Dignifying African American Characters through Hollywood Blockbusters from a Chinese Perspective - Research Paper Example

African American Film Research Paper: Morgan Freeman - Dignifying African American Characters through Hollywood Blockbusters from a Chinese Perspective. The Chinese general public has a limited and partial view of African American history. This one dimensional view is formed on the basis of the portrayal of Black in the American commercial movies. There is a stark difference in the culture of the two nations and little interaction between the Chinese and the Africans. The image of Black is built through the commercial American films which they get to see in which Blacks are usually caste in supporting roles or very hostile stereotypical roles of either muggers or drug dealers. The picture of the Blacks that the Chinese mostly get to see is stereotypical and thus only half true. The American media has succeeded in perpetuating a very hostile and menacing image of the Black through the medium of films. The perception of the rest of the world including the Chinese is exclusively based on their image portrayal of Blacks in the American movies. Thus their image has come to be associated with ghetto, drugs, heavy accents, rappers, mammies and slang. Sterling Brown (1933) was a black poet and critic. He was of the view that the American media and literature has confined the wide array of Black characters in limited subsets. He defined the full range of black characters in American literature and media into seven categories namely; the contented slave; the wretched freemen: the comic Negro; the tragic mulatto; the local color Negro; and the exotic primitive (Smith 1988). The few negative actions of the Black minority are highlighted to portray the collective value of the whole community in the American commercial cinema. The Chinese audience when subjected to the movies with these role portrayals base their views of the Black on those portrayals alone. The image of the blacks has been exploited so much that mugger has become synonymous with an African American. Ash Corea in her book ‘Questioning the Media’ says that the African-Americans have been portrayed as a problem in otherwise harmonious society. The black are reflected to lead a very violent gangster lifestyle in the most of the movies. In the family context the black mothers in the American movies are portrayed as surviving on welfare and the fathers are unemployed or absent all together. The stereotypical image is highlighted through the ‘in the hood’ movie genre. The hood movie genre originated in the US in 1980’s which featured movies with black in very conventional roles of street gangs and poverty. The movies under this category include ‘Boys in the hood’, ‘menacing II society’ and ‘above the rim’. Additionally ‘The Birth of a Nation’, ‘Gone with the Wind’, and ‘Intolerance’ are three movies that did little to alleviate the negative images of blacks on the big screen, in fact they further harmed the image of the African-Americans as one of violent and criminal. The subtle cues of the evil or the outright display of violence in these movies have only perpetuated the image of blacks as worthless and not being above anything. Hollywood works to dramatize and amplify the general Chinese opinion about the African-Americans through their portrayal as intellectually and economically backward with the inclinations towards crimes, drugs, profanity, delinquency and other social horrors. In addition to the negative image building of the blacks in the eyes of other nations, these stereotypical portrayals of them also work to compel the black to comply with their image and mimic the same negative behavior and attitude (Shohat and Stam 1994). According to Martin (2008) although the portrayals of the Black in strictly defined roles is changing but still there is some element of "athlete," "buck," "jezebel," and "sapphire" present in these roles. The African-American are more preferred for comedy roles or the supporting roles. Sidney Poitier was the pioneer in breaking free of the chains of stereotypical roles and others followed his lead including Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, and Morgan Freeman. They collectively have broken the boundaries of race and have played the leading and positive roles of heroes. Despite the immense progress the number of caricatures still outnumbers the non-stereotypical roles (Martin 2008). Morgan Freeman has worked to free the blacks from the conventional stereotyping through his compelling roles of dignity, morality, and courage in many movies. His roles have provided a contemporary frame of reference and experience to the Chinese viewers. He has dignified the image of the African Americans in the eyes of the world including the Chinese viewers through his memorable roles in the commercially successful films Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby, and the Batman series using familiar African American characters but in whole positive context. By playing the roles of either a mentor in Bruce Almighty or an unconventional chauffeur in ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, Morgan Freeman has brought along a new stereotype of the African-American - a wise, dignified, and astute gentleman. His portrayals of the black in the American cinema are testimony of the goodness of the African-Americans. The release of the blockbusters of Morgan Freeman has helped in elevating the international perception of the status of the blacks. They are perceived as more than just muggers and criminals. Cinema and movies are very powerful mediums. They give us a glimpse in to lives of the nations with which we might have no connection in the real life. The visual representation of the African Americans help to form the perception of Chinese of the black (Peffley et al 1996). The cinema often acts as a way for people to observe the world around them and perceive it as negative or positive and form the relative perception and opinion about it. Wright et al.’s (1995) study supports the "Cultivation Hypothesis" and proposes