So somehow the morals and heroism of the Western myth is connected, through these repeated ads, with a brand of cigarettes. They are strong, capable people. They have values we respect. Hence, heroes display the qualities a culture holds in high regards. We can tell a lot about a culture by examining its heroes.
Icons have symbolic meaning, deeper than a surface level interpretation.
The in-class presentations trace the history of film stereotypes with pictures from classic films. Additional themes include the way stereotypes from earlier entertainment media were incorporated into moving pictures and the way the profit motive encouraged the use of earlier stereotypes and the evolution to today s healthier climate. We ll then apply the discussion to the specific stereotypes for each Asian Stereotypes and African American Stereotypes. In both cases we saw a progression. We ll note that, at first, heroic characters of color are played by white actors.