Conclusion
Beginning our project we hoped to find some reasons for why there are so many stereotypes between French and American cultures; between any cultures really. We focused our attention on not only general stereotypes of France and the United States, but also between the different regions within the two countries. Using several sources such as books, popular movies, political cartoons, and personal questionnaires we gained some knowledge on the topic.
Everyone acknowledges that stereotypes are present in society and that they are not usually a good thing. However, everyone has some interaction with them and promotes them, even if it is simply laughing at a Family Guy episode on television.
From our questionnaire many people gave insight to why stereotypes exist and why people in general develop and inhibit them. Several people agreed that it is simply the human mind working to group things together in order to understand the world better. We do agree that this involuntary action occurs, but where do you draw the line between generalizations that your brain makes and making hateful remarks to a person of another culture?
Nearly everyone taking our questionnaire also believes that media plays a huge roll in the promotion of stereotypes, which we can clearly see in every day television shows, movies, magazines, websites, etc.
As we conclude our research and investigation we don't believe we can come to a certain conclusion as to why stereotypes occur, despite people not wanting them to. We can determine though that several stereotypes are extremely widespread and have little hope of ever being extinguished, such as; everyone from the South of the United States are dumb rednecks, all Americans are fat, people from Paris are rude, and every french man wears a baret and carries around a huge loaf of french bread. People also agree on both sides that society is becoming too politically correct, which makes it more difficult to joke without seriously offending someone from another region or culture. We were impressed to find that so many people agreed in our questionnaire and how obvious it is that society, both French and America, are driven by these stereotypes. Everyone makes these generalizations about groups of people and different cultures. We can only hope that these generalizations and stereotypes stay in the relm of what is acceptable and doesn’t grow too far into the world of offense.
Everyone acknowledges that stereotypes are present in society and that they are not usually a good thing. However, everyone has some interaction with them and promotes them, even if it is simply laughing at a Family Guy episode on television.
From our questionnaire many people gave insight to why stereotypes exist and why people in general develop and inhibit them. Several people agreed that it is simply the human mind working to group things together in order to understand the world better. We do agree that this involuntary action occurs, but where do you draw the line between generalizations that your brain makes and making hateful remarks to a person of another culture?
Nearly everyone taking our questionnaire also believes that media plays a huge roll in the promotion of stereotypes, which we can clearly see in every day television shows, movies, magazines, websites, etc.
As we conclude our research and investigation we don't believe we can come to a certain conclusion as to why stereotypes occur, despite people not wanting them to. We can determine though that several stereotypes are extremely widespread and have little hope of ever being extinguished, such as; everyone from the South of the United States are dumb rednecks, all Americans are fat, people from Paris are rude, and every french man wears a baret and carries around a huge loaf of french bread. People also agree on both sides that society is becoming too politically correct, which makes it more difficult to joke without seriously offending someone from another region or culture. We were impressed to find that so many people agreed in our questionnaire and how obvious it is that society, both French and America, are driven by these stereotypes. Everyone makes these generalizations about groups of people and different cultures. We can only hope that these generalizations and stereotypes stay in the relm of what is acceptable and doesn’t grow too far into the world of offense.