The Office
Michael is saying that to be called Mexican is offensive reinforcing the negative connotation that Mexicans have
Somalia is stereotyped to be violent and oppressive towards women, which is reaffirmed by this description of the country
clip 1
Being surprised that Rainbow, a mixed race anesthesiologist, attended a well known medical school. This plays off the stereotype that African Americans are less intelligent and less equipped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAs75QyDLxQ (0:52-1:08)
The principal says he believes they might have a few things in common and or mutual interests in experiences. Eddie says “hes Chinese isn’t he”, which leads the principal to become flustered and unable to come up with a good reason. The principal assumes that they will be most compatible because of their race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrKrzE0nZY (0-2:00)
How is tokenism used? Cite the two instances of microaggressions faced by Maggie.
1. Maggie is asked by her white friend to determine if her behavior was racist
2. Airplane boarding incident & assuming she's a nurse
Michael is reinforcing the stereotype that all Asians look alike
Black people are stereotyped to be more athletic, which is reinforced by Jeff saying Troy belongs in football because it’s “in his blood”
clip 2
A man asks Dre how would a black guy say good morning, which assumes they speak differently than others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egG_oIVizNU (0:25 – 0:40) or (0:06-0:40)
The principal holds a meeting with families and local authorities to bring awareness to an important matter regarding the children’s safety. When they finish explaining, Eddies mother asks “when do report cards come out?” This stems from the assumption that Asian Americans only care about grades, and place grades above the safety of children.
Michael assumes that Kelly will know the origins of Diwali because she is Hindu
Arabic people are often “othered” and viewed as not truly American, which calls into question their citizenship status. When Jeff questions Abed’s citizenship, he reaffirms a stereotype
clip 3
Asking if Dre, and African American male can swim, because the stereotype is that African Americans can’t swim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLkT_s56L1E (0:20-0:35)
As Eddie and his family move into Oregan, they notice they have a lot more white neighbors than they did in Washington. He says that the only white people nearby were the ones who were lost tourists and then they show a flashback of White folks enunciating “White. House” as if elongating and dragging out the words would make more sense and assuming that because the kids don’t look white, they don’t speak English.