Who has never interacted with someone with stereotypic behavior and thoughts? How did the stereotypic actions align with your perceptions? Stereotyping among racial minorities leads to behavioral and emotional issues that decrease productivity. The stereotypic beliefs and actions reflect the existing reality in society. In most cases, society has capitalized on literature and the film industry to demonstrate the misrepresentations in society. Natalie Diaz’s ‘American Arithmetic’ illustrates how colonization has impacted the life of the Native Americans through genocides misrepresenting the Native Americans as bad people who were supposed to be subjected to allotment and removal policies (Diaz,17). Sonia Guinansaca’s ‘Bursting of Photographs’ concerns the migration of individuals into new lands where they are subjected to discrimination due to the stereotypic beliefs of the citizens in the new lands. The poem illustrates that the period after the migration is a critical period that involves hardships advanced by stereotypic beliefs in foreign lands (Guinansaca, 1). Carlos Lopez’s ‘Blindspotting’ utilizes two characters with the same upbringing but who later deal with completely different events based on their stereotypic perceptions of the outside world (Lopez, 56). Therefore, the paper compares Carlos Lopez’s ‘Blindspotting,’ Sonia Guinansaca’s ‘Bursting of Photographs,’ and Moore‐Berg & Karpinski’s, ‘An intersectional approach to understanding how race and social class affect intergroup processes.’ Natalie Diaz’s ‘American Arithmetic’ regarding misrepresentations focuses on symbolism, imagery, structure, and cultural conformity.
Symbolism is the fundamental building block of the three works of art. Sonia Guinansaca, in ‘Bursting of Photographs,’ says, “Straighten up, So that white Jesus accepts you, So that the lawyer helps you” (Guinansaca, 1). The words Jesus and lawyer have been used symbolically to show how the stereotypic belief of whites being powerful relative to the weak black people who migrate into their lands. White people can offer spiritual and physical redemption for daily issues. Unfortunately, help can only be offered to them if they conditionally accept to be used as servants of the white people. Diaz says, “Only a fraction of a body, let’s say, I am only a hand” (Diaz,18). The word body is used symbolically to show how humans, regardless of race, are part of one community that requires each other for survival. People should not be subjected to the inhuman exploitation that has taken root in society. The friendship between Casal and Diggs in ‘Blindspotting’ is used symbolically to illustrate the potential impact of harmonious interaction between people of different races (Lopez, 6). Gentrification and race impact the lives of the two friends with black and white ethnic backgrounds who subvert the ordinary stereotype belief of social justice to compel the audience to assess their continually evolving surroundings. Unfortunately, the relationship simmers until it is curtailed in a theatrical, emotional showdown indicating that the social exploitation between minorities and superiors cannot be easily halted. The patterns of symbolism in the text are responsible for the complex meanings and feelings that determine the perception modes and the reflections of social exploitation reality. The symbols have led to a common understanding of popular culture leading to minimal delineation.
The poems by Sonia Guinansaca and Natalie Diaz perpetuate negative stereotypes through imagery, unlike the movie by Carlos Lopez, which has positive stereotypes existing in society. Diaz claims, “When we are dying, who should we call?” (17). The statement suggests that white people can kill and undermine the justice system to the extent that the Native Americans have no one to address their issues. Guinansaca’s work identifies that the other immigrants only sometimes manage to access the healthcare packages; thus, she only sometimes has medical assistance (Guinansaca, 2). The inability to access healthcare demonstrates the author intended to show how the immigrants have intensified barriers to healthcare access that increase their death and other health-related complications. American citizens are socially exploiting immigrants due to their nationalities. White people are misrepresented as people who do not care about other people’s healthcare so long as their medical needs have been satisfied. ‘Blindspotting’ by Carlos Lopez amazingly handles socioeconomics, ethnicity, and race through Mile’s and Collin’s journeys. The two characters successfully deal with the surrounding environment based on their perceptions (Lopez, 56). The characters seem to be retraining their minds continually to perceive the immediate surroundings from the other party’s view, decreasing the stereotypic beliefs that other people, such as the police, are advancing. They do not align with the discrimination and prejudice often visualized in the typical human interactions discussed by Moore‐Berg & Karpinski (Moore‐Berg & Karpinski, 6). The movie does not make any false equivalences regarding the challenges the individuals encounter in their lives. The negative stereotypes being advanced by the poems relate to race and identity, making people experience anxiety while reinforcing the stereotype. Anxiety can interfere with the performance of people with different identities reading the texts. Conversely, the movie’s positive stereotypes are propping up favorable generalizations, suggesting the excellence of all races.
The authors had different aims in utilizing stereotypes to offer societal misrepresentations. Sonia Guinansaca, in ‘Bursting of Photographs,’ denies the immigrants a chance to view themselves differently due to their typical challenges in their escapades. The denial affects the opinion and experience of the readers relating to the normal surrounding of immigrants in a new country. The author aimed to illustrate the ordinary issues encountered in countries with anti-immigration policies (Guinansaca, 1). Offering a different perspective could have made people who have not been immigrants consider immigration since they will be received well by the Native Americans and lead fulfilling lives. The movie aimed to portray the world with its intact diversity. The movie celebrates Oakland City for what it is, as illustrated by the Indian immigrants, biracial individuals, and white Hispanic, to create an ecosystem where everyone can depend on each other. In the movie, people who know Colin identify him as harmless and nice (Lopez, 53). Unfortunately, people who do not know him identify him as a violent and dangerous person based on his appearance. The different perceptions of people are majorly shaped by the experiences of people that develop stereotypes. Nevertheless, like the other literary works, ‘Bursting of Photographs’ and ‘Blindspotting,’ ‘American Arithmetic’ capitalizes on stereotypes to make people remember the social evils that have been advanced to other races with ill intentions (Diaz,17). The whites are presented as superior people ready to massacre the Native Americans to realize their purpose. The negative stereotypes are similar to what Moore‐Berg & Karpinski identified regarding the negative stereotypes associated with black and white people. White people are identified to be more affluent relative to black people, who are less powerful and uneducated (Moore‐Berg & Karpinski, 3). The authors of the poems capitalized on the stereotypes to align the readers’ perspectives with the mistreatment associated with race leading to different social issues within the society that are an outcome of racism and identity. The movie offers a chance to people living in Oakland and other places of the world having interracial populations to have a view of their typical surroundings.
