(Do you recognize some of these images?)
We're off to an impressive start! As we examine the origins of the Hollywood film industry, we've read, observed, and identified quite a bit! Let's continue the dialogue!! I'd like you to answer the following:
- How were Black lives deemed unimportant by the Hollywood film industry?
- How has this tenet been deconstructed as well as reconstructed today?
Through our conversations, readings, and videos that we have watched and read so far, we have begun a great engaging conversation about Black Flim. This topic is so important because it shows and tells us how African Americans were not showed the proper respect. Black people are so necessary to society and our history hold a lot of weight. So when it's talked about in films it should be told right and Black actors should be recognize, honor, and paid more for their great works and roles.
ReplyDeleteBlack Lives were deemed unimportant by Hollywood films because they don't think that African Americans work as "hard" as the white man. They are showed less respect for their roles and not afforded the same opportunities as the white man. In a way some of these film makers are "racist" because they making films and they want to tell the story of African Americans or how it is to be black, or what it's like in a black community. If they asked for an insight from an actual African American instead of exaggerating it then thing won't seem as bad. But then these filmmakers use African Americans in films but they try to throw in all there's problems and keep their audience questioning instead of telling them wassup from the start. They would rather exaggerate the story instead of getting the story right with the correct exaggeration. Black Lives are also deemed important because respect is taken for granted, hate is powerful, and racism is still relevant and infectious today.
This tenet has been deconstructed and reconstructed by African Americans being slaughtered or their stories have been falsely told because the writer feels like what they think is best. It has been reconstructed by African Americans taking a stand and fighting with their words, songs, and talent to be provided the proper respect and offered as many opportunities as the white American actor.
http://www.sistersincinema.com/film/press_images/jesse_maple.jpg
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I loved when you stated how the stories of Black individuals are being falsely told by the writers of the film. I very much agree with you. As I was pondering over my thoughts I began too wonder how, why, and when exactly did this start. As stated in my blog and response to Dr. Jackson's questions, I discovered that the diminishing of our history and the erasing of our true lives and civilization began very early when Africa was being colonized by the Europeans. Often we find that the oppressors feel as if they are doing us a service by taking away our wealth and using it for their own advantages and conditioning us on what to do and how to feel. Europeans saw how rich Africa was and decided that they were incompetent and was unable to run their continent. Today this is going on in Hollywood regarding African Americans. No matter whatever is being said I feel that we continuously prove our worth and value more and more as time progresses in American film.
DeleteI think that black lives were deemed unimportant in he Hollywood film industry by the way they perpetuated the negative stereotypes that surrounded black people. These negative stereotypes were bred from ignorance and a general lack of knowledge and acceptance of black people. Some of the stereotypes/archetypes that I witnessed in Birth of a Nation were that blacks were; savage, subservient, uneducated, and barbaric. The Hollywood film industry exploited peoples fears of black people in their films through the aforementioned stereotypes. Black lives were deemed unimportant because people did not even take the time to converse with a black person to see that none of their preconceived thoughts were true. The only one of those things from the list of stereotypes that was true is the fact that in the early 1900's blacks were not afforded the same education as their white counterparts. They were not given the same oppurtunites as white people because white men did not want to lose the grip that they had on society.
ReplyDeleteThis idea that black lives are deemed unimportant in today's society is still very alive and well. This idea was not reconstructed because this notion has yet to disappear. It is very much so the case that we are deemed lesser in the eyes of society. We are still viewed as savage but in a different way. in today's society the idea of blackness and the black man has shifted from uneducated cannibal to uneducated "gangster" or "hoodrat". We are still seen as scary and savage just in a different form. This is all because of the systematic oppression and the institutionalized racism that we are objected to. We are feared and this is apparent by the way we are gunned down by not only police but fellow citizens. For example Trayvon was racially profiled because he was walking down the street in a hoodie, Philando Castile was reaching for his license and the officer assumed that he was reaching for a weapon and shot and killed him. These two names are just few of many many more examples of how just our very presence scares people enough to take our lives. This fear can be attributed to films like Birth of a Nation that was created based off the fears and conceptions of blacks that existed in the 1900's, that eventually lead to the everyday fear of black people that was taught generation after generation eventually leading into modern "fear" of black people.
From watching the films and reading through the essays for this course, Black lives were deemed unimportant by the film industry by portraying Blacks as savage monsters, subservient maids, and sex-driven individuals. Those who directed and wrote the films during the 1900s were probably old, racist white men who felt like they understood how a Black person thinks and acts. Why should a Black man always be perceived as being this impure being that only wants to rape white women and deemed as uneducated savages who will ruin the entire world if they were in power? Or why light-skinned women (or mulatta) should be perceived as having strong sexual urges and desires and will do anything to get in the bed with a white man? If those film makers had any sense when it came to the way an actor is supposed to portray a character, then they would have known that research needed to be done in order to portray the true essence of someone. In Birth of a Nation, D. W. Griffith most likely had to research a lot about how President Lincoln interacted with citizens in order for an actor to portray Lincoln. So why didn’t Griffith make the effort to do that with Blacks? White actors in “blackface” could not possibly understand how to portray a Black person in the 1900s, but they definitely played out the myths and antics that the white audience agreed with.
ReplyDeleteThis tenet of Blacks being deemed unimportant has been kind of deconstructed in a way that Blacks are now able to be the center of attention in many television shows, movies, and even some Broadway shows. However, the film industry still continues to make Blacks these overly sexual beings that are deemed as pimps, hoes, sluts, and homewreckers. My favorite scene from Scandal, which I feel is relevant to towards the importance of a Black person in this society, is when Olivia Pope has a conversation with her father about how she has to be “twice as good to get half of what they (white people) have.” Black people in society today have to be twice as good as white people just to show that we are not what is being portrayed in films today. The reconstruction of some films today are that things that happened in the past are now being told from the Black perspective and what really went on behind the scenes in some very important events in the United States history. After watching Hidden Figures on February 1, I really wanted to learn more about why this story was never taught and what other Blacks, who were behind the scenes, helped shape history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmJ9VvJ58mQ
Malcolm X once said "“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” From what we've seen in the class so far, I'm sure the same goes for television and other forms of media. And, more than likely, the people that run those institutions will display whatever "depictions" they want to share. It's similar to what Sal said in Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing' when Buggin' Out questioned him about his paintings of Italians on the wall of his restaurant. He felt as though since most of Sal's earnings came from the Black community that Sal should pay homage to African Americans. Sal (who is my favorite character, by the way. He's just so real and I like his accent) counters his argument, saying "Open your own store and put whatever you want on your walls." The same goes for the media. Birth of a Nation premiered during a time where blacks were viewed as animals that had been freed from captivity. We were a natural threat to their women and educating us was a threat to society in general. Of course, if you were to ask a white person during that time to describe a Negro, the explanation wouldn't be so politically correct. So, if you give your enemy the power to tell your story, you'll be shown in the worst light. And during the early 1900s, blacks were still viewed as second class citizens and 3/5ths of a humans and this image was depicted in their media. All because the laws change doesn't mean people's perceptions do.
ReplyDeleteThis tenet has been deconstructed with directors, writers, and producers such as Spike Lee who understand the importance of having black people being portrayed in a positive light. Tyler Perry has said he also wanted to rid Hollywood of the "black bashing" in film. This method is countered, however, with TV shows with a lot of drama and fighting, such as Love and Hip Hop and other reality shows. We're already being viewed as barbaric; there's no need to add fuel to the fire. African Americans have a long way to go when it comes to depictions in the media but there are a few good films and other materials that celebrate black excellence.
