Reclaiming Stereotypes. An Analysis of the Continued Struggle to Counteract Stereotyping of African-American Women in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema


Book Description

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Cultural Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 2.3, University of Bremen, course: Analyzing Hollywood Cinema, language: English, abstract: This analysis serves to outline the continued struggle of African-American women to counteract racially and sexually biased stereotypes as perpetuated by the popular media domain of Hollywood cinema in a white-dominated, patriarchal society. Moreover, it serves to shed light on recent activism and achievements, which are now commonly referred to as ‘reclaiming stereotypes’. Resistance from within the industry will be exemplified by juxtaposing the 2009 film “Precious”, an independent production which was majorly successful, with other film productions from the same year, which serve to perpetuate the misrepresentation of African-American women. Furthermore, activism stemming from sources outside of the cinema industry will be detailed, as part of a growing mind state of contempt for stereotyping African-American women.




Fat on Film


Book Description

Over the last two decades, fatness has become the focus of ubiquitous negative rhetoric, in the USA and beyond, presented under the cover of the medicalized ''war against the obesity epidemic''. In Fat on Film, Barbara Plotz provides a critical analysis of the cinematic representation of fatness during this timeframe, specifically in contemporary Hollywood cinema, with an emphasis on the intersection of gender, race and fatness. The analysis is based on around 50 films released since 2000 and includes examples such as Transformers (2007), Precious (2009), Kung Fu Panda (2008), Paul Blart (2009) and Pitch Perfect (2012).Plotz maps the common cinematic tropes of fatness and also shows how commonplace notions of fatness that are part of the current ''obesity epidemic'' discourse are reflected in these tropes. In this original study, Plotz brings critical attention to the politics of fat representation, a topic that has so far received little attention within film and cinema studies.




High Contrast


Book Description

In High Contrast, Sharon Willis examines the dynamic relationships between racial and sexual difference in Hollywood film from the 1980s and 1990s. Seizing on the way these differences are accentuated, sensationalized, and eroticized on screen--most often with little apparent regard for the political context in which they operate--Willis restores that context through close readings of a range of movies from cinematic blockbusters to the work of the new auteurs, Spike Lee, David Lynch, and Quentin Tarantino. Capturing the political complexity of these films, Willis argues that race, gender, and sexuality, as they are figured in the fantasy of popular film, do not function separately, but rather inform and determine each other's meaning. She demonstrates how collective anxieties regarding social difference are mapped onto big budget movies like the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series, Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, Thelma and Louise, Terminator 2, and others. Analyzing the artistic styles of directors Lynch, Tarantino, and Lee, in such films as Wild at Heart, Pulp Fiction, and Do the Right Thing, she investigates how these interactions of difference are linked to the production of specific authorial styles, and how race functions for each of these directors, particularly in relation to gender identity, erotics, and fantasy.







The Persistence of Whiteness


Book Description

The Persistence of Whiteness investigates the representation and narration of race in contemporary Hollywood cinema. Ideologies of class, ethnicity, gender, nation and sexuality are central concerns as are the growth of the business of filmmaking. Focusing on representations of Black, Asian, Jewish, Latina/o and Native Americans identities, this collection also shows how whiteness is a fact everywhere in contemporary Hollywood cinema, crossing audiences, authors, genres, studios and styles. Bringing together essays from respected film scholars, the collection covers a wide range of important films, including Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Color Purple, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. Essays also consider genres from the western to blaxploitation and new black cinema; provocative filmmakers such as Melvin Van Peebles and Steven Spielberg and stars including Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Lopez. Daniel Bernardi provides an in-depth introduction, comprehensive bibliography and a helpful glossary of terms, thus providing students with an accessible and topical collection on race and ethnicity in contemporary cinema.




African American Women and Sexuality in the Cinema


Book Description

The representation of African American women is an important issue in the overall study of how women are portrayed in film, and has received serious attention in recent years. Traditionally, "women of color," particularly African American women, have been at the margins of studies of women's on-screen depictions--or excluded altogether. This work focuses exclusively on the sexual objectification of African American women in film from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Critics of the negative sexual imagery have long speculated that control by African American filmmakers would change how African American women are depicted. This work examines sixteen films made by males both white and black to see how the imagery might change with the race of the filmmaker. Four dimensions are given special attention: the diversity of the women's roles and relationships with men, the sexual attitudes of the African American female characters, their attitudes towards men, and their nonverbal and verbal sexual behaviors. This work also examines the role culture has played in perpetuating the images, how film influences viewers' perception of African American women and their sexuality, and how the imagery polarizes women by functioning as a regulator of their sexual behaviors based on cultural definitions of the feminine.




