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Let’s Go Life Typecasting: Fishing for Stereotypes
By Marc | February 16, 2009
If you ever watch a movie or television show that features a church scene, there are some things you pick up on. They are things I don’t think I would have picked up on before I became a Christian.
What are these things? Read on; I’ll get to them a little later.
But, I noticed a lot of us get our non-racial stereotypes from TV and films. If I followed most of these about myself, this is how it might go:
Comic Book Reader / Sci-Fi Fan
I would never shower or shave. That wouldn’t matter because I’d never date. The reasons for this are:
- I still live in my parents’ basement and
- I’ve never talked to a real girl.
Shaving would be optional since I can only grow either a wispy little mustache or a neckbeard.
I only go to comic-based or sci-fi sequel (or remake) movies on opening night (and sometimes for many weeks afterward). I can be heard for blocks, ranting about how the film did not follow canon. I have lots of unfunny in-jokes.
Video Game Player
I am desensitized to violence to the point life means nothing. I wear a black trench coat even when it’s 105 degrees out. I’m a zombie MMORPG freak, playing World of Warcraft nonstop until the electricity gets shut off because I haven’t paid the bills or gotten a job. Did I mention I’d be a complete stoner?
Tattooed
That means I’ve got an intravenous drug addiction and hang out in bars and strip clubs. The only employment fields open to me are truck driver and mechanic.
Heavy Metal Music Listener
I’ve got the I.Q. of a toothpick because I huff paint fumes all day long. I do the “devil horns” and stick out my tongue a lot while head banging. The only kind of metal music worth listening to is Thrash. My parents just don’t understand me.
College Dropout
I am a complete and utter failure in everything I do. The only job I can get is in fast food or retail. Evidently I can only speak in single syllable words since only intelligent people finish college. My only hope is to go back and finish my degree when I’m really old. Then I’ll be an inspiration to everyone and my classmates will really dig on my vast knowledge of the real world…sort of like Rodney Dangerfield in “Back to School”, but without the big and tall clothing store chain.
Navy Veteran
I’ve got a mouth like a trucker. I also have lots of war stories. You should never let your kids around me because I’ll teach them how to drink, curse, gamble, and pick up girls in Cantonese. I must have an anchor tattooed on my bicep. I know it’s around here somewhere…
Nebraskan
I live on a farm. The whole shebang: seed cap, overalls, poop-covered cowboy boots, giant turkey platter-sized belt buckle on a monogrammed web belt, chewing on a piece of straw and leaning on a fence. My only points of conversation would be about the hog report.
Since I’m from western Nebraska, I also get the added bonus of never having seen those new-fangled “horseless carriages”, “pitcher shows”, and “ray-dee-ohs”.
If you’ve seen “Boys Don’t Cry”, you know I’d also be bigoted and speak with a Texan accent.
I’ve got a pitchfork, so I’ll get some of my neighbors who have torches, and we’ll have ourselves a real down-home mob.
Christian
I wear a suit at all times and have Glen Campbell hair. I also live in a trailer park.
If I wanted to devote my life to God, the priesthood or a monastery is the only route. If I were a woman, my only route to that devotion would be becoming a nun.
I creep out everyone around me because I start foaming at the mouth when someone talks about “homosexuals” and “abominations”.
I have the Bible memorized, so I’m always ready to judge and have a verse handy. Of course that verse will always only be from the King James version. Nothing makes an impact like lots of thee’s, thou’s, and smitest’s. Always love a good smiting.
I guess I’d also have to picket everything I don’t agree with.
And here’s where I bring the church stuff in…
The only song we ever sing in church is “Amazing Grace”. Not only that, but only the first verse. That’s it. If I were a cop, I’d obviously be Irish, so they’d be forced to play that song on the bagpipes at my funeral.
The only passage from the Bible is Psalm 23. It works at funerals, so why not at every possible event?
Every prayer is the Lord’s Prayer.
Every church is either a cathedral or a small white wooden building with a bell and a steeple.
We’re all Catholics or Episcopalians because our pastors always wear black.
In closing…
Sometimes I get defensive when I see things about myself being stereotyped. Sometimes I just have a little chuckle. Obviously the things I am aren’t being represented fairly.
I also realize that if those things about myself aren’t being fairly represented, then how many other groups aren’t being shown in real light. So how many of those things am I believing because my only exposure to those groups are what I’m shown in fictional media?
What are all of us believing about our fellow human beings because of what we’re shown by people who just don’t get it?
Stop reading the message boards, turn off the television, step outside yourself and find out what your neighbor is all about.
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