During this unit, I've hopefully introduced you to some of the first major cinematic films: the first major Hollywood blockbuster, the response to that blockbuster, and the film which birthed Blaxploitation. While several may feel these films are problematic, I probably wouldn't disagree. Nonetheless, I believe that film spectatorship is almost an existential experience. You might ask what is spectatorship? It is what Huey Newton says is missing from media audiences, and it is what Toni Morrison says she expects from her readers, to engage with the media/text through critical analysis. As I've taught this class, I realize that films I used to enjoy, don't have the same meaning. My spectatorship is evolving. I'd like you to consider the films that you watch, and see whether or not you can make correlations between one of these films and a film which you enjoy. What did you discover? Is your spectatorship evolving or changing? If so, please include a film to explain how and why. Your response is due by the beginning of class on Fri., 9/14/18 (Don't forget the rubric on the syllabus).
While I was aware of the "white savior" complex, it did not come full circle until I watched "Birth of A Nation." "Birth of A Nation" defined the representation of African Americans in Hollywood films. Creating the perception that African Americans are uncivilized and need the guidance of white people. "The Blind Side" is a textbook representation of the "white savior" complex. The movie is based on a young African American male, Micheal Oher, who comes from a single family household and is taken in by a white wealthy family. Oher is portrayed as helpless, uneducated, and a homeless high school student. Below is a link confirming these portrayals. He is then approached by a white woman,Leigh Anne Tuohy, who sees his potential and takes him in. Tuohy provides Oher with a private school education, shelter and sends him to college. The movie gives the viewer the idea that all of Oher's success is because of Tuohy, his "white savior." I have discovered that majority of movies with a mixed cast of white and African American people tend to have some form of a "white savior" complex.
ReplyDeleteI believe my spectatorship is evolving, before I would just watch movies now I analyze them. Seeing the influence that "Birth of A Nation" had and continues to maintain in Hollywood films.
Link: https://youtu.be/n0XRgQVx4Oc
Angel Cox
ENGL 318 - 02
A film I enjoy is Menace II Society which is about a young Black man about 18 years old who grew up in the streets and faces a “moral dilemma” while trying to turn his life around without losing his life or turning his back on his friends. I recently rewatched this movie due to the fact it is on Netflix, and I found the opening scene to be very problematic in the way it depicts Black men. The Asian people who owned the store were racially stereotyping Caine and his friend O Dog who in turned murdered the Asians running the store and robbed them when they insulted his mother. The reason this scene is problematic is because it makes it seem as if Black men cannot control their tempers, but this is not the case. I feel like Black men can control their anger better than any other person including white men. White people are some of the most angry people in my personal opinion. White men have their “white savior” complex and toxic masculinity while white women are just angry. The whole movie had plenty of stereotypes for young Black people. There was Jada Pinkett Smith who was the single mother of a son whose father was incarcerated, and there was also Caine’s mother who was depicted as a crackhead. There was O Dog who was called “America’s Worst Nightmare” because he was young, black, and careless. There was Caine who was a little misguided and mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was Harold who was murdered in a carjacking scene without the first 30 minutes of a movie. There are a lot more examples of Black stereotypes in the movie, but this coming of age story is not typical for all Black men. I agree that my spectatorship is evolving because I used to think that this movie was just a movie, but I do believe that this movie shows how hard it is for people to make it out when they are trapped in that lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteKelisha Trice
English 318 12:00
One recent film that I have watched several times in order to analyze deeper is Get Out. The film made shockwaves throughout society as a Black horror film. Certain aspects of Get Out can be compared to both Birth of a Nation and Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song. Rose, the white female character in Get Out, could be seen as the symbol of the “pure white woman” that needs protecting much like Elsie Stoneman and Flora Cameron in Birth of a Nation. Rose’s father and brother were essentially the white Southern men who felt they had a “chivalrous” duty to protect the innocent white woman.
ReplyDeleteWhile the “white savior” and “pure white woman” stereotypes were put on display in Get Out, Jordan Peele didn’t attribute any negative stereotypes to the Black people in the film. Chris, Rose’s boyfriend, was the victim in the story rather than a “thug” who was perpetuating violence against the white family. The two servants Georgina and Walter are very obedient and quiet, which rejects the stereotype of Black people being loud and boisterous. Get Out is similar to Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song in that Jordan Peele rejected stereotypes just like Melvin Van Peebles did. Despite the fact that Jordan Peele didn’t consciously ascribe any stereotypes to the Black characters, we did see other White people in the movie mentioning some stereotypes. In the scene when the Armitages have all of their friends over for a party, we see a white man ask Chris if he plays golf and then his wife mentions that he knows Tiger Woods, a famous Black golf player. An older white woman also asks Rose if it’s true that Black men are better at sex. Another similarity that I noticed between Get Out and Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song was the presence of a Black savior. Sweetback is the hero in Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song, and Chris’ friend Rod is the hero in Get Out when he rescues Chris at the end of the movie.
