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Essay on Specific Ways Films Distort The Images Of African-Americans
The issue of African-Americans in Motion Pictures provides a number of the most motivating studies along with the many notorious interpretations of the roles as actors they played on the silver screen. As far back as the soundless films era, African-Americans have been featured in motion pictures playing roles depicting some aspect of acting and being purveyors of a black image. The messages or themes of these movies have over the years presented a mixture of images based upon what was thought to please the viewers of each particular film.
Unfortunately, many of those films showed black characters in negative stereotypical roles, which the average African-Americans would never truly identify as being like themselves. Since many of our American icons and heroes have come from our motion picture stars, we need to understand what this narrow view presented and compare it with what we presently see at our local cinema today. This exhibit will take you on a journey through those stages. In some way it will be a short history of African-Americans and their quest to be a part of the glamour of Hollywood and the heroes portrayed on the silver screen. (Jehron Hunter, 1994)
The tragedy of social equality and the impartiality of the American community ranking only works in the favor of the economically disadvantaged in the 1930s; disadvantaged African Americans are another story entirely, and some critics such as Karen Ross argue that blackness in film has been perhaps permanently damaged by stereotyping in the early 20th century. The depiction of African-American people in forms of entertainment has left a considerable imprint on American culture, and reflects myths and opinions in retrospect.
Black cinema has slowly changed its meaning over the years. Obviously, the opinions expressed in movies depicting African-Americans have changed for the better....
