Librarians in popular culture
"[6] It is also evident in films like Foul Play which features a shy San Francisco librarian fall in love with a "goofy cop.
[7] These negative portrayals are in contrast with such more well-rounded characters, such as librarian Bunny Watson (played by Katharine Hepburn) who teaches Richard Sumner (played by Spencer Tracy) a few things about modern research methods in the movie Desk Set (1957)[9] and the no-nonsense "Marian the Librarian" (Shirley Jones) in the movie The Music Man.
[5][7] Librarians in film are usually ordinary people caught up in circumstances, rather than being heroes; likewise they are rarely villainous although they may have flaws, such as racism in Goodbye, Columbus.
[11] Goodson becomes involved in a fight over doing the right thing: in this case finding shelter for the homeless on a bitterly cold night.
[12] Alicia Hull (played by Bette Davis), is a small town librarian, who befriends young Freddie Slater (Kevin Coughlin) but is herself ostracized for refusing to remove a book on Communism from the public library during the height of the Red Scare in Storm Center (1956).
[13] The comedy film Tomcats (2001) features Heather Stephens as Jill, a seemingly shy, repressed librarian who leads a double life as a lifestyle (nonoccupational) dominatrix.
In Only Two Can Play (1962), Peter Sellers portrays a poorly paid and professionally frustrated Welsh librarian and occasional drama critic, whose affections fluctuate between glamorous Liz and his long-suffering wife Jean.
[7][10] Similarly, in the 1983 film, Something Wicked This Way Comes there is a librarian in a small town who is the only person other than the protagonists who wants to face "the mysterious leader of an evil carnival" and Madam Irma Pince in the Harry Potter film series who heads the library at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is fiercely protective of the books.
[19] Finally, the main character of The Mummy (1999) is a librarian named Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), who is clumsy and later moves away from her profession in the sequels.
The three films focus on a librarian (portrayed by Noah Wyle) who protects secret artifacts in the Metropolitan Public Library in New York.
Duties generally include reference, but may only show clerical tasks; however the amount of technology used by librarian characters has increased over time.
The drab and innocuous look of the stereotypical librarian is perfect for avoiding suspicion, while their research skills and ability to ask the right questions allow them to procure and evaluate the information necessary to solve the case.
For example, Jacqueline Kirby is drawn into the mystery in Elizabeth Peters' novel The Seventh Sinner (1972) due to her awareness of her surroundings.
Wearing the stereotypical bun, glasses, and practical clothes, together with an eccentrically large purse, she is self-possessed and resourceful, knowledgeable in a variety of fields and skilled at research.
[25] Also, the eponymous character in Garth Nix's Lirael (2001) is an assistant librarian whose curiosity about the library she works in leads her into trouble and whose research skills save her.
Allison Carroll in Jo Walton's Among Others serves as a mentor to the main protagonist and Madam Irma Pince is the librarian at Hogwarts during the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.
Madam Pince embodies many negative librarian stereotypes — she's controlling, intimidating, she shushes, and she values books over patrons.
For instance, in season 2 episode 6 ("Caged") of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a CBS show, actor Michael A. Goorjian plays Aaron Pratt, an autistic librarian who witnesses the death of a colleague.
In the episode titled "Quiet Please," a librarian at a city library shushes the protagonists and threatens to push them out if they make a sound.
The character wears old-fashioned clothes and spectacles, is intelligent and well-read although he dislikes computers, and is overly concerned with following regulations, although he later is given an opportunity to develop beyond these stereotypes.
[38] Hermann also states that the nine minutes in the first season of Hilda within a library setting makes a "strong impression," as it includes an episode featuring a special collections room.
Specifically, Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson, within the Litchfield Penitentiary with other women, is an outspoken librarian who is loyal, ambitious, and learned.
[16] Another review pointed to an animated web series, Too Loud, describing it as a show which those of all ages can enjoy, especially "its message about the value of libraries.
He argued that in this series a "special and magnificent library" is central, going beyond positive depictions in recent years, with the chief librarian as a Black woman named Clara Rhone, voiced by Harriett D.
[44] In the ever-popular Nickelodeon cartoon titled Avatar: The Last Airbender, an elephant-sized black owl by the name of Wan Shi Tong tends a towering library in the middle of the desert.
[45] The massively successful mature cartoon Bob's Burgers features a high-strung school librarian named Mr. Ambrose.
She worked to help young readers, giving their advice, saying things like "sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music.
[51] Wearing a suit, hair bun and glasses, the action figure sparked controversy, particularly for the button-triggered shushing motion.
[5][53] In modern times, the archetype of the "sexy librarian" has also begun to gain some traction, introduced in an effort to subvert the popular matriarchal image and make them more appealing to the average consumer.
The original librarian stereotype, which was superseded by the introduction of his prudish sister, was that of the fussy (white) male curmudgeon...Librarian stereotypes can be traced, in part, to cultural anxieties about the emergence of the profession...we can conclude that, despite being beloved by a number of prominent and not-so-prominent individuals, librarianship as we know it is often treated in popular culture as a low- status profession or not a profession at all...It is important to acknowledge that stereotype threat is at work within librarianship because of the raced, classed, and gendered reality of individual librarians' lives."