Black lives as we see throughout history has been deemed an unimportant from slavery to even today. During slavery the negro was just property to this master. And, when the negro then became emancipated; the negro was then labelled as a criminal, a rapist, or and animal. Black lives mean nothing to any white person in America. Black live were vilified by the labels white people put on them. And, in the Hollywood film industry thats what they introduced the negro as, as an barbaric being. As you may recall, in The Birth of a Nation and the picture above, you see the negro with his feet up without his shoes "acting" like an animal; being barbaric as the white man sees the negro. Also, in the Hollywood film industry you see a lack of black people, you see only the negro being played as the criminal or the servant. You see your mammies and your tragic mulattos. In the Hollywood film Industry, the negro is nothing, he is unimportant and he is whatever the white man labels him. And, now today in the Hollywood film industry you still with the stereotypes of negroes. you may even see a white person playing as a brown/black person in a movie. In films today the negro male is still a criminal, is still an animal, is still barbaric. You can still see the negro female playing as the mammy, for example, The Help; as the promiscuous on or the loud angry black woman. There are so many stereotypes that a black man/woman have to endure and they aren't true. But, today, there are some positive roles of black men and women in films. I believe that Oscar Micheaux and Spike Lee, as far as other directors have made a way to try to deflect the stereotypes of black lives. But, even within their movies you still see the black man as a criminal or a rapist; and, the black women as promiscuous. It like these stereotypes follow black lives around and it hard to get away from them. And, it like i believe that some people are starting to believe the labels that were put on them. The white man is so afraid of negro domination that he would do anything to keep the negro in his control. And you see that with every system from convict leasing to Jim Crow to mass incarceration. I honestly think that its funny that black lives have been giving these labels when white man are the one raping and killing black lives for no reason other than they are black and that they are afraid of the negro domination.
ReplyDeleteThe Hollywood film industry essentially delegitimizes Black American existence by denying its presence and complexity outside of the scope of whiteness. In doing so, it negates the importance of black life. In other words, as far as Hollywood industry is concerned, there is no dialogue about black life unless white life is in the spotlight. The use of stereotypes is just to augment this sense of purpose in relationship to white livelihood. As a black person you are either a threat to white society or you're helping to ensure it continues to reign supreme. They created a false correlation between the quality of life for Blacks and how well they play into the white agenda. You exist for no purpose outside of that. D.W. Griffith's work was a political strategy. He was playing on the fears of the overpowering of the white infrastructure and the idea of a blending of cultures. In order for white supremacy to remain intact there has to be a distinction between whiteness and blackness. That distinction requires Black people to remain subservient.It's too simplistic to say that white filmmakers lacked knowledge on the way that black people thought and acted. It's more important to understand that they could not conceptualize the idea of there being any depth to Black existence. Black film makers have deconstructed this notion by dismissing the idea that blackness always exists in relationship to whiteness, and by allowing for there to be complexities within the scope of black life. They have also debunked the notion that aiding white supremacy increases to quality of life for African Americans. Directors like Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, and Barry Jenkins have and are still currently creating representation of black life outside of the classic Hollywood dynamic. They are allowing for black people to have culture, purpose,success and most importantly vices that don't intersect with whiteness. Essentially, what Black film has done is humanize Black Americans. While our history may be inseparable from whiteness our livelihood, aspirations, achievements, and flaws are not.
ReplyDeleteThere is a conscious awareness of the lack of diversity and representation in Hollywood presently. The problems of the 20th century have not been dissolved. As a people we are still drawing attention to the underrepresentaion of Blackness in the film industry. http://www.newsweek.com/oscars-diversity-actors-directors-respond-418280
DeleteThis continually stems from the classic Hollywood ideology of whiteness perpetually needing to be front and center and every other race of people needing merely to exist around it.
While looking over the film's and readings throughout this course, both showed how African American lives were deemed unimportant by the film industry. While watching the film Birth of a Nation, Producer D.W Griffith went out of his way to portray African Americans as criminals,savage monsters,and domestic workers. D.W Griffith, who came from a southern background was clearly a racist. Griffith cared nothing about adding any African American actors/characters to his film unless they were seen as slaves. I feel that this topic is important even in today's world when you see how African Americans are portrayed in Film.
ReplyDeleteOne Film in particular I would like to discuss is "Menace to Society". The title itself shows what they categorize African Americans to be in society. The main actor in this film is and 18 year-old African American male named Cane who subjected his life to crime and violence. Throughout this film it showed how Cane lived a life of crime and was even involved in a murder during the middle of the film. Towards the end of the film Cane finally wanted to change the way he was living his life and decided to leave the gang affiliated area. While packing to to leave his neighborhood he was killed during a drive by.
The reason I chose to speak on this film is to show that once again African Americans, when portrayed in the film industry are usually shown as self-destructive, uneducated, and as violent human beings. When looking from past to present, not much has really changed on the perceptions of African Americans. These perceptions go farther than just film. It can be seen in news outlets, on social media, and in real life situations. African Americans for years have been dealt a bad hand in many situations. I will say that it is up to us to change the way that we are perceived and that it is time for us to start creating and critiquing our own work.
Amanee Reid's post
DeleteIt was once said by Alice Childress “I believe racism has killed more people than speed, heroin or cancer, and will continue to kill until it has no more.” ENG 318 African American Film and Culture starts its semester showing students the way African Americans were depicted in the film industry since the beginning of time; unimportant. Watching movies such as Birth of a Nation which was directed by a racist by the name of D.W. Griffith, gave students a clear outlook on how whites viewed the African American community. The movie is disrespectful as it attempts to portray blacks and what they went through. Actual black people were not even used throughout the movie unless they were out in the fields doing what they already were doing during that time. In replacement of an actual African American, Griffith decides to use whites to depict the character of a black man calling the blackface. This shows the unimportance of the black community back then because whites felt that they could do whatever they wanted themselves without the help from the black community. The movie gave a clear outlook as to how important blacks really were and a few classes later, students get introduced to a movie that will respond to Birth of a Nation titled Within Our gates by Oscar Micreaux. Although the movie was very powerful, whites never allowed the movie to be shown in their communities when it was released.
ReplyDeleteIn todays’ society, we are still continuously seeing the black community fight to show its importance in the Hollywood scene. Movies such as Birth of a Nation (2016), 12 Years a Slave, Selma and so many others, shake the white community because it shows what happened during those times from a blacks’ perspective and they hate it. If they could kick it out of theatres like they did with Within Our Gates, they defiantly would with no hesitation. This shows that there’s still a level of unimportance shown toward the African American Culture in todays’ society. Racism is still as much a problem as it was in 1915 in 2017 especially within the Hollywood scene. Not enough African Americans are recognized and praised for their outstanding work that they do, instead they get ridiculed whenever they try to make a change. The Oscars and Grammys’ is a great example of that. If the award should be handed to an African American who was the main character, they find some sort of way to give it to someone else. The pride of the white community is a dilemma as well for todays’ society. Some actors and actresses have made it to where they can play in a film and not get scorned, but then again many have not. Racism, as said by Childress, is what is killing it for this generation and many to come until there is nothing left to kill.
Based on some of the first movies created in Hollywood, blacks were viewed as secondary characters that served merely as obstacles in the plot. These plots usually revolved around social issues, which fused historical events with false representations of blacks. This dangerous combination created an image within the black community that portrayed them as unimportant and uncivilized. This can be shown in D. W. Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. The movie centralizes around “white power”, which in itself lowers the significance of blacks within the movie. Blacks were represented by white actors that used “blackface” and exaggerated facial features that made them look animalistic. The fact that black actors weren’t used to represent black people shows how they weren’t valued in the Hollywood industry. This is almost the same thing as Samuel L Jackson trying to play the role of Forest Gump, it just doesn’t make sense. This most likely happened because the directors knew what kind of image they wanted their version of a black person to play, which probably wouldn’t have reached the approval of black actors.