that what people see and hear in the media influences their perceptions of reality, which is the case with the Chinese audience of the African-American movies that base their perception of reality on the movie roles’ portrayal of the Black community. The majority of the American movies that are released on the international level features white leading characters with black either in the supporting roles. Morgan Freeman has made use of these opportunities and put forth an alternate view of the Blacks in front of the world. It was his supporting role in “Million Dollar Baby” that won him an Oscar. Morgan Freeman is famous for his cool demeanor and an authoritative story teller’s voice that has been used in a number of movies to narrate the story. The serene tone has also helped to contradict and put aside the notion that Africans speak exclusively in heavy accents and slang. He has altered the common perception of the Chinese about the Black by working around the common problems associated with black community and presenting the other side of the story. The performances of Morgan Freeman are so universally applauded that a renounced film critic in America, Pauline Kael, began one of his article with the words “Is Morgan Freeman Americas Greatest Actor?” (Turner, 342) Freeman claims that he does not want a Black History Month because Black history is American history. “I am going to stop calling you a white man and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.” He has also been heard saying "I gravitate towards gravitas" which speaks volume about his character and amply explains his choice and his work for the elevation of the portrayals of Black in his movies. His award winning performance in the Million dollar baby did wonders to change the perception of Black as un-intellectuals and unwise. In this blockbuster he plays a role of character named Eddie ‘Scrap Iron’ who is an ex-boxer and friend of Frankie Dunn-the struggling female boxer. It is a story of struggle and survival against all odds. The character of Morgan Freeman has to take up the pitiful job of a caretaker of the boxing gym after he lost the vision of one of his eyes but that did not stop him from dreaming. If anything it brought out a wiser, more reflecting self out of him (Speyrer, 2004). He portrayed the idea through his character that the achievement of the dream is not all that matters after all, the journey and the pursuance of the dream is as important as the ultimate achievement. Morgan Freeman in the ‘Shawshank Redemption’ plays a role of a consulate and friend in a very familiar setting of jail that has been associated with the Blacks for a very long time. It is a very powerful story of enduring difficult times with hope and strength that comes along with a true friend. Morgan freeman played an unconventional black inmate in this movie. He was not shown being violent or hostile to other inmates, in fact he forms a remarkable friendship with a new inmate and is generally shown to be on good terms with the guards. This new take on the unconventional mannerism of a black inmate portrays a rather novel perception of Black inmates. The bleak subject matter of the movie did not stop it from maintaining a very true spirit of humanity, kindness and spirit in the most unlikely circumstances. The character of Morgan Freeman proves the fact that heart, mind, and soul can never be locked away no matter how unlucky and difficult the life gets. The Batman series in which Morgan Freeman was cast as Lucius Fox also works to defy the stereotypes of the black as being essentially poor and powerless. He is shown to have the power, prestige and money in the series. This influential character of Morgan freeman elevated the status of the Black in the Chinese people, who mostly have only the movies to form their opinions about this nation. Morgan Freeman has been successful in elevating and dignifying the international perception of the Black community. He has paved the way for more actors to positively portray the image of African-American even through the supporting roles. He can be credited for single handedly creating a character of a wise old black man which has landed him in more successful roles such as God in Bruce Almighty and as Nelson Mandela in Invictus. In the cut throat competitive era of today, nations are well aware of their reputation and worth in the eyes of the rest of the world. The label or brand that other nations put on them can be detrimental to their image, industry and relationships with other nations. The issue of positive nations branding because of its dire importance has become the priority for many organizations and governments as well as individuals as in the case of Morgan Freeman. References Turner, P (1990), ‘From Homer to Hoke: A Small Step for African American Mankind’, The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 60, No. 3 pp: 342-353 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2295487 Shohat, Ella, and Stam, Robert,Unthinking Eurocentrism, New York: Routledge, 1994. John Downing, Ali Mohammad, Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi, Questioning the Media (Sage Publications, 1990), 259. Peffley M, Shields T, Williams B: The intersection of race and crime in television news stories: an experimental study. Political Communication 1996; 13:309–327 Wright JC, Houston AC, Truglio R, et al: Occupational portrayals on television: children’s role schemata, career aspirations and perceptions of reality. Child Dev 1995; 66:1706–1718 Smith, Jessie, Images of Blacks in American Culture: A Reference Guide to Information Sources, ed, Greenwood Press; annotated edition, 1988. Martin, Ardis, ‘Television Media as a Potential Negative Factor in the Racial Identity Development of African American Youth’, Acad Psychiatry 32:338-342, 2008 Accessed from http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/32/4/338 Speyrer, John, ‘million Dollar Baby - A Fantasy Movie Review - Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman - Directed by Clint Eastwood, 2004’Acessed from http://primal-page.com/million.htm   Read More