Kevin Everon Cinema

Matthew Hughey wrote “Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in ‘Magical Negro’ Films” in 2009 to dicuss the trend of progressive African-American representation called the magical negro. Hughey examined 26 films to understand race relations and how mainstream audiences interpret the films. He found that the magical negro are placed in subservient positions and can reaffirm the status quo by changing contemporary racism rather than showing evidence of racial progress. This literature piece is used to help describe the relationship between the majority and minority groups within the film, and

These stereotypes depicted “drug dealers, prostitutes, single mothers, and complacent drag queens” (Harris, 51). In the 1980s, African American filmmakers began to make a name for themselves. These films are “social commentaries, indictments of racism and depictions of ‘everyday’ American lives” (Harris, 51). Compared to the traditional representations of blacks and blackness, New Black cinema takes on this cultural intervention and the recoding of blackness. Harris describes this as “revising the visual codes surrounding black skin on the screen and in the public

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.

The concept art imitates life is crucial to film directors who express their views on political and social issues in film. In regard to film studies, race is a topic rare in many films. Like America, many films simply refuse to address this topic for various reasons. However, more recently, Jordan Peele’s 2017 box office hit Get Out explicates contemporary race relations in America. In the form of an unconventional comedy horror, Get Out is intricate in its depiction of white liberal attitudes towards African Americans. In short, Get Out suggests a form of covert racism existing in a post- Jim Crow era. Similarly, Eduardo Bonilla- Silva’s book Racism Without Racists acknowledges the contemporary system of racism or “new racism,” a system

While the 1970’s and 80’s marked a decline in movies featuring black actors and a lack of black directors, the mid 1980’s through the 1990’s invited a new generation of filmmakers and rappers, engaging with the “New Jack” image, transforming the Ghettos of yesteryears into the hood of today. A major director that emerged during this time was Spike Lee. According to Paula Massood’s book titled, Black City Cinema, African American Urban Experiences in Film, “…Lee not only transformed African American city spaces and black filmmaking practices, he also changed American filmmaking as a whole.” Lee is perhaps one of the most influential film makers of the time, likely of all time. He thrusted black Brooklyn into light, shifting away from the popularity of Harlem. By putting complex characters into an urban space that is not only defined by poverty, drugs, and crime, it suggests the community is more than the black city it once was, it is instead a complex cityscape. Despite them being addressed to an African American audience, Lee’s film attract a mixed audience. Spike lee’s Do the Right Thing painted a different image of the African American community, “The construction of the African American city as community differs from more mainstream examples of the represents black city spaces from the rime period, such as Colors…, which presented its African American and Mexican American communities through the eyes of white LAPD officers.”

Ethnic Notions : the 1987 film documentary by Marlon Riggs describes about the growth of African American cultural depictions through various caricatures and stereotypes which were used against African Americans.

The films represent the community and sometimes can alter how society think they should feel. Ramsey discusses “guiltsploitation”, which addresses the guilt associated with not following a certain cultural norm (Ramsey,311). The message of many films suggests that to prove that one is proud of their Black heritage they must live in ghettos, do crack and rap (Ramsey, 311). This representation creates a different message to the past and present youth—can I climb the corporate ladder and still be loyal to my race (Ramsey, 311)? Films have the power to create an image in society that makes it difficult for the African-American culture to feel comfortable going against this social norm. This article suggests that many African-Americans may avoid education, or a different social class because of this inner

In the fourth chapter of The Cultures of American Film, author Robert Kolker, indulges into the legacy of one of the most well-known writers, producers, and directors in early cinema – D.W. Griffith. Kolker dissects the cultural and racial implications of Griffiths most successful film, The Birth of a Nation, as well as, how Griffith impacted film. Griffith’s use of naturalism, parallel editing, and formal methods separated himself from other’s in the film business. We also get a look at how Oscar Micheaux responded to The Birth of a Nation, and became one of the first African-American filmmakers.

The Murder of Emmett Till is an incredible documentary about the harsh reality of life for African Americans in the U.S. in the 1950’s. The documentary does an amazing job of shedding light unto this terrible period of American history by showing it’s audience a very graphic example of this time period’s prejudice against African America. The Murder of Emmett Till focusses on a case in 1955 in which a 14-year-old African American boy was ruthlessly murdered for supposedly flirting with a white woman. The documentary has an incredibly powerful way of getting its message to the audience, by harnessing raw emotions. It gives the audience a series of short video clips and photos from the time period and the case itself, successfully integrates

Film and television, for example, have been notorious in disseminating images of racial minorities which establish for audiences what people from these groups look like, how they behave, and “who they are.” The power of the

Spike Lee’s satirical film, Bamboozled, serves as a critical overview of the heinous way in which African Americans have been portrayed in cinema and television since its conception. In many ways, black identity has been created on stages and reflected accordingly in the audience’s reality. I argue that the film’s title, Bamboozled, is a nod to the effect mainstream media has over its audience. Television, cinema, and advertising “bamboozle” the public into accepting the ideas that these platforms put forth.

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

Quentin Tarantino’s film Jackie Brown, released in 1997, challenges the pervasive stereotyping of not only blacks but specifically black women. Nowhere is the cinematic devaluation of African Americans more evident than in images of black women which, in the history of cinematography, the white ideal for female beauty has overlooked. The portrayal of black women as the racial Extra has been fabricated through many semblances in the history of American film. Film scholars and feminists alike have long been plagued with lament for the negativity and stereotyping that sticks with black women in American cinema. In this paper, I will argue that Jackie Brown highlights and stresses the racial variance of the female African American protagonist,

[1] Before I start this essay, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery in all its forms to be an oppressive and terrible institution, and I firmly believe that for centuries (including this one) bigotry is one of the most terrible stains on our civilization. The views I intend to express in the following essay are in no way meant to condone the practices of slavery or racism; they are meant only to evaluate and interpret the construction of slavery in film.

The weather is sizzling hot and tensions are slowly coming to a boil in this Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn neighborhood. Slowly but surely we see the heat melt away the barriers that were keeping anger from rising to the surface. The Blacks and the Hispanics own the streets the Koreans own the corner store and of course the Italians own the pizzeria, the Cops who happen to be all Caucasian, prowl the streets inside out, looking for anyone to harass. Toes are then stepped on and apologies are not made. Spike Lee creates the perfect set-up for a modern day in Bed-Stuyvesant. Without fail Spike Lee is transformed into an anthropologist. Spike Lee’s goal is to allow viewers to glimpse into the lives of real people and into a neighborhood they