Prior to this class, I just watched films for enjoyment but now I know what things to look for to determine the social impact of the movies that we watch.
https://youtu.be/Nma-y59bV5A
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-1dIVo4HE-OM%2FTngNFVjnjFI%2FAAAAAAAAAaA%2Fim-XuPf6Vhk%2Fs1600%2Fbirth26.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fearlysilentfilm.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F11%2Fbirth-of-nation.html&docid=EDvj4EB3XmnsxM&tbnid=Idn3fB3FbPGmkM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwji4PbaobjdAhVI7VMKHUVCAlsQMwg4KAQwBA..i&w=639&h=495&bih=468&biw=721&q=elsie%20stoneman&ved=0ahUKEwji4PbaobjdAhVI7VMKHUVCAlsQMwg4KAQwBA&iact=mrc&uact=8
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fewedit.files.wordpress.com%2F2017%2F12%2Fget-out.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Few.com%2Fmovies%2F2017%2F12%2F20%2Fjordan-peele-get-out-keys-interview%2F&docid=r2zc4rmYLOzn-M&tbnid=gCljqKT8v5T56M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiHgciworjdAhVS4VMKHTbhAp8QMwhAKAcwBw..i&w=2700&h=1800&bih=839&biw=1440&q=rose%20from%20get%20out&ved=0ahUKEwiHgciworjdAhVS4VMKHTbhAp8QMwhAKAcwBw&iact=mrc&uact=8
Aaliah Bogin
ReplyDeleteENG 318 001
I was raised in a home that glorified- Tyler Perry movies. My family was first in line at the theatre, and admittedly often the neighborhood barbershop, hoping to see the newest Tyler Perry movie. The movies were a mix of comedy, romance, and drama. These films mirrored my day-to-day life, which is not the norm for African American youth. The staple family gatherings, which Perry includes in most of his films, looked nearly identical to my own. There were rivalries between family members, secrets, and problems within marriages, but also good times, and delicious soul food. The characters mimicked the personalities of people I knew personally. The mix of familiarity and entertainment drew my family, and by extension, me to Tyler Perry films. I believed, from a young age, that these movies were an ideal representation of the African American experience, I now understand that these movies enforce colorism, sexism and show black people- particularly black women- in a negative, and stereotypical light.
“Diary of a Mad Black Woman” is one of Perry’s most notable work, and also one of the most problematic. The main character, Helen, a brown-skinned woman, is married to Charles, a wealthy lawyer. Helen undergoes 18 years of emotional, and physical abuse by Charles’ hands. Until, Charles decides to divorce Helen, as he has been cheating on her with a light-skinned woman named Brenda. Charles not only kicked her out of her home, but he also dragged her out. Through the scope of this unit, I can recognize the problematic undertones of this. Historically, black women are taught that light skin is superior to dark skin, and we internalize this. It is clear by the lack of media representation for dark-skinned women, the number of successful black men who pursue light skinned- or white women, even down to dolls black girls are given, that light-skin/white skin is the standard of beauty. Hellen being dragged on the ground by her husband while the Brenda stands tall in the doorway of Helen's home speaks to how Hollywood feels about women of darker pigment.
Juxtapose to this, the Father of Black Indie Films, Oscar Micheaux, represented black people in a more positive light. Mainly, the film “Within Our Gates,” Micheaux showed black women as being heroes rather than being victims. The main character, Sylvia, is the protagonist in the film. She is an educated black woman who challenges gender roles by explicitly choosing who she marries, rather than being chosen. She declines several advances from various men, who are unsuited for her. She is an educator, who fights for the education of black youth. Sylvia is shown as a heroine, in defending her father as he is being cheated by his employer. Further, She saved a child from being run over, putting her own life at risk in the film. She is a constant light on her community rather than a one-dimensional “Mammy” character or “angry black woman.
Aaliah Bogin
ReplyDeleteENG 318 001
I was raised in a home that glorified- Tyler Perry movies. My family was first in line at the theater, to see the newest Tyler Perry movie. The movies were a mix of comedy, romance, and drama. The staple family gatherings, which Perry includes in most of his films, looked nearly identical to my own. The mix of familiarity and entertainment drew my family, and by extension, me to Tyler Perry films. I believed, from a young age, that these movies were an ideal representation of the African American experience, I now understand that these movies enforce colorism, sexism and show black people- particularly black women- in a negative, and stereotypical light.
