Difference between revisions of "Dangerous and Untouched Africans"

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In the early days of Hollywood, black roles were not often played by black actors, just as Asian characters were not always played by Asians. They didn't appear at all, except as caricatures performed by white actors in blackface. This trend has its origins in the American theater tradition of minstrelsy, which featured a number of racial myths about black people.
 
In the early days of Hollywood, black roles were not often played by black actors, just as Asian characters were not always played by Asians. They didn't appear at all, except as caricatures performed by white actors in blackface. This trend has its origins in the American theater tradition of minstrelsy, which featured a number of racial myths about black people.
  
After a long period of backlash, blackface is now much less common: in Dear White People, for example, college fraternity members throw a blackface-themed party, which the film, as well as the Netflix series of the same name, use as a springboard for a discussion of racism at colleges throughout the United States. In contrary, ''Scary Black Man'' and [[Black Characters Die First | ''Black Dude Dies First'']] characters in Hollywood soar from 1960 to 2000.<ref name=dw>[https://www.dw.com/en/hollywood-movies-stereotypes-prejudice-data-analysis/a-47561660 ''What Hollywood movies do to perpetuate racial stereotypes'']. dw.com. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
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After a long period of backlash, blackface is now much less common: in Dear White People, for example, college fraternity members throw a blackface-themed party, which the film, as well as the Netflix series of the same name, use as a springboard for a discussion of racism at colleges throughout the United States. On the contrary, ''Scary Black Man'' and[[Black Characters Die First | ''Black Dude Dies First'']] characters in Hollywood soar from 1960 to 2000.<ref name="dw">[https://www.dw.com/en/hollywood-movies-stereotypes-prejudice-data-analysis/a-47561660 ''What Hollywood movies do to perpetuate racial stereotypes'']. dw.com. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
  
Before movie had even existed, Black people have already been dehumanized in the entertainment industry. Beginning in the 1830s, white performers imitated enslaved people by coloring their masks, wearing ripped clothing, and imitating them. Only offensive caricatures of black people were depicted: poor, ignorant, hypersexual, and criminal.<ref>Morton, Ke’Asia. [https://thewilsonbeacon.com/17349/magazine/a-history-of-black-representation-in-hollywood-progress-of-appropriate-portrayal/ ''A history of Black representation in Hollywood: progress of appropriate portrayal'']. The Beacon. 27 October 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
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Before movies had even existed, the entertainment industry had been dehumanizing black people. In the 1830s, white performers imitated enslaved people by coloring their masks, wearing ripped clothing, and imitating them. Only offensive caricatures are depicting black people: poor, ignorant, hypersexual, and criminal.<ref>Morton, Ke’Asia. [https://thewilsonbeacon.com/17349/magazine/a-history-of-black-representation-in-hollywood-progress-of-appropriate-portrayal/ ''A history of Black representation in Hollywood: progress of appropriate portrayal'']. The Beacon. 27 October 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
  
 
==Stereotype in Entertainment==
 
==Stereotype in Entertainment==
 
[[File:Getout2017.png|thumb|Daniel Kaluuya stars in Get Out (2017)]]
 
[[File:Getout2017.png|thumb|Daniel Kaluuya stars in Get Out (2017)]]
However, as Hollywood has featured more black characters and cast more black stars, other myths have become more prominent. To this day, black men are frequently depicted as scary or furious, and black women are frequently depicted as loudmouthed and sassy. The black best friend is almost always the token black character in a film. In addition, if characters in a film disappear, the black actor is expected to die first. And as public awareness of racial stereotypes increases, Hollywood continues to use it. If Africa is mentioned, it is portrayed as dangerous and untouched by civilization. In film, black characters are often cast in stereotype stereotypes (thugs, pimps, gangsters), reinforcing the crime reputation that African-Americans and their culture have earned.<ref name=blake>Edwards, Blake. [https://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1718&context=masters_theses ''Acting Black: An Analysis of Blackness and Criminality in Film'']. aquila.usm.edu. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
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However, as Hollywood has featured more black characters and cast more black stars, other myths have become more prominent. To this day, black men are frequently depicted as scary or furious, and black women are commonly described as loudmouthed and sassy. The black best friend is almost always the token black character in a film. Besides, if characters in a movie disappear, the black actor is expected to die first. And as public awareness of racial stereotypes increases, Hollywood continues to use them. If Africa is mentioned, it is portrayed as dangerous and untouched by civilization. In the film, black characters are often cast in stereotype stereotypes (thugs, pimps, gangsters), reinforcing the crime reputation that African-Americans and their culture have earned.<ref name="blake">Edwards, Blake. [https://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1718&context=masters_theses ''Acting Black: An Analysis of Blackness and Criminality in Film'']. aquila.usm.edu. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
  