ReplyDeleteBlack actors today are still somewhat diminished by the Hollywood industry, but are progressively taking on more important roles. This can be shown by the lack of Oscar nominations that blacks received in 2016. All the actors nominated were white, and brought about the hashtag “#OscarsSoWhite” on different social network cites. Even the nomination for the film Straight Outta Compton, which had plenty of talented black actors, and was based on the lives of black people, was given to a white screenwriter. The lack of black actors chosen shows how the film industry overlooked the need to diversify the nominees. On the other hand, more movies are being developed that centralize around black actors such as Moonlight, every Tyler Perry movie, and Hidden Figures. These movies are important because they bring forth scenes that put blacks in the spotlight, which diminish Hollywood’s notion of making black actors secondary characters.
Ishmael Muhammad
ReplyDeleteWith the success of Birth of a Nation, White filmmakers affirmed that they can portray Black Americans in a demeaning and ridiculous manner and it will still be lucrative. Why wouldn’t it be? Segregation was more prominent than ever and Black people knew better than to challenge these laws set to keep them in their place. In reality, Black people were very dissatisfied with Birth of a Nation. Race riots erupted in several cities after screenings of the controversial film. This did not stop White filmmakers from producing future racist portrayals of Black people. After all, society and its status quo would always support their bigoted views, right? Black people were lesser than White people and everyone knew this. However, as time went on, progress was being made for the Black American. They were gaining more rights, and they were gaining sympathy from White people. This would mark the beginning of the end for racist filmmakers, producers, and directors alike. Or would it?
In racist-rooted films like Birth of a Nation, every Black character involved serves the purpose of elevating Whiteness. An example of this are the loyal Black characters like Mammy, who literally serves White people and is more than happy to do so. Then there are the animalistic Black people. The violent ones, the rapist ones, the kidnapper ones, lusting after the virtuous White women. This film acted as a prototype, a parent, if you will, laying the foundation for Blackness in Hollywood and its interaction with Whiteness. While movies gradually became less graphic with their prejudices and preconceived notions, they still bear the same marking placed upon them from their parent film. Films like The Help or Hidden Figures have been praised for their positive and dynamic portrayals of Black women. As brilliant as they may be deemed by critics and viewers alike, one may argue that they still center around Whiteness. This would be okay out of context, but when taken into account that Black actors are rarely ever acknowledged for being portrayed as anything other than subservient to whiteness, it feels off. In Hidden Figures, the soon-to-be iconic monologue Taraji P. Henson delivers about there not being a colored bathroom in her workplace, never even happened. It’s fictional. This is important because the speech drives Kevin Costner’s (also fictional) character to strike down the white bathroom sign in a swift strike that permeates with White savior-ness. Like I said earlier, it feels off. That being said we do have beautiful films centered around Blackness, such as the Golden Globe winning Moonlight, which artfully tackles the intersectionality of Blackness and queerness, showing that neither are mutually exclusive.
While we have made huge strides leading up to today, we still have some ways to go. There’s still a prominent diversity issue in Hollywood as evident by the annual #Oscarsowhite hashtag. And the occasional boycotting of films that continue to whitewash both fictional and real people of color. And the fact that Blackface is still a thing that happens. And that people of color who do get roles are often told portray stereotypes. And…I think you get the picture. We still have a lot of work to do.
Bathroom Monologue:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzTjsDb-2Gk
Hidden Figures Fact Checker:
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/hidden-figures/
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DeleteDepictions of African American individuals has been confined to various negative stereotypical images of people of color. Because of this, African Americans endured a long difficult struggle in the history of the Hollywood film industry. With consistent demeaning dominant stereotypes, Black characters are portrayed as incompetent, child-like, criminal, foolish, cowardly, and hyper-sexualized. Many people feel the conflict began with the images of the rebellious South in American film. White supremacy and Black inferiority were at the root of America's socio-cultural atmosphere during the nineteenth and early twentieth century around the time the movie industry made its entertaining debut. With this the stage was sufficiently set for D. W. Griffith's movie. For example, racial vindication is displayed throughout the entire Birth of a Nation film. Birth of a Nation seems exaggerated and impossible for modern audiences to believe. The stretching of the truth was very common in early filming. However, Griffith endured in this practice only for specific purposes that accommodated him and the entertainment of his white audiences. These accommodations for Griffith was deliberately exaggerated to demonstrate Blacks’ essential dissimilarity with Caucasians which involved their lack of sophistication exemplified by enjoying singing and dancing, chicken eating politicians, and politicians who disrespected their duties by drinking and taking off their shoes while discussing the law. The myths further reinforced assumptions, about the primitive or uncivilized natures of African Americans.
DeleteThe viewing of this racist film has exhibited that individuals have a misconception of thinking Blacks do not have universal experiences or even universal feelings. This false accusation led to the acting of Blacks to be portrayed by White actors in blackface makeup with animalistic features. In the Birth of a Nation, the facial exaggerations included big eyes, white or red lips, and thick eyebrows which were displayed in the characters of Gus and the Black politicians. The polish that was utilized to portray color was always very dark without any variations in skin tones. Although the roles that seemed to show African Americans more positively included character roles of loyal servants and butlers such as “Mammy.” This cemented the conditioning of hegemony that demanded African Americans to stay in their places sustained by white supremacy. Hollywood has set the tone for the images, values, and worth of our culture. Numerous individuals believe that the degrading stereotypes of Blacks that are utilized mostly for their entertainment are based on reality rather than fiction. The lack and inability to go out and research the accurate lives of people of color has proven the insignificance of African Americans in the eyes of the Hollywood film industry. The unimportance of the truth of our Black heritage in my opinion was a strike of fear and ignorance. As we look at various films we find heroes to be white men such as the KKK in which D.W. Griffith’s film glorified the ground they walked on. The Ku Klux Klan is portrayed in a sympathetic light as it defends chaste virtuous Southern white ladies such as Flora from marauding and being raped by black freemen. The KKK engaged in evil actions such as the burning of Ida B. Wells successful newspaper office because she shared the correct information regarding lynchings of Black people which were carried out by this organization’s immoral, wicked operations.
DeleteI have asked myself how did this even come to terms in Hollywood or even why has this been a problem for so many years. As I continued to critically think about this situation I realized this was created from the colonization of human civilization. Misconceptions regarding Africa and its people have swarmed the entire world for years. Generalizations and lies have been produced by the media and the opinions of individuals' own personal beliefs. However, these illusions originated from Europeans and their false impressions. European imperialism had drastic effects on the African way of life which advanced to America and traumatically influenced lives and beliefs here. With Africa and its people being conditioned to be more like Europeans, the genuine history our the birth of human civilization was lost and regenerated with various myths in order to satisfy the necessities as well the wants of the European culture.
DeleteHowever, The Birth of a Nation generated riots and created the pathway to more critical thoughts that caused a creation of a new industry in race films. Movies, television, and the media in general are all responsible for a variety of racist beliefs and actions. In recent history progress has been operated in the way minorities are viewed on the big screen. We owe a lot of this to progression to a wonderful filmmaker by the name of Oscar Micheaux. As a black owned independent filmmaker, Micheaux frequently displayed blacks in positions of power, authority, and respectability. He actually showed the truth through controversial subjects such as lynching. He offered fully developed characters both black and white to ensure that we were shown capable of fulfilling the roles needed while examining the society’s true negative actions and stereotypes towards people of color. Oscar Micheaux examined this in the movie Within Our Gates. He displayed how the white man was stealing from Mr. Landry, how Sylvia an African American woman can be educated, how there are some white people who do not consume the negative thoughts of Blacks such as Mrs. Warwick, and even the exhibition of universal thoughts that we all go through in daily life such as relationships or jealousy no matter the skin tone. His deconstruction of the cynical cliche’ of Blacks aided in the reconstruction of our true history and lives. The growing momentum continued with the constant labor of the NAACP. This great organization has brought more changes to Hollywood by demanding that whites and blacks share screen time. In today’s entertainment ranging from inner city drama to comedy, I find that African American characters are unable to tell stories or explore regular human emotional states, but they are defining themselves through servile places in American culture for the reassurance and acceptance of the white audience. For every Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Cosby Show, there is a Good Times or a Sanford and Son. Although there is significant changes in Hollywood as a whole, we still have obstacles to overcome. We must contain patience without refraining from utilizing or feeding into the same stereotypes we are fighting against. Accomplishing this goal will be the virtue to elevating our status and value as true citizens of this society. It is essential to keep striving.