“Diary of a Mad Black Woman” is one of Perry’s most notable work, and also one of the most problematic. The main character, Helen, a brown-skinned woman, is married to Charles, a wealthy lawyer. Helen undergoes 18 years of emotional, and physical abuse by Charles’ hands. Until, Charles decides to divorce Helen, as he has been cheating on her with a light-skinned woman named Brenda. Charles not only kicked her out of her home, but he also dragged her out. Through the scope of this unit, I can recognize the problematic undertones of this. Historically, black women are taught that light skin is superior to dark skin. Hellen being dragged on the ground by her husband while the Brenda stands tall in the doorway of Helen's home speaks to how Hollywood feels about women of darker pigment.
Helen is painted a vindictive, or as the title of the film states she is stereotyped as “a mad black woman.” Throughout the movie: Helen throws a hot pot of grits on Charles, destroys his property, after he is injured and paralyzed, she works as his home health aid, and beat and starved him, Helen goes so far as attempting to drown Charles. While, at a young age, I believed this to be an action-packed film, I now see that the “angry black woman” stereotype is used to demean black women. This narrative makes black women seem irrational, impulsive, “crazy.” Through all of this, Madea, Helen’s aunt encourages her behavior. Madea is a sharp-tongue, stout, and gun-bearing woman. “Mammy” is often described as an unattractive homely woman, who take care of the family, and keeps everyone in line. Madea, like “Mammy,” spends her time in the kitchen, cooking and, instilling fear in all through threats of violence. Madea is characterized to be a big, ugly, mean, black woman, yet Perry disguises this by making her family oriented.
By the end of the film, Helen meets Orlando. Orlando is the staple male savior that Perry coins in many of his movies. Orlando enters Helen’s life and she becomes less volatile and is overall happier. It is as if, Helen was because she is a woman, unable to make sane and rational decisions without a man or a relationship. My spectatorship is evolving as I have learned about images, and how they can convey messages and influence a community. Tyler Perry’s movie “The Diary of a Mad Black Woman” pushes a problematic narrative, that black people are socialized to accept, and regard as a representation of themselves.
Juxtapose to this, the Father of Black Indie Films, Oscar Micheaux, represented black people in a more positive light. Mainly, the film “Within Our Gates,” Micheaux showed black women as being heroes rather than being victims. The main character, Sylvia, is an educated black woman who challenges gender roles by explicitly choosing who she marries, rather than being chosen. She is an educator, who fights for the education of black youth. Sylvia is shown as a heroine, by saving a child from being run over, and putting her own life at risk. She is a constant light on her community rather than a one-dimensional “Mammy” character or “angry black woman.”
A film that I honestly enjoy was 12 years of slave because its kind of similar to birth of a nation. 12 years of slave is a movie that shows where slaves had to go through just to get there rights and show how white supremacy was so strong by then. Solomon Northrup is a free African-American man working as a violinist, living with his wife and two children in Sara toga Springs, New York. Two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician if he will travel with them to Washington, D.C. However, once they arrive they drug Northrup and deliver him to a slave pen run by a man named Burch. This movie has a lot of stereotypes because Solomon is slave who wants to free slaves and also wants to get his daughter back. This is a example of birth of a nation movies because then slaves were willing to do anything to get back with there families and go against there own slave owners. Northrup begins working on the construction of a gazebo with a Canadian laborer named Samuel Bass. Bass is unsettled by the brutal way that Epps treats his slaves and expresses his opposition to American slavery, earning Epps's enmity. I agree that my spectatorship is evolving because now when I watch i look back think how movies back then compare and contrast to movies back then and see how people were back then in the slavery time and see the struggle what people really went through back then on the daily basis.
ReplyDeleteBy Talik Lassiter
DeleteApon watching Melvin Van Peeble’s , Sweetback, one would consider the film to be engrossing. Due to the bad theatrical acting and raw theme. In the beginning, the young orphan is taken in by a brothel. They fed him and gave him shelter. This scene in particularly shows explicit scenes of the young-boy having sex with a prostitute. During intercourse the prostitute gives the boy the nickname Sweetback due to his mandingo appearance. When I watched this scene in class, on Monday I felt disgusted. The thought of a young boy, being taken advantage of on an everyday basics, is mad. However, the rape scene represents his coming of age; when he is given the name Sweetback. As an adult Sweetback works in the brothel as a male prostitute. I noticed that when performing these sexual acts, he does not look beaming. Rather unaffected as if he was just going through the motions. Later on two cops show up to the sex show asking to speak with Sweetback’s boss. The cops then ask for a witness that will go along with their plan in order to please their superior. One will notice the message behind the controversial issue involving the corruption of law enforcement. The police take sweetback in for questioning, in order to pin the crime on him as a lie. My spectatorship is rapidly evolving. For instance, when comparing, Sweetback to the Fault Within Our Gates. The message depicted the struggle of black life in America. During this time period these filmmakers made independent films, and promoted it publicly themselves. Both films show rape, the struggle of the black community and how black individuals are viewed by white people in society. These exploitation films received several mixed reviews. However not without leaving a lasting impression on African American Cinema.
