Films of the Past

When we were just watching some of the film Birth of a Nation. The film opened up with the kkk riding around on horses while there were black union forces in the streets running around. The film meant for the union troops to look as the evil ones but while I was watching the whole time I was confused, because since I was a child I was taught that the kkk was evil. So the whole time while the film was being played I was just sitting there in confusion until the music started to play and the kkk started to shoot the troops then I began to see what the film was getting at. The second film that was watched was Within Our Gates. The film was the first one that showed a person being lynched on the screen, that to me was one of the things that made in very radical. I was confused why the mob hung both the man that was accused of murdering the man but also his wife and they tried to kill his son. The last film that was watched was Murder in Harlem. This was a very unusual film, the thing that hits me the hardest is that the man that was asked to take the girl out of the basement, he realized that the boss was trying to frame him, and he said that there was nothing that he could do about it. The thing that made this film radical in my mind was the way it changed who was guilty three times. How the film showed only one guilty point of view at a time, It started out with the night watchman, then the boss, and finally the boy that came in and strangled the girl.

Langston and Oscar

While watching Murder in Harlem, I couldn't help but remember the great Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. Hughes was the anti-Micheaux, detailing daily life and culture in Harlem without pretension in his poetry and plays. His work was met with criticism from many black critics who claimed his attempts to portray daily black life as it was did nothing to alleviate the problems of black America, instead allowing ghettos to identify positively with their surroundings and grow prideful of their situations.

I can almost hear Micheaux's voice among these critics. While Hughes valued truth and beauty in the ghetto, I have no doubt that Micheaux saw nothing but failure. Take the character of Henry Glory for example - while he is from a humble background, he does what is necessary to get out into the real world (or white world), even writing a novel in his spare time to pay his way through law school. This is the kind of man Micheaux valued, a black man willing to block out the unfairness of the world and do what is needed to assimilate and get up to the next step of the social ladder.

As you know, Micheaux faced criticism as well. Many saw him as elitist, and his portrayal of lower class blacks was questionable at best. Nevertheless, you have to admit Micheaux wanted the best for black America. While his views may have been misguided, they were certainly pragmatic. By assimilating to white culture, black America could certainly live more comfortable lives in America; or so Micheaux and many black critics thought. What Micheaux failed to realize that Hughes did was that the culture of black America was valued nearly as much as class status and wealth. It would have been more tragic to many if black America were forced to sacrifice its heritage for the sake of appeasing the white majority and attempting to create peace.

There is a modern equivalent to this situation. Remember when the N.W.A. became a nationally popular rap group? They claimed to be presenting the mindset and surroundings of Compton without restraint. Though extreme, this is also what Hughes was doing. (Though undoubtedly, Hughes was more humanistic.) The voices of black critics again cried out that rap groups such as N.W.A. hurt the black public and helped many to identify positively with detrimental mindsets and attitudes. Many other critics saw N.W.A. as a valuable piece of raw emotion that provided insight into an important segment of the American landscape. Though in different times and extremes, the same arguments that were used against the poetry of Hughes were used in this situation.

Who is right? Was Hughes right to glorify the Harlem ghetto or was Micheaux's mindset of progress and assimilation more reasonable? While I do not think it is wrong for people to identify with a lower class culture, can popular artists compound the problem by creating a sense of pride in the wrong aspects of those cultures? (Furthermore, will people generalize writings like that of Hughes across the board and rejoice in all aspects of the culture, whether they are negative or positive?) Is it wrong to conform to the larger system to succeed financially if it means neglecting your culture at home?

Ethnic Notions and Classified X

The film Ethnic Notions showed me how much the film industry has "progressed." It gave an insight into how the African people have been portrayed in the publics eye. It opened my eyes to how poorly African Americans were portrayed. The portrayal of the mammy was far too stereotypical, being that she was shown as a larger woman that was usually seen cleaning or cooking something. However, the portrayal of the coon didn't seem to bring about the same affect as that of the mammy. The coon can also been seen in western films where a white man is the coon.

Classified X with Melvin van Peebles, informed me about blaxploitation and Hollywood's affect on the portrayal of African Americans. This idea of blaxploitation was new to me in that I had never heard the word before. After watching the film though I felt I had a general idea as to what it was. In my feeling, blaxploitation is Hollywood's stereotypical abuse of Africans. Africans roles on the silver screen were greatly stereotyped, having them perform the part of servants or savages, only because old prejudices seem to die hard.

Correct, But Quite Extreme

While watching the films Ethnic Notions and Classified X, I could not help but to think that even though a majority of the ways blacks were portrayed were incorrect and exaggerated, there were also things pointed out that were true for anyone in Hollywood: black or white. I agree that the Sambo and most of the other characters negatively portray African American culture. The Mammy, on the other hand, would have been portrayed accurately in any film whether she was light or dark skinned. She was shown as a fat, happy, and docile woman who would protect the house. There was no sexual attention drawn to her. I believe that any color nanny figure could be portrayed that way to show that she is devoted to the family. Mrs. Doubtfire was a fat happy, docile woman who would do anything for the family. Even though she was a man in disguise, she was a positive character and it was pointed out in the film that she was also very unattractive. The only way the Mammy was a negative influence on how people viewed the African American race was in the respect of her being a servant of the family. As you can see, I agree, yet disagree with Ethnic Notions' portrayal of the Mammy. I basically agreed with all of the points that Classified X made, even though Van Peebles took many of his examples to an extreme. The movie did what it was made for though; it got the point across that blacks were looked down upon in all film roles until a black person got behind the camera. This semester will be an interesting one and I look forward to seeing and hearing the viewpoints of my classmates, teachers, and the filmmakers.

