Lesson 13: Race in FilmLesson 13: Race in Film

Professor Aaron Baker

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Previous LecturePrevious Lecture

• Hollywood and Gender Equality

• Film Representations of Women and Men

• Gender in Gas, Food, Lodging (1990)

This LectureThis Lecture

• Critical Study of Whiteness

• Hollywood Portrayal of Race

• African American Cinema

• Do the Right Thing (1989)

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Part I: Critical Study of Whiteness

Richard Dyer on Analysis of Richard Dyer on Analysis of RaceRace

• Much Analysis of Cultural Representation of Race--E.g. in Movies

• How Disadvantages Black, Brown, Yellow, Red People

• But Not Enough Attention to How White People Represented

The Human RaceThe Human Race

• How are Whites usually represented?

• As Having No Race—just People

• The Standard of Humanness

How do Whites Justify Position?How do Whites Justify Position?

• While Whites “systematically privileged in Western society” (Dyer,White p.9)

• This racial status quo justified by pointing to individual achievement:

– “I earned what I have”

Dyer:Dyer:

“A white person is taught to believe that all that she or he does, good or ill, all that we achieve, is to be accounted for in terms of our individuality. It is intolerable to realize that we may get a job or a nice house, or a helpful response at school or in hospitals, because of our skin colour, not because of the unique, achieving individual we must believe ourselves to be.” p.9

Dangers of Studying WhitenessDangers of Studying Whiteness

• Excuse to privilege culture of Whites

• What has always been studied most

• Not enough if Whites feel guilty about unearned advantage

• Such guilt makes them feel moral, but what is being done to change it? Make society fair?

Christianity Multi-RacialChristianity Multi-Racial

Dyer: “Not arguing that Christianity is of its essence white. . . . developed initially within Judaism, . . . one of its foundational thinkers was the North African Augustine, . . . now most alive in Africa, South America, and the black churches of Europe and North America.” p.16

Yet Christianity Helped Define Yet Christianity Helped Define White SuperiorityWhite Superiority

• Became a world religion from basis in Europe via Crusades

• Christian Iconography White

• Embodiment: -Christian idea all people have physical bodies

-But White Christians historically assume they have spirit--an intangible advantage

Spirit = Soul?Spirit = Soul?

Dyer:“It is not the case that non-white peoples were always assumed not to have souls. Indeed many whites . . . have considered that blacks were more spiritual and had . . . more soul. It is not [the same] spirituality or soul that is held to distinguish whites, . . . get up and go, aspiration, . . . intellectual comprehension.” p.23

White Spirit =White Spirit =

• Intelligence

• Drive, Ambition (Get Up And Go)

• Dedication

• Control Over Sexual Desire

• Work or Sex?

Eldridge CleaverEldridge Cleaver

Dyer:

“The ideal white man

was one who knew

how to use his head,

who knew how to

manage and control

things and get things

Done.” p.30

American Gangster American Gangster (2006)(2006)

Initially, Frank Lucas

(Denzel Washington)

demonstrates:– Ambition, discipline– Has business values—

hard work, ambition, integrity, good product

DownfallDownfall

As story progresses:– Reveals himself as

impulsive, violent– Desire for Latina

Wife – Stereotype of Non

Whites as Overly Sexual

Russell Crowe

• Starts off undisciplined: affairs, drinks

• Demonstrates enterprise, discipline

• Brings Frank Lucas down

• Restores law and order

Whiteness = Law and OrderWhiteness = Law and Order

• American Gangster winds up endorsing assumption: American ambition, work, discipline, justice depend on White masculinity

Part II: African AmericansPart II: African Americanson Filmon Film

Birth of a Nation Birth of a Nation (1915(1915)

• Establishes pattern of Blacks as faithful supporters or vicious opponents of Whites

• Idea of African American equality shown as absurd

• Klan = Social Order• Please pause to see clip.