ReplyDelete- Addisun Myler
Eng 318
Clarke Osborne
ReplyDeleteEng 318 12PM
Growing up I guess you could say I was one of the weirder kids. I loved movies like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. Even though these were fictional tales they mirrored in society very subtly. After watching the 1915 original version of The Birth of a Nation I noticed the origin of many stereotypes when it comes to black and white people. The "white savior" character is evident in Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. The idea that white people are always the ones who come to the rescue for the greater good originated in Birth of a Nation. As a kid my family also loved the Madea movies. I feel like Tyler Perry is socially aware of how POC are portrayed in media and actively fights against it. However, in some movies he dives deep into black stigmas. For example, In Diary of a Mad Black Woman, a mother who has had a crack addiction her whole life receives help from an educated black lawyer, her ex-husband. Throughout the movie the ideals that black folks are drug users, dependent on others and lazy. I think that Tyler Perry likes to heavily exagerate stereotypes only to let white media know that the black community realizes how people see us. He fights these stereotypes by incorporating strong black characters that completely destroy stereotypes. Successful, educated, and strong black characters throughout the movie to end the "white savior" theme. Im sure after I complete this class, the way I view movies will have changed completely. I now look for underlying themes and stereotypes present. I also look at how symbols are used and representations throughout. I notice characteristics and differences between white and black characters, environments, and situations.
Aleciyah Johnson
ReplyDeleteEnglish 318 11AM
I grew up watching a lot of movies and many of the movies i watched always portrayed the white man as a hero, like superman, or avengers and others related in the category. As I aged I started to notice how black men were being portrayed in the media as they were just thugs and bad guys, such as crooks or just the natural enemy. The movie "Get Out" opened my eyes to how the white man controls a black person or at least tries to, and uses family and friends to gather those black men and manipulate them until they get what they want. Many movies now are showing poc such as black panther and the blackkklansman as powerful leaders and innovators instead of destructive thugs and gangsters. I do believe my spectatorship is evolving in the sense of seeing with a different perspective than I am use to, watching movies with a more open mind instead of just watching for the sole purpose of what it is meant for. The movie birth of a nation was an explicit way to show how stereotypical race was back then, to show that blacks had no power, no say in anything which we already knew yet the grouping of race tends to be shown more often.
A film I've enjoyed and is one of my favorite films of all time is Robert De niro's a Bronx Tale. The film is a coming of age story about a young man Colegero who becomes the protege of the most famous mobster in the city Sonny and later falls in love with a black girl. I noticed that like the early films from black filmmakers the story is told from the perspective of a minority group (Italians in the Bronx during the 1960s). Like these earlier African American films a Bronx tale was a true representation of what life for an Italian American was like in the 60s. As a viewer who had no knowledge of Italian America this movie shows the tension between Blacks and Italians in that time. I like to think of the movie as an Italian version of Do The Right Thing. Now in terms of spectatorship I believe film is not evolving because film is political at the end of the day and is based on situations that are happening around us. The narrative for black people has gotten much better but we still have a long way to go. While films like Black Panther are given to us I recognize that these movies are still funded and distributed by White people. The stereotypes that erupted from Birth of a Nation are slowly disappearing but I would love to see more black people in lead roles that are not comedies or super hero movies.
ReplyDeleteMichael Ashley
DeleteEnglish 318 11am
Bria Clark
ReplyDeleteENGL 318 11AM
Growing up I watched a lot of black films. Every black film that I've watched empowered our people. The movies told the stories of Blacks in America, and it told our struggles and hardships with living within this whitewashed society. One film that I really enjoyed was a film called "Sankofa". It was about a model who was filming a shoot on an abandoned island. The island was a place where they held slaves back when slavery was happening, and an old man basically cursed her and she transports back to the past as a slave. This film was very intriguing because it showed the life of a slave, the hardships, the relationships, as well as the abuse. Looking at films like "Birth of a Nation" I realized that they gloried whites as being the "savior". This film only showed the good side of the white man. It portrayed blacks as property. I feel as though this film wasn't about the white man. "Nona" who was the model, found her way through her faith and the other slaves who were around her through this journey. The white man did not guide her to freedom. So, the stereotype of "white savior" in movies are inaccurate, and it shows you how that the white man is the hero. I feel as though that's why black films are important because it shows us that we have each other and we can still be strong, and fight through anything. Even though we've been the oppressed people for a long time we still find a way to make it.
