How to Beat the Stereotype

One thing I particularly enjoyed about Margaret Cho's comedy was her use of stereotypes. She did this in a very interesting way. The example I will talk about is that of her mother. She made fun of her mother, the way she spoke, the way she though, and made her out to be someone 'old school asian-american' or in essence what we all typically though Asian Americans would be like. Cho addressed the stereotype and then defied it. She did this through giving her own personal perpective and revealed herself to be anything but the asian american norm. In doing so it made us feel foolish to even think that all asian americans acted in the traditional way. I feel that this is a common trend happening in entertainment. Actors and commedians from t.v. shows and movies who are minorities are aware of what society thinks (or historically has thought) of them and are willing to expose that truth. They are not denying the fact that there is a stereotype. However through actions and behavior, they break it. Or make that stereotype seem utterly rediculous. I think this is a very interesting way of presenting racism. By exposing, and proving an example of the falsity in stereotypes, one is overcoming that stereotype

Meredith Cotter, Post #12