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.