Representation

I waited to do this blog post because I wanted to respond on the portrayal of black masculinity in Fruitvale Station. I found something that Herman Grey said about the different types of portrayals that exist throughout films, television, music, and so on. He said that mainly, Black males are depicted as: "The super star athlete, the indignant rapper, 'menacing' gang member, ad pitch man, appropriate middle class professional, and movie star."

I thought that the portrayal of Oscar Grant in this film sort of broke through Grey's claim, at least in this particular section. Rather than masculinity being something that shapes and defines him, Oscar's masculinity appears to be somewhat of a conflict that he is quite conscious of. His feelings that HE must provide for his family, as if Sophina isn't there at all, flips the idea of masculinity as a sort of trophy into masculinity as a burden. 

Oscar's masculinity is worn almost like a mask he can take off and put back on. He isn't able to necessarily control it, but nevertheless he is always at odds with it. His personal struggle isn't concerned with police brutality or racial tensions. Instead, Oscar's struggle is within himself. He struggles to hold onto this confusing sense of masculinity that overflows much of his culture, yet deep inside he feels less and less like a man each day because he isn't fully providing for his family like he wants to. 

Blog 7

At first, Blaxploitation films were made for urban black audiences in the 70s, but the genre started to appeal to many different ethnic and racial lines.  There are actually quite a few differences between these Blaxploitation films from the 70s and the gangsta films of the 80s and early 90s.  Similarly, they both have many ethnic slurs, focus on crime, action, horror and drama in both genres of films.  However, the Blaxploitation films also focused on westerns, comedy and musicals, which you do not see in gangsta films.  Blaxploitation films were usually set in poor neighborhoods and were usually taken place in the South and dealing with slavery; whereas, gangsta films were not always focused on poor families and were not always in the South, such as taking place in Chicago.  Blaxploitation films became controversial because some people thought they were showing black empowerment; however, some people thought it was only proving black stereotypes.  Gangsta films were not only focused on blacks being the 'bad guy' because in some gangsta films, white guys would be the 'bad guy with the gun'.  Gangsta films are still being made; whereas, the Blaxploitation film genre ended, but there are still some films, such as Austin Powers in Goldmember, that are very similar to the Blaxploitation genre; however, Blaxploitation films made an impact on hip hop/rap music, so in reality, it never completely disappears.

Black Male Representation

It was really interesting reading Guerrero and Gray work through the stereotypes and representational problems of Black males prevalent in mainstream cinema and I wish I had a film better fit to evaluate through their lens, but the last film I watched was 12 Year A Slave, which was so impactful and did such a solid job creating complex, human characters, that it is tough to immediately analyze through a critical lens. It certainly subverts many of the issues discussed by the authors. The last movie I've seen otherwise would be Annie Hall, and Woody Allen is infamous for the insane whiteness of his films. Chiwetel Ejiofor of 12 Years A Slave is the only featured Black male character in any of Woody Allen's films actually, in Melinda and Melinda. And that character doesn't face the issues of Guerrero and Gray's concern either, though another issue comes up, considering it was more than likely written with a white actor in mind.

Black Male Representation

The reading for today basically expressed notions of stereotyping of Black males in film. The last film I watched was No Strings Attached, starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman.  The only mole of color in the film is a minor character played by Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges. This character, along with the other POC character played by Mindy Kaling, ends up alone and is only used in a few scenes for comedic relief. He's played out as a modern buffoon, the black guy who cracks jokes that we all laugh at, but has no real character resolution.

Male Representation

I could not find the names of the male actors who played as the African American gang members in the film, End of Watch, but they immediately came to mind when addressing this question.  They play the typical role of a gang member/thug/OG that you find in many Hollywood films, as Herman Gray mentioned.  As far as other representations go, another movie that comes to mind is Hitch featuring Will Smith.  In this movie Smith is a "ladies man" and "coaches" fellow actor, Kevin James, on how to be smooth with the ladies.  This undoubtedly reinforces heteronormativity and black masculinity.

Male Representation

I know I've already talked about "The Best Man Holiday" but it is a really good movie and it's the most recent black film that I have seen. I agree with Valerie. The three topics that all three authors agreed on when it came to how African Americans were represented were masculinity, heterasexuality, and patriarchy. I'm going to use one male character from the movie, Lance. Lance holds all of these characteristics. He shows his heterasexuality by being with a woman, his wife Mia. As Mia is dying, Lance steps up in his patriarchy way. He knows that he has to be an even better father than he was before now that Mia is going away. He also shows his masculinity numerous times in the movie by overpowering many people and often referring to what he has to do as being a "mans job."

Meaningful concept in Black American Cinema

I think the most influential concept in chapter one of Reid’s Redefining Black Film is his definition of Black independent film (vs. commercial film). Reid defined Black independent films as being studio productions made by Black people, not about Black people. His definition redefines the scope of black film as “a feminist-Marxist-black cultural reading” (3). 

Oscars and Black American actors/filmmakers

It is said that the real world is much more diverse than Hollywood. Film screen honors given to Black actors and filmmakers are few and far inbetween. Rev. Jesse Jackson said “opportunities are deficit, not talent deficit.” In sum, the importance of Black actors / filmmakers winning an Oscar is the respectability it brings to the Black community who had to challenge the status quo in order to be recognized as the best and brightest in the film industry.

Black female centered film

Black female centered films allow viewer subjectivity to interpret the narrative, whereas Black womanist films are imaginative representations of African American experiences. Black womanism is a more independent style of film production that creatively brings awareness to racial misrepresentation in order to produce a transformative, womanist portrayal. Early cinema introduced Whites playing Black roles in blackface because of the elitism in the film industry.

Reid and agency

Reid said “the cinematic representation of black women has an undeniable ideological function” (102) and may “disempower black women as agents” (103). I believe Reid means that Black women have the agency to assess their identities and channel it into mainstream American art, however, agency may be compromised by the limited roles available to Black women in film. Reid supported the representation of Black culture by hightlighting Goldberg as “a transracial womanist agency” and he also backed the performances of Goldberg and Berry as being Oscar worthy. Relevant to Reid’s argument, Baker argued that the exploration of Black vernacular and customs “deformed” master theories of cinema.

Independent vs. mainstream cinema

Independent films are story driven and mainstream films are money driven. Arguably this means, indie films are more as art and cultural expression, whereas mainstream films are blockbusters. Mainstream films are escapist entertainment, associated with commercial success and targeted at mass audiences.

The reality of any indie film is that it is never widely distributed due to lack of promotion. The films are complex and tell a truth about society or history. Usually the film is aiming to make a greater point or meaning that is sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit. Spike Lee’s Malcom X or Do the Right Thing are examples of an indie film under these guidelines. http://youtu.be/LbKs766Tr88    

Mainstream films play on stereotypes about black men and black women. The narrative is more shallow and not intended to serve the greater good of society.

Bobo and The Color Purple

No, Jacueline Bobo does not scapegoat Steven Spielberg for mainstream cultural views. I believe Bobo is blaming Hollywood for institutional racism (she does not explicitly state this) for studio productions involving racism and sexism rather than woman empowerment. Bobo found "of the oppression and harm that comes from a negative media history..they are also aware that their specific experience, as black people, as women in a rigid class/caste state, has never been adequately dealt with in mainstream media" (102).