The film industry has always influenced the way society views the world. In today’s day and age it certainly influences trends and the way people view the world. This is the reason the film industry and Hollywood has had a huge impact on society throughout the years. This impact has not always being a good one. If we try to go back and analyze the film industry through the years we can see that there has being a huge amount of misrepresentation. Starting with the African American community there has being a huge injustice. Not only have African Americans being affected with this phenomenon but also females they have being extremely underrepresented and over sexualized. It has changed over time with the help of independent films that show the …show more content…
It is because Hollywood has most of the biggest influential films in American cinema. Hollywood has had the power to influence essentially society’s perceptions and it has but not always been for the good. In her chapter Diawara, M. talks about two critical terms, which are “Black spectators”. She uses this term to describe the experience of African Americans in the film industry not only the actors but also the African American community that she refers to as the spectators. The black spectators notice the wrong that the film is doing to their community how is misrepresenting them and making them looking bad. White supremacy has been present at all times making sure that the superior race portrayed in Hollywood films is always the white Caucasian race. Making the African American community the minority. Jones J. talks about this in his chapter, Jones mentions that “to reconstruct the image of a black male one must look at black independent films” (Jones pg 250). Jones says one most look at black independent films to reconstruct the image of a black male because black independent films are the only ones who actually tell the truth and portray the African American community how they are suppose to be portrayed. Black independent films tell the truth about African American’s history. These films come from an African American perspective and they act in this films as themselves not like white people using black face to act as a black person when they could have perfect gotten a black actor to play that role but didn’t because of racism and white supremacy that wants to oppress those who don’t look or are like them. A perfect example of Hollywood and white supremacy has being the Oscar’s. Up until Eddie Murphy got up on the stand and talked about the oppression and the fact that no African American had ever won an Oscar did they actually acknowledge
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.
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.
Back in the 1800’s, when calculating the population, African Americans were counted as 3/5 of a person (Antonia, p2). One would think that in the past two hundred years people’s beliefs would have changed a little bit, but the general white public are stuck into believing the common stereotypes commonly portrayed in movies. In films and television shows blacks are almost always portrayed as murderers, robbers, rapists, pretty much anything negative, like American History X, for example. Two black men are shown breaking into a white man’s car. People see this, and in turn believe that all black men will try and steal their car; as stupid as it may seem, it is true, and as a result, film producers try to incorporate this into their films. Very rarely, if ever, is it possible to see a minority depicted as a hero-type figure. Every once in a while, there will be an independent film from a minority director, but as Schultz states in Lyon’s piece, “We [blacks] are still being ghettoized in Hollywood, a serious black project of any scope is as difficult to get marketed today as it was in the ‘70s.” By making a barrier to entry for minorities in the film industry, it’s almost as if America is trying to keep black films out of the popular media. At first glimpse, it may appear that minorities are very hard to be seen in the filming industry, when in reality, they are becoming more and more apparent in America’s mainstream media culture, particularly in action movies.
The image of African Americans has been greatly depreciated by the roles they play on television sitcoms. On these shows African Americans are depicted as being maids, clowns, and buffoons. This misrepresentation of African Americans has become common place through out the media. One of the most controversial sitcoms was the Amos ‘n Andy Show. This sitcom included two black comedic men and began the creation of the African American stereotypes that most people have grown accustom to today.
...ent from the silent era of film, overt racism of ethnic minorities was blatantly apparent within the film medium. However, presently this overt racism however has shifted into a more subtle segregation of casting and racial politics within the film medium. It seems that both the problem and the solution lies in the Eurocentric domination within the Hollywood film industry – and it seems that it still remains challenged to this day.
Although blacks have won Academy Awards for acting, screenwriting, and music production they still find trouble in getting quality roles within the film industry. (Common Black Stereotypes) Long before television and films were being produced, there were plays and different forms of entertainment where blacks were stereotyped. They were often played by white people in a demoralizing fashion. Over time blacks became seen as the same and that was bad people.
...g place for a long time now; blacks have went from not being banned from certain stages to dominating theater with actors and actresses such as Halle Berry and Denzel Washington. In modern day film, African-Americans have prevailed over all of the negative setbacks, and as the old Negro spiritual says, "We shall continue to overcome."
Every film can be related back to socially significant issues that occurred during the time it was released. It’s a snapshot of the issues during that time period. Film is not created in a vacuum. As described in our textbook, film “Conveys “the temper of an age of a nation” as well as that of the artists who produces it” (Belton 22). Films tend to reflect current society, country ideals or beliefs in order for the audience to relate. Some of those techniques used include, the American dream, family, corruption, divorce, and crime. If a director decides not include current social issues than it becomes harder for an audience to relate to the film because they will not be able to connect to the characters and get into their shoes. One film that encompasses all of these current social issues is American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013). This film is a melodrama because of the context and social issues this film deals with. American Hustle has a social significance to today’s current culture, society, beliefs and social issues through the use of the American dream, corruption, divorce, crime and family.