The negative portrayals of black people in Hollywood often apply to black Americans. African-themed stereotypes are more unusual, partially due to the fact that few Hollywood films feature African characters. The most popular trope about Africa, according to TVTropes users, is "Darkest Africa," which portrays the continent as a remote and dangerous remote land with only intermittent links to "modern" society. However, the representation is becoming less popular.<ref name=dw />
+
The negative portrayals of black people in Hollywood often apply to black Americans. African-themed stereotypes are more unusual, partially because few Hollywood films feature African characters. The most popular trope about Africa, according to TVTropes users, is "Darkest Africa," which portrays the continent as a remote and dangerous remote land with only intermittent links to "modern" society. However, the representation is becoming less popular.<ref name="dw" />
  
The movie Birth of a Nation, DW Griffith’s film released on 8 February 1915<ref>Brook, Tom. [https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20150206-the-most-racist-movie-ever-made ''The Birth of a Nation: The most racist movie ever made?'']. BBC. 6 February 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>, for example, depicted African-American men as uneducated, barbaric brutes who preyed on vulnerable white women. It portrayed African Americans in such a negative light that the stigma associated with this depiction continues to afflict the black community today.<ref name=blake />
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The movie Birth of a Nation, DW Griffith’s film released on 8 February 1915<ref>Brook, Tom. [https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20150206-the-most-racist-movie-ever-made ''The Birth of a Nation: The most racist movie ever made?'']. BBC. 6 February 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>, depicted African-American men as uneducated, vicious brutes preyed on vulnerable white women. It portrayed African Americans in such a negative light that the stigma associated with this depiction continues to afflict the black community today<ref name="blake" />
  
 
==The False Assumptions==
 
==The False Assumptions==
Mary Beth Oliver is an associate professor of communication that teaches media effects, communication research, quantitative research methods, and interpersonal communication at Penn State University wrote a Journal of African American Studies titled ''"African American Men as "Criminal and Dangerous": Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the "Criminalization" of African American Men"'' back in September 2003. In the study mentioned the correlation of African American men with danger and crime represents a number of causes as well as a long tradition of racism and stereotyping. The way the media (especially the news media) portrays race and crime plays a significant role in the stereotyping of black males as violent and dangerous, according to this journal. The racial biased and racial prejudice to African American who is "assumed" to be threatening and violent comes with the price such as innocent men shooting by the police officers that happen in an alarming rate. Nonetheless, the high extent at which black men have become the object of wrongfully targeted police brutality illustrates the obvious influence that race plays in misguided perceptions of risk and crime. Of course the mistaken assumptions is not only manifested in law-enforcement field but also in several aspects such as store keepers / sales person who always keep an eye for black customers in store even using racial profiling or certain racist code name for black people (see also: [[:Category:Shopping While Black|Shopping While Black]])
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Mary Beth Oliver is an associate professor of communication that teaches media effects, communication research, quantitative research methods, and interpersonal communication at Penn State University. She wrote a Journal of African American Studies titled ''"African American Men as "Criminal and Dangerous": Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the "Criminalization" of African American Men"'' back in September 2003. The study mentioned the correlation of African American men with danger and crime represents several causes and a long tradition of racism and stereotyping. According to this journal, the way the media (especially the news media) portrays race and crime plays a significant role in the stereotyping of black males as violent and dangerous. The racial biases and racial prejudice to African Americans who are "assumed" to be threatening and violent come with the price, such as innocent men shooting by the police officers that happen at an alarming rate. Nonetheless, the great extent to which black men have become the object of wrongfully targeted police brutality illustrates the apparent influence that race plays in misguided perceptions of risk and crime. Of course, the mistaken assumptions is not only manifested in the law-enforcement field but also in several aspects such as storekeepers/salesperson who always keep an eye for black customers in-store even using racial profiling or specific racist code name for black people (see also: [[:Category:Shopping While Black|Shopping While Black]])
 
<ref>Oliver, Mary Beth. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41819017?seq=1 ''African American Men as "Criminal and Dangerous": Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the "Criminalization" of African American Men'']. jstor.org. September 2003. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
 
<ref>Oliver, Mary Beth. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41819017?seq=1 ''African American Men as "Criminal and Dangerous": Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the "Criminalization" of African American Men'']. jstor.org. September 2003. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>
  
