Female Characters In The Film Imitations To Life By Douglas Sirk

When thinking about black actresses in the 1930s through 1950s, a few names may come to mind like Nina McKinney, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, and Hattie McDaniel. However, many other black actresses have graced the big screen including Suzette Harbin, Theresa Hams, Ethel Moses, Mae Turner, and Hilda Simms just to name a few. Many of these talented actresses differ in their career paths, but they all endured some form of racism and sexism which made it laborious for them to thrive in their careers. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark represents the hardships of black actresses during the 1930s through 1950s. The protagonist, Vera Stark, persistently tries to prove to the people around her that she has star quality for show business. However, she does not reach her potential because of her race. Although she obtains some gigs, the gigs demean black women during that time. The offensive parts for black actresses vary from mammy to slave woman to seductress. The following roles offered black actresses’ opportunities to one day acquire star making roles. Unfortunately, those roles did not apply to black actresses. Only white actors and actresses experienced that fortuity. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark exposes Hollywood’s misconduct of black actresses and further explains the lack of black representation today. Indeed, roles for black actresses have increased since the 1930s through 1950s; however the roles have become more stereotypical like the obnoxious black woman, the token black

In the “Imitation of Life” and in Nella Larsen’s novellas, Quicksand and Passing, the issue of passing is presented and developed. In Passing, regarding Irene, “She wished to find out about this hazardous business of ‘passing,’ this breaking away from all that was familiar and friendly to take one’s chances in another environment, not entirely strange, perhaps, but certainly not entirely friendly” (Larsen 157). Both versions of the film and both novellas portray black women who come face to face with the act of passing. In the 1934 version of the “Imitation of Life,” the film deals with passing in terms of a lighter skinned girl named Peola while in the 1959 version, the lighter skinned girl’s name is Sarah Jane. The issue of passing in the film and literature remains relevant in the parallels and experiences found amongst Helga Crane in Quicksand, Irene and Clare in Passing, and Peola and Sarah Jane in the film adaptations. The black female characters struggle with the perks and acceptance allotted through passing in white society and the appreciation and understanding of their racial backgrounds.

“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

The film Bamboozled is an attempt to reappropriate black stereotypical presences in film. Several of the characters correspond with the classical and enduring stereotyped roles such as the Uncle Tom and the coon, however their utilization within the film’s satirical context allows for a historical exploration of the stereotypes as well as a reconfiguration of their meaning in terms of contemporary relevance. Through an analysis of the central figures Peerless Dothan, Manray, and Womack, one can identify the ways in which the film allows for them to transcend and redefine their roles. Additionally, the figures of Sloan and Dunwitty provide further commentary about black cultural identity and white hegemony in the twenty first century.

According to Tukachinsky, Mastro, and Yarchi, prior to 1930, the role of Blacks on screen were seen involving mostly in criminality and idleness (540). That role still persists until the present, with Blacks usually have to withstand to “longstanding and unfavorable media stereotypes including sexually provocative females and aggressive male thugs” (Tukachinsky 540). 1970’s movies such as The Mack, Black Caesar and Coffy have reinforced this stereotypic image of the black community. The

My film analysis is about the film Love & Basketball. This film includes some examples of what we have talked about in class. Controlling images and black masculinity are two topics that come to mind when I watched this film. Controlling images are images in which hold black women into four categories: “mammies, matriarchs, welfare recipients, and hot mommas”. In the Black masculinity case, Mark Anthony Neal’s “New Black Man” brings up Black Masculinity when he talks about the “strong black man.”

The film industry’s portrayal of African American people consists of countless stereotypes and inaccuracies. These depictions lead to an innumerable amount of misrepresentations about the African American community. As the latest wave of black films begins to dawn, the clearer the images become of a collective people. Using my personal experiences as a mixed woman of color, as well as including my academic strengths and goals, and points of view regarding various black films, the content of this paper will examine the representation and stereotypes that can be seen in African American Hollywood.

The film Ethnic Notions present how the media have exaggerated black American’s Image throughout centuries. For example, TD Rice a white comedian who performed in blackface (Ethiopian

Harmful racial stereotypes have plagued the entertainment industry since blackface minstrel shows began in New York in the early 1800’s. Although the structure of minstrel shows changed over time; the images, blackface, and the caricatures of blacks continued. Early Hollywood films sustained the racist tradition of white actors performing in blackface with numerous silent movies that included white actors playing non-white characters in a particularly stereotypical fashion. Eventually non-white actors were allowed to play themselves in film, however they were cast in extremely prejudiced roles that degraded themselves like “the coon”, “the tom”, “the black buck” or “the mammy” for African American actors, and “the bandito”, “the greaser”, “Latin lover” or the “spitfire for Latino actors. Although there are some productive ambiguities within some of these roles, they are ultimately damaging.

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

This theme closely mimics early nineteenth century’s theme of displacing women outside of the workplace or undermining the precedence of domestic roles done within the home. Racialized heteronormativity is also evident in this film causing history to repeat itself when Perry uses her privileged white gaze to hypersexualize the black man, referred to as the “hunk kid’s briefs,” redirecting the infamous male gaze back at its typical male spectator in a patronizing manner. Perry’s gaze towards this man of color is just as harmful as a white male’s because her pale, white skin along with her privileged perception of the world, robs this man of his subjectivity, an act that would constitute death for the black man in its reversal. Unfortunately, this sole character of color in the video is used to as an effortless attempt to include nonwhites in the participation of this campaign, despite the fact that black men, not women, finally gained voting rights in

The argument that I have came across in my research that I do not believe has been thoroughly investigated is the need to demean or shed a harsh tone on women of color in film. For example, women of color usually play the baby momma or some sort of outcast or victim. In this paper, I am going to go over the

Imitation of Life can indubitably be considered one of the most moving and influential films ever produced in American cinema history. Based on the 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst, the movie is directed by John Stahl and stars actresses Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers; it depicts the story of two widows, one black and one white, who meet, become friends, and work together to obtain their piece of the American dream for their daughters and themselves (Flitterman-Lewis, 325). The two women’s success is countered by despair that is ultimately the result of their daughters’ actions. One mother looses the man that she loves when she realized that her daughter has become her rival for his affection,

Imitation of Life (Hunter & Sirk, 1959) is a film that left a great impact on me. It is about two widows, Lora Meredith (Caucasian) and Annie Johnson (African American) a poor housekeeper, which Lora hires. Both mothers are fighting with two intolerable daughters, Susie 6-years old and Sarah Jane 8-years old (light-skinned), which is by far the worse, neurotic and obnoxious, has a problem with being black. Sarah Jane spends the remainder of the film passing as white, working to her advantage, due to the laws and social repression of the time. While Annie experiences the depths of a mother’s love, heartache and shame of not being accepted by her daughter; Lora, ignores her daughter in her single-minded quest for fame.

Contrary to public perception, Raisin sought to convey “the essence of black people’s striving and the will to defeat segregation, discrimination, and national oppression” (10). However, it did so through the use of characters that defied the predominant stereotypes and communicated to a black audience, images that promoted a sense of pride and dignity in being African American.