Ok. So maybe not all Germans put their towels on their sun beds and perhaps not all blondes are actually dumb. But these stereotypes must come from somewhere, and when we see someone in a film who looks like you think they should we automatically assume it is true. But how many time do you go round Halifax or Huddersfield and see someone wearing a flat cap? Very rarely, in the same way that Germans don't all wear Lederhosen and eat sausages. The way we see things completely influences our judgement. For example a red traffic light. The Denotation of a red traffic light is the red light, and the connotation is that the drivers of a car should wait. Being from the western side of the world we know to associate red with danger, and therefore we know to stop. But in China red is almost always shown to be a Lucky colour. If a Chinese person visited the UK and drove through a red light it wouldn't be very lucky at all.
Red for danger? Or Red for luck?
It isn't just colours that we think about differently, it is items and photographs. For example when you see a picture of a sunrise or sunset you immediately think of relaxation, peacefulness and a very happy place. And when you see a rose you think of love and romance. When you see the picture of Arnold Schwarzengger in Conan The Barbarian you think of masculinity, a strong sense of pride and he fact that he is a hero. But when you think about it closer, 'Arnie' uses steroids in order to make himself look more masculine, however steroids actually make the genitalia smaller, which by many men is seen as a big thing about masculinity.
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