Donald Bogle's Five Archetypes For The Portrayals Of African American Film

340 Words1 Page

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. According to Donald Bogle, the Five Archetypes for the Portrayals of African Americans include the following: The "Tom," Kind-hearted and submissive black man; well-liked and willing to endure white domination. The "Coon," Selfish, ignorant and has no drive in life;

Show More
Related

  • A Comparison of the Representation of the Afro-American Actresses Hattie McDaniel and Whoopie Goldberg in the Scam Scenes of Gone With the Wind

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Comparison of the Representation of the Afro-American Actresses Hattie McDaniel and Whoopie Goldberg in the Scam Scenes of Gone With the Wind

    Read More

  • The History of African Americans in Film

    2062 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Ira Aldridge: The First African-American Othello

    1913 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ira Aldridge’s early life is one of the reasons why Aldridge was such an important actor. Aldridge was born in New York sometime in 1807 (Evans). When he was a teenager, Aldridge acquired his education at one of New York’s African Free Schools, earning an education most African-Americans did not receive in Aldridge’s time (Evans). In essence, the extra schooling Ira Aldridge received helped him to advance his career, because most African-Americans at the time were still working in low ranking jobs and did not get the opportunity to further themselves as Aldridge did. Aldridge went even further to get into an acting career. The first taste of theatre Ira Aldridge got that sparked his interest was at The African Grove Theatre performi...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Film Ethnic Notions

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    In class, we watched a film called Ethnic Notions. In this film, it brought to light how devastating and powerful images can be. Due to exaggerated images and caricatures created pre-civil war era of black men and women, stereotypes were created and have negatively affected the black race in society. Caricatures, such as the Sambo, Zip Coon, Mammy, and Brute, have unfortunately been engrained in the minds of generations. So much so their stereotypes still persist today.

    Read More

  • Response to Movie Ethnic Notions

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 across the screen in popular songs, children's rhymes, household artifacts and advertisements. These various ways to depict the African ?American society through countless decades rooted stereotypes in the American society. I think that many of these still prevail in the contemporary society, decades after the civil rights movement occurred.

    Read More

  • The Impact of African-American Sitcoms on America's Culture

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the 1990s, nearly 14% of the television families were African-American (Bryant 2001). These statistics obviously show the substantial impact our American culture has had on African-American television families.

    Read More

  • What is the function of racist stereotype in Blackface Minstrelsy?

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    Blackface minstrelsy was an established nineteenth century form of onstage entertainment most popular in the northern states of America which intentionally created exaggerated stereotypes of black people for prominently white working class male audiences . White performers would blacken their faces with burnt cork or black grease and perform skits, songs and dances and act out their image of black people. Rather than present an accurate depiction of African Americans and authentic portrayals of the qualities of ‘negro’ life, minstrelsy reflected the ideas and conceptions of white society . The content of the shows however was altered to create images of blacks and slaves that suited white northern public opinion . White actors now had the opportunity to manipulate black identity and reinforce notions of white superiority, and by portraying blacks as uncivilised it reinforced the need for slavery. This white produced black identity served to reinforce racial differences, and all...

    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

  • Overview of African-American Culture

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    Being a resident of South Carolina, African-American Culture was chosen as part of the applied learning project for the Intercultural Nursing class, because African-Americans make up more than a quarter of this state’s population. According to the 2010 United States Census Bureau, the total population for South Carolina (S.C.) is 4,625,364, with 27.9% being of African-American descent. The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding and sensitivity to issues and cultural variances or phenomena that are unique to the African-American Culture. Another goal is to identify nursing interventions that are important for the nurse to consider in caring for this population. These phenomena’s include variances in social organization, communication, space, perception of time, environmental control, and biological variations associated with the African-American culture. (Giger, 2013 and South Carolina minority, n.d.)

    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

  • What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Media In Black Media

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    There is constant talk of the bad representations of blacks that come from these movies. In his article Engles states that “Criticizing blaxploitation as exploiting black filmmakers, actors, audiences and the community as a whole, those against the cinematic movement blasted the films and the industry for producing films that “glorified drugs, imitated successful white stereotypes, set forth impossible and ultimately debilitating fantasies, [and] developed a negative image of the American black man and woman…” (Engles). Similarly, in The Race and Media Reader Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis article White Responses writes about black TV and specifically The Cosby Show. In the piece Jhally and Lewis say “One criticism that black people have made about The Cosby Show is that the Huxtables behave just, as Gates put it, “just like white people” (Jhally and Lewis, 111). It has been shown that while both of these entertainments performed by black actors are well liked by the African-American communities, it is also watched by the

    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

  • Portrayal of Asian Americans in the Media

    3279 Words  | 7 Pages

    I gave several examples where Asian Americans were used to play very simple characters. These roles were defined by stereotypes that exist in America. I also researched instances on counter actions taken by Asian Americans to protest against these negative images. My research also has examples of Asians that have succeeded in breaking through the racial barriers in the media.

    Read More

  • Teaching Children How to Discriminate

    667 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lippi-Green gives an in-depth look at the negative portrayal of African-Americans in Disney animations. She acknowledged the fact that the cartoon characters that have connotations to be from an African descent, are voiced over by actors that are also of African descent. These actors and the animated characters spoke in "African-American Ver...

    Read More

  • Racial Identity in A Raisin in the Sun: Who Am I?

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    While this self-image endured for decades, it was far less demeaning than the labels applied to an entire race of African Americans. According to sociologist Dr. David Pilgrim, during the era of Jim Crow (1877-1965), various “stereotypical depictions of Blacks, helped to popularize the belief that Blacks were lazy, stupid, inherently less human and unworthy of integration” (“Who Was”). Promoted and exploited by the entertainment industry, the stereotypical black “Mammy” and faithful “Tom” permeated American culture in the form of cartoons, movies, radio, television and theater, dehumanizing Blacks and ultimately providing...

    Read More

More about Donald Bogle's Five Archetypes For The Portrayals Of African American Film

Open Document