Ethnic Notions /Classified X

While viewing this film I really was supprised with all of the stereotypes that I was taking in. It is something that viewers have been taking in for a long time and not necessarily actually thinking of what they are seeing. Stereotypes of the Sambo, the zipcoon, the mammy and others. I thought that it was very interesting to see that pre-civil war that the public was given the notion that slaves were happy to serve their masters, and post civil war the public was told that the now free blacks are uncontrollable. To me the mammy kind of hit me as some what like an aunt B from The Andy Griffith Show. Then Ethnic Notions actually went to when African Americans started to enter the entertainment industry. The problem with these roles that they were getting is that they were getting the stereotypical roles. In the film this is referred to as a "Catch 22" for the actors because they wanted to get in to the industry however they didn't want to affirm the stereotypes. The last thing that was mentioned in the film was that some of the new problems in films today is the stereotype of the "Black Rambo". The black rambo, has a side kick of a white cop and has a licence to be more violent. I however disagree with this last one especially when the film uses the movie Lethal Weapon as one of its examples. In that series of movies, the white cop is the one that is more violent and in some cases crazy, and the black cop is a calm family man.
Now to Classified X
Before WWII all of the stereotypes of African Americans were put into movies. However after WWII there was the "NEW NEGRO" this was due to a big wave of democrocy. However in the 50's in went from the new negro era to the no negro era. The film industry said that this was due to the American Golden rule, "He who has the gold rules". The film industry just said that they were appealing to the audiences. It was not till the 60's that the first interracial couple was put up on the silver screen, and at this time it was a very touchie subject. As the movie said on of the problems with the film industry is that they see blacks as a social class not a race. To me this isn't just a problem with the film industry it is the biggest problem over all.

Agreements and Disagreements

After reading the past posts that mention realism I can say that I agree and disagree with idea that elements of realism in both "Ethnic Notions" and "Classified X". They both take views at examples of extreme racism through film, advertising, cartoons and historical events that influenced all of them. Certain instances of these in Ethnic Notions are the points of the easily amused laughing sambo shown in some films, the zip-koon, and showing them enjoying serivtude. These are well developed examples of realism showing just how extremely prevelant and widspread the racism was in the early to mid 20th century.

Melvin Van Peebles, though, uses more of a satirical method to explain his points about the racism of Hollywood. He did this by the example of the white person taking center stage when being the only one in a crowd of black people. This isnt the most extreme point he makes but it rather defines a different kind of racism that Ethnic Notions doesnt cover. Therefore I believe that while there are points of realism in "Ethnic Notions", "Classified X" uses more satire than realism to define its point.

FALLACY!

Hmmm. Maybe it's just me but, I felt that Ethnic Notions was one of those films that really makes one feel and realize exactly how ignorrant one can be towards media, art, and to the world of advertising. Growing up, my grandmother had all kinds of memorabelia from the 30's, 50's etc. the cartoons and the black mami mascots on the front of food products depicted in the film were happily embraced by me while growing up. I really use to like them because they were in association with my grandmother. those items made me think of her.

It's makes me wonder and begin to truly question myself after seeing this film. Why haven't I ever questioned the developers of such products motives? Why was it that the portayal of blacks during those times seemed perfectly fine to me until now? Being half African American myself, why did take such a film like Ethnic Notions to be viewed before I truly saw such strong stereotypes? I guess it's all a form of brainwashing. One sees it so much it becomes the norm and therefore accepted. The forms of the illustrated characters (who were once adorned) became grotesqe. These cartoons were extremely damaging. However, because they were before my time, I didn't really become enraged until I saw the Bugs Bunny clip. Seeing my favorite cartoon character (as a child) put on black face with his enemy (Elmer) and begin to antagonize, ridicule, and disrespect an entire nation of human beings made me want to hide under a rock. I kept thinking, "Is he serious?" This was a icon in my eyes. I would constantly watch LOONEY TUNES. I would draw him and put him on my wall, spray paint on my shirts, named a PitBull after him. At 13 I even got a $200.00 dollar ticket for him (I spray painted him on the school wall). This logo has practcally dominated my life as a child. I allowed it into my home and took it so seriously while he quietly took me for a joke.... This film was a huge eye opener. I'm nervous about what else I might discover about this class in the future.


-TERRELL A.-

Ethnic Notions

At the beginning of ethnic notions i couldn't help but laugh at the characters that were being portrayed. The cartoons in the film that were representing the black culture at the time created an image that wasn't true. First, they portrayed a mammy to be an unattractive lady so that she wouldn't temp the husband of the household and the mammy would take care of daily tasks as well as the children if the parents couldn't do it for some reason. The next image portrayed was the ugly type. These characters were used mainly for entertainment. The next character that was reprensented in this film that was savage black characters. This image is completely false but in this time period this is what hollywood portayed black characters as.
Classified X was a film that really brought my attention to all of the criticism. Mr. Van Peebles made a great point that hollywood protrayed the new and the old black people. In most movies that black acters were in were based of a setting of the a church of some type of entertainment. After the first week of class and these two film has opened up my mind on how hollywood and reality are completely different. I look forward to learning new things about film and what to learn from a film other than just entertainment pleasure.