My favorite television show right now is NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Service). I’m drawn to the forensics, drama and investigative procedures that the show brings. It is very entertaining with Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon) as the lead Investigator of a team of agents; and while this drama is entertaining in the investigative areas it is also comedic with the personalities that make up the other agents on Gibbs team.
Synopsis
The show consists of a team of agents; Senior Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) who is a former homicide detective from Baltimore. He is an avid cinemaphile who often quotes movies during the investigation which leads to Gibbs smacking him on the back of the head, to get him back on track.
Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) is a Mossad Agent on Gibbs team, she is fluent in five languages, but the language barrier concerning clichés still gets in the way which gives a bit of comedic relief during the drama as well as her ability to get under DiNozzo’s skin. DiNozzo and David are always competing and she is a most capable adversary especially in combat situations due to her Mossad training.
Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray); is the techno geek of the team. He attended M.I.T. and love on-line gaming. DiNozzo refers to McGee as probie to remind him that he is of lower importance in the ranks. He has since been promoted to full field agent, however that doesn’t stop DiNozzo from calling him probie, McGeek and various other names other than his real one, this camaraderie also lends a comedic flare to the show.
Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs is an ex-marine with an unhappy past, due to his family be killed, he hardly ever talks about them. He is a strong willed investigator who is very versed in interrogation tactics and has little patience’s for rules. He leads his team with precision, always challenging them; the team will know pretty much what he is going to ask of them before he gets it out “right on it Boss” is said a lot. He reports to the Director who happens to be an ex-romantic partner, who gives him as much latitude as she can, but also lets him know that she is the boss.
Director Jennifer “Jenny” Sheppard is in charge of NCIS, she is the big women up stairs that Agent Gibbs has to answer to. Agent Gibbs and Director Sheppard use to be romantically involved years ago when they were both agents, but she will only act on a profession level with him as his boss. You can feel the sexual tension between them sometimes, when Gibbs is trying to get his way, however she holds her own against him. She is very strong and committed to the safety of her agents.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum) is the very capable, examiner who accompanies the team to the field for body retrievals. He is a bit quirky in the sense that he talks to the corpse while he is performing the autopsies. He and Gibbs have be friends for thirty years and “Ducky” knows Gibbs better than anyone, which strains their relationship from time to time because Gibbs won’t talk about his family to get help.
Last but not least there is the Forensic Specialist Abigail “Abby” Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) who to look at her your first impression would be that this girl is not capable of anything but gothic fashion. Abby is probably best known for her gothic way of dressing and her many tattoos. She is always drinking Caff Pow!; sort of like a Big Gulps with lots of caffeine which members of the team supply her with to get her buzzing all over the place. She is highly capable and well versed in forensics in her lab; Gibbs relies on no one more than her for answers. She often works with McGee, who secretly has a crush on her, and they are very rarely stumped by the evidence presented to them (Morrison).
Hidden Stereotype
In my selection for favorite television show, I believe there are a few hidden stereotypes. Let’s take Agent Gibbs for starters; I feel his character is stereotypical in the manly sense because he is your typical strong, masculine, secluded, quiet, in control, ex-marine, and a mans-man. I think that because of our culture, when we visualize a marine, in our minds it is this guy; the guy that is going to keep you safe from harm, so what is necessary to get the job done and put his life on the line. This is not necessarily a bad stereotype, I’m glad that the marines do what they do, and if the media wants to always glorify that by type casting strong men then that’s okay, because it gets the word out about the people who fight for our freedom. Are there women marines out there who are getting cheated so to speak, by this stereotype, are they fighting along side the men; yes. But, I believe in this scenario the good out ways the bad.
Another stereotype in my television show that is pretty obvious at first glance would be the character of Abby. She is dressed in spiked boots, usually dressed all in black, listening to punk rock, with jet black hair and many tattoos. When you first see Abby you instantly think gothic girl, punk rocker, hard core, maybe not so smart otherwise why she would dress that way. All of these stereotypes couldn’t be further from the truth as far as the show goes. This particular show gives this stereotype a positive spin, because it shows Abby as a techno-geek in the forensics lab, always bubbly and well versed in her field of study. She is very rarely stumped by evidence presented to her. Agent Gibbs relies on her for the correct answers and fast, she is an accepted and important part of his team. The way she dresses and the music she listens to doesn’t make the person.
Fulfilling Stereotypes?
Stereotyping isn’t fulfilling, it leads individuals to label others, because of the way they look, dress, talk, what they listen to, religious background and education, without letting the individual be just that; an individual. Just like Abby above, there is a whole lot more to her than meets the eye, but if you didn’t take the time to know her, you would miss it. In this case the stereotyping of Abby would be negative because based on her outer layer you would turn her away, you would assume she is one of those people who are nothing more than punk rockers that party and worship the devil or something to that affect.
Stereotyping emerges from the unknown; I believe people are generally afraid of what is different. If a group of people are different from you and I, well we have to put them in a less than excepted category because what if they are really better than us. Its fear that causes most of this, fear that we may all have to mingle and be one happy group, fear that the punk rocker in the gothic get-up is just as qualified as I am in my blazer and loafers. Fear causes a lot of problems in our society and culture; we really need to get over it, but it’s hard since a lot of these preconceived stereotypes come from our childhood. We really need to break the circle of stereotyping with our kids and family, let them form their own opinions and hopefully they will become more accepting of individuals.
Summary
Stereotyping is used now more than ever in advertising, use to it was the Marlboro Man, he was that rugged, cowboy type who smoked and you just wanted to be him if you were a man and if you were women you wanted him. Now, it is the drinking ads; you see the men who are having the time of their lives drinking with beautiful women, nice cars and grand houses. Or the ad with the tailgaters drinking and having fun with all of their buddies. The message is have a great time with all of your friends, get the girls and a buzz with our product. Makeup ads for women are geared that same way; use our product and look like a super model. I try not to fall for it, but I don’t like wrinkles or gray hair so I sometimes find myself buying the products that I saw advertised. What can I say, the advertising giants know what they are doing.