In watching Birth of a Nation and analyzing it in class, we were able to pick out several stereotypical roles played by each of the characters such as the mammy, Jezebel, criminal, and Uncle Tom. These static characters that were present in this film made me think back to other movies I have seen and would be one of the sole reasons that my spectatorship has been altered when viewing other films I have long enjoyed. The easiest example of a movie in which these stereotypical characters are displayed are any of the films made by Tyler Perry. Madea is usually featured in his pictures as the stereotypical mammy figure that seems to be the glue that holds the family together. She is depicted as a bigger, more rotund woman that is shown rearing children and disciplining with a stern tone and tough love. I was aware of these stereotypes when watching these films and found that taking courses dedicated to film did not necessarily alter my spectatorship but more so confirmed the thoughts I had already had. A more complex example of a film that actually begun to challenge my view of film, were those that flipped these stereotypes on their heads such as Black Panther. This film depicted alternate depictions of women as warriors, portrayed a "maternal" figure as a male played by Forest Whitaker, and placed a young Black Male as the savior without emphasizing a particular sexual prowess. I loved this film but was disheartened to see that the stereotypical character of a white savior materialized at the end of this film. The pilot that is introduced begun to over shadow the Black Panther in my mind as well as each of the female warriors fighting to save Wakanda. This element shifted my opinion of this film though I still find it to be an amazing piece.
ReplyDeleteJada Saxon
DeleteI've always grew up watching Tyler Perry movies. These movies are supposed to show how blacks stick together as a family and different relationship problems. I personally feel as though Tyler Perry movies does not show the positive side of blacks. For example, most of the movies are based on and "angry black woman." In todays society we as black women are already stereotyped as always being angry or bitter. I understand why he use that as a way of entertainment, but after while I feel he should try a different approach to portray black women. I do love how he portrays real family problems that happens on an everyday basis. Black Panther was a movie that I was very happy about coming out. We finally had a movie that had black Superheros was wonderful. Growing up I was so use to all Marvel movies having white superheros, so it was nice to see the roles being switched. It gave African American children a reason to believe they can do anything.
ReplyDeleteMiesha Glenn
DeleteWhat's great about watching films is that it's more to it than just watching what's in front of you; on occasion, films try to convey a message with its imagery no matter how dark the content can be. As with the film we're studying in class, "Sweet Sweetback," there are some very dark scenes ---- scenes that would be deemed very inappropriate to most; nonetheless, being that this was an independent film, contextually, it was more to the scene than the dark content.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite films last year was Jordan Peele's, "Get Out." I saw it in theatres at least 3 times within a week. Obviously this was a really greta film, but what I what I appreciated the most about this film was that I learned something new each time I watched it. With a movie like "Get Out," it's easy to spot the obvious signifiers or allusions. On the other hand, as I saw the film more and more, I started to notice more of these elements; they were hiding in plain sight. This correlates to the argument aforementioned; there are films that intend to send a message and just because it may not be obvious, doesn't mean that it's not there.
Jamar Skinner
ENGL 318
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOne film I enjoy watching that is full of stereotypes is Baby Boy. I discovered that Jodi and Yvette were your classic struggling black couple, no matter how many times Jodi cheated Yvette always took him back, because black women are always desperate for love no matter what the circumstance is. Jodi was your classic bum, he had no car, barley kept a job ,he lived with his mother and he had two baby mamas. Black men are always shown as lazy and wanting other people to take care of them while they do what they want and this is exactly what this movie showed. Yvette was a single mom who was working and she was taking care of her dead beat boyfriend and their child while he was able to mistreat her and not take care of his responsibilities. I feel this movie shows that black women will settle for a man who has no ambition as long as their able to say " I have a man" . This movie also shows that black men have no ambition unless it involves being in the street, they don't care about any of their responsibilities and their looking for other people to take care of them. I've realized in a lot of black films that this portrayal of each other is very normal and when you look at relationships today a lot of young black women say they want a man like Jodi. So these types of relationships in black movies are becoming idealized a lot of girls think having a man like Jodi is "fun" and " exciting".
ReplyDeleteAlexis Wray
ReplyDeleteI remember when "The Help" first came out; my mother took my sister and I to the movie theater to see it. We loved the movie, at every family event we discussed our favorite part of the poop pie. I continued to enjoy the movie and further my love by reading the book. My freshman year at N.C. A&T "The Birth of a Nation" came out and my friends and I went to the movies to see the film, and after the film we were so amazed by the narrative of the movie and how the movie was told from the black perspective that we started analyzing other films we thought was told by the black perspective, and one of the first movies to spark my attention was "The Help". I began to realize that the life of a maid during that time period was told by a white woman, they just added Black characters to make us perceive the narrative was told by Blacks. I have felt this way about "The Help" for a while, but when I had seen Viola Davis statement on her regrets on being a part of this movie, I knew my finding were valid. I think my spectatorship is definitely changing and growing. My observation on "The Help" occurred years ago I just couldn't place a word with my evolved thinking.