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Black lives in the Hollywood film industry were mistreated, neglected, abnormal, and over emphasized. They were stereotyped to how whites wanted them to be portrayed. They were characterized as having black face, which was a popular form of entertainment. Their facial features were animalistic and they didn’t come across as humans. Blacks been put through a lot of maltreatment.
ReplyDeleteBlacks were seen as unimportant, and they were used most of the time. For instance, we watched Birth of a Nation and Within our Gates and in both films blacks were represented poorly and or treated with little to no respect. Blacks were shown to be slaves or entertainers for white people, and they were shown in their worst state, drinking with their feet up, and robbing homes. In Within our Gates they showed racial circumstances during the years that Jim Crow was around, the KKK, and the migration of blacks to cities located from North and Midwest. They also portray the blacks as being poor because they show an African American woman that is trying to earn money for a poor black school. In both films, whites lynch blacks for no real reason. Blacks were basically neglected unless it was dealing with white people in some shape or form. We also watched a film called “Do the Right Thing” by Spike Lee, who really showed another side of Black Hollywood films, where it showed a scene in the pizza shop where the black guy expressing his concern to the owner about not having any black important historical men on his wall. The result of that was getting kicked out. Also they showed how their neighborhood was a family environment to everyone.
This tenet has been deconstructed and reconstructed in many ways. For example, I feel like blacks realized they could do everything the white man did, and decided to tell their stories the way they thought they should be shown. Now blacks are portrayed in a lot of movies with leading roles, or helping to produce films. Although they still lack a lot of appearance in known Block Buster movies. There is a show now that reminds me of these types of film and stories we read and discussed in class, it’s called “Insecure”. It’s an HBO series about a black woman going to teach at a white school and basically getting stereotyped and picked on by her coworkers and students. This shows that we are still struggling with some discrimination and racist people in the world today. It also shows that older generations are keeping it going by passing it down to their oblivious children. Another thing that catches my attention is the term Blaxploitation by definition meaning “the exploitation of black people, especially with regard to stereotypes roles in movies”. This term is offensive because I feel as though it is stereotyping blacks in general.
Black lives were deemed unimportant by the Hollywood film industry in the ways that black people were portrayed or by demeaning the characters portrayed in film and on screen. Blacks were often cast as the subservient characters. The roles were often limited and deemed as less important to the complete theme of the film. From the beginning the characters were maids, butlers, caretakers or simply yes sir and no sir speaking parts. Many times the characters may not even had speaking parts! They were just background scenery! Characters portrayed y blacks seemed to deminish the interegity of the black race and create the stereotype of blacks as inferior, less intelligent, triffiling, and shifless! These portrayals created more negative images of blacks. The images were created by the white Hollywood film industry and viewed all over the world. White Hollywood and the film industry has been instrumental in creating some of the most negative images of blacks over and over, in film after film. The Hollywood film
ReplyDeleteIndustry has been content with its way of deeming black lives as unimportant by its continued negative portrayals of blacks. The trend was deconstructed by some black writers, actors, directors, and producers creating more positive images in film and on television. The characters portrayed have helped to change the negative images and negative beliefs created over the years. The deconstructing of the negative images seemed to create a new agenda in film for a period of time and some black actors were instrumental in creating positive images to offset many years of negativity. Negative images were not as prevelent and many people of other races were often caste in the less important roles. The trend of portraying lacks in negative characters has been reconstructed in some instances but it may not be as prevalent it it still happens. The lens used by the Hollywood film industry has changed some and the opportunity for other people to create positive images of blacks has grown. The lens is not from the eye of white males with the approval to create what they want and how they want. There still is a long way to go in Hollywood creating more positive images of blacks. However; today's technology makes it easier for blacks to crest our own images and make them positive and really project the real culture and essence of our lives as we see fit.
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ReplyDeleteBlack lives were seen as unimportant in the Hollywood film industry, accurately depicted in The Birth of Nation, hence the birth of Black Cinema. Before Black Cinema, Blacks were depicted in spaces where they could not exist without “whiteness”, the master narrative paradigm. They were always secondary characters seen in the background as the stereotypical black person. Some of their roles included maids, field hands or dancing for the entertainment of Whites. The tragic mulatto and the mammy troupe were also commonly seen. Hollywood Cinema painted them as so happy to be in these roles. Blacks were fixed into certain places and roles where we could only exist in relation to whiteness. We were seen as a thorn in the side of America. Our only value in existing was to make them comfortable, as obstacles or as supporting cast. Because Blacks were seen as irrelevant to Whites we never saw Blacks as just existing and leading normal lives. We weren’t given the opportunity to see into important aspects of what make a person a person. It wasn’t normal to see them spending time with their families or participating is leisurely activities. We didn’t get to see black culture. There were no stories about Blacks living normal lives without reference to the White world. This was most likely one of the many intentions of the Hollywood industry. Everything was done to make it seem as if Blacks were not human beings. Not only are we dehumanized through ways previously stated, but also we are literally depicted as animals.
ReplyDeleteToday, we have certainly come a long way in deconstructing these tenets. We see more black people in leading roles in the film industry. Barack Obama was our first black president and he served not one, but two terms. We have films like Hidden Figures, which show our struggles to get to the success of where we are now and how a lot of the world’s accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible without Blacks. Black Cinema and being tired of being wrongly depicted definitely played a role in this. Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates put Black lives at the front of his movie. We got to see into their family lives, relationships and a big part of our culture, church. We see them trying to lift up other Blacks through education, though Whites tried to depict as ignorant. He touched on topics that made us who we are as a people, something that would never been seen in the Hollywood Film Industry. We also have to give credit to Spike Lee for movies like Do the Right Thing, a film that was so racially conscious in a time where movies that called out the racisms were looked down upon or not widely accepted. We have come to accomplish all these things by doing what Ida B. Wells-Barnett stresses throughout A Red Record, “tell the world the facts” even though it may make them uncomfortable. It is necessary to help the cause and for advancement. It allows Whites to feel the discomfort that we have felt for many years and continue to still feel today. Despite all of the progress we have made, I feel like there are still underlying prejudices. History is starting to repeat itself and this tenet is being reconstructed. The problem does still exist. We see it in the streak of Black lives that have recently been taken. Race riots and mass racial violence once a thing of the past is now a thing of the present. We see it in the mass incarceration of our people. We are still in many cases seen as the enemy even when we are just trying to go about our daily lives. We are living in a different form of slavery.
here was no respect for the black man nor woman. Blacks were seen in America's eyes as a race who could do nothing but work in the fields and be servants to a master and his families. Holly wood deemed blacks unimportant in their films by showing the interactions between them and whites. The way that if a black person came in the room all of the white people would seem to disperse as if that person was a festering sore. They made fun of blacks by using white characters and making the famous "black face". In these films we were still portrayed as a problem, savages, carnivores, and uncivilized. Hollywood would make blacks looks as inhumane as possible.They did not care how they made us look on the big screen, we were seen as a problem to America anyway. When they came out with movies that focused more one blacks and had them playing the good roles that made the community mad and caused riots and lynchings everywhere. Their lives did not matter. Today in films we see black people playing good roles instead of bad, we see that they aren't made fun of like they use to be. Some of the movies have it to where the whites are the "help" for a black family rather than it being the way that it use to be.
