The Evolution of African-Americans in Film: Essay Test #5

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.
In the earlier stages of film in the 1930s, African-Americans are portrayed in a more submissive role in comparison to their white counterparts. This is characterized in early 1930s films through the use of good natured and kind African-Americans in conjunction with a slew of films about the Deep South. An example of this good-natured portrayal of African-Americans on screen is Gone With the Wind. In Gone With the Wind, Hattie McDaniel portrays a happy go lucky but spitfire of a house servant named Mammy to the O’Hara family. Gone With the Wind centers on the idea of the good old days of the south and makes the idea of...

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...ughts that were ingrained into the subconscious of many Americans and immigrants in America.
Although, African-Americans have made a significant improvement to their standing in society, they are not accurately portrayed on film until the late 1980s once all remnants of the Civil Rights movement and South views have been closed to wiped away from the conscious mind of Americans today. In the early 1930s, films like Gone With the Wind and The Littlest Rebel showcased a docile African-American. As more political movement took root in society, films like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Shaft were able to make significant changes to the portrayal of African Americans. However, it is not until the late 1980s with Do the Right Thing, that African-Americans are able to give a voice to their deeply rooted problems and the bigger issue of racism across many backgrounds.