The film that I have recently rewatched and revisited is called "the Equalizer", whose protagonist is Denzel Washington. Denzel Washington plays the role of McCall, a well-known and sought-after individual with hidden potentials, challenging the way I see about the role played by Black actors. The film sets with McCall leaving his ordeal past behind and live a life that does not include vengeance and physical violence. However, despite his unwillingness at first, he was confronted with the challenge of standing up for Chloe Grace Moretz and other people prone to abuse and bully by antagonists in the movie. As the film progresses, McCall found himself taking the initiative to help the girl by confronting with the gang members. This theme changed my spectatorship since "the idea of white savior is cultivated in most Hollywood directed movies in which White protagonist would save people from the threat. Putting Denzel Washington at the center of the film by making him a man of justice gives me the impression that Black lives matter, and they are just like everyone else. Additionally, contrary to the popular belief as depicted in mainstream media that Blacks are hyper-sexualized, there was no sexual relationship between the actor and the actress, which again reinforces that the fact that the protagonist is of good characters. Lastly, the majority of the antagonists whom McCall found against throughout the film are white people, and corrupt White police were held accountable for their brutal and unfair treatment of the weak and the vulnerable. To conclude, the revisitation of the movie was rather thought-provoking given the lesson learned from the movies, such as "the birth of a nation" produced by the independent entities.
ReplyDeleteDuring this unit learning about the contexts of films have open my eyes to a new world of cinema. A movie that I’ve enjoyed and that could make a correction with “The Birth of a Nation” and one of my favorite films “Django Unchained”. These two films are set in eras that show the braking down of the black race, conditioning us to be the cattle they work.“Django Unchained”, was a movie more so about the progression of the black male slave. While in the other hand, “The Birth Of A Nation” we were used as comedic relief of such a horrific way of life. There’s a colliding of the movie where progression and regression meet one another, providing the site of the conditioning embedded in us. Here’s the clip of them first metting and they go at it : https://youtu.be/5VpB_FLKMOU
ReplyDeleteWatching these movies at this point in my college career while taking this course, everything has a different and deep or somewhat shallow meaning. Those two films are two that I would’ve never watched if there was no action, not taking into consideration the meaning and ploy behind it. My spectatorship has changed in the dynamic, watching movies understanding and not entertainment. Having this new found growth makes it worth sitting down and just paying attention to the details and collect your understanding.
Growing up I was not introduced to as many black films as other black children were growing up. When I came to college everyone talked about New Jack City, Moonlight, Do The Right Thing, etc. Being at an HBCU opened my eyes to many more black films that I never heard of or even knew about. Now as I am watching these types of movies, my spectatorship is changing. I now look at movies a lot more different that just what is on the screen. I try get into the filmmakers head and imagine the message they are trying to tell me in the film and soon apply that to my life. A great example for me would be Get Out. The underlying message in that movie opened my eyes to so much that is going on in my environment and the world around me. For instance, in Get Out the opening scene shows Andre getting followed by a white Porsche. The color of the car(to me) is very intentional where I feel like the car represents a white man and so the black man is being followed by a white man/white police which is something we see all the time in the news and in America today. To further explain my position that Get Out has an underlying message that the filmmaker used to wake people up, I included this video that slightly explains and describes what symbols, satire and messages were implanted into the film.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNKSgdT1FQ
Spectatorship? To me spectatorship is the process by whcih a person views something but does not take part in it. This term can relate to sports where fans go to watch a partiular game, but dont actively play the game. Relating to film theory, spectatorship is more intense. The specific film's sole goal is to build a personal relationship between the viewer and the movie itself; thus creating the audience the director invisioned. I film that I had watched last year "watermelon man" also diected by Melvin Van Peebles (Sweetback). "Watermelon Man" is about an indsurance agent named Jeff who is into working out and a racist. Hes a causacian male who harasses black people to the point where his skin turns dark overnight. Now he gets harassed by his friends the same way he harrased blacks in the past. Karma continues to catch up to him when his marriage becomes strained. He then accepts thst he will be black for the rest of his life. I not ony choose this move because it was directed by Peebles, but because his main agenda and audience is the same. Tih movie was a follow up from "Sweetback" which made me use this movie as a comparison of my spectatorship. I noticed that the reputation of this movie has fallen, probably due to people not knowing it, but also it will never be another "sweetback" film. It also has wierd comedy comparitively along with discrimination. The discrimination in fact was the satire which seemdd to have a double standard by judging a man soley on his skin color. In closing, this comedy viewed from the surface is just a silly role-reversal. More in depth, the protagonist Jeff was very happy to conform to the "white standard" behavior to get ahead. Only when he permanetly became black was when he was finally able to free himself of the "white standard".
