1938 to 2011
I'm not a big movie fan, although I keep abreast of new releases through my son Kreighton who is an avid movie buff. When I visit his blog Envy-Green.blogspot.com, I also enjoy his penetrating analysis of a variety of past and present movies. In addition, Kreighton takes me back in time, sharing his views of movies he saw at an early age and his thoughts, both then as a teen or youngster and now as a perceptive adult. His insight gave me pause to dig through the hype of studio advertisement and assess the impact of some of the mega movies and television shows I've viewed through the years.
The standard place to start when reviewing movie history is the 1915 "blockbuster The Birth of a Nation", directed by D. W. Griffith. The hateful perceptions of African Americans spawned in this epic production perpetuated the myth of the idyllic plantation where slaves picked cotton in satisfaction and happily danced for their white masters. The initial prologue blames African Americans for the Civil War and Reconstruction. Through out the storyline time honored Southern culture and traditions are beatified while Northern and Southern whites unite in their common hatred for blacks. The birth of the Ku Klux Klan, its rise to a noble and well supported organization, and its protection of white woman hood lead to the film embracing and enhancing KKK recruitment. As I reviewed the film's plot and themes, I am struck by today's congressional bills,laws, and budget decisions that support the film's agenda and position on African Americans. This film has created the modern narrative about the relationship of whites and blacks and is mirrored even in today's movies releases as well as the day's news.
Gone with The Wind (1939), adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer winning novel, is often considered Hollywood's most beloved, enduring and popular film. Presented on a scale not seen in modern production, its $3.7 million dollar budget grossed $192 million over the years. Frank Nugent, NY Times reviewed the four hour film and boils down the storyline: spoiled Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. The movie won 10 Academy Awards including Hattie McDaniel receiving the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She was not only the first Black woman, but the first African American to win an Academy Award.
This imagery of black women as mammies—overweight, obedient servants who love, nurture, and are loyal to White superiors—is common in American society. It is one of the controlling images that shapes the public face that Whites expect from Black women today.
Winners Hattie McDaniel, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington
Hattie McDaniel was not able to “cash in” on her
role as Mammy. First, MGM stipulated
that she would be released from her contract if she lost weight. Second, despite the prestige associated with
winning an Oscar and the greater prospects in terms of the number and types of
roles offered to actors, McDaniel was unable to benefit from this
accolade. Her roles became less
challenging and the amount of films she appeared in declined compared to other
White Academy Award winners. Third, her status as a star was not enough to
shield her from experiencing racism when White property owners attempted to
evict her from her mansion in the West Adams Country Club neighborhood using
then legal restrictive covenants that prevented Blacks from living in White
neighborhoods.
Butterfly McQueen, one of the Black women who acted
in the film, hated her role. She did not
think that in 1938 she would be playing a slave, and she stated that it was a
difficult part for an intelligent person to play. But, she “did everything they asked me to. But
I wouldn’t let them slap me and I wouldn’t eat the watermelon.”
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| Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis "The Help" |
It is important that McDaniel won an Oscar for
playing Mammy in 1939, and 73 years later, Spencer won for playing Minny Jackson
(The Help). Not much has changed. Hollywood is still happiest to see Black
women as servants. As Ralph Ellison once
noted, “Movies are not about Blacks but what Whites think about Blacks.” Black
women simply appear on the big screen as servants, suggesting that is their
natural station in life.
The Association of Black Women Historians pointed to
the use of exaggerated Black southern dialect (“You is smat, you is kind, you
is important”) and depictions of Black men as drunks, domestic abusers, or all
together absent. They argue that this is evidence that White writers often rely
upon stereotypes when creating Black characters. Other stereotypes are evident in the film’s
dialogue. At one point, as Minny
instructs a White woman in cooking, she states, “Frying chicken just…tend to
make you feel better ‘bout life. Hm, I
love me some fried chicken.”
While the mammy is a non-sexual, non-threatening
Black woman, the Jezebel is the exact opposite.
This stereotype depicts Black women as promiscuous, over-sexualized
temptresses. They are also threats to
White women and White women’s relationships.
Halle Berry’s role in Monster’s Ball, for which she won the Academy
Award for Best Actress, is a manifestation of the Jezebel stereotype. Further,
hyper-sexualized images of Black women appear frequently in music videos, where
their bodies appear as mere accessories in a landscape that is dominated by
masculinity. The Jezebel stereotype
imagines Black women as naturally sexually promiscuous and makes Black women’s
sexuality deviant.
Another stereotype is the Sapphire, or more widely
known today as “the Angry Black Woman”.
The name comes from a character on the radio minstrel show Amos ‘n Andy.
Sapphire Stevens constantly berated her husband, George “Kingfish” Stevens.
Women in these roles are “sassy”, rude and insulting, arrogant, and denigrating
to Black men. These characters are “tart-tongued and emasculating, one hand on
a hip and the other pointing and jabbing (or arms akimbo), violently and rhythmically
rocking her head.” Characters in past
television shows that employ these types of behaviors range from Aunt Esther on
Sanford and Son, Pam and Sheneneh Jenkins on Martin, Florence on The Jeffersons, and
Maxine on Living Single. More recent
examples are evident on shows such as Basketball Wives and Flavor of Love.
Black men have also been stereotyped as servants in
film, television and radio. Donald Bogle
argues that “No other period in motion-picture history could boast of more
black faces carrying mops and pails or lifting pots and pans than the
Depression years.” These faces included
characters/actors such as Stepin Fetchit, Sleep n’Eat, Mantan, and Bill
“Bonjangles” Robinson. Black men are
also perniciously stereotyped as clowns and buffoons, brutes, criminals, and
violent animals. In Hollywood Shuffle,
Robert Townsend parodies this treatment by the film establishment.
Racism Still Exists printed an article on Representation of Blacks in Film which served as a major source for this post. It offers the following:
Stereotypes are problematic not simply because they are false, but because they often stand in for real knowledge and actual life experience. When stereotypes are highly visible and persistently exposed in the media, they tend to be adopted by individuals who do not come into contact with African Americans frequently. High levels of residential segregation in the United States means that many Whites and others do not have day to day contact with Black people. As a result, negative images in the media become associated with Black folks, regardless of evidence to the contrary. Further, as Professor Mark Anthony Neal from Duke University states, stereotypes are used to “keep black people in their place by reinforcing the notion of their inferiority”.
I hope you'll give this topic some thought and share your views and comments.
Related Sources:
Bogle, Donald (2000). Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American films. (3rd ed.). New York: Continuum.
Dargis, M. & Scott, A.O. (2011, February 13). Hollywood’s whiteout year: few Blacks on silver screen. New York Times, p. AR1.
McClintock, P. & Appelo, T. (2011, March 11). Where are all the Black actors? Hollywood Reporter, 417, 62-65.
Association of Black Women Historians. (n.d.). An open statement to the fans of The Help
Simmonds, Y.J. (2012, March 1). Black women and the Academy Awards winners and nominees. Sentinel, 78(9), p. A8.
Envy-Green Movie Black Movie Lovers, http://www.envygreenonline.com/
Turner, P.A. (2011, August 29). Dangerous White stereotypes. New York Times, p. A23
1 comments:
A well researched and informative article. Times change but things remain the same.
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