The documentary “Through a Blue Lens” follows select drug addicts and police in the Eastside downtown of Vancouver. Even though the goal of this documentary was designed as a public service announcement to (for a lack of a better term) scare grade school students into not using drugs, the documentary also reinforces the stereotypes that are associated with drug addicts. It accomplishes this by showing the most grueling images and scenes of the day in the life of a drug addict life. At first this may seem like a smart and innovative way in which to keep kids off the streets and away from drugs but it also gives people who are addicted to drugs a very negative view due to the stereotypes attached to them. Such stereotypes portrayed in this documentary are that they are wasting their lives away, one of the police officers went to the extent of saying that the addicts were “pathetic.”
This would not be the first time the media has reinforced stereotypes of certain groups especially marginalized groups, it also happened during the time of the Pickton case since many of the victims were drug addicted prostitutes. Because of what the papers were saying the public were making wrong interpretations of these marginalized people due to the fact that they were prostitutes and drug addicts. People were saying that this was their fault and that they had put themselves into the situation they were in. This caused the public including the police to pay no sympathy or attention to the problem at hand, which led to the number of deaths to dramatically increase before anything was done. Examples like these make it abundantly clear that when the media catches onto a story on marginalized groups which has negative connotations, the stereotypes about them are made even more obvious and clear then they already are.
The media’s reports on Pickton’s case are an accurate example of misinterpretations of marginalized groups. What is further important is that the constant reinforcement of stereotypes in society hinders these marginalized groups to move on from these assumptions about them, and hinders their ability to restore a sense of self. Instead, their collective identities seem to be controlled by the media as the groups have no agency like the mainstream media has. The question is, when will this ever turn around? The media is so caught up in attracting mass attention and succeeding their business that they do not consider what effects they cause upon identities in general. The mainstream media is obviously aware that they have so much power to influence society……why not step up and use this advantage to change the world? When will the media give up their selfish value in business?