The Negative Impact Of African-American Cinema

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.”

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 history of African Americans in early Hollywood films originated with blacks representing preconceived stereotypes. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, stirred many controversial issues within the black community. The fact that Griffith used white actors in blackface to portray black people showed how little he knew about African Americans. Bosley Crowther’s article “The Birth of Birth of a Nation” emphasizes that the film was a “highly pro-South drama of the American Civil War and the Period of Reconstruction, and it glorified the role of the Ku Klux Klan” (76). While viewing this film, one would assert that the Ku Klux Klan members are heroic forces that rescue white women from sexually abusive black men. Griffith

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

Minstrel shows were developed in the 1840's and reached its peak after the Civil War. They managed to remain popular into the early 1900s. The Minstrel shows were shows in which white performers would paint their faces black and act the role of an African American. This was called black facing. The minstrel show evolved from two types of entertainment popular in America before 1830: the impersonation of blacks given by white actors between acts of plays or during circuses, and the performances of black musicians who sang, with banjo accompaniment, in city streets. The 'father of American minstrelsy' was Thomas Dartmouth 'Daddy' Rice, who between 1828 and 1831 developed a song-and-dance routine in which he impersonated an old, crippled

Film is, and has been one of the most significant aspects of American culture for over one hundred years. In addition to entertainment value, film plays crucial social role in conveying the struggles, and hardships of various groups. The importance of film is constantly being changed and driven forward by filmmakers. Without influential directors, there would be no driving force making films that entertain and inform about the perspective of different groups of people. Throughout the history of film, there have been certain directors whose work was so influential it changed the entire film industry. One such director is Charles Burnett. Through his films, Burnett birthed the idea of African American film, films that are made and acted by African Americans that display the struggles of African American people. The themes and ideas that Charles Burnett featured in his films would go on to be the foundation for other filmmaker’s films during African Americans film’s rise to prominence. This paper will focus on the cornerstone themes of Burnett’s work as seen in his films The Killer of Sheep, and My Brothers Wedding. In particular, themes such as family and self-identity will be explored. Links between the themes of these films and more modern films will then be made.

Most film portrayals I have seen, most famously “Birth of a Nation,” show African Americans as lustful, lazy, violent, and unintelligent. In fact, in D. W. Griffith’s entirely racist “Birth of a Nation,” African Americans in the film, played by actors in blackface, continuously disrupt the “peaceful” nostalgic way of life of the south after the war. Eventually, filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux, W. E. B. Dubois, Herb Jeffries, and Lorenzo Tucker sought to put an end to the racist films by making “race films” where African Americans acted in, wrote, shot and directed their own films. However, this wasn’t enough. Some race films reverted back to racist films, where African Americans were making fun of themselves, just to turn a profit.

But in reality racism exists in a structural sense, i.e., in schools, employment, justice, etc. As rational beings we mustn’t let Hollywood trick us into believing that racism was something that existed in 1800’s and looks like chains and shackles on Black people. Rather we must try to look at the movie from a historical point of view and gleam the meaning it tries to portray rather than looking at what is shown without making inferences. The racism that existed in the 1800’s has now camouflaged itself; it is a growing challenge that must be overridden. Hollywood simple produces these ‘message’ movies, nominates it to the Oscars and moves on with the issue

Black people were portrayed as highly intelligent beings that are strong, independent, and part of a nation who cares and wants the best for everyone in the world regardless of race. Finally, expanding audience diversity with black actors and actresses in better acting roles can appeal to different countries, proven by numbers accumulated at the worldwide box office. This involves black actors and actresses playing positive roles. The movie “Hidden Figures”, a three time Oscar nominee made $66,349,611 to date internationally, and the most recent film, “Black Panther” made $634,558,986 to date and leaped to the top on its first day released in China (Box Office

Barack Obama introduced as the 44th President of the United States; he became the first African American to serve as the President. At a young age, Obama moved to many places learning a lot about the squalor and poverty in some areas. At that moment, he knew he wanted to help the poor. Thus, he decided to go to Harvard’s Law and School, to learn about justice. After graduating Harvard getting married, Obama won the election as the Illinois Senator. Soon, this lead to him winning President of the United States of America. After becoming President, Obama decided to help the squalor and poverty in most areas as much as he can.

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. Obama made history on January 20, 2009 when he was sworn in as the nation’s first black president; he won re-election in 2012 against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. In the 2008 Presidential election Barack Obama made headlines once he announce he was running for the Democratic nomination against Hillary Clinton. Over his first 100 days in office, Obama persuaded Congress to not only expand health care insurance for children but provide security for women seeking equal pay.

Barack Obama is the 44th and current president of the United States. Obama explores many to wonder about a man fathered by an African he barely knows, but raised by a white American mother, her parents, and an Indonesian stepfather. Barack experience of racial prejudice and discrimination is related by the stories his mother and grandparents as a child told him. But Barack Obama knew that he was more than what they talked about him. Obama accomplished so much in his life from becoming president, having a wonderful family and helping out with the economy.

Lee Daniel’s movie “The Butler” is about a black man who worked as a butler in the White House. This movie goes through all of the American presidents during the Civil Rights Movement since its beginnings. This movie took the audience from the 1920s, to the 1950s where the protagonist Cecil Gaines becomes a butler up to the moment a black man becomes president of the United States. This movie shows the life of the protagonist since his early years, using him as the element that is going to lead the movie throughout history, giving the Civil Rights Movement a complete historical point of view. The Butler is a “biographical” movie greatly influencing the main perspective this movie has (historical) with the point of view of a black family. By

Men and women alike are defined by the values and customs they hold. They are constrained to a culture that doesn’t them to evolve. America prides itself with being a melting pot of cultures but several of these said culture are underrepresented or represented in the wrong light in the entertainment scene of America. Black culture in today 's entertainment field automatically has a bad connotation, it relies highly on violence, illegal acts, and persuading the black community to be content in perpetual poverty. Through the use of a jaded family dynamic, Empire presents the unseen abuses faced by an urban family, a new form of how black culture is distributed in the entertainment industry, and it holds the power to unite the black community further through positive ideals, like pursuing dreams.

For many centuries, the American Presidents were looked upon as being white and authoritative leaders. In addition, African Americans were observed as the less dominate individuals, and were frequently discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Yet in 2008, Barack Hussein Obama II was elected the 44th and current president, correspondingly the first African-American president of the United States of America. He was born in the beautiful state of Hawaii. Barack Obama is a politically successful man, yet growing up was not easy on him. Yet today Barack is currently the most realistic agent of change.