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[[Get out (2017)]]<br>
 
[[Get out (2017)]]<br>
 
[[:Category:Shopping While Black | Shopping While Black]]<br>
 
[[:Category:Shopping While Black | Shopping While Black]]<br>
[[:Category:Black-Targeted Racism in Brand |Black-Targeted Racism in Brand ]]
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[[:Category:Black-Targeted Racism in Brand |Black-Targeted Racism in Brand]]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==

Revision as of 13:59, 26 March 2021

Blackface and Black Characters Over Time

Actors in the garb of the Ku Klux Klan chase down a white actor in blackface, in a still from The Birth of a Nation. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In the early days of Hollywood, black roles were not often played by black actors, just as Asian characters were not always played by Asians. They didn't appear at all, except as caricatures performed by white actors in blackface. This trend has its origins in the American theater tradition of minstrelsy, which featured a number of racial myths about black people.

After a long period of backlash, blackface is now much less common: in Dear White People, for example, college fraternity members throw a blackface-themed party, which the film, as well as the Netflix series of the same name, use as a springboard for a discussion of racism at colleges throughout the United States. On the contrary, Scary Black Man and Black Dude Dies First characters in Hollywood soar from 1960 to 2000.[1]

Before movies had even existed, the entertainment industry had been dehumanizing black people. In the 1830s, white performers imitated enslaved people by coloring their masks, wearing ripped clothing, and imitating them. Only offensive caricatures are depicting black people: poor, ignorant, hypersexual, and criminal.[2]

Stereotype in Entertainment

Daniel Kaluuya stars in Get Out (2017)

However, as Hollywood has featured more black characters and cast more black stars, other myths have become more prominent. To this day, black men are frequently depicted as scary or furious, and black women are commonly described as loudmouthed and sassy. The black best friend is almost always the token black character in a film. Besides, if characters in a movie disappear, the black actor is expected to die first. And as public awareness of racial stereotypes increases, Hollywood continues to use them. If Africa is mentioned, it is portrayed as dangerous and untouched by civilization. In the film, black characters are often cast in stereotype stereotypes (thugs, pimps, gangsters), reinforcing the crime reputation that African-Americans and their culture have earned.[3]

The negative portrayals of black people in Hollywood often apply to black Americans. African-themed stereotypes are more unusual, partially because few Hollywood films feature African characters. The most popular trope about Africa, according to TVTropes users, is "Darkest Africa," which portrays the continent as a remote and dangerous remote land with only intermittent links to "modern" society. However, the representation is becoming less popular.[1]

The movie Birth of a Nation, DW Griffith’s film released on 8 February 1915[4], depicted African-American men as uneducated, vicious brutes preyed on vulnerable white women. It portrayed African Americans in such a negative light that the stigma associated with this depiction continues to afflict the black community today[3]

The False Assumptions

Mary Beth Oliver is an associate professor of communication that teaches media effects, communication research, quantitative research methods, and interpersonal communication at Penn State University. She wrote a Journal of African American Studies titled "African American Men as "Criminal and Dangerous": Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the "Criminalization" of African American Men" back in September 2003. The study mentioned the correlation of African American men with danger and crime represents several causes and a long tradition of racism and stereotyping. According to this journal, the way the media (especially the news media) portrays race and crime plays a significant role in the stereotyping of black males as violent and dangerous. The racial biases and racial prejudice to African Americans who are "assumed" to be threatening and violent come with the price, such as innocent men shooting by the police officers that happen at an alarming rate. Nonetheless, the great extent to which black men have become the object of wrongfully targeted police brutality illustrates the apparent influence that race plays in misguided perceptions of risk and crime. Of course, the mistaken assumptions is not only manifested in the law-enforcement field but also in several aspects such as storekeepers/salesperson who always keep an eye for black customers in-store even using racial profiling or specific racist code name for black people (see also: Shopping While Black) [5]

See Also

Get out (2017)
Shopping While Black
Black-Targeted Racism in Brand

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 What Hollywood movies do to perpetuate racial stereotypes. dw.com. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  2. Morton, Ke’Asia. A history of Black representation in Hollywood: progress of appropriate portrayal. The Beacon. 27 October 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Edwards, Blake. Acting Black: An Analysis of Blackness and Criminality in Film. aquila.usm.edu. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  4. Brook, Tom. The Birth of a Nation: The most racist movie ever made?. BBC. 6 February 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  5. Oliver, Mary Beth. African American Men as "Criminal and Dangerous": Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the "Criminalization" of African American Men. jstor.org. September 2003. Retrieved March 17, 2021.