Essay on Portrayal of Black Women in Media - 1635 Words

The Portrayal of African-American Women in Media The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, a sexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture create powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women are left to make decisions based on the options†¦show more content†¦Also using view points from certain critics and prominent figures in the media world. According to journalist Tionna Smalls, she exclaimed in her article entitled â€Å"Dark Skinned Vs. Light Skinned: The Black Mans Dilemma†, the slave owners would divide the slaves up by dark nigger and light nigger. The dark skinned slave would work on the plantation doing chores, picking cotton and nurturing the land. The light skinned slave would live in the plantation, cooking and taking care of the field masters children. Also the light skin female was admired by the master and even a sexual desire while the darker slave was treated like trash. Tionna goes on stating that after slavery the light skin female was put on a pedal stool in the family because being white was viewed as being right or pure, anything close to that was close to purity. If you take a look at most Hollywood movies, a good majority of the actresses are fair skinnend. One of the first African American female actress was Nina Mae McKinney whom as been inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fam e. Since she was black she was only offered low budget films and looked at as the standard barer for future lead roles when using black women. Fredi Washington was a light skin, light eye female and was described as being too beautiful to play a maid but wasn’nt offered romantic leads. Her skin was so pale that someShow MoreRelatedStereotypes And Stereotypes Of African Americans Essay1468 Words   |  6 PagesAfrican Americans have been represented in the media with harmful stereotypes which were founded in the slavery era (Cartier, 2014)(Carpenter, 2012). This negative representation invites bias from those who accept the images, the distortion of which is accentuated by both sexism and racism. Black women are the least represented group in cinema, making it easier to rely on stereotypes which encourage societal bias. 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