African American Films Research Paper

Words: 1540
Pages: 7
Open Document
Film has taken over the media industry. All over the world, film is one of the most influential types of medium within a society. In countries, such as India, cinema has become more popular than books and newspapers combined (Shah). I believe this has to do with the influence of film on a society. Whether a film is action based, a romantic comedy or a horror story, each film is trying to bring awareness to a current social issue. However, even though films share social issues, there is history of racism in film, specifically in horror film. Throughout history, African Americans are usually seen as a “lesser” race. This flows into the cinema industry as well. They are underrepresented and under casted as actors, actresses, and even producers …show more content…
Specifically, in horror cinema, we see colored people being the villains or being killed off within the first half of the movie. A lot of times directors would add colored people to fill a quota or body fill. However, film also has the beautiful potential of shining light to these issues. The world values actors and actresses and the cinema industry. We give away sacred awards and trophies for best picture and actress. In the horror film industry, George A. Romero started down a necessary path with Night of the Living Dead and fifty years later, Jordan Peele created a thought provoking, uncomfortable, and necessary film with Get Out. Even if one argued that recent films share racism to white people, through horror film cinema it is clear that that is not true. One could argue that there is racism in both types of film; one with racism against African Americans and the other with reverse racism of white people (Prestigiacomo). Is there a balance that can be achieved, where both sides are treated without racism? It is important to understand that supporting a certain race does not mean you are against another race (Herring). People of color are needed in the film industry, as actors, actress, and directors. Hopefully, it won’t take another fifty years before another life altering film is
Show More

Related Documents: African American Films Research Paper

Audience Design In Disney's Animated Films

pictures, especially in animated films, since the main audience is children. According to Allan Bell’s model, language speakers evaluate the social status of their audience and accommodate, converge with them accodrdingly. In that model, there are several different roles of the members of the audience: the addressee, the auditors, the overhearers and the eavesdroppers (Bell, 1984). This model becomes even more complex when we consider the linguistic choices in films because the audiences include the…

Words 580 - Pages 3

Issa Rae's Misadventure Of Awkward Black Girl

Research Problem African Americans have been stereotyped for generations. The way we have been depicted to act and the way that the rest of the country portrays us has been well documented. The stereotypes have been well documented and the images that we find problematic have carried onto minstrel scenes that were acted out on stage for wide audiences. Those images have expanded to an array of mediums, from tv shows to even in web series. African American women have received a handful of stereotypes…

Words 427 - Pages 2

Jordan Pollock 2107965 Research Paper

characters in children’s film and television, neither through sex, or race. Females have appeared as minority characters on boy’s television shows, and vice versa. African Americans have appeared as racial minority, yet, a Caucasian character has been the racial minority in a children’s television show. For example, Chelsea Daniels is the only Caucasian character in the Disney Channel series, That’s So Raven,1 (2003-2007) which features an almost majority African American Cast. These characters have…

Words 2757 - Pages 12

Historical Analysis Of The Movie Glory

fabricated and serve to offer a distraction from ones every day life. However, sometimes these films educate the viewer about historical events that occurred. These films can vary in historical quality, and it is in this variation that worthwhile scholarship can be produced that analyzes both the facts and the fictions that movies depicting the past contain. It is in this analytical vein that this paper will break down the movie Glory and determine the quality of the historical events portrayed within…

Words 2077 - Pages 9

Taylor Alexis Essay Three

of interracial dating, as well as the topic of foreigners marrying americans. Lauren S. Mash, who wrote an different article but was included in this editorial, stated that many Caucasian americans have “Yellow Fever” & Many Asians who come to America only date Caucasian men. The editorial then goes on to say that that happens because a lot of people want to get away from their culture and immerse themselves better in the American culture. They are not racist, but they came for a new life and want…

Words 1874 - Pages 8

African American Literature Final Paper Autosaved Revision

Haley Muncher Dr. Ndeh African American Literature December 1st, 2014 Common Tropes in African American Literature African American literature is an extremely dense and rich form of literature that contains many types of similar tropes. These tropes can be seen throughout many of African American works of literature. A few that will be discussed thoroughly in this paper, that are majorly common in these types of works are: the idea of double consciousness, the question and search for identity…

Words 3788 - Pages 16

History Of Motion Pictures

------------------------------------------------- Georgia State University ------------------------------------------------- FILM 2700 History of Motion Pictures ------------------------------------------------- Day/Time Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:00-2:15 ------------------------------------------------- Location: GCB 700 ------------------------------------------------- Fall 2012 ------------------------------------------------- Instructor: Ms. Maria Boyd Email: mboyd15@student…

Words 3318 - Pages 14

American Experience Since 1945

Syllabus­ HIS145 Version 4 College of Humanities Syllabus HIS/145 The American Experience Since 1945 College of Humanities Course Start Date 10/08/2012 Course End Date Group Number Meeting Times Workshop Dates Learning Center 11/05/2012 YUEL12-1 6-10PM 10/08/12, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/05/2012 Yuma Learning Center 899 East Plaza Circle, Yuma, Arizona - 85365 Phone: 928.341.0233 FACILITATOR INFORMATION NAME: George Thomson gthomson@email.uophx.edu (University of Phoenix) teachweborg@gmail.com …

Words 6044 - Pages 25

Syllabus: Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade Essay

Joy * beauty * justice: LITERATURE OF THE BLACK ATLANTIC “There is a culture that is not specifically African, American, Caribbean, or British, but all of these at once, a black Atlantic culture whose themes and techniques transcend ethnicity and nationality to produce something new and, until now, unremarked.” --Paul Gilroy [pic] --Romare Bearden, Slave Ship, 1972 Spring 2013/LVA 2446 Professor Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg egoldberg@babson.edu; x4360; Hollister 325 Office Hour: Tuesday…

Words 1635 - Pages 7

Department of English Spring 2014 Course Descriptions Essays

been represented in American fiction, non-fiction, and film. We will investigate how attitudes toward war have evolved throughout American history: our timeline begins with the Civil War—the traumatic event that birthed the modern American state—and ends with the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In particular, we will attend to the ethics of representation, asking who is assigned the roles of hero, villain, and victim in the works we study, and why the writers and film directors have made…

Words 9501 - Pages 39