African American Stereotypes In Film

Considering the arguments discussed throughout the chapters of my analysis, the history and evolution of African Americans will always intertwine with society, since the slavery era. This thesis outlined the African American stereotypes and if they’ve progressed over time. This research also observed how the film industry continued to change negative stereotypes into accurate representations of African American culture and experiences. D. W. Griffith’s film changed the history of films and remains the original foundation of Hollywood cinema, even though, it is the most racist film in history. The Birth of a Nation’s narrative assembles negative black stereotypes to empower white supremacy, always affecting the cinema’s engraving of race. It

Jackson. Tarantino could depict the slavery period and ‘Uncle Tom’ character into the film to show the audiences the hurtful facts of African Americans. Disturbing scenes in the film presented innocent slaves enduring extreme pain and brutality. The ‘Coon’ character was Eddie Murphy’s persona in films. The Nutty Professor outlined many scenes of humour to audiences for entertainment. However, his coon character was degrading obese people by his clumsy attitude. The film not only had included stereotypical images of Black people, it also created obese people as a humorous image. Several films that Murphy has played in include stereotypes towards African Americans, one is Coming to America (1988). The film represented African culture hurtfully when Murphy’s character played as a prince reached America. He degraded his role as a worker and lived in a rough area. Training Day included themes of the ‘Blackbuck’ character throughout the film. Denzel Washington’s role was a ruthless man who worked against the police rules. Several negative representations were noticeable for instance, he dealt with drugs while on duty and committed several crimes. However, black masculinity and the Blaxploitation era began to change the way films address African Americans in films. Shaft was one of the strongest films that portrayed black masculinity and empowered men as protagonists to fight their enemies. The films were aimed towards Black audiences to present them a better representation of African Americans than what Hollywood was portraying them harshly. Moonlight became a successful film due to changing the harsh stereotypes of masculinity. Even though masculinity a mask to cover up their identity, it gave awareness to Black audiences who struggle with hiding their sexuality. Black masculinity became men being presented as aggressive and emotionless. However, this film could show that sexuality doesn’t