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Representation of minorities in american cinema
Strategies in films about race
Strategies in films about race
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Precious is difficult to classify as a racist film, maybe intra-racial if the writer, director, and producers are of the same race, how can it be racist? I think it can be associated with race, but not racist due to the coverage the media places upon certain communities. Although those being portrayed in the film are fitting into the stereotypes of lazy, living on the system of welfare, uneducated, women are unable to have a meaningful relationship with a man, unhealthy eating, sexually aggressive male, incestuous relationship, young and pregnant are a few of the stereotypes I took note of in this film. I think Lee Daniels, included the basic stereotypes, because they are the most common, and I think there are others that are taboo, that are
For millions of impoverished African American youths across the nation, the journey from the projects to success is few and far between. Rather than focusing on education and personal development, young children are introduced to violence and “the struggle” from a young age. However, for a few lucky stars such as Michael Oher, athletics provide an avenue to reach stardom. “The Blind Side” is a 2009 film following the true life story of Oher, his rise from a tough upbringing in Memphis project housing to his eventual fate as a first round draft pick to the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. Growing up in a broken family, Michael was separated from his crack-addicted mother at the age of 7 and never knew his father. After bouncing to multiple foster homes, Michael finally is given an opportunity when he is living with his friend Ryan. At the head football coaches urging of the school’s administration, he is given the opportunity to attend Wingate Christian school - despite his poor academic record - due in part to his extreme size and athleticism. Michael’s fortunes increase further when the Tuohy family, who aids Michael’s forthcoming success immensely, takes him in. In utter contrast to his upbringing, the Tuohy’s are a multi-millionaire, Keeping Up With The Jonses, white family. The family takes Oher in as one of their own, buying him
Not all African Americans are thugs and people that do not work. A lot of them have successful careers and have put in the time and effort to have good work ethic and be good people. African Americans have had a difficult history in the American film industry. During the early 20th century of filmmaking, blacks were stereotyped as not worthy of being in films, and they were only certain types of characters such as servants, mammies, and butlers. From several decades of filmmaking, African Americans have been sought out to be trouble makers, incapables, intellectually limited, and also lazy. 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)
Throughout the entire film race is one of the most prominent themes. The film shows that racism is not one sided as the characters themselves are Caucasian, black, Persian, Iranian, and Hispanic. The film shows that race assumptions not something that is just in existence, but rather society builds up these prejudices and ideas. This can be seen when the district attorney wanting to advance his political career think he can just honor a black man or woman. He suggests a firefighter who his secretary then informs him is actually Iraqi. He responds by saying, “Well he looks black.” Even before knowing someone’s true race and identity society can put up walls. The cops also pull over the couple because the one believes they are biracial and he believes that is wrong. In actuality both people are black one just happens to be of a lighter complexion. Race and racism the film shows limits one’s ability to experience new individuals and
According to Oxford Dictionary, stereotype is a preconceived and oversimplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person or situation (Oxford). But in reality it is more like a subtle form of bias, such as those based on people's gender, race or occupation. For example, Americans are generally considered to be arrogant and materialistic while Asians, on the other hand, are expected to be shrewd but reserved. Obviously, not all Americans are arrogant and not all Asians are shrewd. So, if one just assumes what a person is like and don't look at each person as an individual, he or she is likely to make errors in estimates of a person's character. Such biases are easily ignored, yet are a fact of life. These biases can affect how people see others, as well as themselves, which may lead to unexpected consequences. Thus, stereotyping can influence the communication and understanding between people, usually in a negative way. To examine the side effect brought by stereotyping, I will go through Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Duras’ The Lover and analyze the roles played by stereotype. The protagonists of both books are set in a background, to which they do not originally belong or where is colonized by foreign invaders. Therefore, stereotype becomes a mutual theme and plays an important role in these two books.
In this film we see many typical high school behaviors such as cliques, cattiness, and popularity (or lack there of) issues. Many scenes in this movie have an array of stereotypes. Sometimes they are clearly stated and others just seen through attitudes of the actors/actresses character. Also through out we follow the main clique “the plastics” and they have this image they have to uphold. Be perfect, skinny, the best at everything, and in sync with everything they do; or they wont uphold their status. I chose this film because I think it shows a lot of what we have learned in this course and how it is in real life. Clearly the film is exaggerated but much of
This movie has all the prejudice and stereotype that could happen between different races. But they do not show how they used to feel before and how they feel after encountering to different races until they crashing in to them.
I have always believed that all races have their good and bad. Their is never going to be the perfect race. This movie definitely set a powerful message that life is not perfect for any race and that even though people are from different cultures, they are all interconnected somehow. The filmmakers did a great job at showing us that individuals should not be based on first impressions such as skin color or the social status.
Later one, two young African Americans males leaving a diner walking passed a white couple and the woman clutches the man’s arm and move closer. So, Some of the diversity dimensions that I found were related more to characteristics such as age, gender, race, religion, education, income, language within the movie and portrayed the social class discrimination, as well as gender discrimination. Throughout the film, there were some racial lines of tension between all races and against each other such as White on Persian, White on Black, Black on Black, White on Hispanic, Hispanic on Asian, Asian on Black, and White on Asian, Persian on Hispanic.
Identity is a substantial component of a person, it’s something that determines who they are and help establish themselves with people who you find enjoyable and shares similar interests. It could bring people together, and provide a sense of belonging and unity. However, there are times where these people who are within certain cliques are perceived more negatively or believe that all people within that group perpetually have a certain set of traits. In most cases, these negative perceptions lead to discrimination and conflict, and obscures the positive and more genuine traits of an individual. In S.E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, there is a group of poor and lower-middle class teens who are labeled as greasers. This group of wild teenagers
The 2009 film “Precious”, based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, tells the tragic story of sixteen-year-old Claireece Precious Jones; an overweight, illiterate who is now pregnant with her second child. Her life at home is a complete nightmare; her mother, Mary, verbally, emotionally and physically abuses her daily. Her father, Carl, molested her on multiple occasions and impregnated her twice then disappeared. Precious was kicked out of public school and took an offer to attend an alternative school where she meets her inspirational teacher Miss Blu Rain. Precious begins to believe in herself and prepares herself for her future. She becomes engaged in class and learns how to read and write; she was called stupid and dummy all her life and
This movie does provoke a dialogue on race that, according to author and journalist Jeff Chang, "has been anathema to Hollywood after 9/11." During the first viewing of
Almost every black stereotype attached to black culture was portrayed in some light in the movie Dear White People, from the dreaded chicken and waffles to how much time and effort black people put into their hair, no stone was left unturned. All though some interactions seem unauthentic, like the exchange between Sam and Coco at the end of the pastiche party,
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...
The movie Loving takes place in Caroline County, Virginia, with a white construction worker who falls in love with an African American woman. They both find out that they are going to have a child together and make the decision to get married. But, in this time, both of them find out that they both can’t get married due to the laws in the time. African Americans and Whites don’t normally be with each other or even fall in love for that matter. Both fight for their rights to be together not just in the state of Virginia, but for everyone in all states.
Since the mighty land of the sun opened their country to foreign eyes their women have been a popular subject of interest. With striking brown eyes, jet black hair their foreign customs have piqued the attention of the western gaze. Yet, with their fascination of them came negativity. Japanese women have been stereotyped to be submissive, weak, and respectful. While watching the film “Memoirs of a Geisha,” I found that all of these stereotypes were broken by the women in the film. Even in a movie taking place during pre-World War II to the American occupation, the women still defy theses labels.