Screens Fade to Black


Book Description

The triple crown of Oscars awarded to Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, and Sidney Poitier on a single evening in 2002 seemed to mark a turning point for African Americans in cinema. Certainly it was hyped as such by the media, eager to overlook the nuances of this sudden embrace. In this new study, author David Leonard uses this event as a jumping-off point from which to discuss the current state of African-American cinema and the various genres that currently compose it. Looking at such recent films as Love and Basketball, Antwone Fisher, Training Day, and the two Barbershop films—all of which were directed by black artists, and most of which starred and were written by blacks as well—Leonard examines the issues of representation and opportunity in contemporary cinema. In many cases, these films-which walk a line between confronting racial stereotypes and trafficking in them-made a great deal of money while hardly playing to white audiences at all. By examining the ways in which they address the American Dream, racial progress, racial difference, blackness, whiteness, class, capitalism and a host of other issues, Leonard shows that while certainly there are differences between the grotesque images of years past and those that define today's era, the consistency of images across genre and time reflects the lasting power of racism, as well as the black community's response to it.




Gender, Ethnicity, and Sexuality in Contemporary American Film


Book Description

Hollywood has devoted big budgets and established stars to films about controversial issues in the last ten years. Identities considered marginal have come into prominence on the big screen. The authors of this title look at the issues raised by these developments, bring together debates in identity politics with film studies, and launch an innovative theorization of the cinematic representation of identity. Movies from Forrest Gump to Philadelphia, from Malcolm X to Falling Down have been specifically concerned with multiculturalism and identity politics. This book is concerned with the meanings put into circulation by these mainstream films and audiences' reactions to them. It provides an accessible introduction to issues such as arguments over positive and negative images and the relationship between cultural representation and political power in American life.




Film Analysis of the Silent Movie Within Our Gates. Oscar Micheaux’s Portrayal of African Americans to counter Stereotypes of the Black Race


Book Description

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1.0, Humboldt-University of Berlin (Anglistik), language: English, abstract: Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit arbeitet heraus, wie der Filmproduzent und Regisseur Oscar Micheaux in dem 1920 fertiggestellten Stummfilm Within Our Gates Bilder des "New Negro" zeichnete. Er entwarf eine Gegendarstellung zu der bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt vornehmlich negativen und stereotypen Darstellung von Afroamerikanern in den von Hollywood Studios produzierten Filmen. Aufbauend auf Forschungsergebnissen von Filmhistorikern wie Jane Gaines, Ronald Green, Pearl Bowser und anderen wird der Film in seinem geschichtlichen Kontext dargestellt. Die Story, die Hauptcharaktere sowie die von Micheaux eingesetzten Filmtechniken wurden untersucht. Für die Analyse wurden von der Autorin vier exemplarische Szenen des Films ausgewählt und aufbauend auf bereits vorhandenen Forschungsergebnissen mit den Kriterien der Filmanaylse betrachtet. Als zusammenfassendes Ergebnis ist festzustellen, dass es Oscar Micheaux gelungen ist, durch Nutzung verschiedenster Filmtechniken wie u.a. ein sorgfältiges Setdesign seine Vision auf der Kinoleinwand darzustellen und ein vielschichtiges Bild des “New Negro” zu zeichnen. In seinem Film Within Our Gates korrigiert er die Darstellung von Lynchmord und Vergewaltigung - die in Hollywood Filmen ausschließlich von Afroamerikanern begangen wurden - in dem er eindeutig die Weißen als Schuldige darstellt, welche sich an den ehemaligen Sklaven vergehen.




Contemporary Black American Cinema


Book Description

Contemporary Black American Cinema offers a fresh collection of essays on African American film, media, and visual culture in the era of global multiculturalism. Integrating theory, history, and criticism, the contributing authors deftly connect interdisciplinary perspectives from American studies, cinema studies, cultural studies, political science, media studies, and Queer theory. This multidisciplinary methodology expands the discursive and interpretive registers of film analysis. From Paul Robeson’s and Sidney Poitier’s star vehicles to Lee Daniels’s directorial forays, these essays address the career legacies of film stars, examine various iterations of Blaxploitation and animation, question the comedic politics of "fat suit" films, and celebrate the innovation of avant-garde and experimental cinema.