Counterstereotype

A counter-stereotype, reverse stereotype, or anti-stereotype is the reverse of a stereotype. Although counter-stereotypes arise in opposition to stereotypes, they may eventually become stereotypes themselves if they are too popular.

Spike Lee popularized the term magical negro, deriding the archetype of the "super-duper magical negro" in 2001 while discussing films with students at Washington State University and at Yale University.^[1][2]

Examples

• American popular literature in the 19th century contained stereotypical images of Black people as grotesque and servile. In protest, a counter-stereotype arose which showed Black people as graceful and wise.^[3]
• In the USA during the 1970s, in response to feminist criticism, advertising agencies chose to display counter-stereotypical images of women as sexually assertive and intellectual.^[4]
• In comic books, when the superhero began in the 1930s, he was an invulnerable, unalterably benevolent figure. However, a desire for increased dramatic potential led to a move away from this stereotypical character, until in the 1980s and 1990s, the counterstereotypical angst-ridden anti-hero had become so popular as to constitute a new stereotype.
• Michael Moorcock's character Elric of Melniboné—a tormented, sickly albino sorcerer with a demonic sword and a sizeable evil streak—was intended to be the polar opposite of the typical fantasy heroes of the time, who were almost universally muscular, Conan-like figures. As in the above example, Elric's success was such that he inspired an explosion of similar characters in popular fiction.
• Scott Adam's Dilbert featured a character called "Antina", created in response to allegations that Tina the Brittle Tech Writer was too stereotypical. Antina was, of course, considered to be too stereotypical.
• The noble savage myth, used by supporters or admirers of indigenous peoples, is the opposite of the usual stereotypes implied by the word "savage".

See also

• Affirmative action
• Conformity
• National Mental Health Anti-Stigma Campaign
• Overcompensation
• Political correctness
• Xenocentrism

References

1. ^ Okorafor-Mbachu, Nnedi (2004-10-25). "Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes". Strange Horizons. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20041025/kinga.shtml. Retrieved 2006-12-03. 
2. ^ Gonzalez, Susan (2001-03-02). "Director Spike Lee slams 'same old' black stereotypes in today's films". Yale Bulletin & Calendar (Yale University). http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v29.n21/story3.html. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
3. ^ The All-White World of Children's Books, Nancy Larrick, Saturday Review, September 11, 1965, pp. 63 ff.
4. ^ Madison Avenue versus The Feminine Mystique: How the Advertising Industry Responded to the Onset of the Modern Women’s Movement, Steve Craig, presented at the Popular Culture Association conference, San Antonio, Texas, March 27, 1997.