Portrayal of cultures in movies
Wrongful portrayal of cultures in movies… Americans hating french people or at least having a very negative perception of them, when they’ve never been to France and have never met a french person. That would be a good example of how big of an impact fashion in movies has on society in general, how much our opinions on the world are formatted by what we see on TV.
As a French person I can say with full confidence that 90% of the French characters in non-french movies do not do justice whatsoever to the french culture. I am sorry to say that no, not all of us are arrogant, have a terrible accent, or carry a baguette under our arm, wear a beret, eat frogs and have an accordion playing in the background wherever we go.
‘’According to the mental models approach to media effects, Americans with no French contact are more likely to believe media display a more accurate picture of the French culture than in reality.’’ (Ferber, L. 2008).
So a lot of injustice is done to certain cultures through the way they are portrayed in movies, and fashion has a lot to do with it. The way we dress represents and says a lot about us. Therefore movies have a very important role of communicating that. But there is a lack of care when it comes to doing that. French culture is probably one of the cultures to suffer the least from this. We can take a look at obvious ones such as Mexicans and any other latin culture thrown in the same pile… Hey if it sounds Spanish! And same goes for Chinese people and anyone else who looks asian.
The damage is done when movies portray certain cultures with no previous research or knowledge on the matter. Minorities such as afro american cultures are often portrayed as criminals, only living in dangerous suburbs, with no education, as rappers, gangsters, etc… It is obvious that if what we see in movies and on TV doesn’t evolve and portray what is really out there, people will believe what they see on the screen and forget to look at the reality around them.
SALOMÉ GAUTIER 