African-American In Motion Pictures

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

“It is said that seeing is believing but that depends on the source vision”. If one does not experience first-hand they see through another medium which is often film and television. Film is one of the reasons black culture and the black experience is misunderstood and filled with fabricated beliefs. African Americans have been involved in Hollywood films since film earliest forms in the early 20th century. In these early films African Americans was showed in a damaging unpleasant way. African American filmmakers have been are emancipating the black image from Hollywood’s depiction of Blacks. They are challenging the stereotypes and destroying the view of the singular black experience. Black are becoming more involved in the

In today’s movies after all the integration and quest to level out the superiority, the social dominance of the white folks is still present in the film industry. For example, in the movie The Bodyguard, Whitney Huston and Kevin Costner live together in perfect harmony, despite their racial differences. In todays movies when they want to show tension between the races the Africans Americans are generally grouped with criminal behavior while on the

American actor Anthony Mackie once said “There are a lot of limitations and stigmas that are placed on young actors, specifically young black actors.” You have probably seen black male actors play the leading role of a drug addict, drug dealer, abusive husband or a even a thief. Although they do get a chance to be displayed on the media, they more often than ever are represented or viewed as the antagonist. Why? Because they are set up according to certain limitations in which they must obey. The lack of accurate representation on black actors in the media today is the result of prejudice and racism occurring in society. Racism and prejudice which are demonstrated in the films directed by Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever.

Black women have never “had it easy” or “had it made” when it comes to the entertainment business. Hollywood has always been white-washed when it comes to the direction they wanted to go in terms of actors for their movies. Most roles that are casted are for white women and men, and the black actors/actresses are given whatever is left. It is truly not fair at all. When black women are given the opportunity to embody a traditionally white role, they are nothing short of phenomenal. This makes one wonder why they are still given supporting roles. African-American women have struggled to gain promising roles in Hollywood, which has hurt their acting careers and affected their lives.

African American Portrayal in Hollywood All throughout the twentieth Century, minorities have made huge steps towards self-sufficiency and balance in American culture. These advances are a piece of our identity as Americans, yet it appears they have not completely invaded the aggregate entire of American culture. African Americans for decades had to endure insidious and egregious suffering, as well as being oppressed. It is upsetting that African Americans are still being portrayed on screen through the racial ideologies of white directors. In Hollywood, they are still portraying African Americans as Stereotypical, unequal, and domestic individuals.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

Despite there being more black actors and stories about black people, they are the same stories and they are stereotyped. Black men have been able to escape some stereotyping by having multi-faceted features within their character. Black women, on the other hand, have not been successful in escaping stereotypes. As of recently, African American women have a significant presence in popular

Redefining Black Film by Mark A. Reid is the book I’ve selected for the mid-term reading report. This book is an eye opener learning experience as well as a beginning guide to understanding African American film, filmmaking, actor/actress and directors. Mark A. Reid discussed the challenges and obstacles African Americans faced during the turn of the century up and through the civil rights movement of the Sixties including the focus on feminism in black cultural production . Redefining Black Film fits in the history of filmmaking as it relates to the ground breaking movements of African Americans in film as well as production process. The acceptance by white society of African Americans in film was a major part of this book as African American

The amount of black cinema breaking through at that time is astonishing. Hip-hop, and white audiences’ interest in it, fed into the movement. Rappers and musicians transitioned into film as actors like actresses Ice Cube, Ice-T, Tupac Shakur, Queen Latifah Janet Jackson. It wasn’t just youthful “hood dramas”, Black Cinema changed television. Black tv show series came out starting mainly in the 90 such as Moesha, A Different World, Family Matters, Kenan and Kel, Martin, Queen Latifah’s Living Single, Sister Sister and Malcolm & Eddie, In Living Color, The Fresh prince of bel air and

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, a play written by Lynn Nottage, delves into the complexities of the African American struggle while trying to gain equality the arts. As with all other facets of American culture blacks also had to fight not only to be a part of the theater circuit but once they were allowed to participate they then struggled to be taken seriously or to gain respectable roles. Racism in the film industry was just like racism in all other industries; during the 1930s when blacks were given roles in films or plays they were usually deduced to the parts of maids, butlers, servants, nannies or any other position that would be of service to their white counterparts in movies. In this play Nottage introduces the character Vera Stark

Despite trying a couple different things through his career his biggest success was being an actor and that is what he will continue to do in the

In a study of 414 films and television series, only 33 percent of all characters were women, and only 28 percent were of racial minority status (Associated Press). Casting diversely in entertainment has been an issue for years and has recently spawned many controversies such as the 2016 Oscar Controversy where an outrage occurred due to a lack of minority Oscar winners. Many cultures and races fell underrepresented and cast aside by film and television. The entertainment industry should cast more diverse actors because it increases viewership, provides a broader perspective, and creates a more realistic setting.

In the 19th and 20th century, Hollywood tended to avoid using African American actors due to the perception that this would lead to racial tension. Clarence Muse, the first African American to star in a major film, wrote a book that considered 'The Dilemma of the Negro Actor. ' In it, he argued that African-American performers were caught in a trap; 'there are two audiences in America to confront, ' he wrote, 'the white audience with a definite desire for buffoonery and song, and the Negro audience with a desire to see the real elements of Negro life portrayed (Muse 1934). ' However, the most

From the very beginning of the early stages in American cinema, African Americans had a presence on the silver screen. The twentieth century created a new era of cinema that consisted of films produced for and targeted to an all-Black audience. “Race films” which existed in the United States for over thirty years (1913-1948), were films produced by African Americans that focused on Black themes and highlighted the talents of African American directors, producers, scriptwriters, and actors.