African-Americans in Modern Media

Lauren GarrenSocial Media

The earliest of films historically cast whites in non-white roles

Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra”

One of the earliest films, Birth of the Nation (1915) employed blackface on white actors for African-American actors.

While these casting decision might have been expected during

an era of racial segregation and oppression, Hollywood has

continued to make casting decisions that prefer white actors

over minority actors.

In more recent movie memory…

In 2000's Pay it Forward, Spacey plays a character

named Eugene Simonet, the teacher who inspires

main character Trevor McKinney to change the world.

In the book on which the movie is based, Simonet’s

name is actually Reuben S. Claire, and he's a black

man.

In Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center film (2006), both of the two characters who rescued the protagonist, Sgt. Jason Thomas and Sgt. Dave Karnes, were cast as white actors. Sergeant Thomas is played by William Mapother, a white actor, however, in real life, he is an African-American man.

The real Sgt. Thomas

And in the few roles that blacks manage to receive, most of them reinforce the stereotypical view of blacks.

According to the Entman-Rojecki Index of Race and Media, 89% of Black female movie characters are shown using vulgar language, while only 17% of White woman are. Black women are shown as being violent in movies 56% of the time compared to the 11% of white women.

People begin to associate being black with poverty, the “ghetto,” cruelty, crime, and jail, etc.

And even with “quality” movie with black portrayal, Hollywood producers seem fixated on telling the “Ghetto” story, the “sports story”, the “slavery” story, and the “racism” story in their movies.

And yes, while these movies do allow for great artistic ability to shine through, what about the other stories?

At what age can their skin color not become a plot device, but just a part of their character?

This problem isn’t only affecting African Americans

Broadway Shows

Even with the small steps Hollywood is taking, there is still resistance.

The recent casting of black actor, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Torch created controversy.

Black actress, Quvenzhané Wallis, was cast into the iconic role of “Annie”

Basically

In Conclusion

Black portrayal in media could seriously use some improvement and a black Annie is awesome

Cred, yo• http://dancingwiththelight.com/2013/04/01/the-problem-that-must-be-solved/• http://voices.yahoo.com/racial-stereotypes-media-38872.html• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/05/1107128/-The-battle-against-whitewashing-and-racebending• http://

www.policymic.com/articles/83309/what-if-people-reacted-to-these-10-roles-like-they-have-to-michael-b-jordan

• http://the-artifice.com/hollywood-white-washing/• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/features/blacks-in-hollywood-shut-out-or-missing-in-action/