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"Article Evaluation"- Representations of African Americans in Media

At first glance of this article one can already point out that it is doesn't seem to be a very reliable article as it has a warning saying that the article has multiple issues such as; the article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings towards this applied subject. Another thing about the article is that the article possibly contains original research. The term "original research" means that it is material that are facts, allegations and ideas are on it, however, no reliable, published sources within the article.

Some observations to take out from this article are that in Hollywood, African Americans roles in movies were limited to the three themes which were; a tale of rags to riches, thug life and segregation. Old Hollywood was very controversial as they were very discriminatory with African American actors and actresses, Blackface thus becomes a popular form of entertainment. The term "Blackface" is a method in which Hollywood used different characters without actually having to employ anyone with a darker skin tone.

Another thing to mention about the article is that there is the presence of unsupported attributions which we have discussed in the module "Evaluating Articles and Sources Module". In the article itself, while reading through it I came across the statement that says, "Some people say..." and "Some truly believe." These are some phrases in which the Module tells us to look out for as it can be seen that the article can't be reliable because of this.

Representations of African Americans in Horror Movies

Throughout the Presence of Horror Movies, there have been numerous instances of African Americans and People of color that are often subjected to consecutive criticism. One example in particular in which has been prominent throughout is that they are often the first ones in the movie to die. The Horror Movie genre has a particular form to it in which it is a White-dominated world and another representation of African Americans and People of color is that they are usually seen as violent and either as the monsters or villains within the movie. Another stereotype seen in Horror movies, is the stereotype of the "Magical Negro". In a JSTOR article entitled "The Power of Black Magic: The Magical Negro and White Salvation in Film" written by Cerise L. Glenn and Landra J. Cunningham these two women talk about what the term "Magical Negro" connotes and how it is seen throughout Hollywood. Specifically, Glenn and Cunningham explains that, "As a result of Black's liminal status, the magical Negro has emerged as a new version of traditional racist stereotypes because most Hollywood screenwriters do not know much about Black people other than what they see or hear in other media forms. Consequently, instead of having life histories or love interests, Black characters posses magical powers (Farley, 2000). Because Hollywood, screenwriters often remain oblivious about Black people, they incorporate images in films that comfort and appeal to the White viewers." (Cerise L. Glenn and Landra J. Cunningham 137).  Hollywood, has no knowledge of the portrayal of African Americans so instead of trying to do research they decide just take what the representations of what they see from other forms of media and instead of giving any context to a Black character they just give them some sort of magical power and that's it. Later on in the article, the term "Magical Negro" is explained, "K. Anthony Appiah (1993), defined the magical Negro as "the noble-good hearted black man or woman" whose good sense pulls the White character through a crisis. Appiah labeled the helpful Black characters as "saints." The three main purposes of the "Magical Negro" in relation to the White character in the film are given by Entman and Rojecki (2001) which they proclaim, "(a):to assist the character, (b) to help him or her spirituality, and (c) to offer a type of "folk wisdom" used to resolve the characters dilemma." (Glenn and Cunningham 138).

In another JSTOR article entitled, "Who Dat Man? Shaft and the Blaxploitation Genre" by Joe Bob Briggs goes into detail and discusses about the Horror movie genre which is known as "Blaxploitation" and how the Movie "Shaft" had influenced African Americans all over the world. Specifically, Briggs states that, "After Shaft was released in 1971, the streets of New York would never be the same. Every Black adolescent and wannabee bad asses adopted the walk, the style, the swagger, the indifference to traffic, and the rather stated lingo (added over writer Ernest Tidyman's objections) of that baaaaaad mother--shut yo mouth!" Joe Bob Briggs 24).  Basically, the point that Briggs is making is that the movie Shaft had made an impact on the African American culture as a lot of people would mimic and try to be the character of Shaft because of the type of role in which he had. Something worth mentioning about the character of Shaft is that within the movie he is known as the anti-hero, however in the book the character of Shaft depicts an entirely different type of narrative. Shaft in the book is portrayed as, "Having no civil-rights views at all; he dislikes black people as much as white ones. He doesn't actually take on the Establishment he takes on the safer white institution of the Mafia." (Briggs 25).  It seems as though Shaft doesn't embody the African-American identity and seems to be in a way ashamed of being a person of color. Later on in the article, Briggs describes the way in which Shaft interacts with the people around him, "Throughout the story, he has a love-hate relationship with a white police detective who enables Shaft to do things like withhold evidence and kill people and then walk free--because supposedly the NYPD needs Shaft on the streets, where he can go places they can't." (25).  After drawing from the type of interactions that Shaft goes through in the text, one can note that it brings up the point that WEB Du Bois terms as "Double-Consciousness." He describes the term as the feeling of "looking through one's self from the eyes of another." Shaft uses his double-consciousness to navigate through the racist white society.