ReplyDeleteThe deconstruction of how blacks were treated in the film industry came from the writers, actors, directors, and whoever else had a part in the filming business. They chose not to have the black people shown in a negative way anymore. With reconstructing the Hollywood film industry, blacks are shown a lot of respect, they tend to idolize most if not all blacks in some films. They show blacks in a more positive and civilized way. Giving blacks freedom helped them as a whole to show who they really are, even though people may not always agree with what they have going on in a film, for example biracial relationships. Black still are respected the same as white. They use blacks a lot more in movies that are powerful and tell great stories, like the film "Hidden Figures"; a black woman becoming the first neurosciences engineers, black women could run a brand new man made machine better than a white man could, a black woman who could do equations in a matter of a second.You could not have had another race play those roles and it mean so much. Blacks came through a lot to get where they are now and they show us so much respect by letting us be able to tell the story of those who help get them to where they are now. Hollywood back then just saw us as a race of irrelevance and now they see us as a race that has been constructed into being relevant and applicable to the filming industry. They see the value of black excellence.
Hidden Figures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2tlxASSFc0
the first word is suppose to be "There".
Delete(Ryan McMillan)
ReplyDeleteBlack lives were rarely at the forefront of the hollywood executives minds when they are creating, investing in, and discussing film. They did not see the lives of African American individuals as interesting or film worthy. They saw them as lesser than stories of white Americans and believed that the stories of black individuals have less of an importance and impact to American culture than the tales of White individuals. They felt that white individuals were more meaningful. They knew that American audiences cared more about protagonists that were the heterosexual white male. It was common to have “black” characters in films to be portrayed as scoundrels, naive, savage, and foolish. They were also commonly portrayed as the main antagonist to the smart, powerful, and charming white male character. Examples of this would be the films “The Birth of a Nation” (1915), “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “Dumbo” (1941), “Mandingo” (1975), etc. The belief that the tales of African American characters are not important in hollywood has slowly been deconstructed through the rising number of black filmmakers. It can be contributed to the surge of films from black filmmakers that portrayed the reality and hardships of African Americans in America to a unaware white audience. Films such as Boyz N The Hood (1991), Juice (1992), Menace II Society (1993), etc. Hollywood began to invest in films that told stories of African Americans and they realized that there was a market for films that focus on black characters. Although the impact was positive, it also left African American films in a box where hollywood would rarely portray African Americans in a positive light. Black films were mostly based around “life in the hood”, “slavery”, and “the Civil Rights movement”. Blacks were rarely portrayed as heroes the way that white actors are. This shows that hollywood still has a long way to go.
As we have delved into the aspects of Black Hollywood and discussed how it has been represented in the past as well as the present, I can say that blacks in Hollywood have made a step up but at the same time, we have remained complacent. As white people liked to think back then as well as some today, this is a white man's world that we, the black people, are just living in. Black people have no significant role except to be of service to the white man as a slave and or to provide entertainment for the white man. This perception of black people was overtly present and was a well-known "fact" in Hollywood at the time. This was all black people were good for and if they were to ever to step out of the bounds of their "duty to white people" they would be killed as Ida B. Wells gave voice to in Red Record which told about the many appalling reasons for blacks being lynched. Life itself is precious, all except black lives because we were not worth anything, especially after the Civil War. Blacks were and still are seen as inferior to white people so this is how they were portrayed through Hollywood cinema. They were shown as dumb, animalistic people who had no manners and caused chaos were they not kept in line by their master's. Examples of this were shown in D.W. Griffith’s Birth of A Nation, while the opposite viewpoint of black people was shown in Oscar Micheaux’s film Within Our Gates which consisted of an all-black cast with a black person, a black woman, as the main character whom the story revolves around.
ReplyDeleteThis belief that blacks are inferior to whites and are only good for playing maids, slaves, or serving under white people has been deconstructed because there have been many roles not putting black people in these type cast roles. There has been a major come up for black people in that we have been able to seen as more than the roles we were once known as and began to evolve and move past that. Now, we have roles for black people portraying people with prestigious jobs such as lawyers, judges, doctors, entrepreneurs, and president’ s of name worthy organizations and institutions. We have been able to make it known that we are more than those stereotypical roles and are more than capable of playing the roles that used to be only for white people. We have taken back our dignity and have proved that we are more than slaves and maids, but that we are intelligent persons who can be in authoritative positions and do so with charisma. But, at the same time this idea has been reconstructed because in Hollywood today, most of the roles that black actors and actresses have won awards for have been for those stereotypical roles of maids, slaves, gangsters, or addicts of some kind. These roles that have been given the most fame do exactly what the roles of black people did back in the day and that is to prove that black people are inferior to whites and can only live successfully by serving under them and if they don’t, they are showed as negative images. The fluctuation of both portrayals of black people says that this ideology is still prevalent today, and I think it always will be. However, I have seen many black actors and actresses turn down roles that type cast them as maids, slaves, or addicts because that is not how they wish for their artistry to be used. So, there has been an advance in this effort, but the concept of stereotyping and type cast will always be there.
https://youtu.be/36vgBn6CAyU
https://youtu.be/kpoVewpRvZo
Black lives have been and continue to be deemed unimportant in the realm of Hollywood. How? As we saw in Birth of a Nation, black people were portrayed as slobs, criminals, and rapists. I noticed at the beginning, the black people were maids, servants, babysitters/nannies and we still see that somewhat today with films such as "The Help". First of all, black lives were already deemed unimportant for the simple fact that black weren't in the films, the actors were wearing blackface. As we talked about in class, it made white people feel more comfortable within themselves to know that "I may not be where I want to be, but at least I'm not them". Or they wanted to gloss over some things to make it seem as if they gave black people a break or made it easier for black people to live amongst them. Today, we are getting steps closer to black acceptance in Hollywood. Within the last couple of years, we saw the "Oscar So White" fiasco, which led to an Oscar's boycott, and Viola Davis' speech saying that "we can't be casted for roles that are simply not there". With that, came more black movies and TV shows, but even now they still have to compromise. In Queen Latifah's show, STAR, it's a "black show" but they put a white girl in the lead role to "compromise" with the white people. Also in other movies like Hidden Figures, they showed protests and things that happened but the watered it down to make people more comfortable. We are moving toward the right direction with black films but now we have to think about the awards. With the Oscars being white over the years, more black people have had roles with no awards. This year for example, the Oscars have nominated more Africans Americans but they can't nominate "too many" they have to compromise so people won't be offended. That's the main reason I think Taraji didn't get nominated. Octavia Spencer did amazing, but the need to keep everyone satisfied so to speak so people that truly deserve to be nominated don't get the chance.
ReplyDeleteblack lives from what we watch and read so far in full with racism and marginalization. they never got credit to what they doing in hollywood. they have no awards for what they doing ever with all the talented personalities that we have we still do get the what we deserve .for example n the movie 12 years a slave in one scene the black guy ask why his is here locked up and he is free and he need to go back to his family !! the white guy tell him YOU ARE Black i don't know why you asking me to let you go you don't see your color .
ReplyDeleteHollywood whitewashing (1921)also called race bending, is where white actors play people of color. it has been going since at least the sheikh 1921 .you would think it would have died out in the 1960's with the civil right movement and the rise of Sidney Poitier ,but it is still going strong until today.once the films were completed they could only play a limited number of screens those theaters that played 'race films making it almost impossible for them to ever turn a profit and yet they kept making movies. whatever you are an audience member or filmmaker ,that level of passion for cinema is something that we should all aspire to.
