I have a chip on my shoulder and I don’t deny it. There is no point really. I know that there is a huge inequality and my ‘chip’ is very simply a result of that. I actually “have chips on both of my shoulders and they keep me well balanced!” (I like this statement but as it happens I did not come up with it so I put it in inverted commas: unfortunately, I cannot remember where I heard it so am unable to give any references ).

Being an outsider is a tremendous disadvantage and even my friends who migrated from one English speaking country to another have confirmed that it is not easy to try and fit in. There is always someone ready to point out to you that you are  from the nation that in the past had wronged you or something similarly divisive. It is even more disadvantageous if you come from a nation that is considered: uncivilized,  crude, less developed and in general less. The only evidence to support that is anecdotal but once in the literature, on the news or stated by a politician there is no way to erase it from people’s memory and there will always be someone who will use these arguments, true or not, to prove their point.

I sometimes wonder if anyone except for me has noticed, and I notice these things thanks to the chip on my shoulder, that in most American movies and TV series, not so much is English as of late but still, the protagonists are always the people whose names clearly suggest their western European origin. All the antagonists or as children call them ‘baddies’ have names and accents suggesting Eastern Europe origin, especially when it comes to corrupt cops or coppers, or especially unintelligent and very primitive criminals who usually get caught and have their hind parts kicked by their more sophisticated and better developed in every way adversaries. There is also another group of villains that holds a special place in the ‘pantheon’ of cinematographic stereotypes. They are the ‘baddies’ of German and Scandinavian origin! They are complicated characters that have to be feared and admired at the same time! They are mentally advanced and give the protagonists the most trouble but succumb in the end to the superior Anglo ‘race’ (just a little note – these are merely the stereotypes observed on TV).

Finally, we come to the group that is the most misrepresented and treated with the most disrespect in most films and on TV. These are people of colour. If you have ever looked closely and actually thought about it then you know what I’m talking about. In the past it was of course much worse. If the crude and unsophisticated villain was not an Eastern European character then it was a person of colour, most often than not, a young black man. Today they might claim that things have changed and both film directors and script writers are casting black people or other minority representatives in the most positive and important roles. Perhaps, but they still have not got rid off the old way of thinking and for one positive role there is at least one negative in the same movie or episode of a series.

Why did I get so hung up on movies and TV series? In the world that we live in for many people what they watch on TV, online or in the cinema is the only ‘education’ they get. The pictures of other countries, nations and cultures they have in their heads come from a source that used to show women as sexual, dependent on men, irrational, clueless creatures, who had to be told what to do every minute of every day. Which brings me to the other chip on my other shoulder.

As a woman I have heard many ridiculous things said to me. ‘Laugh like a girl, a girl shouldn’t laugh like that.’ or ‘Don’t be too competitive, boys don’t like girls like that.’ When I expressed my opinion a few years ago to my male friend that jobs that are predominantly done by women are paid significantly less, he said he didn’t think so. Of course not! He is a man! He never had to think about it and feel underprivileged because of some ancient stereotype that still prevails in so many minds… Well actually there are a few stereotypes that ruin boys lives too but it is still not nearly as bad as for girls and women so I am not going to spend time dwelling on it as this article is about the chips on my shoulders and not someone else’s.

I have not exhausted the topic of minorities misrepresented in cinematography but I touched only on the subject. If you feel that you would like to add or comment something please write to me.

P.S. ALL THE BEST IN 2018 !!!