ipl-logo

John Hughes Films Of The 1980s: Do Their Meaningful Messages Override Their Exclusion Of Diversity

2567 Words11 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Race in hollywood essay

John Hughes movies of the 1980s: do their meaningful messages override their exclusion of diversity?

John Hughes' most famous actress Molly Ringwald used some interesting words to describe him. A few of them were racist, misogynistic, and homophobic. Molly Ringwald was in his most popular movies. For example, she starred in Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club. After Ringwald's big break in Sixteen Candles, she started to become John Hughes's muse for his future movies. Hughes even wrote the script for You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried around Ringwald. Ringwald herself found these movies to be quite disturbing. She found they had a lot of sexism, racism, and homophobia. Even though she found problems with diversity and …show more content…

Television has been a popular American pastime since the late 1940s. According to University of Arizona scholar Stephanie Trautman Robbins, it was also "a primary source of racial education in America.” Television entertains, educates us and helps shape the way we see the world. So many videos, so little time. This idea really applies to the video versions of the 80's and his 90's movies. This era was the film's greatest achievement and the time when cinema embraced the most diverse cultures. Early television actually reflected a very narrow representation of non-white characters. And many of the previous characters were in many ways caricatures and racist depictions. And as time goes on, the more we start to see black people and we see them move from peripheral or secondary characters to the main focus. But for a while on TV, you had extremes. On the one hand you had the black criminal stereotype and all the negative tropes associated with being black, and on the other you had good, relatable, respectable black characters. “Audiences cared about diversity, but only if the diversity matched with their preconceived notions of characters of color. When modern movies do wavy with these stereotypes, they are seen as trying too hard because they are trying to make people from different backgrounds good characters, not walking stereotypes. These diverse casts were also sanctioned mostly to action movies, whereas …show more content…

“The evolution of Black representation on television.” University of Arizona News, 21 February 2022, https://news.arizona.edu/story/evolution-black-representation-television. Accessed 23 February 2023.
“The Importance of Diversity and Representation in the Film Industry.” KeepEarth, 15 November 2020, https://www.keepxearth.com/post/the-importance-of-diversity-and-representation-in-the-film-industry. Accessed 23 February 2023.
Madruga, Isabella. “Are Modern Ways Of Introducing Diversity Forced? • The Daily Fandom.” The Daily Fandom, 15 December 2021, https://thedailyfandom.org/are-modern-ways-of-introducing-diversity-forced/. Accessed 23 February 2023.
Miller, Halie, and Jala Davis. “The Evolution of Film: Where it Started and Where it is Now.” The East Carolinian, 6 October 2021, http://www.piratemedia1.com/thehook/article_bd548658-2704-11ec-ae3a-8b26bed19300.html. Accessed 23 February 2023. mittelstaedt, sean, and Daniel Thoen. “Themes Explained: What They Are, How to Use Them, & Why They're Important.” No Film School, 15 January 2016, https://nofilmschool.com/2016/01/themes-explained-what-are-how-use-why-important. Accessed 23 February

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Film 'Color Adjustment' By Marlon Riggs

477 Words | 2 Pages

In Marlon Riggs’ 1992 documentary film titled Color Adjustment, Riggs, the Emmy winning producer of Ethnic Notions, continues his studies of prejudice in television. The documentary film looks at the years between 1948 and 1988 to analyze how over a 40 year period, race relations are viewed through the lens of prime time entertainment. The film examined many of television’s stereotypes and mythes and how they changed over the years. The one hour and twenty-two minute documentary is narrated by Ruby Dee, the American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist.

Read More

Melvin Van Peebles 'Classified History X'

694 Words | 3 Pages

It seemed to me that rather than given the African-American community pride, such was the goal of black independent filmmakers, these black films seemed to further perpetually an untrue stereotype. That once again, black people, specifically darker skinned people, still somehow inferior to those who are is lighter skin not. Its not different at all from the movies that were created during this time, having white actors play black people pretending to be white people. In this since I completely agree with Peebles that black independent filmmakers didn’t create thing that were all that different from what was already out there; because the community was so desperate for some type of positive representation that they subconsciously over looked deeper ingrained prejudices

Read More

Minorities In The 1950s

1781 Words | 8 Pages

Minorities in sitcoms were less portrayed in contrast to an accurate representation of the time period. Ironically, minorities in sitcoms were not always represented by minority actors and actresses. Sometimes makeup was used on a white actor so he could portray an African man. It was not until the 1950’s when African Americans were shown on television. African Americans were often portrayed as crooked people with poor English and less education.

Read More

The Cosby Show Research Paper

207 Words | 1 Pages

The portrayal of African American characters and/or representations of black life in television have transformed, and continue to transform, throughout the decades. Beginning with simply inserting blackness and black themes from visions of white producers to introducing black perspectives from an array of contemporary representations, race and ethnicity are a paramount focus that continues to be shaped in the television world. In Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for Blackness, Herman Gray argues that The Cosby Show “reconfigured the aesthetic and industrial spaces within which modern television representations of blacks are constructed. Indeed, under Bill Cosby’s careful guidance the show quite intentionally presented itself as a

Read More

African-American Involvement In Blaxploitation Films

1847 Words | 8 Pages

Throughout the 70s, innovative and impactful movies featuring heavy African-American involvement hit the scene of thousands of theaters across the United States. The overall positive perception of Blaxploitation films provided many opportunities for black involvement in America’s entertainment industry that Hollywood failed to provide. Audiences positively perceived things that were not brought to light in the white dominated entertainment industry such as, new stereotype defying roles, uplifting messages, and the exposure of different communities and their issues. Blaxploitation was a result from African-Americans having a very strong desire to “see themselves empowered” in films (Christian). This genre of 70s cinema, were mostly set

