural stereotypes will date your work quickly. Even more importantly, people are entertained by what’s new and novel, not by things as old and familiar as rotten vegetables in the fridge. A little thinking will help your audience be more engaged. Don’t provide a mental shortcut to spare lazy readers from thinking. Some types of clichés have their use, but you shouldn’t put clichéd characters in your stories because they are boring. You’ve probably heard people ranting about how terrible clichés are before. Stereotypes are by their definition clichés. All cultures prefer some classes of people over others, and so will your story if you aren’t paying attention. Racism, homophobia, twinkies… you get the idea. While dumping culturally-defined ideas in your story will give you cute kittens and brave heroes, it will also make your work embody things you’d rather not adopt from society at large. Why You Should Defy Stereotypes Sexism, anyone? ![]() It’s about going through your ideas after you’ve created them, hunting down the stereotypes, and shooting those suckers where the sun don’t shine. It’s isn’t about being upright and without bias. Creating a story without them isn’t about being magically stereotype free. That’s why when you’re coming up with ideas for your story, stereotypes will show up first to the party. Putting in a middle-aged, balding, white man wearing an apron is way easier than thinking about all of the different characteristics my shopkeeper could have. If I’m writing a story and I need a shopkeeper, I just can pull info out of my shopkeeper stereotype file. When I meet a new person, I can use their clothing, race, gender, age and other obvious characteristics, compare them to my internal database of stereotypes, and get a false mental picture of who they are without expending the effort to actually find out. ![]() They allow us to take mental shortcuts when making judgments and imagining scenarios. ![]() Stereotypes and other clichés flourish because people are lazy. ![]() It doesn’t take long before they wiggle their way into our minds, and from there they sneak into our stories. They permeate every aspect of our communication with one another: journalism, lyrics, movies, casual conversation… you name it. Stereotypes are deeply embedded in our culture.
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