Representation for African Americans in film
Chantaye Louis
Representation in film matters for the unrepresented. Representation matters because of how much media is consumed. Media is a reflection of society. Seeing a reflection of yourself within media matters. In television and film being represented is something that is inexplicably effective in modern society. Especially for African Americans we are going to first understand how much media is consumed and the importance/effects of media then touch on a history crash course on representation in why representation matters.
How much film and television is consumed?
Film and television is consumed by the majority of people around the world who have access to a television, phone, tablet, or computer. This means according to statista.com the average daily time spent watching TV in the United States from 2014 to the prediction of 2023 using the views time of hours and minutes shows. “In 2021 U.S. adults will spend an average of three hours and 17 minutes watching TV each day. This figure has generally fallen since 2014 and the downward trend is forecasted to continue in the years to come, with daily averages falling from around four hours and 20 minutes in 2014 to two hours and 51 minutes in 2023. The only exception to this trend is the year 2020, when consumption increased due to a growth in media consumption during the coronavirus outbreak.” Aswell, as this source saying because of the transition to non traditional mediums to consume media such as using phones, laptops and other devices to stream platforms such as Netflix, Hulu and other apps. This also changes how accessible media is to consumers within having easy access to consumption of media.
Psychological effects of representation in film/television
Representation matters because of the influence it has on the consumer. The psychological impact media plays a role into how people are influenced. If a lot of media is consumed by viewers all around the world and it shows a certain group of people as a stereotype or misrepresented, that’s how false information about communities and cultures are negatively affected by representation in media.
The effects film and television have are important to highlight. If we are influenced by consumption from a young age. Depending on the parents restriction this can cause effects to what the child learns. For now focusing on how representation affects Americans and perspective of race in America I will be referring to American culture and how things are viewed as a society.
According to “Impact of media use on children and youth.” Paediatrics & child health vol. 8,5 (2003). “The amount of time that younger North American children currently spend watching television has not decreased significantly (14). A substantial number of children begin watching television at an earlier age and in greater amounts than what experts recommend (15). Evidence suggests that television’s influence on children and adolescents is related to how much time they spend watching television (1,2,16). As a result, with prolonged viewing, the world shown on television becomes the real world (1,2). Television viewing frequently limits children’s time for vital activities such as playing, reading, learning to talk, spending time with peers and family, storytelling, participating in regular exercise, and developing other necessary physical, mental and social skills (9). In addition to the amount of time spent in front of the television, other factors that influence the medium’s effect on children include the child’s developmental level, individual susceptibility and whether children watch television alone or with their parents.”
Concluding that media’s importance and influence stemming from a young age matter’s this matters for the young African American boy’s and girl’s who grow up influenced by American media and brainwashing through the media. While black artists weren’t allowed to perform. Only white people who looked black faced were.
The root of the stigmatization in film/television
If you don’t know about America’s history. America’s views on African American’s or should I say European White Americans views on African Americans weren’t thought of highly and till this day can be discriminatory and derogatory at times without intent. As Americans as a collective group we still have a lot of growing to do. The first blackface minstrels took to the stage in the early 19th century. Black face was a very insulting and degrading way to portray blacks in film and in theater. Black face was used as a form for white Americans to have black people on screen or in theaters without having black people in a movie. This was a form of entertainment that would result in them making their skin darker with burnt cork in the portrayal of black people. They traveled the country performing caricatures through songs, dances and skits. As Well as mocking blacks, making them villains in the narratives and having them seem less than human. Creating stereotypes such as Mammy; the hypersexualized wench Lucy Long; the arrogant dandy Zip Coon; the lazy, childish Sambo, clownish slave Jim Crow; the obsequious, maternal . Some of these archetypes continue to be portrayed even today.
Influence of Black Male Actors In the 1900’s
The first African Americans in film and how they were portrayed in the media wasn’t the best. Sam Lucas secured his role as an actor by playing the role of an Uncle Tom. The definition of an Uncle Tom in some black communities isn’t the best. An Uncle Tom google say’s. “a black man considered to be excessively obedient or servile to white people.” Which as a representation meant for black people creates a stigma and a way of thinking of how black people are supposed to act in society towards whites. In 1914, Lucas revived his role of Uncle Tom in William Robert Daly’s film adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. He is generally credited as the first black man to portray Uncle Tom, who had typically been played by white actors in black face. The film was released on August 10, 1914 by the World Film Company.
Another Black actor that was one of the first males in Hollywood was also not seen in a well respected light. Lincoln Perry was America’s first black movie star. He was best known as the shitless fool. Black activists of the time agreed that because of his role it made it hard for black actors to be seen in a positive light and created a negative stigma against blacks.
Influence of Black Female Actors In the 1900’s
Hattie McDaniel
June 10, 1895 — October 26, 1952 Hattie McDaniel, growing popularity in the JIm crow era. Famous for her mammy role was the first African American woman to receive an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in her 1940 role as the sassy Mammy in Gone with the Wind. The mammy role is still seen in many shapes in forms in media in the present day. The mammy stereotype is described as from the website ferris.edu “The mammy caricature implied that black women were only fit to be domestic workers; thus, the stereotype became a rationalization for economic discrimination. During the Jim Crow period, approximately 1877 to 1966, America’s race-based, race-segregated job economy limited most blacks to minimal, low paying, low status jobs. Black women found themselves forced into one job category, house servant. Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (1987), a biographer of the Civil Rights Movement, described the limited opportunities for black women in the 1950s:” A mammy was portrayed as dark skinned and undesirable by the white male because of her size and dark skin. She was often a house worker and took care of the white family instead of her own. She would also do anything for a white family. Also from this site she explained why she continued while even getting backlash from blacks “She responded this way: “Why should I complain about making seven thousand dollars a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making seven dollars a week actually being one”
Dorthy Dandrige
November 9, 1922-September 8, 1965 Dorothy Dandridge was the first black actress nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in the 1954 film Carmen Jones. Dandridge was also the first black woman on the cover of Life magazine and is still one of the world’s most celebrated beauties. Playing an African princess in the 1951 movie Tarzan’s Peril and a teacher in 1953’s Bright Road. In 1954, she won the lead role in the movie that would make her a star-Carmen Jones, a lavish musical based on the nineteenth-century French opera Carmen by Georges Bizet that tells the story of a beautiful but fickle gypsy girl whose seductive ways lead to tragedy. She mainly received rolls that she was portrayed as a lusty that lumped her into the jezebel stereotype. Which a Jezebel is a woman Wikipedia says that is a stereotype of a sexually-voracious promiscuous black woman, was the counter image of the demure Victorian lady in every way.” Which isn’t a good connotation for black representation.
