Diversity In All Pitches

            One of my recent favorite movies is, Pitch Perfect, which has a variety of racial diversities throughout the movie but it is predominantly Caucasian. As you can see in the movie poster ad below, there is a mix of racial diversities and this is important in the media because it gives the movie potential to be more relatable to different ethnic groups. I know when I saw a few Asians in this movie it did make me slightly more intrigued to see it just because I wanted to see how the Asian actors/actresses are progressing, plus I was interested to see how they would be portrayed in this movie.

Pitch Perfect has an equal balance of gender diversity throughout the movie with the added strength of girl power. Throughout the movie there is an ongoing battle between the two genders that makes for an interesting and entertaining dynamic. With a strong male Acapella group competing against the underdog female Acapella group, this movie did a well-done job of showing both sides in an equal manner without degrading either. The girl group especially promoted themselves as respecting women who were all about individuality and achieving their goals with confidence and reliance on themselves. This concept of gender diversity in Pitch Perfect is important in media because it will appeal more to both genders (hopefully) and is a nice change of promoting the strength of women instead of placing them in a degrading position. The movie clip below shows the girl Acapella group’s final winning performance that really showcases their strength as an all women’s singing group.

This movie definitely includes racial stereotypes such as playing upon the Asian girl, Lily, being the socially awkward and extremely quiet Asian stereotype. An example is a video clip shown below (you may have to turn up the volume to hear her).

            An Asian being socially awkward and shy is very stereotypical and it is extremely emphasized in this movie by having Lily barely audible throughout almost the entire movie. Another stereotype presented in this movie is having the African American character, Cynthia Rose, dressed in harder core clothing along with her ability to rap in the songs. Lastly, another stereotype I saw in this movie was having a good majority of the guys portrayed as selfish jerks who are against the all girl group. All of these stereotypes in the movie provided humorous entertainment but there are stereotypes in the end that categorize people into generalized and inaccurate groups. Stereotypes will be undeniably around forever but it is up to the media to monitor it enough so that it entertains instead of offends.