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. Progressions in the industry were hindered by blaxploitation films such as Shaft, but these too were overcome with the 1970's movies like Song. The true creativity and experiences of African Americans started to be shown in the 1980's with directors like Robert Townsend and Spike Lee. These directors helped enable black cinema to expand in the 90's with the creation of works ranging in brutal but honest portrayal of urban life to that of comedy. By analyzing Spike Lee's film Bamboozled, director John Singleton's Boyz in The Hood, and movies like Coming to America and House Party indicate that the experiences of African Americans and the way that they are depicted in cinema directly impacts the way mainstream society perceives them to be, while showing that African Americans are a major driving force behind creativity and ingenious inspiration behind many aspects of American life. The lack of significance that minority cultures in general have been given in American cinema is distasteful. This neg... ... middle of paper ... ...n American communities. Regardless, African American performances have always had the ability to express elements of the African American community on the big screen. For decades these skills were hidden by racist producers and directors. American society was not ready to see the genius, sophisticated skill, and powerful themes that come from African American culture. These films not only help to show the life's of African Americans, but that of all American society, future films will help audiences measure how far America has come in regards to racial tolerance and how far yet, they must go. Works Cited Friedman, L. (1991). Unspeakable images. 1st ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Guerrero, E. (1993). Framing Blackness. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Massood, P. (2003). Black city cinema. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
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 black slave, dubbed Jim Crow. Jim Crow was a fool who just spent his whole day slacking off, dancing the day away with an occasional mischievous prank such as stealing a watermelon from a farm. Most of the skits performed on the Minstrel shows symbolized the life of the African American plantations slaves. This routine achieved immediate popularity, and Rice performed it with great success in the United States and Britain, where he introduced it in 1836. Throughout the 1830s, up to the founding of the minstrel show proper, Rice had many imitators.
For many years, African Americans have faced the challenge of being accurately and positively portrayed within mainstream media, such as American made films. They are often represented as people who are inferior to those of the Caucasian race, and are frequently presented with problems that are related to racial discrimination. The portrayal of African Americans in media such as movies has often been considered a large contributing factor to the racial tensions that still exist in our world today (Lemons, 1977). The movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, sheds light on the portrayal of African Americans in movies, and how stereotypes can greatly impact the lives of those who are not of the Caucasian race.
Film Historian Donald Bogle, the author of “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films,” offers compelling and informative examples of various stereotypes of African-Americans performers. He emphasizes on historical characteristics of gifted black actors/entertainers; renovating their roles to disseminate specific representations that are significant to the economics and history of America’s shifting environmental circumstances.
... model for how the entertainment and media industries depict black people must change. Despite the progress that blacks have worked toward since the days of slavery, society continues to give in to the monetary benefits of producing self-disparaging entertainment and media. It is not only up to the directors, editors, producers and writers to establish this change, but it should also be the demand of the people, or the consumer. If the images of black people in the media are improved the outlook within the community will improve as well. Not only will positive goals and achievements become more realistic for black people if the media outlets discontinue their practice of equating blacks with aggression, lawlessness and violence, but a greater good will also result for whites, which would be represented by a true autonomy and equality in American society.
While Spike Lee and Delacroix's position is shared amongst many in other professions, the issue of racial identity is vastly more complex within the entertainment industry, and beyond what Stubblefield covers within a couple of paragraphs. A black individual working in entertainment must not only deal with the expectations of how a famous person should act, but also navigate the expectations of being a representative of black culture, what different demographics want the black individual to represent, what executives want the individual to represent, and the long-term consequences their roles will have on society. Furthermore, they receive public judgment through social media platforms on how well they conform to the expectations. Additionally, there still exists a catch-22 where a famous black individual will be stigmatized in the media because writers and executives either use subtle or blatant stereotypes for entertainment purposes. This, in turn, leads to stereotypes being further reinforced on both individuals and the overall
Woll, Allen L and Randall M Miller. Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television: Historical Essays and Bibliography. n.d. Print.
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.