Black lives were and still are deemed unimportant especially in the Hollywood film industry. You see this in many movies from the beginning of the film industry even until today. In the Birth of a Nation which was produced in 1915 by D.W. Griffith we saw vivid examples of black lives being deemed unimportant by the film industry. The derogation of blacks in this film was very vivid and made blacks look uneducated, and uncivilized, and subservient to the white man. A tool also used to degrade blacks was the use of blackface and deemed blacks not even worthy of playing a role in the movie. The roles that black people played in this movie were roles that portrayed stereotypes that were believed to be true in that time. We see this overflow through the Hollywood film industry from then until today. The characters that blacks seem to portray are stereotypical of black men and women throughout history for example a maid, an athlete, a rapper, or a drug dealer. The Hollywood film industry does blacks an injustice by only showing black people in their stereotypical roles. This has effects on many black children as well as their parents and their parent parents. There is no black hero. Black people are innovators and pioneers but there often is a stark representation of movies that display black inventors, doctors, lawyers, engineers, congressmen, and senators. Even when there are modern shows with presidents (during President Obama’s terms) the president is often white. When people that are other than black have never had a consistent contact with a black person or black people, and the only examples of blacks that they do have contact with are through movies that paints us to be the opposite of what we are, perpetually feeds into the idea that black people are just “thugs” or other negative stereotypes. The belief that blacks are deemed unimportant has been deconstructed and well as reconstructed today. Oscar Micheaux was the first African American film director. His movie “Within Our Gates” in 1920 was a direct narrative to the Birth of a Nation. What was so groundbreaking in this film is that it showed blacks in a positive light, like being in love, being educated, and overcoming hardships. You see in this movie not only positive examples of blacks but also negative, and this applies to the white characters in the movie as well, and this is why it was so groundbreaking for the time. It was one of the first times blacks were shown to be educated and independent, as well as the concept of white men fathering black children. Within Our Gates showed that white people were not always heroes and were not always good people. There was outrage in this and the movie was banned from theaters. You see many stories of heroic African Americans like stories like the Nat Turner Rebellion ironically titled “The Birth of a Nation”, Selma a story about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, The Butler, Red Tails, The Help, Straight out of Compton, and finally Hidden Figures. Black directors like Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Tyler Perry, Denzel Washington, and Lee Daniels tell stories of black people and the black experience. This gives those who don’t have contact with black people to consider our lives and our struggles and breaking down barriers and shows that we are one in the same. Without these movies, I would’ve never known about the heroic tales of my people and I am so grateful for the many pioneering black actors and black film makers. By Kynadi Douthit
ReplyDeleteSince the beginning of class we have discussed movies and articles stereotyping black people . We see off gate how African Americans have been portrayed. For example, in the movie Birth of a Nation we see that the black people were either slaves or servants. They were used for the white people's entertainment, and dehumanized by the way they looked. In that movie we can clearly see that the real African Americans were the actual slaves doing the work on the field and dancing around but the house slaves were actually white actors with a black face, pink lips, and big eyes. The fact that real black people were not good enough to play themselves was a disgrace to the African American race. Throughout the history of Hollywood black people did not seem fit enough to play certain roles as well faced challenges in advancing within Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteBack in those days, African Americans never got the credit that they deserved. The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith was a memorable cinema, but Within Our Gates, by Oscar Micheaux who was the first black filmmaker, was somehow banned from the movie theaters and became "lost." This right here is a prime example of making sure that the white American race was always on top, while African Americans had to push our way there.
Now this tenet has been deconstructed in this time period because African American actors and film writers have way more opportunities than they had back then. In this generation, black people are getting leading roles in movies and TV shows and are being recognized for the exceptional work by receiving awards. Now I do realize that not all black people get the recognition that they deserve and that there are still some injustice when it comes down to African Americans in Hollywood, but there is still a difference from 1915 to now.
The bottom line is that blacks were never treated properly in Hollywood films and that us as a race has come a mighty long way in that category. There are still many things that could be fixed, but we are striving as a race to get those issues solved.
D’Nae Wetstone
ReplyDeleteBeing that Black lives were once (and still are) deemed unimportant by many white people in general, they were, of course, deemed unimportant in the Hollywood film industry.
The Birth of a Nation, a film by D.W. Griffith, depicts Black people (especially Black men) as animalistic beings. Clearly, D.W. Griffith was a racist white man who was heavily influenced by his father’s participation in the American Civil War. Having knowledge of his background, one can easily see why the film portrays Black people as unruly, uneducated people who are incapable of being free in America. If a film director has sincere hatred for Black people, that hatred will obviously be seen throughout the film. The lives of Black people were so unimportant to D.W. Griffith that he had white people partake in blackface in order to play Black people. Actual Black people were not even allowed to play themselves in the film because they were given little to no respect. The Birth of a Nation is just one of the many films in which Black people are heavily stereotyped.
In many Hollywood films, Black people were given roles that revolved around whiteness. Black people were never allowed to be the focus of a film because they were considered unworthy by the people who created it. Most of the roles given to Black actors and actresses were very stereotypical including thugs, pimps, drug dealers, mammies, and promiscuous jezebels to name a few (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ7r2OVu1ss). In the films, Black people are depicted as burdens to society in a way. The point of this is to preserve the notion that the white race is ultimately good and that Black people are the problem.
This belief has been deconstructed by black filmmakers such as Spike Lee and Ava DuVernay who created (and continue to create) films in which Black people have lead roles. These films help to debunk the many stereotypes that surround Black people. Films such as Do the Right Thing, School Daze, and Selma are targeted towards black audiences who will be able to relate.
The belief has not necessarily been reconstructed in my opinion. I say this because I rarely see Black actors and actresses winning awards for their roles in films that have whiteness at the center of it (or in it in some way). Movies such as The Help and Hidden Figures have indeed given Black actresses roles that are different than the traditional, stereotypical ones; However, the main focus of these movies is the unfair treatment of Black people from the white race. I wonder when that day will come.
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ReplyDeleteIn a nation that was deemed to be founded by whites, the existence of white superiority was and currently is still evident. With this notion is it clear that whites believe that every human that exists should “bow down” and respect their every action or projects such as films.
ReplyDeleteThe film industry has fallen to the idea due to whites wanting blacks to paint the country as a nation under “whites” not under God and be brainwashed to accept everything that is done to us. Films such as The Birth of Nation was a blatant attack to blacks. The portrayal of blacks in the film was definitely disrespectful. Whites aimed this film to destroy blacks’ self-worth. Blacks were portrayed as slobs, animals, and unimportant, especially those who held political office. This is because whites were afraid of “Negro Domination”. Whites felt that blacks were only seeking power. This notion was not true. Blacks wanted freedom and equality, not to be superior to whites. Those who were the caretakers of white families, tropes, were also portrayed as unimportant. These tropes were used to implore that blacks could only have worth if they were serving whites. Also in The Birth of a Nation, it was portrayed that black men were not worth having interaction with white women. The capacity of their being was dwindled due to the fact whites believed that black men could only have interaction with white women if they were raping them. With this, blacks were seen as thorns or problems in society and it always seemed like blackness only was could exist as a result of whiteness. Whites were always portrayed as heroes or protagonists in films such as Within our Gates. Blacks who were a product of miscegenation was even deemed to be unimportant. In Within our Gates and The Birth of a Nation, the presence of mulattos having a black heritage allowed whites to refer to them as “tragic mulattos”. Correspondingly, the very presence of blacks in the world was portrayed as unimportant. This thought led to race riots and the uprising of the KKK. Some whites felt that blacks didn’t deserve to exist, therefore they killed blacks to demolish the black population.
The tenets that were created by the film industry has been deconstructed today due to the upheaval of blacks realizing their self-worth. It is apparent that we are aware of what “odds” we are against and we strive to prove we are worth existing and deserve complete equality. The uprising of the “Black Lives Matter” movement is an epitome of this concept. The tenet of blacks being unimportant has also been reconstructed today. The presence of the KKK still exists today in certain areas and the events of white cops killing innocent blacks because of the color of their skin. It is believed that white cops think that blacks are a threat and any signs of aggression or response is a cause for black death. Although the reconstruction of the tenet of blacks not being significant still exists today, I feel that blacks have made strides to equality and allowing white to realize that we deserve to exist by things such as getting our education, having careers and having overall personal success.
http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2016/11/27/white-supremacy-isnt-fad-system/
https://twitter.com/luqman255/status/499234972537212928
http://emilysquotes.com/a-white-has-no-superiority-over-black-nor-a-black-has-any-superiority-over-white-except-by-piety-and-good-action/
Black lives were deemed unimportant by the Hollywood film industry because of the roles that were given to black people and the way they were depicted in most films. In "Birth of a Nation" D.W. Griffiths portrayed black people as criminals, savages and sexual predators. And like most directors from that era, he even went as far as to have some white people dress in black face to avoid having actual black people in certain roles. The negative effects of the stereotypes that were displayed early on in the entertainment industry lasted for many years. For a long time black people were only cast as house servants or other minor/stereotypical roles.
