Stereotyping In Media

2026-05-04

I enjoy writing, I am not great at it but it is fun. And I only write fiction, I can’t even imagine writing non-fiction at this point. But fiction suits me, Fantasy comes the most naturally but sometimes I fall into modern day short stories and what not.

And one thing that I was thinking was lets say you want to make a story with a wise wizard and a young adventurer. Is the wizard old with a beard? Does he speak slowly and in riddles? Is the young adventurer bold and brash, swash buckling, and have a heart of gold?

Lets say we are trying to write a story with a family in a cottage? Does the man go out during the day with an axe and chop down trees? Does the mother make bread or pies? Does she care for the children during the day? Do the kids run around the house and the nearby area, fighting with sticks, stealing bites of food.

If I am writing a short story about a group of guys in WWII, are there a bunch of them, mostly white. One of them is scared, one is overly blood thirsty, one is trying to do the right thing, etc. etc.

I guess what I was trying to get to is when you are writing fiction do you have to follow stereotypes to some extent? It would be weird if the wizard is oddly young or doesn’t have beard. And I think the reason is that in stories you kind of want people’s exterior to represent their interior. A beard and white hair represent wisdom, I think so does speaking slowly for some extent, walking with a stick, etc. And so the wizard acts wise but also looks wise.

Same with the young warrior, they are innocent when their story begins, they have a twinkle in their eye and they are going to save the world. They are quick with their sword, they are strong and fast, they are good looking and perhaps charming. So again, I guess it would just odd if a young warrior had a beard or a limp or was very very weak.

And I do think this reality a bit, on average older people are wiser. But one thing about reality is that stats and individual are different, there are a ton of old people with no sense at all. And so it is sometimes fun to bend of play with stereotypes in media I think. The Hamilton play where all of the characters rap and are black, very fun. In most of the Miyazaki films the adventuring protagonist is a brave young lady. In Terminator 2 (and Terminator 1) both the women and the men are violent brave badasses. These are just interesting choices that are kind of against the grain, against the stereotype.

So when I sit down to write something (or read or watch something) I do notice, do I go with the stereotype or against it. What is the story I am trying to tell, what would make sense with the story, what is a good choice. If I am going outside the stereotype I try to find a good reason, or at least some reason why we go around it.