American Film was Born from White Depictions of Blacks

1545 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay about the american cinema

History
“American film was born from white depictions of blacks” Rogin (1996)
Rogin (1996) argues that American films became popular from popular images at the time of caucasian people painting an image of African Americans using the well known "Blackface".
"Maafa 21" is a film Directed by Mark Crutcher released in 2009; this film looks into how African Americans history shortly after slavery and how they struggled with labels and categorised with different types of insulting names. This documentary is a study about how allegedly the higher achy was trying their best to eliminate the race, by dehumanising the afro Americans thus making the “average white folk” believe that they are a burden to America. Although the views of Mark Crutcher are quite extreme, a lot of what his studies mention about labelling and antagonising the African Americans is present in films.
In early nineteen hundreds, silent cinema there was use of racial stereotypes, racial slurs and racist cosmetology; it was very common to see stories about the racially inferior Denzin (2002) pg 22.
The films from the early 1910’s and 1920’s had a lot of African American characters were actually played by white actors. Hearts and Flats (1911) and Birth of a Nation (1915). These are just some of many films in that era that portrayed Black characters as submissive, dim, criminal, dangerous, and buffoonish or animalistic. Duke University Website (2007)
In the roaring twenties Blackface was extremely popular in cinema films such as The Jazz Singer (1927) proved to be a hit at the time. Rogin (1996) Studies the relationship between Blackface and Americanization, in his book “Black Face, White Noise” were we soon find out how Americans managed to spread their views of A...

... middle of paper ...

...s that people like to watch other people who they can relate to, meaning people pay more attention when the person on screen is relatable. If this is the case this would mean that according to the statistics there is more Caucasian viewers than any other race thus, the money would go towards Caucasian representations etc. The first Disney African-American princess, Tiana was introduced in 2009 this made people believe that "the colour barrier is breaking down in Hollywood”. A majority of people may still see the thin line between Hollywood's "new" attitude toward race and their "old" attitude toward race. “The consolidation of a black presence in the movies and television did not signal the arrival of a post racial Hollywood any more than the election of Barack Obama in 2008 spelled the end of America’s 400-year-old racial drama.” Duke University Website (2007)

Show More
Related

  • Minstrelsy in the American Film Industry

    2527 Words  | 6 Pages

    Strausbaugh, J. (2006). Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

    Read More

  • Blacks on Television: Amos & Andy

    2267 Words  | 5 Pages

    Strausbaugh, John. Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture. New York, New York, 2006. Penguin Group Inc. Print.

    Read More

  • Negative Connotations of African Americans in Film and Television

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another movie that has a negative connotation of black people is Madea. As comedic as all Madea movies are it also portrays a negative side of blac...

    Read More

  • Spike Lee Film Analysis

    1948 Words  | 4 Pages

    African American representation in the film industry has always been a topic for discussion. Whether talking about character types and roles, the actors being cast or not cast, and the lack of diversity in front of and behind the camera. ‘The contemporary status of race in mainstream American culture is intimately bound to the process of representation within and through the mass media.’ (Rocchio, 2000, p. 4). Any role that was to be played by an African American kept in with the dominant stereotypes of the time of production; incompetent, child like, hyper-sexualised or criminal.

    Read More

  • Video Analysis of Color Adjustment

    1952 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marlon T. Riggs’ video, Color Adjustment, offers the viewer an exciting trip though the history of television, focusing on the representation, or lack thereof, of African-Americans. A perfectly chosen combination of television producers, actors, sociologists, and cultural critics join forces to offer insight and professional opinion about the status of African-Americans in television since the inception of television itself. As Color Adjustment traces the history of television shows from Amos n’ Andy and Julia to "ghetto sitcoms" and The Cosby Show, the cast of television professionals and cultural critics discuss the impacts those representations have on both the African-American community and our society as a whole. Color Adjustment continually asks the question: "Are these images positive?" This video raises the viewer’s awareness about issues of positive images for African-Americans on television.

    Read More

  • Anna Everett's Returning the Gaze

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    Robinson, Cedric J. Forgeries of Memory and Meaning: Blacks and the Regimes of Race in American Theater and Film Before World War Ii. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. Print.

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotyping And Racism In The Cosby Show

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people in America like to think that racial stereotyping and racism is a thing of the past, but racial stereotyping is still prominent in America. Although racial stereotyping and racism significantly slowed down, it still remains a major factor in American society. In “The End of Post-Identity Television,” Aymar Jean Christian argues the fact that race is not a major factor in casting characters in a television series or a movie, he reveals that race is not relevant anymore. In Michael Omi’s “In Living Color: Race and American Culture,” he argues how racial stereotyping and racism still exist in America. The Cosby Show seeked to change racial stereotyping in television by portraying an upper-middle class African American family. The Cosby Show attempted to break barriers for African Americans in television and did so by paving the way for other major African American based sitcoms. “The End of Post-Identity

