Racial Stereotypes In Movies

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Harmful racial stereotypes have plagued the entertainment industry since blackface minstrel shows began in New York in the early 1800’s. Although the structure of minstrel shows changed over time; the images, blackface, and the caricatures of blacks continued. Early Hollywood films sustained the racist tradition of white actors performing in blackface with numerous silent movies that included white actors playing non-white characters in a predominantly stereotypical fashion. Eventually non-white actors were allowed to play themselves in films; however, they were cast in self-confirming stereotypical roles that dishonored themselves and their races. The early silent period of cinema introduced five basic archetypes for Black characters: the…show more content…
In contrast to the mammy, she is portrayed as light-skinned, thin, physically attractive and desirable. Unlike the white virgin; she is ambitious and is morally suspect, willing to use her sexuality to manipulate men and gain power. “Usually the mulatto is made likeable – even sympathetic (because of her white blood, no doubt) – and the audience believes that the girl’s life could have been productive and happy had she not been a ‘victim of divided racial inheritance.’” Bogel (2001) Unfortunately, these fair-skinned women struggle to identify with being either white or black, and Peola demonstrates when she pretended not to know her mother in the store where she was working as a clerk. Peola refused to identify as black because of the ridicule and prejudice that she experienced at her school as a child, but at the same time she knew she could never identify as white because of the “one drop’ rule. Because Maria was played by a white actress, her role in West Side Story is particularly similar to the Tragic Mulatto role. Her love for Tony was not allowed because of their racial differences and ultimately ended in…show more content…
Her role could also be interpreted as the spitfire. “The female stereotype corresponding to el bandito is a stock figure in American cinema, particularly in Westerns. Like the bandit, she is a secondary character, lusty and hot tempered.” Ramirez- Berg (2002) We see from the scenes in West Side Story, that Anita is not afraid to speak up when she doesn’t agree with the group. Being outspoken could be seen as positive from a feminist point of view, but at the same time Anita is considered to be loud by conventional standards; where women were typically to be seen and not heard. Latino men also experienced these highly sexualized roles. The Latin lover is generally the utmost extreme example of physical attraction in a male and of masculine ideals, making them emotionally and physically irresistible to women. The role of the Latin lover is similar to the Dark Lady who is the object of desire for men. Highly sexualizing these characters is problematic because it creates an idea that all people that belong to a specific group have the same characteristics. Not Latino men are as masculine or physically
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