Read More

Stereotypes In The Film Menace II Society

769 Words | 4 Pages

Stereotypes in media have been around since the earliest cartoons were drawn. The media gives supposedly identifying traits with images of the stingy Jewish man, the single Hispanic woman cleaning homes to raise her three children, and the “butch” lesbian falling for the beautiful blonde who just happens to glance at her every day in the hallway. These portrayals make up general knowledge about minorities for a lot of people, but their accuracy is questionable at best. While production companies have been making strides towards the better, insufficient representation in the media tends to portray minorities as their negative stereotypes rather than as people.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Blaxploitation

439 Words | 2 Pages

These movies were full of sexy and over exaggerated stereotypes of the African American race that painted the masses in a bad light which angered the black population who were dealing with the Civil Rights movement at the time. While the hero of your everyday white film would be someone like Superman, or some larger than life cowboy these movies portrayed pimps, thugs, and hookers as the heroes and main focus. They also had these black characters performing larger than life acts of revenge and heroics against their white foes which angered many due to some seeing these things as a mockery. Some members of black audiences fed up with various racially driven hate crimes viewed these movies as a bad joke thinking things along the lines of,”A real black wouldn’t get away with doing something like that to any white. Later on however we find the influence and success of these films had positive effects as well.

Read More

In Living Color: Race And American Culture

1000 Words | 4 Pages

Ethnicity and Hollywood Racism is always issues which take a huge part of American history. Until the twenty-first century, although people tried to make the country becomes the freedom and equality nation, these issues are still happening everywhere. According to "In Living Color: Race and American Culture," Stuart Hall argues that racism is still widespread in the society and "it is widely invisible even to those who formulate the world in its terms" (qtd. in Omi 683). Indeed, situations about race quietly exist in the movie industry, which "has led to the perpetuation of racial caricatures" to the majority audiences and even minority audiences (Omi 629).

Read More

Blaxploitation Movies Essay

515 Words | 3 Pages

During the 1970s, there was an era that America, there was the black panthers and they were very popular for the African American community. This came after the civil rights movement was coming to an end and changing America. It also changed Hollywood as well with it has more African American directors that gave more African American cast and crew members jobs. This also changed the type of movies that were coming out and it created a new genre of film called Blaxploitation and it showed the world how the black communities were seen. With it being a new type of film it has been just an African American version of every type of earlier cinema film that has been out.

Read More

Racial Stereotypes In Entertainment Essay

1797 Words | 8 Pages

Taking a look at the threads of racial stigmas within the entertainment industry reveals a deeply ingrained and pervasive web that have the power to shape narratives, distort perceptions, and hinder progress toward authentic representation and equality. More specifically, the reinforcement of racial stigmas by White mainstream media in the entertainment industry results in the perpetuation of dehumanizing narratives that disproportionately impact Black children. Despite the existence of groups that aim to combat these harmful stereotypes in media, these narratives tend to undermine Black children’s self-esteem and restrict their opportunities. Racial stigmas perpetuated by the entertainment industry contribute to negative self-perception among

Read More

Birth Of A Nation Controversy

771 Words | 4 Pages

It gave the wrong representation of African Americans which changed peoples view on them. The image they used to display African Americans in this film was completely inaccurate. They wouldn’t even use real black actors they would use white actors and overdo the darkness of their faces and dress them poor. The depiction of blacks changed peoples view on them which started the reawakening of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). According to http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6689 (KKK rally, Washington DC, 1925) “...forty thousand members of the Klan march down Pennsylvania Avenue on August 8, 1925.

Read More

Wizard Of Oz Genre Analysis

2800 Words | 12 Pages

Over the past century, film has served as a powerful means of communication to a global audience and has become a vital part of the contemporary culture in a world that is increasingly saturated by visual content. Due to the immediacy and the all-encompassing nature of film, the process of watching a film, is widely perceived to be a passive activity by the general masses. However, quoting Smith in his article about the study of film, “nothing could be further from the truth.” The study and understanding of film as an art form enhances the way we watch and appreciate films. It requires the audience's active participation and interaction with the film in order to fully comprehend the directors' intention behind every creative decision.

Read More

Diversity In Hollywood Essay

1015 Words | 5 Pages

Diversity in Hollywood includes more than race and more than acting. There is little diversity not only in front of the camera but behind the scenes too. Likely hood of seeing a nonwhite cast or set of directors is low since the industry is own by Caucasians. Hollywood cast their movies base on their liking. Which they would cast an all Caucasian cast instead of being diverse.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Whites Of Their Eyes

782 Words | 4 Pages

Jack Massey Makenna Green Comp 1 7/13/2016 “The Whites Of Their Eyes” In The Whites Of Their Eyes Stuart Hall goes on to talk about certain race constructiveness in the media. The article then begins to talk about how the media poses a representation of multiple ideologies, and how these ideologies define race. Stuart Hall uses logos to attract the readers trust in the article, he also uses a little ethos to persuade his audience through character that what he’s writing is in fact an important matter.

Read More

Importance Of Diversity In The Media

1587 Words | 7 Pages

Embracing diversity in the media is important because it will shed light on the importance of protecting against racial stereotyping. Racial stereotyping is a well know problem that all minorities have faced. Racial stereotyping is when a person has preconceived notions on a person because they are of a certain race. A great deal of stereotyping stems from the media’s lack of diversity that has casted stereotypes towards minorities.

Read More

More about John Hughes Films Of The 1980s: Do Their Meaningful Messages Override Their Exclusion Of Diversity

Related Topics

Open Document