ReplyDeleteWilliam Smith ENG 318
DeleteAs I was trying to prepare my answer I had to come up with a movie that gave me the substance for this blog and some that was not the typical of the movies that we see today. I chose a movie that I have watching more time than I care to remember but have not began to look at differently. Imitation of Life is a very old movie(I enjoy the classics) that is based on two women and how they maneuver through life. One is an African-American(AA) woman that has a very light-skinned child who ends up trying to pass as white, The other is a white woman who is trying to break into show business and hires the AA woman as she begins to hit it big. She tries to have a relationship with a daughter who has already grown up and the mother missed it. At the end of the movie the AA woman dies of a broken heart, the white woman realize what she has or has not done and the daughter shows the compassion for her mother now that she has died. I chose this movie because I have watched this movie but have never seen this movie in relation to the spectatorship that we are now learning about. You see the white woman as a savior to the AA woman, because while she treats her like a friend she is still a worker in the house and the one raising your daughter. My spectatorship is evolving because I am just beginning to learn how to watch for more than just entertainment, but for education as well.
ReplyDeleteLiane Freshwater
ENGL 318
Throughout this unit, I have been introduced to films and film makers I had no knowledge of prior to this semester. I could feel my spectatorship evolving in class. When introduced to constant stereotypes and roles of Blacks in film, I could compare that to actresses and movies I have seen. An example would be the movie The Help. Viola Davis' role of the maid, taking care of the house and kids mimicked the Mammy stereotype. The children loved their parents but that also had a similar love for the woman who took care of and essentially raised them. With big responsibility little credit was given to the help. The white women did whatever they wanted, to whomever they'd like to bother, while the men went to work and the help filled in the blanks with miscellaneous tasks to make the lives of Whites easier.
ReplyDeleteSmall things stand out in movies now. I am more eager to know more about past films and Hollywood blockbusters because the ones we have learned about have been so evolutionary in changing film for Blacks.
Sharia Waldrum Eng 318
DeleteThe process of mental growth is always an important and influential thing for the betterment of the human psyche. To better understand and recognize mature and complex concepts shows the mental evolution that a viewer has developed over time. Though this process often occurs gradually over an extensive period, I personally feel as if my mental growth and spectatorship has vastly developed in the last few months. I've recently read on and had encounters with a lot of intellectual individuals and more experienced film enthusiasts who have helped to open my eyes to different ways of viewing not just film but the world as a whole. For example, in a recent reading we had for the homework an essay spoke on the significance of spike Lee’s jump cuts in his film and how they are used to represent and exemplify certain important concepts that he as the film director wanted the audience to pay attention to. A professor I met over the summer spoke on how certain camera angles are used to reflect suspense and terror in horror movies. Such as the famous film psycho during the shower murder scene, the quick camera shots move in between 3 main positions over and over again creating excitement in the film. These encounters pushed me to not only see a movie strictly for its entertainment but look deeper into the setup of the film and how certain pieces are stitched together to create the story itself. For example I noticed in the movie Get Out one of my favorite scenes where the main character franticly searches for his car keys, switches between the head leader of the cult, which was kidnapping black bodies, and the main character himself. The angle on the headmaster is solid and the camera is still and focused on him while the camera on the main character is frantic and shaky. Not only did I see films differently from a set up standpoint but the concepts themselves changed for me. For example I recently watched the famous movie Super Bad a few months ago and was jarred at the way I analyzed and interpreted the film now as compared to 5 years ago when I was much younger and more naive. the concept of the film itself centers around three high school kids trying to get alcohol for a party so that they can be seen as cool. one character in particulars main goal was to have sex at the party with beautiful women whom he saw as out of his league. though the only way he saw himself doing so would be if the females were drunk. Many years before, i had watched this movie with simple amusement and laughed at the inappropriate jokes and concepts; however, now I saw the film in a different light. with a more matured mind i felt that if this movie were to come out in current times it would have been scrutinized for its problematic denotations centering around its rape culture concepts. Though I don't know if that detracts from the films global appeal itself I do see it and many others in a different light. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT61p6s77_U
ReplyDeleteSpecific time for example used 00:30-1:30
ReplyDeleteOne of my all time favorite films is The Dark Knight, which I consider a crime thriller that just so happens to feature Batman and his supporting cast of fictional characters. Upon revisiting the film I am able to draw comparisons to Birth Of A Nation. Solely off of scope alone there is a certain emotion that the film evokes. Each film is arguably the best to ever come from their respective director. Each film had several layers and intense story lines that added to the overall depth of the film. The crisis that Batman faced can be summed up in this line from the film, "You either die and be a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain." This hints on the thought that the notoriety that one has can reach a status where hinders it you. I discovered that the fact that I can find similarities between the two despite the obvious difference in subject matter means that I better understand what goes into creating a great film. My spectatorship is evolving because I am able to objectively a watch a film and disect the aspects of it which I find compelling and what I am not fond of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfcemNhlqyA
Terrell Peterson.
