Shawshank Redemption Stereotypes

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When observing how different religions are stereotyped, it is apparent that not all are impacted the same way. Christianity is a religion that 70% of Canada’s population follows. However, being a popular religion does not mean that it never faces stereotyping in the media. One common stereotype is the Christian extremist. This is the Christian that holds a strong religious stance and will go over the top in order to preserve these beliefs. This can be evident in The Shawshank Redemption. In this television series, a prisoner is depicted as the Christian extremist that likes to hand out Bibles and recite verses to his fellow inmates. Entertainment industries portray these types of stereotypes because they amuse viewers and generate higher viewing…show more content…
In fact, Canada has the world’s fourth largest Jewish population. Like all religions, they still experience prejudice in the media. The typical Jewish stereotype can be found in caricatures, cartoons, comics and other artistic art forms. Jews are normally depicted with black curly hair, long beards, big noses, white, and as rich people. This stereotype is not true for the majority. However, having seen them so often, one may definitely believe it. These stereotypical physical features are only used to bring attention to whoever created them. Many illustrators also fail to completely research, and due to one misrepresentation of a religion, millions of people associate it with truth. Comparatively, misconceptions of Jews can be found on TV series and in movies. This includes the stereotypical Jewish mother. A prime example would be the well-known TV show, The Big Bang Theory. In this series, the mother of Howard Holowitz, Mrs. Holowitz, represents the Jewish mom that is overprotective, nagging, oppressive and bossy. Once again, this prevalent stereotype has been used to produce views through the humor that is created. On the other hand, not all stereotypes of Jews are negative. For example, there is the intelligent music prodigy. Nevertheless, they still create misconceptions and can be just as damaging as the more hateful ones. Overall, anti-Semitism hasn’t significantly increased in Canada, but it is good to address and…show more content…
This is especially true for the religion Islam. As a matter of fact, Islam is the religion that is portrayed with the most falsities. Much of it is related to violence and negative depictions. A show called Real Time with Bill Maher features a lot of stereotyping of the Middle East and Islam, much of which is related to violence. To Bill Maher it may be entertaining, but for Islamic people and many others, it is very disrespectful. This happens quite often. As with all stereotypes, there will always be some people who fall under them, but it is wrong to generalize something to a whole religion. Furthermore, fictional Islamic characters are portrayed as terrorists, antagonists and evil characters. As said by Dr. Jack, a film historian, “Arabs are the most maligned group in Hollywood.” Just like with other stereotypes in the film industry, they are used to generate conflict and drama. This leads to more popularity for that film, creates views, and in the end, makes millions of dollars for that company to make more discriminating films. In addition, a recent event has sparked more misconceptions towards Islam. After the terrorist attack on Friday November 13, 2015 in Paris, there was a lot of prejudice flying around social media. On twitter, many people were generalizing violence to Islam. Once more, lack of education and ignorance has led to negative views on the event. What people don’t know is that the attackers were

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