    Read More

  • Black Superhero Essay

    1556 Words  | 4 Pages

    This problem was occurring all the way back into the 1960’s. Why the 1960’s? Well that is when Marvel first started to make its comics, the comics is what the movies go off of. The problem with this is that everything was white back then due to segregation. This is an image I found on Google with that puts in it good words “In the early 1960s, when many of these beloved Marvel characters were introduced, American popular culture was more or less all-white everything. When I found this out I was surprised by this, it makes sense now. If the comics were made today and the movies were made later I would predict the movies and the comics would be much more diverse than they are today. The comics were so dominant with white people that the movies have even incorporated or added in some black characters here and there to make the movies not all white. Here is an example of this from the article titled “Fear of a Black Superhero: Michael B. Jordan and the Importance of Colorblind Casting” the article stated this: “The character of Nick Fury, the mysterious agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who has a hand in virtually every Marvel movie storyline, was portrayed as a white man for decades in the comic books; but a generation of movie fans know the character as portrayed by African American actor Samuel L. Jackson.” There have been more than this one case. “In Tim Burton's Batman,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Birth Of A Nation

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Birth of a Nation (1915) is one of the most controversial movies ever made in Hollywood, some people even consider it the most controversial movie in the long history of Hollywood. Birth of a Nation focuses on the Stoneman family and their friendship with the Cameron’s, which is put into question due to the Civil War, and both families being on different sides. The whole dysfunction between the families is carried out through important political events such as: Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Kan. D.W. Griffith is the director of the movie, and him being born into a confederate family in the South, the movie portrays the South as noble and righteous men, who are fighting against the evil Yankees from the North, who have black union soldiers among them, whom overtake the town of Piedmont, which leads the KKK to take action and according to the movie become the savior of white During this essay, I will focus on the themes of racial inequality, racism, and the archetypical portrayal of black people in the movie, which are significant, especially during the era when the film was released. Black face in Hollywood was very common, especially during the time the film Birth of a Nation was released.

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotypes on Television

    1870 Words  | 4 Pages

    Woll, Allen L and Randall M Miller. Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television: Historical Essays and Bibliography. n.d. Print.

    Read More

  • African American Theater

    1967 Words  | 4 Pages

    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 the only way for African-Americans to express the deep pain that the white population placed in front of them. Singing, dancing and acting took many African-Americans to a place that no oppressor could reach; considering the exploitation of their character during the 1930's-1960's ‘acting' was an essential technique to African American survival.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Minstrel Shows

    1629 Words  | 4 Pages

    The image on the left is of the Virginia Serenaders, which were a group of white actors that took on the guise of African American individuals. These actors were quite famous amongst the public. The poster allows the viewer to see the transformation from a white man to an African American man, highlighting the profound effect of “black face”. Moreover, it reinforced how society viewed African Americans, since there is a major contrast between the stature of the white men and their black face characters. The white actors appear to be sophisticated and well-kept, while their black counterparts appear to be loud and rambunctious.

    Read More

  • Blackface Performances And Freak Analysis

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    Blackface Minstrelsy were performances in the 1800's put together by Caucasians with painted on darker skin color to portray another race other than their own. The skits done in these performances were dark humor of how the people act in their view, but with an underlying message of racism toward the African-American individuals. At this time, these performances were advertised in posters with drawings of cartoon like humans. Saxton explains how these performances made their way into the nations pop culture category with its skits of informational dehumanizing ideas of the race (2011). As stated, the skits can be easily seen as the race of African-Americans' oppression within the Jacksonian era. As technology in the 1800's is far from what technology is apparent today, Saxton argues that even though word or mouth was successful, new methods, such as, steam-powered presses became the newer and faster way to acquire large masses of audiences to fill the theaters (2011). Given the popular demand of these skits, the new use of technology helped facilitate monetary value, but for a wrong cause. On the contrary, technology gave exposure to the past and made waves to the decline of these performances to go on in the present. The use of social media has become a platform for advocates of anti-racism to shine light to what the word "Blackface" means and how it has a strong emotional tie, with that being said, these performances have not been in the media in quite some time, for as the world can see

    Read More

  • Minstrel: The Blackface Movement

    208 Words  | 1 Pages

    During the 19th century in America, white actors used to paint their faces black and would ridicule black people in Minstrel shows. Norm Sheehan stated that the blackface movement began as a popular movement that made fun of black people leading up to the American civil war.

    Read More

  • The White Negro Analysis

    2120 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although the concept is off-limits and offensive in culture today, he defends this significant part of American history throughout his book. The impression given to us of the White Negro by Mailer can help us look at it as a form of blackface that has found its was in American society. Although artists like Al Bernard and Bert Williams were performers of physical blackface on stage in the 20th century, the hipster has shown to become a form of non-physical blackface. A type of blackface that isn’t ridiculed or criticized by society, but accepted or sometimes even ignored as a grand section of American Popular

    Read More

More about American Film was Born from White Depictions of Blacks

Open Document