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Hollywood's Black Man: The Objectification of the African_American Male Role in Motion Pictures - Essay Example

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Name Institution Course Instructor Date African American Male Role in Motion Pictures Introduction Since the inception of America, African Americans have been considered second-class nationals. For years, blacks had been taken as slaves and servants for Americans…
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Hollywoods Black Man: The Objectification of the African_American Male Role in Motion Pictures
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These humiliating stereotypes are strengthened and made even worse through the unenthusiastic depiction of blacks in ancient jobs (Henderson, 2013, 57). Black actors have taken part in American movies from the start of the firm in 1888. However, their roles have remained as directed by the film makers without depicting the real blacks in ancient jobs. Centrally, white male performers and female actors were employed to depict the actors when in “blackface”. Through declining to employ black characters to represent black actors, humiliating stereotypes were being formed as blacks were introduced in an adverse light.

Moreover, blacks were significantly depicted in movies with unenthusiastic stereotypes that strengthened white preeminence over blacks (Kraszewski 2002, 23). This had a huge impact on our community’s perspective of blacks; especially in the Hollywood movies because motion images have had more of an effect on the public skull than any different entertainment channel in the past ninety decades. Arguments The initial Hollywood movie to appear an all-black action was Hearts in Dixie, released in 1929 and directed through Paul Sloane for Fox.

The movie introduced to broader viewers, one of the movie firm’s major polemic identities always; Stephen Fetchit. In the movie, the viewers are introduced to the trustworthy black farm employees, digging hard in the meadows the entire day and unwinding at night through singing and dancing (Horton, Price, & Brown 1999, 1). Stepin Ftechit categorizes the indolent; however good reared slave, not ready to do job, nevertheless pardoned for his wayward actions. When the white employer jokingly boots Ftechit at the back-end, Fetchit smiles broadly and flashes reticently at the viewers.

This is an instance of the normal screen ‘darkie’. Fetchit, a ‘black clown’ is a ‘nice nigger’, indolent and changeless, however, “okay at the heart”. Fetchit’s representation of blacks is very degrading and humiliating. Blacks all over the nation were assumed to fit Fetchit’s typecast of being indolent, idiots, unintelligent, and although well purposed. For those who had never met black individuals before; however, had viewed a Stepin Fetchit movie, were left with a distorted, tilted perspective of blacks through Fetchit’s presentation (Horton, Price, & Brown, 1999, 1).

In Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, during the fortieth Academy Awards that happened merely following the King’s demise, Peck claimed that the best honor of King was to create movies, which showed the self-esteem of man, no matter his origin, color, or faith. This personal laudatory feeling was normal of Hollywood’s addition of Poitier into the A-record of film stars, and the feeling incited more sarcasm of Hollywood through means of Poitier. Mark Harris scripted that Poitier was upset by the criticism since he had the attitude that he had acted maximally to form an optimistic depiction of black men (Perrin 2012, 713).

However, as per Harris’ views, the deluge of unenthusiastic remarks concerning Poitier’s characters disclosed that the model of incorporation that he symbolized was developing further apart from a “younger, further confrontational black literary intelligentsia”. His reception by white filmgoers was applied as proof of the manner out of pace his films were, with the requirements and aggravations of his individual persons. The criticism got by the movie shows that the Civil Rights body was testing the

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