I believe that so far in this class my spectatorship of movies is starting to die off and Im starting to analyze movies more for its deeper meaning. For example in most movies the black person is made to look like or actually is lesser than the white roles. Another example is the roles that many black women take as the slut or the jezebel. I think that before i never thought anything of it but after looking at these films more critically I can see that these actresses have put themselves into a box that is hard to get out of. I have learned a lot but I am looking forward to seeing where this class will take me.
ReplyDeleteDawnoven Smith
I can say that I’ve pretty much always tried to analyze movies conceptually, mostly because I like thrillers and mysterious movies that make you think. An African American film that I can say that I have tried to analyze deeper is Lee Daniel’s “Precious”. This movie has always made me think and I am intrigued by it because I’ve always wondered what made him want to portray this story in such an aggressive way. The film is very problematic because it mentions a lot of topics that no one in the black community wants to talk about such as colorism, the angry black woman, sexual abuse between family members, black LGBT, and government funding within Black households. I feel like this is a modern day blaxploitation film because many of the roles in the movie are filled with stereotypical characters such as the black mother living on welfare, a young 16-year-old girl with 2 kids and no education, being raised in a unstable, unhealthy and disgusting environment. The oversexualization of youth is something I can compare to the film “sweet sweetbacks baddassssss song” because like precious he was sexually abused and forced to deal with it internally. Lee Daniels use of day dreaming/flashbacks for “Precious” is really brain-picking because she truly lives a nightmare. The film is shot in a documentary realism form that is interesting to watch as the main character progresses through the narrative. I also feel like the color palette in precious is similar to “sweet sweetbacks badasss song” with warm brown, grays and neutrals, I feel like this represents the mind of the main characters and their battle with emotional stress and internal conflict. In the ending of precious not only is a black person the savior but it’s a black woman who is lesbian and I feel like this was interesting that Lee Daniels made a supporting role that moved the audience in the way that Paula Patton did. This is an indie film and there is much to unpack, so I keep watching it over and over to see if I can dissect the context of this film. I feel like my spectatorship is evolving and taking this class its pushing me to understand the artistic direction and the messages of movies rather than just enjoying them as entertainment. Also being an art student and having to contextualize artwork on the daily basis, I understand more on how the directors in this case use color and setting in relation to the plot to tell stories and the physiological effect it has on the audience.
ReplyDeleteLemonica Taylor
Kenedi Williams
ReplyDeleteDr. Hope Jackson
African American Film and Culture
14 September 2018
Unit 1/Blog 1: Some of the Firsts
A film that is watched is viewed only for the action of watching it. Actually seeing the film means that you comprehend the film the way the director intended, and spent enough time analyzing the film to give it a new meaning that holds value to yourself. Over time my spectatorship has began to evolve and mature along with age, certain aspects that I once overlooked in movies are now so obvious and upfront. For example when I was in my teenager years I adored the Cheetah Girls, now I see that I adored them for the inclusiveness. Three out of the four girls of the Cheetah Girls were African American, and at the time I did not value the importance of having black women for young black girls to look up too; but now I do. Whether or not I am fully aware of it watching black women as a young black girl positively affected me and how I act today.
I thought that Get Out was a great movie, but I was able to see some of the typical stereotypes of Black people. The white people were taking advantage of Black people by stealing their bodies. All of the Black men in the movie were desirable because their bodies were strong, athletic, fit and fast. It speaks to the fact that Blacks are often exploited for these traits. Athletes are the perfect example of this. White people run the NFL, but the majority of the players are black. Get Out made me think about myself as a Black man and how I am treated. We are seen as our race instead of being seen as a human being.
ReplyDeleteMy spectatorship has changed since I came to NCAT and took another class on black films. One of the first films we watched was Birth of a Nation. We had to analyze the different roles and how Blacks were portrayed. This made me begin to look more closely at how Blacks are portrayed. In the past, Blacks were portrayed as foolish, savages, and other negative stereotypes. The movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner featured an interracial couple, but the Black lead was a doctor. The media has made some improvement, but there is still a long way to go. It is rare to find a movie that has a lead character that is strong and positive.