Film Analysis – Prejudice and Stereotypes

Film Analysis – Prejudice and Stereotypes

Stereotypes and prejudice mainly come from unproven and invalid opinions about others or things. The film that best demonstrates stereotypes and discrimination among people is Moonlight. This film, directed by Berry Jenkins and released in 2016, shows how people stereotype introverts and the prejudice people have over drug addicts and women in general (Jenkins, 2019). The entire story talks of a character called Chiron, who was brought up by a single mother who is a drug addict. Chiron’s childhood is spent with a drug dealer called Juan, who has a girlfriend called Teresa. The story also shows Chiron is an introvert who bullies other boys often. The second phase of the plot shows Chiron as a teenager, and this phase of the story reveals that Chiron and Kelvin, Teresa’s son engaged in a one-moment same-sex act (Jenkins, 2019). The third phase of the movie describes Chiron as an adult when he is a drug dealer. He meets with Kelvin, who is happy to be the father of a child from his ex-girlfriend.

The section selected for analysis of prejudice and stereotype is where Juan, the drug dealer confronts Paula, Chiron’s mother. The three main characters here are Chiron, Paula, and Juan. Paula is engaged in drug addiction; she buys drugs from Juan because she is undergoing the challenges of being a single mother. Chiron is an introvert and is always bullied by others in school. Juan is the character showing stereotypes and prejudice. Firstly he believes that women should take care of their children. So he confronts Paula, claiming she is addicted to drugs and does not care about Chiron. He also shows prejudice by claiming that Chiron is bullied because of his introverted character.

Social psychological theories on prejudice document that sometimes, these stereotypes develop due to social constructs. Most of these theories look at gender stereotypes (Fiske, 2017). The unique thing about this movie is that it shows that gender stereotypes continue. Thus, approaches that explain gender stereotypes are correct and tell the truth about prejudice and stereotypes (Hentschel et al., 2019). In this movie, the theories also reaffirm that prejudice results from people’s thoughts and ideas.

References

Fiske S. T. (2017). Prejudices in cultural contexts: Shared stereotypes (gender, age) versus variable stereotypes (race, ethnicity, religion). Perspectives on psychological science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 12(5), 791–799. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617708204

Hentschel, T., Heilman, M. E., & Peus, C. V. (2019). The multiple dimensions of gender stereotypes: A current look at men’s and women’s characterizations of others and themselves. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00011

Jenkins, B. (2019). Moonlight. Plan B Entertainment. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4975722/

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This week, you will analyze a three- to five-minute segment of a movie or a television episode depicting prejudice and stereotypes.

After watching the movie segment, create a three- to four-page report on your analysis. In your report:

Mention the name of the movie.
Describe the setting and overall storyline of the movie.
Describe the main characters in the observed movie section.
Describe the situation in which you analyzed and interpreted the actions of the characters depicting prejudice and stereotypes.
Draw conclusions based on social psychological concepts and theories.