After talking about careers in film and movie genres, we pivoted into a more serious topic: the presence of stereotypes in the media.

This presentation walks students through:

• The definition of a stereotype.
• A few of the different types of stereotypes.
• Examples of commonly heard stereotypes.
• How stereotypes can have real consequences and can lead to prejudice and discrimination.

Finally, students investigated specific characters, movies, and TV shows in order to find trends in stereotypes that are promulgated in film.

I created this table to help students organize their work. They had to:

• Identify the stereotype about Latinos that is present in each group of movies or tv shows.
• Describe the typical characteristics of that stereotype. For example, if the stereotype is that Latinos are construction workers, those characters might always be dirty, sweaty, wearing a white tank and jeans, etc.
• Explain why it's harmful for this stereotype to be represented in movies or tv shows.