Role Of Mammy In Gone With The Wind

At this time period, the mammy image served the political, social, and economic interests of mainstream white America as proof that blacks -- in this case, black women -- were contented, even happy, as slaves. It was true, Pauline did feel happy working for the white family. Although, her motives are contrary to popular belief. It is there and there only that she feels as if she is a part of something valuable. The uncompromising perpetuation of white ideals, formed a clear difference between her and others in her mind.

The second mythology placed on black women was that of Mammy. ”Mammy was the woman who could do anything, and do it better than anyone else.” (White, 47) Mammy was basically the super nanny of the plantation who lived in the house, she would oversee the kitchen, manage the household and at sometimes raised the white children. Mammy was also so respected that she often served as friend and advisor to the master and mistress. (White, 48) Mammy was often called around the clock to and was expected to be available for assistances and nursing at anytime. From the chapter it could even be concluded that Mammy was asexual, maternal, and virtuous with nonexistent sexuality, the complete opposite of Jezebel. The Mammy mythology is as misleading as the Jezebel image. The image

Minstrel performers where as the film described, a group of white Caucasians that would perform with black face paint and mock African Americans. This form of entertainment grew popular and provided one of the strongest depiction of the Sambo. Right next to the Sambo was the Zip Coon, a dandy, and a buffoon, a Zip Coon would attempt to imitate whites. But with poor grammar and with little to no intelligents the Zip Coon's attempts proved to be a nothing more then a racist mockery. Therefor creating a generalization of Stupidity with in the African American population and creating a notion of Racial inequality. Also with the Sambo and Zip Coon was the Mammy. The mammy is described and viewed as a jolly, obese, African American women, the strongest Mammy depiction was first evident in the film Judge Priest in 1934. The Uncle figure was depicted in similar nature as the Mammy but in male form and a depiction called the Pickaninny provided a generalization of silly and worthless African American Child.

All African-Americans have been portrayed in stereotypical roles since their arrival into American society for the entertainment and amusement of others. Many people find it difficult to appreciate the diversity of the African American women. So instead of trying to do this, they create identities based on negative stereotypes. There are several negative stereotypes associated with the African American woman. The Mammy archetype is the one chosen to be analyzed in this essay. Collins described the mammy as “-the faithful, obedient domestic servant. Created to justify the economic exploitation of house slaves and sustained to explain Black women’s long-standing restriction to domestic service…” (72) She is commonly seen trying to soothe

“ Some of these early productions have racial themes which reorganize the world in such a way that black heritage is rewarded over white paternity; they are schematic renunciations of the prevailing order of things in white American society where, historically, the discovery of black blood meant sudden reversal of fortune, social exclusion, or banishment.” (Gaines, P.3) Within the movie the amount of mistruths about African Americans was sad. Within the movie you notice that the blacks were always or seem to be yelling, acting uncivilized and doing

Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race. Even [if] the book or play is written by a Negro, they still [would] not like it” (Henry). In addition, John Wallace believes that the word “nigger” is so offensive that he rewrote the novel without the word “nigger.”

Patton, 1993). Hence, the Mammy in the white household is seen as an intelligent servant to the white family, solving wisely and even god-like every duty she has to fulfill. Unsurprisingly, she constantly balances between the white and the black community, being a spokesman for the black minority (cf. Atkinson 2004, 2). Although the black servant is a slave within a white household, the Mammy is portrayed as being content with her way of living, having a satisfying master-servant relationship and feeling not inferior, but rather seeing herself as a member of the family (cf. Jewell, 1993: 38). In acquiescence with Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, the image of the Mammy has been applied to create an atmosphere of racial harmony within the slave system (cf. 2008: 13). Hence, the role of the Mammy in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century is established in effort to create an image of the Mammy contrasting to the stereotypical image of the African American slave, who is inferior to the white

The movie's success depends on using dated stereotypes: "angry black woman," "thuggish black man," and "innocent" white women. White men,

If a movie of this sort had such an emotional impact on me, it is no wonder people embraced these ideas back then. The use of new and popular media methods in those days was more than adequate in transferring the black inferiority ideas to the general public. Beginning at the early 19th century with the happy, dancing, toothless, drunken Negro with big, bold and white lips to the image of the mid 21st century African-American, the media has always used these images to convey inferiority. These images implied inherent traits in the black community. This whole community was represented in the new media as one who can not be collateralized and integrated in to society without being happily enslaved. Most of these images had great commercial values that made it all the more impossible for the rest of the nation not to embrace the African American stereotypes.

At the beginning of the movie, Mrs. O’Hara returns home with drama surrounding their overseer Jonas Wilkinson’s affairs. She promptly speaks with her husband and tells him to fire Wilkinson because he is supposedly the father of Emmie Slattery’s dead child. The reason for this shame cast on Wilkinson is revealed when the characters refer to Emmie as “that white trash Slattery girl.” The utilization of the term “white trash” refers to the fact that class played an essential role in the societies of the 1800s. People of the upper-class regularly refused to associate with the lower class. In fact, the main fear that the south had was that the north would “free the negroes and force amalgamation between them and the children of the poor men of the South.” LEP 15-5a

The movie that was analyzed was "The Hurricane" starring Denzel Washington. The movie was based on a true story, which was about a boxer who was wrongfully accused for murders he did not commit. Rubin Carter had been a victim of racial prejudice since the age of 11. From that time on he had been haunted by the racial prejudice that would take most of his natural life away from him. At the age of fifty he ended up going to the Supreme courts to get his trial heard and at this time he was set free. This is a short summary leaving a lot to be unsaid, but I believe the portrayal will tell most of the story in itself.

     The book held several different tactics to increase appeal, interest, and attention. Throughout the book, a series of attacks (on the characters and reader alike) made the element of surprise extremely valuable to the storyline. Controversy was introduced with the initiation of new KKK members in Ford County, something society today has a strong feeling about. By keeping relevant topics on the front line throughout the story, attention was rarely lost since no unpopular topics needed to be explained or elaborated on. By keeping with a theme that will surely last for decades, this book is one of the few that will last for years to come. And, unlike other books that include racism to provoke controversy, Grisham made sure to show both sides of the argument, in order to keep everyone happy. Although this is sometimes seen as a weak approach that could make a novel boring, he did it in such a way that the book’s luminosity could not be faded. A happy medium was reached, which is a direct sign of a world-class author.

Gone with the Wind is one of my favorite love stories of all time. Margaret Mitchell wrote the beautiful story in 1928 and first published in 1936. The book is one of the best-selling novels to this date. Shortly after the book was published, it sold over one million copies within six months, as well as being awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The book immediately caught the eye of a young producer named David O. Selznick who immediately purchased the film rights for $50,000. The movie was just as big of a hit as the novel. Gone with the Wind won ten Academy Awards out of thirteen nominations. By today’s box office records, after adjusting for inflation, Gone with the Wind is still the most successful film in box office history. (IMdB) This

Confirmation bias is noticed in the movie among the white folks. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions. The whites had the wrong perceptions of blacks for many years. Therefore, all the

Dunning’s work popularized derogatory terms such as “carpetbagger” and “scalawag.” Soon, his academic view of Reconstruction became the widespread view held by everyone around the country as movies such as Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind became popular. These movies portrayed Reconstruction as an era of tragic exploitation of the South by the North. They depicted blacks as being ignorant and pathetic savages, upholding the picture that Dunning first painted. In short, Dunning’s theory had a massive impact on the way the average citizen viewed black people and offered an excuse to continue to deny them their rights for years to come.