ReplyDeleteThis tenet was has been deconstructed by black filmmakers and others who started to tell stories from our prospective without the prejudice that was displayed in white films. Black people were given more progressive roles in films and were able to show Hollywood that we can do more than tap-dance.
I don't think this tenet has necessarily been reconstructed to resemble early Hollywood, but there are still problems. For example, there are many films that are released today with a white main character that tell stories about people of color or are set in countries that have a predominantly non-white population. This is because writers and directors feel the need for there to be a "white savior" in order for their films to be good. However, that is a false assumption and I think the practice of having a white person save the day is going to fade just like the stereotypes against black people in early Hollywood.
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ReplyDeleteThrough in-class conversations and watching films from the early 1900s such as Birth of a Nation and Within Our Gates, I have been introduced to the various ways producers portrayed blacks in films in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, I have come to the realization that blacks were never given the opportunity to be portrayed positively in films. Through early films, black lives have been deemed unimportant. For example, in Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith, blacks were portrayed as people with animalistic qualities. Although the entire movie was silent, the scenes spoke loudly. Pieces of black culture such as singing and dancing was seen as entertainment to whites and barbaric. Griffith’s racist images were seen throughout the film, especially when we acknowledge his exaggeration of black features such as big lips, eyes, and nose. In addition, his implementation of black face was a deliberate attack on the dignity of blacks in films. Because Birth of a Nation was the first Hollywood film, for blacks to be portrayed negatively, it tainted their opportunity to start on top in the film industry. One could see how in today’s time, blacks are commonly depicted as criminals, aggressive, and a people who are incapable of making sound decisions. Not to mention, one could add that this is one of the reasons it is so difficult for blacks to receive prestigious awards, such as Grammys, or even nominations for their acting and/or production of a film. Early in the film industry, blacks were not given the opportunity to resist being victims of stereotypes—they were simply thrown into roles that made a mockery of who they were as individuals and as a people.
ReplyDeleteThe tenet has been deconstructed by blacks taking on the task of controlling how their people are portrayed in films. Producers and actors such as Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, and Tyler Perry making it their mission to cast blacks for roles that are profound and positive, and preserve the rich history and culture of blacks.
Black lives were deemed unimportant by the Hollywood film industry because they use to cast people who were not black to play black characters. When they were played they were played with black faces which was very offensive. Blacks would play the roles of slaves which was their normal role in life. This belief has been deconstructed by blacks breaking through the film industry and portraying themselves in their own light. This belief has also been reconstructed today because as you see most awards at these white award shows go to white film directors when blacks deserve those very awards.
ReplyDeleteIn the Hollywood film industry, Blacks’ lives were deemed unimportant by being represented as dependent upon white people in all aspects, unruly, unintelligent, mischievous, and filthy. Producers such as, D.W. Griffith painted a lasting depiction of the inferior and feeble-minded Negro in his film, Birth of A Nation. Whether the person on screen was depicted as just a Negro or a Mulatto, they were everything that was wrong in that one picture. Deception was one central idea about the Negro and their inability to do whats right because of who they were. A person didn’t even have to be Black to portray a Black person because it was that simple. Many white people had utilized blackface because of lack of black thespians, during the time period. Griffith ultimately relayed the message that any dirty black substance, unfailing depiction of stupidity and servitude can be used to show what it is to be black. In Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates, a woman named Mrs. Stratton, in summary, says that the Negro doesn’t want education or a purpose in this life, all they want is their forty acres and a mule and to one day reach the gates of heaven. Even though, in the scene Ms. Warwick is depicted as a white woman of the North who wants to help change the perception of Blackness, Micheaux shows the constant hate and lack of desire to see Blacks move past their point of destitution that will always be readily available.
ReplyDeleteI think the tenet has been deconstructed by current producers, in serious films, tv shows and children’s film by allowing Blackness to be the center of attention. Whiteness has always been the focus. The strength of a white man and the purity of the white woman is what filmmakers relied on. Producers are changing the narrative. Black women are the lead on the scene. Disney princesses don’t have to be white anymore, people are learning to understand that elegance doesn’t have a skin tone. Some people try to focus on the fact that white people aren’t always included in the narrative, insteading of embracing the importance of Black people having the opportunity to achieve a goal that couldn’t have been imagined.
https://youtu.be/I3kmVgQHIEY
In Hollywood Cinema, blacks were deemed unimportant because of the stereotypical roles the characters were portrayed as. From watching the various films, and also reading articles, we have seen how blacks were shown in the public eye. These films portrayed us as barbaric, uneducated, criminals or maids. In the reading Black American Cinema, Manthia Diawara states "the Birth of a Nation created and fixed an image of blackness that was necessary for racist America's fight against black people". However I believe that this quote relates to more than just that movie. All of the movies made within this era depicted blacks in this way. It fueled the racists, racism, and continued to destroy the manhood or womanhood of blacks. In my opinion, these films were another way to hinder blacks from the opportunities they could not get in the first place. As long as blacks were seen in the public eye as savages, they would continue to remain unimportant, and negated.
ReplyDeleteThis tenet is still a work in progress as far as being deconstructed goes. In the times we are in now blacks are still viewed as "savages". Modern media still tries to depict us in every way possible. For example whenever someone black is killed by an officer, the media will portray the victim as thugs who deserve it. It will even go as far as using a mugshot, or finding a picture from social media where the victim may be involved in illegal behavior such as smoking weed or with several guns around them. In contrast to the way our white counterparts are depicted. For example when Dylan Roof killed those 9 people in the church, the media portrayed him as a teenager with mental health issues. Instead of depicting him as the terrorist he is. Therefore, in reality the only reason this tenet has been in any way reconstructed, is because blacks have put in the work to let everyone know who we are. This has been shown through positive movies, music, tv shows, and poetry. Without us doing what we have to for our voices to be heard, this tenet will exist forever.
ReplyDeleteBlack lives were deemed unimportant in the Hollywood film industry in earlier times due to the belief that blacks were inferior to the white race. Blacks were depicted as "less than" in film, even to the point of white actors portraying blacks in "blackface". During films, blacks were often placed in roles for entertainment purposes, such as dancing and singing, which is still apart of entertainment today. Film maker D.W. Griffith made a lasting impression with the film "Birth Of A Nation", which showed the effect and fear of what is known as "negro domination". It depicted blacks as the antagonist in several situations as well as highlighted the fear of miscegenation, with relationships between blacks and whites.
It is hard for me to say that the tenet of the black life being unimportant has been deconstructed, due to the fact that it is hard to see black influence in a positive light in the film industry today. Often times black actors and actresses are given the role of the maid or the supporting role with a lesser part. Films with black protagonists are far and few between, unless they involve stories of slavery. The strength and vigilance of the white man as well as the purity of the white woman have been consistently exalted within film, which can be seen even to the point of superheroes being portrayed to youth. It is my hope that within the future, the master narrative of white supremacy can truly change to equal representation for both blacks and whites as well as other minorities.