The literary works have completely different structures that increase their appeal in addressing social exploitations. Guinansaca’s work has irregular rhyme schemes with short sentences between three to eight words. Line twelve comprises three words “Sow your tongue” (Guinansaca, 1). On the contrary, Diaz’s ‘American Arithmetic’ has long sentences despite its irregular rhyme scheme. The poem has long sentences between 3-11 words per sentence (Diaz,18). Besides, the movie by Carlos Lopez has a mixture of short and long sentences that might create amusement to realize a cheerful ending (Lopez, 20). It is a lively conversation that directly engages the audience. In the movie by Carlos Lopez, the structure of the words used is necessary for emphasizing the particular elements of the story setting positive expectations from the audience. The works are substantially inventive, and the ideas have been comprehensive and clear to make the arguments robust. The structure is also crucial in knitting the plot and worldbuilding of the poems and the movie.
The poems and movies vary based on their culture. Some of them align with mass culture, while others are high culture-based. Guinansaca’s work aligns with high culture, as visualized in the words chosen by the author. The author says, “Old Polaroids are never enough; you are left tracing the silhouette of your grandparents” (Guinansaca, 1). The line implies that the migrants usually try as much as possible to conform to the new identity of the countries they migrate to. The conforming process involves the elimination of all the identities associated with where the immigrants are coming from. The high culture requires a highly educated individual to understand the poem quickly. In ‘American Arithmetic’ by Natalie Diaz, the author says, “I am doing my best not to become a museum, of myself, I am doing my best to breath in and out” (Diaz,17). The line implies that as an individual, the persona is ready, to tell the truth regarding what they are going through, and they will not stay with the information within themselves. A low, learned individual needs more capacity to understand what the author intended to pass across. Unlike ‘American Arithmetic’ by Natalie Diaz and Sonia Guinansaca, ‘Bursting of Photographs,’ ‘Blindspotting’ movie by Carlos Lopez is mass culture based. The movie is easy in being reproduced again by other directors, unlike the poems, which cannot be reproduced easily (Lopez, 35). It can thus easily influence society on the social exploitation they are experiencing due to the misrepresentation currently existing in society. The high culture is ascertained by the effort that the authors have advanced in their particular invention. They significantly consider high culture to address the social exploitation occurring in society.
The Literary works have differing social mobility, usually associated with mass culture. The poems need more social mobility due to their ability to address their audience’s concerns and composition. The poems require people to be passionate about reading poems (Diaz,17). On the other hand, the movie can easily be enjoyed by uneducated people, while well-educated people can only understand the poems well. The movie can easily be offered on the typical screen times allowing more people to watch regularly. The increased time will allow it to address the social exploitation issues existing in society. Unlike the movie, the revolutionary nature of the high culture associated with the poems makes them less able to influence society. Guinansaca, in ‘Bursting of Photographs,’ is a pinnacle of high status in the community that is rare for ordinary people to read unless they access its source in the library (Guinansaca, 1). Social mobility is functioning relative to the audience size and composition. Educated individuals have a high capability of understanding the symbolism used in developing literary works to internalize the social exploitation people are experiencing in society. The movie is thus a persuasion agent rather than an entertainment form.
In summary, carrying out a comparison of Carlos Lopez’s ‘Blindspotting,’ Sonia Guinansaca’s ‘Bursting of Photographs,’ and Moore‐Berg & Karpinski’s ‘An intersectional approach to understanding how race and social class affect intergroup processes.’ Natalie Diaz’s ‘American Arithmetic’ regarding the misrepresentations by focusing on symbolism, imagery, structure, and cultural conformity is important in understanding the exploitations minorities face in society. The works are substantially inventive, and the ideas have been comprehensive and clear to make the arguments robust. The negative stereotypes the poems advance relate to race and identity, making people experience anxiety. The stereotypical instances and characters are critical to the literary works in connecting people reading and watching them to the new modern tales. The situations are clearly illustrating the existing limitations that are associated with the experiences of human beings. The use of symbolism and imagery enhances the appeal of the stereotypic situations leading to an increased understanding of the literary texts.
Works Cited
Diaz, Natalie. “American Arithmetic.” Post Colonial Love Poem, 2020, Accessed 05 Aug. 2023.
Guinansaca, Sonia. Bursting of Photographs after Trying to Squeeze out Old Memories, Accessed 05 Aug. 2023.
Lopez, Carlos Estrada, director. Blindspotting. Goojara, Summit Entertainment, 2018.
Moore‐Berg, Samantha L., and Andrew Karpinski. “An intersectional approach to understanding how race and social class affect intergroup processes.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 13.1 (2019): e12426.
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