American Stereotype Visual Argument

So basically I was trying tell "young" people from other countries (especially those in Europe, who don’t necessarily look on America kindly) that (what I think are) the two biggest American stereotypes, that we’re all obese people who eat nothing but hamburgers and war-loving, is not necessarily true. To do this, naturally, I chose pictures that reflect those ideas. All of my pictures that reflect obesity have hamburgers (one’s even a really fat Ronald McDonald). I then moved onto the war-loving aspect of the stereotype. In the first one, “America” (the guy who is wearing the American flag) runs into war with Iraq yelling “Leroy Jenkins” as a shocked Europe looks on. Leroy Jenkins refers to a character who just charges into things without thinking. Of course, by using this picture, I assume that the people who see it know who Leroy Jenkins is. But I feel that if they do, it’s a nice contributor to the argument. The next picture basically says that we’ll drop bombs on anyone who opposes us.

But I was trying to argue that the stereotypes are not true, so I switched what the images are arguing by using the “reality check ahead” sign. I then worked in reverse order, starting with the war-loving aspect and then moving onto the obesity problem. To combat the argument that Americans love war, I used a picture of people who are protesting the war by holding a “stop war, peace” sign. With my last two pictures, I tried to disprove the hamburger and obesity stereotype. The first image is of a girl on a weight scale, crying. I feel like this is saying that there are a lot of people who are upset about how much they weigh. Then, to further drive home that idea, I show a picture of an anorexic girl. Not only does this show that there are those who actually refuse to eat anything, let alone hamburgers, because they’re so upset over their weight, but I think that, because she’s a model, it represents the image that the media presents to us by saying “you have to be skinny to be pretty”. I don’t think that most people outside of America would expect this to be our public image, and I hope that that is shocking and helps my argument.

The colors in the first images (the ones that define the stereotypes) are pretty bright, which creates an eye-popping effect. Bright colors also tend to be seen as more joyful. It lends a hand to portraying “America”, because even though we have this kind of stereotype, many people still seem to think that America is a good place to live. Then, as a contrast, the ending images are more monochromatic. They aren’t full of color, and in fact are actually kind of dreary, especially the final one with the anorexic girl. It also kind of represents that what’s in these images are the “dark secrets” of America. We pretend otherwise, but we aren’t the land of sunshine, rainbows, and happiness. We have problems too.

Another thing that adds to the argument is that some of the images are cartoony and some are more like pictures. All of the ones that are saying “this is what others think” are the cartoon ones. The ones that say “this is reality” are, well, more realistic. I think it lends something by saying the stereotypes exist in more of a cartoon, fantasy-like world (not that there isn’t some merit to the stereotypes, but they aren’t 100% true). Then the images that are disproving the stereotypes are pictures, which reflect more of a reality.  So by comparing fantasy to reality through the images, it helps my argument develop further.

I really like my music selection. It’s American Idiot by Green Day. Basically the entire song talks about the stereotypical America. I thought that it fit rather well, considering that that is basically what the argument is about. Actually, from the start, after I found out that I was arguing a stereotype, I planned on using that song. I thought that it was perfect for what I needed. I never really considered another song. I think that it’s more of a modern song, which reflects the “youth” of America, and therefore holds greater meaning to them. And it might appeal more to the younger people in other countries, who were more of my target audience. If I had gone with another song, it probably would have been an older song (because I’m not really familiar with the more modern songs), and that would have isolated my audience, who might not be familiar with it.

Additionally, because the song is modern, it represents that this is more of a modern stereotype. This is the American stereotype now and these are the realities now. If I had chosen an older song, not only would I have isolated the target audience, but I also would have suggested that the stereotype I presented was more of an older stereotype, and the reality was an older reality. So the fact that the song itself is relatively new also helps further my argument.