Through films, the true perception on how Hollywood viewed blacks is very clear. In the early film industry Black people weren't even allowed to play themselves in black roles. White actors painted themselves black with the use of black face, which personified black features to depict how whites really saw us. This tactic was used to dehumanize black people so whites could continue to keep us in the slave mindset. In a Birth of Nation, Griffith takes it a step further by not only using black face but only allowing black actors to play the role as the slaves with no speaking parts, as if he is only using the black actors as aesthetics to better sell the film. He also portrays blacks in a savage manner throughout the film making them seem uneducated, untrained, and barbaric. Its also shocking that white film makers used films to also alter past history and interactions with blacks, there's a theory that if you can convince enough people that an event happened a certain way then way it actually happened will be forgotten over time. You see a lot of film makers leave out the real details or the important events that happened in historical movies pertaining to black history. Hollywood film makers believed that black stories and black lives weren't relevant enough to be shown in movies or casted either. So black actors continued to play the stereotypical roles that their white counterparts wanted them to play like basketball players, maids, thugs, or even junkies.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as time progressed black film makers created a paradigm shift by allowing the true stories of how blacks lived there lives to be shown through there films. Spike Lee is known for his unapologetically black movies that really break down the cultural stereotypes that whites have created and allow room from new stigmas to be formed. Currently, black actors get more screen time but still aren't treated as equals on a pay scale either. Its hard to move upward being black in a white industry but thanks to people like Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Hattie McDaniel, Cicely Tyson, and Ethel Waters we can now make strides towards a better tomorrow.
keagen ferguson
Erika Booker
ReplyDeleteThroughout our class time we have had discussions on how blacks were mistreated in film. One of the first things that pointed out to me was the use of black face to portray African Americans. They would use anything to achieve the blackface, such as tar or ashes. This was shown in the race film Birth of a Nation. Another thing is the use of the light-skinned female or tragic mulatta as the portrayal of black people. This was a time where there was an obsession with the tragic mulatta. This was shown in the movie Within Our Gates. In both of these films there was a white paradigm. This means that everything was revolved around whites. White people were on the inside and blacks were on the outside, always. The reasoning for the is paradigm was the fear of negro domination. To "solve" this problem, there was the great emerging of lynchings and the start of the KKK burning crosses.
Today, this problem has been reconstructed by really putting African Americans in films and finally being recognized for them. This issue was being deconstructed because even though the films were being made there was still some type of white paradigm because blacks were not being recognized for the films. Just in the past two years have African American females been awarded for their great roles in films. When you think about the movie, The Help, you see that this issue has been reconstructed. It is a race film but there was no black face being used and the blacks were equally displayed. Also with the remaking of Birth of a Nation, you see this reconstruction. We have came a very long way but we still have many steps to take.
This tenet of the unimportance of black lives has been deconstructed, as well as reconstructed in today's society. By deconstruction, I take that as being broken down, so black lives' unimportance and importance has been shown in detail through films in several ways. Today, producers like Spike Lee and Will Smith are making films the centralize black lives. For example, in Barbershop 3, Ice Cube portrays to his audience that black lives matter and the killings of black individuals needs to stop. We can all come together without losing another life. He deconstructs, or brakes down, the significance of keeping harm away from our own people through comedy, value, and substance. In all black films today, I would say that they not only dissect the importance of black lives, but reconstruct it as well. They show how society views our unimportance through police brutality and false accusation, but recreate how we can change the views of how we are seen. Lots of black films like "Fences" and "Hidden Figures" are definitely reconstructive examples today because they are displaying not only the importance of black lives, but showing what we had to go through during the times when black lives were counted as worthless. Through the unity producers illustrate in black films, that is what shows the reconstructing of black lives; presenting that we can all come together and fight for our rights, prerogatives, and acceptance. ~ Lauren Sullivan
ReplyDeleteBlack lives were deemed unimportant by the Hollywood film industry through the demeaning of our persona, character, and potential. In Birth of a Nation, Griffin portrays in several ways how unimportant black lives are. To begin, let's talk about the "blackface." Griffin used white actors to play black people and vilified our appearance by using tar, coal, and black paint (not brown, but BLACK) as our skin complexion. He also exaggerated our looks by giving us ashy lips, bushy eyebrows, and huge, bug eyes. He symbolized us as these animalistic creatures. Secondly, black lives were deemed unimportant through our lack of knowledge in the power of government. Griffin shows his audience that we are disrespectful and our position in power would be pointless. He feared Negro Denomination, but not only that, miscegenation as well. He portrayed that nothing good comes out of the mixing between black men and white women, so he claimed that as rape. In class, we discussed how in Birth of a Nation, every time the Blacks did something good, the screen would turn red (symbolizing "evil"), but every time the white people did something good, the screen would turn blue (symbolizing "purity'). Griffin's subliminal, but very well known, messages in this film shows how Black lives were deemed unimportant by the Hollywood film industry in several ways.
ReplyDeleteBlack people seemed to only have an existence when it was in reference to White people. That to me shows that we were thought to be just an accessory or a possession rather than a fully developed person. The roles and characters Black people took on had no depth to them. The fact that Blacks only fit into a few roles, such as criminals or servants, made us look trivial and not worthy to be a man or woman with his or her own agenda. It is interesting that these roles were given to Blacks only to soothe the self-image of the Whites. I feel that films speak volumes and have such significance that it engraved a specific image of who Black people are to the world without hearing or seeing the real truth from the actual people. I feel that this was done to significantly put down the Blacks in a way that would discourage them to do anything outside of the boxed-in cage they were put in, psychically and mentally. That means that Blacks are also a clear threat to the livelihood of the Whites. One, that they were clearly evil to Blacks and treated them in an unfavorable manner they did not want the world to see. Two, that if Blacks were put on the same playing field as the Whites, that we could be just as great as they are at anything. That proposes the danger of Black Dominance. In order to divert the attention away from either of these two ideas, they had to depicted an image of Blacks that could justify the way that Whites treated them. I feel we see these odd actions of Blacks in Birth of a Nation to further reinforce and prove that Blacks only fit into those specific roles (criminal, servant, and animalistic), therefore they needed to be treated a separately or just simply thought of as less than.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it’s ever been fully “deconstructed”. Or one could say that it was deconstructed to be reconstructed as more subliminal and “normal”. We still fall into believing or reinforcing with word of mouth the same stereotypes today as back then. We still have had the same light skin vs. dark skin battles that turned into hashtags, which was the same way that we were separated in slavery. I looked at Snapchat’s featured stories on Tuesday and saw a featured story labeled “Relationship Goals”. As I was watching it I saw a strong majority of older white couples only. It made me feel like the sense of Black Love or Interracial Love was nonexistent and not even a possible “goals”. Sometimes you have to look at the smaller details to realize though we are moving forward, we are also at a standstill because there is only so much that will be allowed. That was proven with the uproar on the Cheerios commercial featuring a biracial couple. A few years back I was in a supermarket roaming around ordering lunchmeat and this older white man approached me to honestly ask me if my dad was in my life. Small things like that are so negatively stereotypical and still exist today in similar ways as in the past. No amount of laws and regulations will make people love others sincerely enough to all come together as people, it has to come from the heart. Until then, reconstructing will always be a challenging trial.
black lives were definitely not deemed important. it shows in birth of a nation, white actors with black painted faces. they not only disrespect the African american people, but they also gave out these stereo types we all know today. birth of a nation was seen as a master piece, but it shows a hatred for black people. the movie promoted the KKK which is one of the most violent hate group around. showing them off as the hero which is far from true. it depicted the African american as obsolete, dumb,
ReplyDeleteanamalistic, and content with slavery. i believe the stereo types still carries on in some of today film, for example Madea is one of the major ones. Madea is seen as a character who is loud, violent, and uneducated. this isn't new, its just been sugar coated with comedy. with in our gates gave a good point on how black men were seen as brutes. when Philip Griddle stone was kill the story that was given showed Jasper Landry as this brute who come in and murdered Griddle Stone in cold blood. this is the violence most people believe to be the base of African Americans. this is all based on stereo types that have been pasted down for centuries.