Many familiar stereotypes of ethnic groups are represented in the media. Arabs are often portrayed in the media—as billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers. Television tends to perpetuate four basic myths about Arabs: they are all fabulously wealthy; they are barbaric and uncultured; they are sex maniacs with a penchant for white slavery; and they revel in acts of terrorism. Among other untruths are those about Iranians being Arabs and all Arabs being Muslims.
Documentaries often show Mexicans as resilient, patient, and faithful—rather passive and therefore acceptable. This is connected to the portrayal of Mexican Americans as not quite American, although the difficulty in becoming American is posited as not a lack of choice, but lack of ability.
African American women also have been portrayed stereotypically on TV, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, when the roles they held were secondary (for example, as domestics buying drugs, homeless persons on the sidewalk, the hotel lobby prostitutes).
How do these stereotypes influence intercultural interaction? Do people behave any differently if they don't hold stereotypes about people with whom they are interacting? These questions were investigated in a study in which two groups of college students were identified: those who had some preconceived ideas about India and those who didn't. It turns out that the preconceived ideas were pretty positive. It appears that having some information and positive expectations may lead to more in-depth conversations and positive outcomes than having no information. However, what happens when negative stereotypes are present? It is possible that expectations are fulfilled in this case, too.
For example, in several studies at Princeton University, Whites interviewed both White and Black "job applicants" who were actually part of the study and were trained to behave consistently, no matter how interviewers acted toward them. The interviews were videotaped. The interviewers clearly behaved differently toward Blacks; their speech deteriorated, they made more grammatical errors, they spent less time, and they showed fewer "immediacy" behaviors—that is, they were less friendly and less outgoing. In a second study, interviewers were trained to be either "immediate" or "nonimmediate" as they interviewed White job applicants. A panel of judges watched the videotapes and agreed that those applicants interviewed by the "nonimmediate" interviewer performed less well and were more nervous. This suggests that the African American applicants in the first study never had a chance: They were only reacting to the nonimmediate behavior of the interviewers. Considered together, the two investigations suggest that in interracial encounters, racial stereotypes may constrain behavior in ways to cause both blacks and whites to behave in accordance with those stereotypes.
U.S. Popular Culture and Power
One of the dynamics of intercultural communication that we have highlighted throughout this text is power. In considering popular culture, we need to think about not only the ways that people interpret and consume popular culture, but also the ways that these popular culture texts represent particular groups in specific ways. If people largely view other cultural groups through the lens of popular culture, then we need to think about the power relations that are embedded in these popular culture dynamics.
Global Circulation of Images and Commodities
As we noted earlier, much of the international circulation of popular culture is U.S. popular culture. U.S.-made films, for example, are widely distributed by an industry that is backed by considerable financial resources. Some media scholars have noted that the U.S. film industry earns far more money outside the United States than from U.S. box office sales. This situation ensures that Hollywood will continue to seek overseas revenue and that it will have the financial resources to do so. The film Titanic exemplifies this economic position of Hollywood. Although the producers and distributors certainly made a considerable amount of money from the U.S. box office receipts, they also earned significant amounts of money from non-U.S. showings as well.
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