The views of African-Americans have changed drastically from the 1930s to 1980s and the film industry has been able to captures some of the more dramatic changes on film. Dating back to the 1930s, there has been films produced that depicted African-Americans as docile individuals who live to serve white families. As times changed and America made progress in integration of cultures, African-American rose to a new role on the big screen. Initially, African-Americans were introduced on the screen as closer equals to their white counter parts. However, these films did not accurately depict African-Americans as whites wrote the roles. America made greater strides towards equality in all areas, including the film industry that allowed for the development of new roles for African-Americans. This grittier and more intense approach was only achieved through African-Americans taking on the major behind the scenes. African-Americans were only to achieve a more accurate depiction onscreen as American’s perceptions of race were challenged over a 50-year period and African-Americans took on roles behind the scenes.
Representations of immigrants on screen has been problematic since the early days of the motion picture medium. Hollywood cinema, particularly, is referential to the various lifestyles that encompass the American experience, visual representations of cultural characteristics and traditions that are the very fabric of an ethnic background. Through an American lens, a certain perception arises, which, more often than not, translate as either underrepresented or greatly exaggerated, the repercussions of which are still being dealt with today. Here, the main focus will be Latinos on film, as discussed in lecture on February 2nd, 2018. What follows are responses to some of the topics mentioned in the lecture that are of specific interest.
To not only see the lack of black women presence in television and film, but to search at other cultures to gain a better understanding of the world. Although, the author still criticizes feminism to be catered toward once race, concluding with feminism during that time only appealed to white women. The reading depicted the uneasy feeling impression of the “being the only black female present in the theatre” (Hooks, 258). Hooks experiences this activity when she attends to view foreign/independent films in the theatre. Hooks’ experience describes the lack of diversity in television and film during her
Spike Lee’s first student production, The Answer, was a short ten minute film which told of a young black screenwriter who rewrote D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation. The film was not well accepted among the faculty at New York University, stating Lee had not yet mastered “film grammar.” Lee went on to believe the faculty took offense to his criticisms towards the respected director’s stereotypical portrayals of black characters (1). For his final film project, Lee wrote, produced, and directed Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. The film won him the 1983 Student Academy Award for Best Director and the Lincoln Center chose the film as its first student production. The film was lo...
Those who deny the existence of the racism rooted into modern day Hollywood are far from reality. They may think that in the United States we are getting closer to equality when it comes to casting but we in fact are not. While there is the belief that America has progressed when it comes to social issues, the percentage of roles held by black actors in film and TV has dropped from 15 to 13 percent from the early 2000’s to 2011 (McClintock and Apello 2).
While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...
When a production team is in the process of creating a film, they have one goal in mind and that is to create a masterpiece. A masterpiece worthy of being talked about, a masterpiece worth remembering , a film worthy of recognition and nomination for awards. The topic I am going to explore is about one of the biggest controversies in the media world and that is the Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars and the assumption that they're racially biased against African American films. A few of the questions that I will conduct further research on is why are the Oscars racially biased? What movies deserved awards that weren't even nominated? Were the movies that weren't recognized a majority African American cast? How does it affect the community
In the society, movies often try to hide the stereotypes which are portrayed in the modern films. People tend to ignore the deep meaning of what a movie is trying to portray. Stereotypes in the society put labels on how a person should act or live according to their gender, race, and personality. The article, “Asian Women in Film: No Joy, No Luck,” by Jessica Hagedorn, a screenwriter, explores the stereotype portrayals of Asian women in films which may not seem offensives. Hagedorn discusses how movie view Asian women in films as, “Whore,” while, “The Offensive Movie Cliche That Won’t Die,” by Matt Zoller Seitz, a freelance critic, argues that the “magical negro,” is the motif where a (black) character is designed to exist for the benefit of a (white) character in a movie. Hagedorn and Zoller-Seitz reveal the offensive nature of these innocuous film cliches by using the history of films, and how it connects to politics in today’s society to illustrate that those movies which appear inoffensive are actually offensive towards race and gender.