Successes of the past
Even though the past had it’s injustices black people persevered and made sure they were represented. “The Railroad Porter ‘’ was produced by the Photoplay Company in 1912. It is considered the first film with an all-Black cast. The frist film to be represented by blacks on-screen love in a positive light was 1898: ‘Something Good Negro Kiss’. These films led by black people let them control and make positive narratives for themselves giving them the representation white men deprived them of.
Modern perception of Blacks in Film/Cinema past affects
Even now films reflect past stereotypes Medea directed and written by Tyler Perry Plays A huge role in the Mammy role some might add. Having perceptions of Blacks in the media is a touchy subject because of view and perspective. Medea could be seen as a stigma or as a form of expression to represent different types of black people. Tyler Perry could be problematic as a way for black people to profit from past character types. Another example is the sassy black girl with an attitude seen in many modern day films. Even in children show’s this stereotype is portrayed in the Disney show Jessi The character Zuri Ross exhibits behaviors of the Sassy Black girl.
Modern Day Successes
Spike Lee, Waynes Brothers, Ryan Coogler, Jordan Peele, Ava Duveray Nia Da Costa, Issa Ray, and Marisai Martin . Have paved the way for representation in cinema by making films with depth and a little bit of comedy.
Spike Lee has films like Do The Right Thing, Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (2016), She’s Gotta Have it, Malcolm X and more. Spike Lee has directed documentaries of black people’s lives. In Do The Right Thing Spike Lee spreads awareness of political ideologies and expresses black narratives that have been filtered due to history. While helping people of color see we are battling each other when we should ease the racial tension and work together.
Waynes Brothers directors of White Chicks, Scary Movie, Little Man, The Waynes bros show, In living color and more. They were able to portray black narratives in a playful light while tackling issues in the black community. Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood is a prime example of that paying homage to films like Boyz in the Hood,South Central, Juice, Dead Presidents, Menace II society. While using near shot for shot remakes of classic scenes in all those movies and using the same actors as the style of the Waynes brothers making a parody of the genre. Showcasing the problematic issues of representation in black cinema.
Ryan Coogler, director of Fruitvale, Black Panther, Clarified and more is another example of being able to create black stories simply and make black people even if Micheal B Jordan was in every single one of his films. Make a narrative letting black people just be regular people in society. Black Panther being the excitement for many black people who crave representations with super heroes gave black people someone to aspire to dress up and for young kids a role model.
Jordan Peel, director of Us, Get Out, Fargo and more. He makes films with an in-depth narrative that gives a non-person or person of color an educational experience without giving a whole crash course on history. Get Out is a primary example talking about interracial marriage without going into depth about the topic. He tends to leave films into your own interpretation.
Ava Duvernay won the directing award in the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, she became the first black woman to win an award. Making the Netflix series hit When They See Us talking about black discrimination black American’s and people of color face in the prison system; being falsely accused of crimes they didn’t commit. The topic of being racial profiled and being accused of doing a crime because of your ethnicity was beautifully done and a touching story. This Netflix series was very powerful. As Well as directing 13th, Selma, Colin in Black and many other films. She is a boss lady who creates stories empowering the faces of black people. Nia Da Costa
How to help change the stigma within Representation
How representation could be helped is by putting people of color in charge of their narrative. Having African Americans able to express themselves and their stories through cinema. As Well as getting rid of harmful stigma that have been created by past racist antics and riderick.
Reflection
It’s so sad black people can’t just live. This is coming from myself, who is black and female. Since we have to worry about the pressures of proper representation, we aren’t seen as a certain way. At times I truly don’t want to care but the society we live in makes it very hard just for black people to just live and enjoy being human and just having fun in roles or just plainly acting human.
How you can help be a guide in helping representation if you are non-black or black but have the privilege of being lighter skinned?
- Be open to listen to the issues or messages blacks give of their experiences.
- Remember the past affects the present of African Americans.
- Let African Americans tell their story.
- Don’t judge or degrade black people from telling their story/experiences.
- Don’t spread false information and let the people who know what and who they are talking about speak.
- Don’t do black face or assume how black people act and mimic it.
- Most importantly this applies to all races, ethnicity, shades sizes. Respect each other.
Refrences used
https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mammies/
https://www.cwu.edu/diversity/sites/cts.cwu.edu.diversity/files/documents/constructingwhiteness.pdf
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/026327696013002010
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/026327696013002010
https://www.statista.com/statistics/186833/average-television-use-per-person-in-the-us-since-2002/
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5245089
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5245089
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792691/
https://stacker.com/stories/4328/history-black-representation-film
https://blackthen.com/sam-lucas-first-black-man-portray-role-uncle-tom-stage-screen/
https://biography.yourdictionary.com/dorothy-dandridge
https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-actresses-who-made-black-history/
Dec, 17, 2021