Media Writing Lab

The “Dumb jock” a stereotype is widely known throughout our society. You may have seen this stereotype on a show, read it in a book, or watched it in a movie. The “dumb jock” stereotype is portrayed on many platforms of media. A great example is a show Blue Mountain State or BMS. BMS glamorizes the lives of players on a fictional Division 1 football program.  The players are portrayed to be unintelligent party animals and jocks. One of the main characters is Thad Castle, the superstar linebacker of the team, who loves women, mojitos, and cocaine. Thad has inferior, smart students do his schoolwork for him and do not go to class. This video will give you a better understanding of Thad Castle and the dumb jock stereotype. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FrRJ3T8DNw  Often times, football players are portrayed as bullies in certain shows. For example, in the show Glee, the football players throw red slushies on the nerds and “losers” of the school. This negative image of ...

By Chase Andries It is common when people think of a jock today, the majority imagine an athlete. An athlete who is successful in their sport, aggressive, violent, arrogant, unintelligent, dim-witted, and foolish; a powerful figure in their society who thinks they are untouchable and above everyone else. American film mirrors these same ideas and principles in our culture today. The characters that play the athletes regularly share the same characteristics as the “typical jock” we think of in our society. For example, in the movie, 17 again starring Zac Efron, is a character named Stan. Stan is the captain of the basketball team, a delinquent, and a bully who follows the stereotypes of being aggressive, unintelligent, and violent which is displayed throughout the film. Stan is clearly the athletic jock from start to finish, but there seems to be an underlying stigma that factors into his character the audience may not realize. In the movie , the main protagonist na...