The Mammy As A Archetype

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.

She furthermore examines Perry’s lead black female characters through “semiotic film content analysis”, a method of getting a closer look into the theoretical language of films (Mckoy, 127). Her findings are very extensive and thorough in terms of assessing the number of occurrences of particular behaviors that are normally assigned to each stereotype. Of all films that involve the character of Madea, the characteristics of the mammy stereotype appears almost 200 times. For all of his films, coded behaviors of the angry black woman and the jezebel brings the total of negative stereotypes of black women to 998 times. Both studies ultimately reflect back onto Tyler Perry, as he continues to successfully blatantly diminish any positive aspects of black womanhood in front of a tremendously large

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.

Released in 2001, Disney Channel’s The Proud Family was a Black cartoon frequently watched by children who grew up during its airplay. Not vulgar or satirical, The Proud Family centered around Penny Proud and her family as she grew up through her years. As a child, I innocently watched this show, but picked up on unintended implications based off of the character’s skin color. The main character Penny was a lighter skinned girl, who appeared to possess “more Eurocentric phenotypic characteristics (Steele),” exhibited more intelligence, wealth, and virtue, as opposed to her darker skinned best friend, Dijonay, who was associated with deviance and sassiness, while speaking with a more Ebonic style of talking and possessed a more “ghetto” name. Although the show attempted to provide an accurate representation of a “traditional African American family,” it still regardlessly instilled these stereotypes of the African American community into my mindset, which were not disproved in my mind until later in my life (Steele).

The Mammy concept that many African American women professors, such as Andra, experience is a historical concept that many African American women has had placed upon them. In the chapter Andra mentions that as a professor at a PWI many of the white students and their experiences with African American women comes from their first

Along with the Mammy stereotype, the portrayal of Black women as being lecherous by nature is also a continuing stereotype. Lewd, hypersexual and loose are a few descriptive words associated with this stereotype (Thomas et. al, 2004). The Jezebel is everything the Mammy is not. Physically, she is seen as being a mixed-raced woman with Eurocentric features that those who fall into the physical characterization of the Mammy try to achieve. She has light-skin, less kinky hair, smaller lips and a more slender nose. Although the Jezebel fits the Eurocentric beauty standards, this image “branded Black women as being sexually promiscuous and immoral” (West, p. 294) due to the sexual violence committed against them during slavery. Hutchings et. al (2010) argues that, “explicit racial cues are not necessarily a thing of the past and under certain conditions they can be

Different archetypes have been used to represent black people through television, live performances, and film. These stereotypes consisted of “Coon”, “Mulatto”, “Mammy”, and “Tom” (site—Johnson). Prior to films and television, African American’s were depicted by white actors wearing “blackface” in which white people entertained audiences through plots that portrayed African Americans in stereotypical ways that had prevailed since the time of slavery. “Coon” for instance, was created as a from of comedy and amusement for white individuals, as this image allowed for comic relief through idiocy. “Coons” had, in essence, a low level of intelligence with minimal common sense. Their dull-wittedness advocated the view that African American people were unintelligent beings who were incompetent and unable to formulate intelligible thoughts. This further reinforced the idea that African American people were in need of instruction and guidance from white individuals—just as they did during slavery—in order for African Americans to sustain and remain alive, or else they would be damaged by their own incapabilities. Similar to the “Coon”, Mammy was also a common character who was portrayed as an obese and grumpy woman who also provided comic relief to white folks. Mammy’s creation was

The movie 'Ethnic Notions' describes different ways in which African-Americans were presented during the 19th and 20th centuries. It traces and presents the evolution of the rooted stereotypes which have created prejudice towards African-Americans. This documentary movie is narrated to take the spectator back to the antebellum roots of African-American stereotypical names such as boy, girl, auntie, uncle, Sprinkling Sambo, Mammy Yams, the Salt and Pepper Shakers, etc. It does so by presenting us with multiple dehumanized characters and cartons portraying African-Americans as carefree Sambos, faithful Mammies, savage Brutes, and wide-eyed Pickaninnies. These representations of African-Americans roll

   Historically, the job of women in society is to care for the husband, the home, and the children. As a homemaker, it has been up to the woman to support the husband and care for the house; as a mother, the role was to care for the children and pass along cultural traditions and values to the children. These roles are no different in the African-American community, except for the fact that they are magnified to even larger proportions. The image of the mother in African-American culture is one of guidance, love, and wisdom; quite often the mother is the shaping and driving force of African-American children. This is reflected in the literature of the

Mammie, Jezebel, and the ever ready prostitute and Sapphire. In “Four Women” Nina Simone links the history of black women in America as defined

In Patricia Hill Collins’ “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images,” she illustrates four main stereotypes that Black women face. The first controlling image applied to African American women is “The Mammy.” The mammy is the faithful, obedient servant to the white family and the stereotype attempts to hide the fact that black women who work for white families are being exploited. By loving and caring for her white “children” more than her own, the mammy symbolizes the dominant group’s perceptions of the ideal black female relationship to elite white male power. The smiling mammy signals her agreement with the situation, seemingly accepting her subordination (Collins, 71). Next is the image of the Black matriarch (Collins, 73). According to the stereotype, they spend too much time away from home, are overly aggressive and unfeminine, and allegedly emasculate their lovers and husbands. This stereotype attempts to control conduct by punishing black women for assertiveness and hides the oppression by making it seem that black women are naturally this way (Collins, 74-75).

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,

As discussed in lecture Aunt Jemima is based on the image of a “mammy,” a derogatory character that frequently appeared in minstrel shows throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The stereotypical “mammy” was portrayed as a larger woman, seemingly asexual, who represented comfort and wholesomeness in the plantation home. The mammy is seen as a comfort figure, a woman who represents wholesomeness and trustworthiness in the domestic sphere. As depicted below, the earliest Aunt Jemima ads seem to draw on the features and appearance of minstrel characters that were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The image of Aunt Jemima evolved over time, leading to a lightening of Jemima’s skin, slimming her down, and giving her a more professional than domestic

After consciousness passes through the uroboric stage, the next archetypal symbol Neumann offers is that of the Great Mother. Similar to the uroboros, the Great Mother typically enters the mythical realm as the first sexed being within it. Still possessing the ability to create without a partner, this figure is often linked to nature, fertility and the unconscious. At this stage, the ego has not fully established independence from its unconscious source, which is apparent in the sexed son-lovers, created by the Great Mother to beget more creation unto her world (often at the sacrifice of the male counterpart).