Stereotypes and Rituals

Stereotypes and Rituals


Stereotype and Rituals: A Brief Discussion
Rituals exist in society due to the need for people to connect to the past; so they know they have a history that has meaning and so they can fulfill the their responsibility to carry that history to the next generation.
Stereotypes exist as a shortcut in communication so that members may quickly verify who is being discussed and that they have the same opinion of the other group. Stereotypes can be negative but are not so by default, and are always full of ignorance and misunderstanding.
We see stereotypes in modern media and some may refer to the media as art but that description is purely subjective as I feel that art with stereotypes is simply bigotry or racism disguised as art.
I find that I am unable to shake the stereotype, passed from my elder family members, of minorities even though I know they are false, hurtful and demeaning. The echo of those I was taught to respect still reverberates in my head even though they were racists trained by previous racists. It is not an excuse, it is a fact that we each carry some of what our elders pounded into our heads forward and daily must filter the misconception out.
Marketers and advertisers play off of stereotypes and rituals for the same reason each of us do. With stereotypes and rituals in place the marketing gurus do not have to explain as much because the background stereotype/ritual information is already in the selected groups brain to be toyed with. The communication/stereotype shortcuts save companies money just as it saves us time in conversation. Society has an affinity to the use of stereotypes and rituals in advertising and marketing schemes because such schemes provide credence on a larger scale. If we see our beliefs played out on national TV or radio we receive reinforcement to our point of view.


Abstract

My favorite video game, Halo 2, provides an escape from the realities of daily life, an outlet for aggressive and tactical challenges in a harmless digital environment. Halo 2 worked its way into my favorite category over a period of years as it evolved from: Pathways into Darkness (1993) to Marathon, to Marathon 2, to Marathon Infinity, and finally into the Halo series with Halo 2 coming out in 2004. I learned a respect for the coders, the creators, the plot lines, the artistry and the time that it all took.
There is no Reality
Halo 2, provides an escape from the realities of daily life, an outlet for aggressive and tactical challenges in a harmless digital environment. Some people read, some watch TV, others go shopping, talk on the phone, collect stamps, and I and hundreds of thousands of other losers play Halo to unwind, escape, veg-out or what ever you want to call it from day to day life. I save the world from the continual onslaught of aliens that are always testing the outer defenses of the planet, the only planet, where civilization and all that is noble calls home.
Religious kooks call Halo an affront to Christianity because of the alien worshippers in it, they may be correct but that is a stretch.

PID
Halo 2 worked its way into my favorite category over a period of years as it evolved from: Pathways into Darkness (1993) to Marathon, to Marathon 2, to Marathon Infinity, and finally into the Halo series with Halo 2 coming out in 2004. With each new version of Pathways (PID) I was able to follow the evolution of the characters and the development of new plots which also increased my admiration for the developers. The original title seems, almost, omniscient as I look back over the years and see what I call a decline in the quality of life in America and a rise in the popularity of video games. The stereotype of the American kid laying around playing video games instead of getting out and doing something has its roots with games like PID and its children.

Respect and Ignorance
I developed a respect for the coders, the creators, the plot lines, the artistry and the time that it all took. I see the hard work in the Halo game and I realize why it is successful I also realize plenty of other games took hard work from other coders and those games were not successful and I understand the myth of hard work equaling success. I view Halo as a work of art due to the beauty of the landscape and the breadth of its game environment. Other for the most part view it as a game to be played by silly children with no real life and parents who do not care about them. The stereotype of kids turning into unmotivated, ADHD diagnosed, Ritalin eating, Adderall mainlining, vegetables certainly comes to mind and would be ignorant as most stereotypes are.

Concluding Thought
I can not pick out a stereotype in the game but it does have endless worship rituals that the aliens perform, which in a way make fun of religion as being silly groups of lunatics making war with other silly groups of lunatics because they believe something different. So I guess there is an obvious stereotype after all; the fanatical deity worshiper that loves rituals. We really can not get away from rituals and stereotypes as they are part of the fabric of our very existence to the point we may not even recognize them without education and reflective thinking. Which I gather is one of the points of this course.