Race Films 1912-1948Race Films 1912-1948

• African American Filmmakers

• Black Themes

• Hollywood Genres (Family Melodrama)

• Low Budgets

• White Financing

• Black AudiencesPaul Robeson in Oscar Micheaux’s Body and Soul (1925)

Late 1940s-60s: The Civil Late 1940s-60s: The Civil Rights YearsRights Years

• Blacks Role in World War II• Hollywood Makes Films

About African Americans: -Pinky (1949) – Passing-Home of the Brave (1949)--

Racism in Military-Guess Who’s Coming to

Dinner (1967)– Interracial Marriage

1970s Blaxsploitation1970s Blaxsploitation

• Shaft (1971)• Black Self

Representation• Reach Mainstream

Audience• Racial Stereotypes:

Crime, Violence, Sexuality

Black IndependentsBlack Independents

• Melvin Van PeoplesWatermelon Man (1970),Sweet Sweetback (1971)• Film School Graduates:Charles Burnett and Julie

Dash• Precursors to Spike Lee,

John Singleton, Gina Prince-Bythewood

Reject HollywoodReject Hollywood

• Mark Reid:“This new generation of

West Coast filmmakers . . . rejected the imposed conditions of mainstream American cinema because it limited their artistic and political vision of black life and experience.” p.10

To Sleep With Anger To Sleep With Anger (1990)(1990)• Middle Class LA Family• Frank (Danny Glover)• Blues Man, Disrupts Their Lives• Clip: Religion, Family, Work vs. the Blues

Life of Drinking, Sex and Violence• Please pause the lecture to view the clip.

Julie DashJulie Dash

• Daughters of the Dust (1991)

• Sea Islands, Georgia (1900)

• Cultural Autonomy

• Wisdom of Elders

• Eli/ Wife’s Rape

• Unborn Daughter

• Please pause to see clip.

Eli’s Choice: Violent Revenge?Eli’s Choice: Violent Revenge?

• Eli/ Wife’s Rape• Anti-Lynching Law/

Capoeira• Unborn Daughter • Walks Backward• Gifts Ancestors

“Those Who Chose to Survive”

• Child, Indigo Dye

NYU Professor, Manthia NYU Professor, Manthia Diawara:Diawara:

“Most Black filmmakers since Oscar Micheaux have turned first to the

independent sector.”

Part III: Part III: Do the Right ThingDo the Right Thing

Spike LeeSpike Lee

• First African American Director to Reach Crossover Audience

• Thematic Emphases:-Racial Relations in

America-African American

Identity

Form in Form in Do the Right ThingDo the Right Thing

• Realism and Stylization

• Handheld Camera, Available Light

• Direct Address • Distanciation/Bertolt

Brecht• Wide Angle

Compositions

AllusionAllusion

• Authorship

• Knowledge of Medium, Taste

• Films made from social reality and other films

Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter (1955)

Kellner on Kellner on Do the Right Thing:Do the Right Thing:

• Cultural Style and Racial Politics

• Racial identity defined by style, cultural choices:-Jackie Robinson shirt

-Air Jordans

-Rap Music/Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”

-Sal’s Photos of Italian Americans

His HighnessHis Highness• Lee’s Nike Commercials for Air Jordan

Sneakers

• Helped Elevate Michael Jordan to Cultural Hero

• Representatives of African American Style, Culture, Achievement

Dr. King and Malcom XDr. King and Malcom X

• Civil Rights Via Civil Disobedience

• Appeal to Moral Conscience of Whites

• African American Self Determination

• Right of Self Defense

• “By Any Means Necessary”

Dr. King and Malcom X InvokedDr. King and Malcom X Invoked

King:• Mookie and Da Mayor

interact positively with Whites

• Buggin Out calls for a a boycott of Pizzeria

Malcom X:

Radio Raheem Resists Sal’s, Pino’s, Police Intimidation

Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”

Sal’s Pizzeria Sal’s Pizzeria

• Rights of Ownership

• Rights of Consumers

• Lack of Respect for Cultural Difference

• Photos of Italian Americans vs. Raheem’s Music

DiscussionDiscussion Questions

• Does Mookie do the right thing?

• Does the can through the window protect Sal and Sons?

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End of Lecture 13End of Lecture 13

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