fluffy
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 180
|
Post by fluffy on Sept 2, 2007 0:53:01 GMT -5
I don't think Janine being smart is an offensive stereotype at all, it just pretty much weaves into the smart sibling/dumb sibling thing with Claudia being the misunderstood, artistic one. Rick Chow was a pretty popular kid, and he was probably supposed to be Asian.
I don't know if the books ever implied that Laine Cummings was Jewish, but she could have bought into the 'JAP' stereotype.
I guess Logan was supposed to prove that jocks can be smart or sensitive (plus, he went out with Mary Anne), but he ended up becoming inconsistent or a stock character. I think it might habe been referenced a few times how much he liked barbecue sauce or fried chicken...
In the California Diaries, Dawn has a Latina friend who's well-off and attends the same private school as her. But Dawn and her WLKC friends- OUCH. Sunny is from a family of hippies, and Maggie's father is a movie producer.
|
|
alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
|
Post by alula on Sept 2, 2007 3:53:07 GMT -5
Heh. I think in some ways, Ann just has some weird issues with California and New York, maybe--she seems very starstruck about them, if that makes sense.
But the part about Amalia (that's the girl from the CA Diaries right? I haven't actually read those) reminds me of something I wonder sometimes, about what other stereotypes, or maybe "trends" (since that's a less loaded word) would have been introduced if the books continued, or if they were being published today. Like, I always got the feeling that Abby being a soccer player, as opposed to playing some other sport, was very consciously chosen because of when she was introduced.
The two things I think of right aways is that there would have been a Latina character in the BSC, and that there would have been a techie/science-interested type character.
|
|
|
Post by wenonah4th on Sept 13, 2007 8:11:40 GMT -5
There isn't much in-between with stereotypes. Either a character fits one or doesn't. All stereotypes have some basis in reality- some Jewish girls are spoiled brats, some Asians are extremely smart and musical (guess what- the violin teacher at our church is Japanese!). If you make a character the person you think s/he should be, s/he probably either fits in one of those or doesn't.
|
|
|
Post by candykane on Sept 10, 2008 15:33:54 GMT -5
^ I think if anyone is going to bump a post up that hasn't been active for a year there should be a little more added to it - for example, why you don't agree with stereotypes. I'm not trying to be rude, it's just that a one-sentence declaration like that doesn't add much to the discussion.
All stereotypes have some basis in reality. Yes, they can be very exaggerated or outdated, but often ring true in some way.
Imagine the stereotypical librarian. Many people have this image in their heads of a glasses-wearing older lady with a bun who angrily shushes everyone who speaks above a whisper. This image has been around for decades and just won't go away, even though that doesn't hold true anymore - and I know a lot of other librarians. But the stereotype also includes being a little soft-spoken and loving books, which for me personally, is true.
To relate this to the BSC, Mrs. Kishi never seemed to me like she fit the negative aspects of the stereotype at all. I'm glad!
|
|
|
Post by booboobrewer on Sept 10, 2008 18:22:43 GMT -5
^That's true, she didn't. I don't think she even wore glasses! Gasp!
|
|
|
Post by wenonah4th on Sept 15, 2008 6:38:50 GMT -5
Kristy? I don't know about that! She's an athletic type and that's all she thinks about, how she dresses, etc. If Ann really wanted to go against the stereotype, there should be someone who does some sort of sport but, for instance, dresses in a way that doesn't indicate it at all.
|
|
wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
|
Post by wanderingfrog on Sept 18, 2008 18:52:43 GMT -5
Imagine the stereotypical librarian. Many people have this image in their heads of a glasses-wearing older lady with a bun who angrily shushes everyone who speaks above a whisper. This image has been around for decades and just won't go away, even though that doesn't hold true anymore - and I know a lot of other librarians. But the stereotype also includes being a little soft-spoken and loving books, which for me personally, is true. Heh heh, me, too. Another soft-spoken, book-loving librarian here! I used to hate the way I looked in my glasses and I would never wear them to school or to other jobs. I always wore my contacts. Now that I'm actually working in a library, though, it doesn't bug me so much and I wear my glasses at least once a week. I just figured, "Eh, I might as well wear glasses. I'm a librarian, after all." My librarian boyfriend, however, has had laser eye surgery, so he never wears glasses, and he doesn't have nearly enough hair to put in a bun.
|
|
supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
|
Post by supprazz on Sept 19, 2008 7:07:46 GMT -5
you're my twin sister wanderingfrog! I got big pink glasses and then red ones as a kid and liked wearing them cause I felt like Karen, but it got bad once I went to middle school and I was traumatized and never wore glasses outside my house again once I got contacts. By the end of high school I would occasionally wear them though on days when I was tired and stuff like that. Now I wear glasses most of the time, and contacts only when I'm going somewhere fun or dressy or feel like dressing up in general.
|
|
|
Post by candykane on Sept 19, 2008 11:47:31 GMT -5
Wanderingfrog, it's awesome that your boyfriend is also a librarian! I never got to date anyone from my own line of work - instead I wound up marrying a guy with aspirations of being a city manager. Topic: the stereotype of "rich people are snobs" was definitely explored in this series, with several characters who went against the stereotype, and others who completely conformed to it. Most of the people in Kristy's neighborhood were described as being nice, normal and down-to-earth, with the Delaneys as the exception. After they moved away, I don't recall anyone else "taking their place" as the resident snobs.
|
|
supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
|
Post by supprazz on Sept 19, 2008 15:33:37 GMT -5
Does Caitlin Lowell fall under the snob category too?
|
|