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Horror Movies

Throughout the presence of horror movies, there have been numerous instances of African Americans and People of color that are often subjected to consecutive criticism. One example in particular in which has been prominent throughout is that they are often the first ones in the movie to die. The Horror Movie genre has a particular form to it in which it is a White-dominated world and another representation of African Americans and People of color is that they are usually seen as violent and either as the monsters or villains within the movie.

Magical negro

Another stereotype seen in Horror movies, is the stereotype of the "Magical Negro". "As a result of Black's liminal status, the magical Negro has emerged as a new version of traditional racist stereotypes because most Hollywood screenwriters do not know much about Black people other than what they see or hear in other media forms. Consequently, instead of having life histories or love interests, Black characters posses magical powers (Farley, 2000). Because Hollywood, screenwriters often remain oblivious about Black people, they incorporate images in films that comfort and appeal to the White viewers."  The term "Magical Negro" is explained, "... as "the noble-good hearted black man or woman" whose good sense pulls the White character through a crisis. Appiah labeled the helpful Black characters as "saints." The three main purposes of the "Magical Negro" in relation to the White character in the film are given by Entman and Rojecki (2001) which they proclaim, "(a):to assist the character, (b) to help him or her spirituality, and (c) to offer a type of "folk wisdom" used to resolve the characters dilemma."

Blaxploitation

Richard Lawson in Black Fist as an example of a Blaxploitation movie

There is a movie genre which is known as "Blaxploitation" and that can be most seen through the influence of the movie "Shaft". "After Shaft was released in 1971, the streets of New York would never be the same. Every Black adolescent and wannabee bad asses adopted the walk, the style, the swagger, the indifference to traffic, and the rather stated lingo (added over writer Ernest Tidyman's objections) of that baaaaaad mother--shut yo mouth!" Basically, the point that Briggs is making is that the movie Shaft had made an impact on the African American culture as a lot of people would mimic and try to be the character of Shaft because of the type of role in which he had. Something worth mentioning about the character of Shaft is that within the movie he is known as the anti-hero, however in the book the character of Shaft depicts an entirely different type of narrative. Shaft in the book is portrayed as, "Having no civil-rights views at all; he dislikes black people as much as white ones. He doesn't actually take on the Establishment he takes on the safer white institution of the Mafia." (Briggs 25).  It seems as though Shaft doesn't embody the African-American identity and seems to be in a way ashamed of being a person of color. Later on in the article, Briggs describes the way in which Shaft interacts with the people around him, "Throughout the story, he has a love-hate relationship with a white police detective who enables Shaft to do things like withhold evidence and kill people and then walk free--because supposedly the NYPD needs Shaft on the streets, where he can go places they can't." (25).  After drawing from the type of interactions that Shaft goes through in the text, one can note that it brings up the point that WEB Du Bois terms as "Double-Consciousness." He describes the term as the feeling of "looking through one's self from the eyes of another." Shaft uses his double-consciousness to navigate through the racist white society.