Hollywood’s diversity problem is well-known; however, the extent might be surprising to most Americans. According to a 2014 report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television, Film & New Media, found that females comprised only 30% of all speaking characters among the top grossing films of 2013. (Lauzen, 2014) However, minority women faired far worse than their Caucasian counterparts. As a matter of fact, if one looks at the numbers even female characters from other world’s were as better represented in film than some minority women; the numbers are as follow for women: Caucasian (73%), African American (14%), Latina (5%), Asian and other world tied (3%). (Lauzen, 2014) If the lack of representation were not enough consider a 2009 study which found that when minority groups are portrayed on television the portrayal tends to be negative. (Alexandrin, 2009) A study by Busselle and Crandall (2009) found that the manner in which African-Americans are portrayed, often as unemployed criminals, tends to have an influence on the way the public perceives African-American’s lack of economic success. Furthermore, the news media does an equally poor job in the ways that African-American’s are presented; according to the same study while 27% of Americans were considered “poor” in 1996 the images of America’s “poor” being presented by news media was heavily Black (63%). (Busselle & Crandall, 2002) Today, this can be seen in the way that African-American victims of police brutality are depicted in the media. Even when African-Americans are murdered at the hands of police for minor and non-violent offenses (e.g. Mike Brown, Eric Gardner, and Tamir Rice) they are often portrayed as thugs, criminals, and vandals. What’s more, seve...
Often racial injustice goes unnoticed. Television tries to influence the mind of their viewers that blacks and whites get along by putting them on the screen to act as if interracial relationships has been accepted or existent. “At the movies these days, questions about racial injustice have been amicably resolved (Harper,1995). Demott stresses that the entertainment industry put forth much effort to persuade their audience that African Americans and Caucasians are interacting and forming friendships with one another that is ideal enough for them to die for one another. In the text, Demott states “A moment later he charges the black with being a racist--with not liking whites as much as the white man likes blacks--and the two talk frankly about their racial prejudices. Near the end of the film, the men have grown so close that each volunteer to die for the other” (Harper,1995). Film after film exposes a deeper connection amongst different races. In the text, Demott states “Day after day the nation 's corporate ministries of culture churn out images of racial harmony” (Harper, 1995). Time and time again movies and television shows bring forth characters to prove to the world that racial injustice has passed on and justice is now received. Though on-screen moments are noticed by many people in the world it does not mean that a writer/ director has done their
In Hollywood there is also a lack of representation with executives because the most of the power resides in people that are ethnically white. Brent Lang and Dave McNary believe that black films are usually not picked up by studios because very few people in powerful positions are black. Therefore, most studios don’t understand what would appeal to black audiences. This causes analysts to undervalue the potential profit of black films, turning executives away from being interested in pursuing black film projects. Examples of black movie profits far exceeding predictions are found in this quote from their article , How Tracking Fails Diverse Movies: “"Straight Outta Compton 's" $60.2 million debut was roughly $20 million more than most trade publications had predicted. "War Room," a faith-based drama about the power of prayer, more than doubled predictions with its $11.3 million launch. And last weekend 's champ, Sony 's "Perfect Guy," exceeded expectations by nearly $15 million when it kicked off with $29.4 million” (Lang and McNary). The history between black and whites in America come into play with the existence of a phenomenon called the “Hollywood plantation arrangement” which alludes to the relationship of black slaves and white slaveowners pre-civil war. This idea describes how “the relationship between African Americans and White Americans is rooted in a tradition of ownership, guidance, and responsibility” which “directly influences African Americans’ ability to access economic power and ownership, thereby limiting creative control and cultural protection (Ndoubou 7). The ruling class, which in Hollywood is the whites, use their power to maintain control by creating these images in media that make the blacks seem lesser...
“Hidden Figures” presented audiences with just one story in particular that caused this trend. The movie emphasizes the idea that they are not just colored humans that whites felt they should value less; rather, African Americans can be some of the most influential people in
Early on before the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, blacks were presented on screen as a stereotype of a servant/slave and were represented as being uneducated. In recent years with the success of actors such as Idris Elba, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman etc., in various roles have proven sometimes that black characters in film and television don’t have to be “stock” types. However, there are many negative representations of black people in recent years such as the archetypical “African-American gangsta” and because of this, these kind of portrayals seem purposely created to spark the fear and hatred of other
The White Savior Complex is a damaging subconscious underlay of the Hollywood system, and more broadly all of western society. It is used to further separate the notions of “us” and “other” by creating a firm separation fueled by self-righteousness, and a sense of entitlement. Hollywood attempts to address race relations, but fails because of this trope. Kingsle, from the article “Does My Hero Look White In This?” described that both racism and colonialism are acknowledged, but not without reassuring that not only were white people against the system of racist power dynamics, but also were actively fighting against it in leadership roles (2013).
Seitz argues that M.Ns are happy to help their masters at any time. African-Americans are serving whites to succeed in their life and these mentors willingly serve whites. Seitz states, “Magical Negro”: a saintly African-American who acts as a mentor to a white hero… [their] relationship is that of a master and servant… one that truly lives to serve, has no life to speak beyond his service” (Seitz 357). Years after the end of slavery, blacks are still considered as servants of whites in America. Even though social reforms have ended slavery and the exclusion of blacks from society, whites still consider blacks as their slaves and this has been portrayed ambiguously in many movies. In pro-white popular culture, African-American actors and actresses have not received fair treatment to perform at the highest of their abilities. In today’s modern world, there are roots of racism; popular culture and mass media production are very important key factors in promoting the racial distinction in our society. In this modern world, media and television are a part of everyday life. People have easy access to movies and TV shows; viewers of these shows tend to believe what is being shown. Films and TV shows have played a significant role in reestablishing racism and discrimination in popular culture. Many of the mass media production industries have characterized racial stereotypes. Omi reveals racial stereotypes, “[in