Representation Of African American Films

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

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.

Racism and discrimination continue to be a prevalent problem in American society. Although minorities have made significant strides toward autonomy and equality, the images in media, specifically television, continue to misrepresent and manipulate the public opinion of blacks. It is no longer a blatant practice upheld by the law and celebrated with hangings and beatings, but instead it is a subtle practice that is perceived in the entertainment and media industries. Whether it’s appearing in disparaging roles or being negatively portrayed in newscasts, blacks continue to be the victims of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the majority. The viscous cycle that is the unconscious racism of the media continues to not only be

Film is one of the most influential means of communication and a powerful medium of

In early film many African American actresses portrayed roles as mammies, slaves, seductresses, and maids. These roles suppressed them not allowing them to show their true talents. Although they had to take on these degrading roles, they still performed with dignity, elegance, grace and style. They paved the way for many actresses to follow both blacks and whites. These women showed the film industry that they were more than slaves, mammies, and maids. These beautiful actresses showed the film industry that they are able to hold lead parts and even carry the whole cast if need be. Phenomenal actresses such as Hattie McDaniels, Pearl Bailey, Ethel Waters, Nina Mae McKinney, and Dorothy

In the final chapter of his 2012 book, Winn aggregates his analyses of these films and states that every one of them presents African Americans as being inferior to whites in all ways and as being a threat to white authority and society. Winn (2012) ends his discourse with a discussion in critical media pedagogy, and states, “By studying how racist ideologies affected specific media productions in the past, we can better learn how to consume, interrogate, and interpret current media and use that understanding to encourage change” (p.128). “Therefore, now, more than ever before, people need to be able to understand, question, challenge, and evaluate media for themselves. One way to address this need is through critical media literacy” (p. 129). Critical media literacy can help audiences understand how underlying ideologies can effect communications of institutions and shape their views of the world.

This essay will look at two main points on representation, in a pre-determined ten-minute clip of Shaft, firstly cultural representation which in this case is focused on the emergence of the Blaxploitation (Black-exploitation) genre. Then the representation of women and how their gender status affects the film’s narrative, and characters and how the film portrayed both points.

African American have been represented in American society for generation in discussion of white realism. The discussion over the representation of African Americans in media have been argumentative for era. One of the most struggles occurring is racism in the media. African Americans are one of the most common racial groups stereotyped against. The stereotypes of African Americans have been around since slavery. The following stereotypes was used to vindicated the enslavement of Africans. The African American stereotyped that been around since slavery are Jim crow, Mammy, uncle tom, jezebel, mulatto and pickaninnies.

For many years, African Americans have been depicted as ghetto, ignorant, violent and many times relentless. Though they have been shown in these ways, there are some times when they are shown to be responsible, creative, hard working and intelligent. These variables make me think about what the media could be trying to convey.

America’s current political events and values are reflected through the film industry’s portrayal of superheroes. Post 9/11, it has become increasing clear that the issues and values held dear to most Americans are now being portrayed on the big screen. Fighting back at the “enemy” and consolidating as one were some of the messages in the background of superhero films after the attacks on the twin towers. More recently it has become apparent that the USA is becoming more divided; just like the superheroes that have been on the silver screen in recent months. America’s allowances for overly violent superheroes and everything said superheroes stand for, are simply just reflections of their own socio-political views and values. It is this allowance that has lead to the rise of Donald Trump.

In popular culture, specifically American television, representations of African Americans often rely upon an array of stereotypes. Representation is the production of meaning through language or signifying systems. In media, the dominant stereotypes of African Americans include the sapphire, the coon, the jezebel, and the buck. These stereotypes originated during the minstrelsy period of the 1830s from white actors in blackface. While classic Black stereotypes originated during this period, they have carried on past the stage onto the small screen today.

During the course of history, African Americans have played a major role in the enhancement of film and television production. African Americans have enhanced not only the technology of television and film but also enhanced the story line of American Television. As contributors, African Americans have made the kind of changes that affected television and the outside world. These shows were made to relate to the average African American family. However, over the past few years, the so called demographic of “relatable’’ television has been questioned on it’s positive or negative affect society. A controversial question that has been discussed is, “Is social media, television, and film creating positive and relatable messages? Or is it

In cotemporary America, cultural text such as films form many conceptions of race, gender and social for the people who watch them. This paper argues four Key and Peele skits “Substitute Teacher”, “I Said B*tch”, “Phone Call” and “Proud Thug” to challenge and complicate gender norms by highlighting the ways in which gender, race and class are performed in public and private settings. When you critically examine these texts there are stereotypes that underlay the film that are obvious, but are portrayed as comical. The intersectionality between gender, race and class are often addressed in many of these short skits. Often the films or skits engage in patriarchy and the main characters are men. In order to further examine the topic first

The way White people are portrayed can vary according to what part of the world they are from. Most of the time when they talk about White people from the South they get referred to as dumb.

The fact that American Westerns end up all the way in Afikpo, Nigeria (even if their showing is on behalf of a greedy American tobacco company) perhaps speaks to the universality of these themes we grow up with. For some, like Elvis, the reinforcement of good versus evil began in church; “these films showed another aspect of that eternal war Father Macgettrick told them was being fought daily between the fallen angels led by Lucifer and the army of Christ” (149). There is a sense good and evil cannot mix – rather than believe John Wayne or Actor are both complex, morally ambiguous characters, when either one acts in a way that complicates their original archetypes, the archetypes just swap; “Dr. No could change from Actor to John Wayne…and James Bond could become Actor” (147). Yet, while this seems to speak to a strict good