Blackface and Minstrelsy

See main article Blackface

The misinterpretation of African Americans in the media can be traced back to the degrading images of them depicted through black minstrelsy. With the rise of these minstrelsy performances, we see a faux black subjectivity created for the consumption of the mainstream, inaccurate portrayals and caricatures arise in order to draw upon an absence presence of true black culture. A critical component of this is the misconstrued emergence of the black English, drawing upon diverse markers, intensifying this rigid separation and creating an inflexible caricature. It can be noted how these African American actors tried altering their images and playing upon stereotypes in order to cater to the white, urban -predominately male- audiences. Mass media depictions of black bodies through outlets such as minstrel shows, between the 19th and 20th century reveal the beginning of this form of cultural policing which subjugates African American presence to this white gaze.

The Happy Plantation Darky was one of the first stigmatized representations featured in minstrel shows, with the producers behind this offensive character claiming it to be a comical relief and generalized image, denying its racist implications . This figure was widely accepted among viewers from all backgrounds in society, some seemed to be oblivious to its racist undertones and often disregarded the exaggerated features this character possessed which ,often denied by its producer, represented the commonly misconceived social perceptions of the black body’s physical characteristics. This character was often depicted in tattered clothing and hunched over or slouching when walking around stage, showing his inferiority through physical mannerisms Blackface minstrelsy have been read as a logonomic system, by seeing how positions of power are implicated through these shows not only through its racist material but also the rigid rules and regulations involved in the shows. As noted previously, many of those watching these minstrel shows did not interpret the characters to be racially specific, merely as clown-like figures with exaggerated features, their laughter and reading of these figures as pure comical reliefs then reinforces this notion of superiority by mocking their inferiority, which is made apparent through their physical being and clothing. Minstrel shows and their misinterpretations of black bodies in respects to their physical and social depictions, is then masked by this “comical” depiction.

The dichotomy present amongst the black and white actors featured in these minstrelsy shows further depicted this parallel of the current power dynamic in society, but depicted through outlets such as theatre performance. The basis of these performances were shaped around current socioeconomic dilemmas, specifically referring to the rise of urbanization and industrialization. Pressured by the stress of socioeconomic achievement and development, white performers then shaped these minstrel characters to represent this inverse entity of what it meant to be "modern" in terms of Northern white social standards. These minstrel shows throughout the 19th and 20th produced not only the discriminatory practice of blackface, but it also created characters that imposed stereotypes on African Americans and their role in society. These characters included the “mammy”, the “dandy” and the “buck”.. Each of these figures were shaped to be the antithesis of modernity, attempting to convey their inability to conform to white ideals through exaggerated features and physical idiosyncrasies The “mammy” paralleled what the white media viewed black women to be in terms of their core role to the family, keeping them together with her mother-like qualities but still looked down upon because of her incompetency which was trademarked by her naive nature and “plantation” dialect. Whereas the “dandy” represented the northern black men, often seen dressed in white upper-class clothing and possessed a more “sophisticated” velanculour, however he was not seen as modern with his exaggerated imitations merely intensifying his marginalization. The “Buck” was often seen as a larger black man whose intelligence was exhibited through his imperiling actions, often unapologetic of his presence and was depicted as a threatening entity to those around him, specifically towards the white women he pursued.

"Digital Blackface"

Example of dark-skinned emoji.

The use of memes, gifs, and emojis in contemporary communication software has led to discussions around the concept of “digital blackface.” Digital Blackface refers to the online form of mimicking and appropriating Black people or Black culture through usage of online technologies such as emojis, gifs, and memes. The concept surfaced due to the popular featuring of Black people in various gifs and memes, as well as the use of darker skin toned emojis that do not reflect one’s own skin color. Emojis with different colored skinned tones were introduced by iOS 8.3 in 2015 with the purpose of promoting diversity and inclusivity. Popular gifs and memes feature notable African-American figures such as Tiffany Pollard, Viola Davis, and Nick Young, as well as unknown and obscure African- American individuals, in a variety of scenes from everyday situations to specific reactions.

Common gifs and memes of Black Individuals come from televisions shows such as Real Housewives Atlanta, Love and Hip Hop, and Flavor of Love. The use of these gifs and memes has been seen as a continued form of Blackface, where non-black people can portray themselves as Black through their use of these gifs and memes.

There is current debate on the existence of “digital blackface” and whether or not it is a contemporary reproduction of previous versions of Blackface.