Ethnicity.

 

Overview - The piece of media that I will be looking at is Breaking Bad. I will be specifically focusing on the episode 'One Minute' which is featured in the 3rd series. In this episode, Hank viciously beats up Jesse which leads to him being suspended from work and having his gun taken off him. Two Mexicans want to kill Walter as he was involved as the death of their cousin. As Gus has the most power out of everyone he is able to play with the mind of the Mexicans and convince them to kill the Hank. the DEA agent (drug enforcement agency) instead of Walter (as he was the one who actually pulled the trigger on their cousin.)

Gus (mixed-race) - A man from Chile, who immigrated to the USA. The first thing we know about him is that he is the owner of the chicken restaurant 'Los Pollos'. This automatically makes him fit within the stereotype of mixed-race/black men as they are normally associated with eating a lot of chicken.
Another thing about Gus is that he is the most powerful man in this episode. He is clearly respected and is able to deter the Mexicans from killing his associate and convincing them to kill someone who means nothing to them. This does not fit with the stereotype of black people, especially in America as in America they have always been generally perceived as weak e.g. they used to be the victim of very derogatory behaviour.

Mexicans - They come across as very evil people, even when one of them has the chance to shoot Hank (the DEA agent) dead, opts to go and get an axe instead as he muttered to himself that it was 'too easy'. This kind of fits to the American stereotypes of Mexicans as over there they are thought to commit illegal work as they pass through the borders illegally and find it hard to get proper jobs. They also are seen to live in a shack, this is another stereotype which is lived up to.

White people - In this episode the white people are shown as weak. This is because Walter is this target of being killed. Hank is shot numerous times and is thought to be dead at one point and Jesse is beat him leaving him unconscious on the floor. This does not fit the stereotype of white people at all as they are thought to be more powerful that black/mixed race people. Maybe, the writer has cleverly tried to flip the actually stereotypes round so that mixed race people are seen as more powerful than one people so that the American audience can see it from a different angle.