Popular TV shows often portray racial stereotypes to evoke a sense of humor in their viewers. These racial stereotypes can be seen as offensive or humorous depending on the specific viewer’s point of view. Now on its 3rd season on Fox, Glee is a musical explosion of every kind of stereotype there is in your typical, everyday suburban high school. Glee encompasses different cliques, religions, sexual orientations and especially different races. Glee represents every race out there in their characters; whether the roles are big or small. While this isn’t very typical of most shows on TV, Glee is typical in that they do stereotype their races. They often mock and play on the typical racial stereotypes we encounter and even use every day.
One example of a stereotyped race are the two Asian characters Mike and Tina. In the first season they are often referred to as “Asian” and “other Asian.” It didn’t matter what their names were or from where in Asia they came from (China, Japan, etc.). When Mike got a D on a test Tina called it an “Asian F” referencing the stereotype that Asians are often assumed to be geniuses. Mike even feels the pressure from his parents that he must be a doctor or surgeon. Mike’s parents are strict and serious as most stereotypical Asian families are seen. The stereotype of the typical Asian character is strongly and bluntly played upon in many of the episodes of Glee.
The cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester often uses racial stereotypes toward others. She calls Mercedes; the only black girl in the group, Aretha and the only black male in the group she calls Shaft. Sue Sylvester is just throwing these two into a stereotypical famous black person role and does not use their real names when addressing them. She even segregates the glee club into whites and everyone else that isn’t white. She tells her “minority group” that they are probably living on food stamps and makes other stereotypical remarks regarding their being a minority that for the most case aren’t true. On her talk show she mocks minorities by saying she’s “1/16th Comanche Indian” and feels the pain that minorities feel. She also states that people only learn to speak Spanish to be dishwashers and gardeners; a typical stereotype often used toward Mexicans. She manages to find a racial stereotype for every person in the glee club. Sue Sylvester’s character comes off as racist because of all the racial stereotyping she does to the glee members and the other students and staff at the high school.
The main characters in the show are Finn and Rachel. The other members in the glee club don’t get as much spotlight as Rachel and Finn. The other group members including Mercedes don’t get the leads in songs and when they do they are often songs that are stereotypical to race. Mercedes only sings lead in R&B songs or sings the parts of songs that are “belt it out” parts where a strong voice of a black woman is expected. She even points this out to the group and tries to put up a fight that is lost and she even gives in and tells Rachel she should sing lead. As Omi points out in his writing, the darker black women are often seen as the frumpy type and not the sexy type. Mercedes is often depicted as not ever having romantic interests. No guy ever goes out of his way to be with Mercedes and she doesn’t really try to find a romantic partner in the first couple of seasons. The one time she tries to find a romantic partner, she mistakes a gay glee group member as having a romantic interest. While yes, in the new season she does have a boyfriend he is black just like her, not an interracial couple. Mercedes is just one example of how most of the Glee characters are racially stereotyped.
Santana is a spicy Latina cheerleader that is also racially stereotyped in her character. She often tries to fight people and gets aggressive and “ghetto” when angry. She will yell at others in Spanish and try and hit them. She is also portrayed as the sexy Latina mistress and seen as a sex object by the opposite sex. She has casual sex with many of the cast on the show and is open about it. She is blunt and loud as most Latino’s are portrayed as. Santana is an example of one of the more hidden racial stereotypes that maybe most viewers wouldn’t notice at first glance.
Finn, one of the main characters on Glee, is the star quarterback with the cheerleader girlfriend. He also can’t dance. The stereotype of white guys can’t dance is portrayed here in the character Finn. He is also the lead of all the songs while the others sway in the back. The only black guy in Glee never even speaks and no one even knows his name. He is far from the lead singer or the star of the show. This stereotype is common in TV and movies we see every day. In many shows and movies the leads are played by a white male or female and rarely by an African American, Asian or any other race other than white. Finn is a good example of how the stars of many popular TV shows are white men and women and not other races.
Glee is a popular TV show consumed by many ages and races. While many people love the show and take the comments as “humor” there are people who take these racial stereotypes as offensive. Almost every racial stereotype is represented somewhere in Glee some are very obvious and some are not as obvious. We all take in this stimulus of racial stereotypes in our everyday lives in some ways we don’t even notice. It starts at a young age especially in cartoons and TV shows such as Glee.
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