Rewriting the Narrative - Ep. 4 Through Sarah's Eyes

By Sarah Sodi

As a young child in kindergarten, I didn't understand much, but I knew I preferred staying at home over counting to 10 or learning my ABCs. Every day, a rundown bell would announce the start of lunch break to the class and that would be my refuge. My mother would pack me ‘aloo-puri’- a popular Indian dish that I could gobble up any day. But when I brought this cherished meal to my very cultured school, the soaking yellow oil in my tiffin box became an amusing joke for my classmates who despised “stinky” Indian food. A joke for tiny hands who didn’t know counting past ten but were deeply familiar with operating eye-catching media. Back then, we all loved Phineas and Ferb episodes and its intellectually smart but socially awkward character Balijeet Tjinder who resembled us. This epiphany that Asian people are intrinsically good at maths came as a great relief which has been discredited now for some of us (thank you high school).

This leads us to an unsettling question; did the media feed us more myths about our cultures than truths? Does the lens through which media claims other races and cultural groups see Indians - as typically unattractive, poverty-sicken, and quirky -  reflect the dividing reality? Or is it merely a mirage created by the media?

Our consumerism may have shifted from kids' TV shows to newspapers and unavoidable activism in the current times, but the power of media has only increased tenfold. If we do not question, reject or demand a retelling of the decades-old stereotypical portrayals of who we are as a race, culture or gender. The authentic essence of our groups will be marginalized and soon subsided.

“There are things that comprise my tradition, my breathing, and yet things from which I am far removed.”

I grew up predominantly in a small town, in a small corner of India - a country whose culture is preceded by hundreds of subcultures that rarely converge yet serve as honest representatives of people to whom they belong. The plethora of cultural diversity that you find in its land fails to be represented by mainstream media and its perpetuated stereotypes.  For example, actress Sonum Kahlon admitted to feeling upset when asked to speak in an “exaggerated” or “more Indian sounding” Indian accent during auditions in Hollywood. However, my teachers found the British accent seen in media as a more acceptable way of speaking for their Indian students. Such inaccurate and contradictory media portrayals give rise to insecurity in teenagers. It puts us on high alert and makes us want these agents of media to stop bad-mouthing the rich histories of our cultures.

But the media is a powerhouse and can only be fought by a united, collective voice.

Cooke-Jackson and Hanson (2008) suggest that individuals may internalize negative stereotypes presented in media, devaluing their own unique cultures. They argue that stereotypical portrayals can influence policy decisions and minority self-perceptions, presenting a problem in a multicultural society.

So, is the media solely to blame for popularizing stereotypes, or are we at fault too for passively accepting false narratives as the audience? Media, at times, uses the concept of archetypes to get people to relate to the characters, and feel the necessary emotions appropriate to the genre. However, these archetypes evolve into stereotypes when the taxi driver is more often than not depicted as a struggling Sikh man or when the robber is repeatedly portrayed as an aggressive black man or when the Indian woman is ridiculed for not being  “attractive” enough for the male lead (Devi from the Never Have I Ever series in some instances is  portrayed similarly to the viewers).

But I do not want to be a teenager anymore who cares to be a perfect fit for media to mould. It does not concern me or my race whether our elegant earth-brown skin is tones darker or paler to the ideal shade.

Imagine, where would we be if we directed the storyline in real life, placing ourselves in roles that the media would never imagine us in? What if we declined to conform to the media’s way of seeing our cultures and wrote our own stories the way we wanted?  Perhaps then someday, the characters in fiction and movies will have the liberty to be shaped by their experiences rather than by a pre-written script of stereotyped cultural norms.

The most wondrous thing about all cultures is that they are seamless social constructs where members from each generation exert influence, leaving behind a mark of their existence through ideas and materials. Each culture has its shortcomings but if given room to breathe and enough space for change, it could grow to be a more comfortable home for its preachers. Our culture as a living idea cannot be reduced to simplistic narratives.

Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist warns- we must be vigilant, always question the representations we are shown, and be aware of how they seek to frame our understanding of the world.

We as critical observers can address this representation crisis by rejecting such stereotypes. So, the next time someone forms a wrong perception about your culture, don't contribute to the narrative. Do not let it slide. Politely but promptly correct them. We live in a multicultural world, and in all areas where our cultures empower people, the mass media must follow as a representative of visual hope.