Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Stereotypes Continued

Continuing on with the discussion regarding racial stereotypes, there is the issue of Latin America and soccer. Somehow there is a stereotype that all Latin Americans are savages about soccer. Yes, it clearly is a passion in the vast majority of these countries. And there are certainly some who go to far. But anytime you see an image of soccer and Latin America on TV, there is the issue of fans rioting and deaths and killings. Yet, in the movie Green Street Hooligans, a film about rabid soccer fans in England, the English are portrayed as passionate yet somehow still civilized about it. Stereotypes- how exactly is a common Latin American supposed to dispel the myth that everyone of them are savage beasts?

4 comments:

  1. Yeah it is true that they latinos are portrayed has die hard soccer fans, when in reality soccor is the top sport in a lot of countries around the world. I agree with you that it is not fair to show them in this way because they are passionate about it.

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  2. A number of Latino nations idolize their soccer players, but this isn't to say that they ALL do. In countries like Nicuragua and the Dominican Republic we find that baseball is much more popular. They take great pride in their sport's teams perhaps just as much as we glorify football and baseball players.

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  3. They go crazy but no more than any american does about football or basketball or the red sox

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  4. I do agree that this is a bad stereotype, as are all, but they are not the only ones with it. The Scottish have had this stereotype for a while as well, I don't know if any of you remember or even saw the Mike Myers SNL sketch Scottish Soccer Hooligans Weekly, but this too portrayed a stereotype, granted the Scottish don't really have the minority problem that Latinos have, but I just thought I would point it out.

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