How Negative Stereotypes of Black Women in Television and Film Impact the Everyday Lives of Black Women

 Malcolm X once said “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman”. While this blog post has little to do with men, I chose to begin with this quote because it acknowledges what many people in America refuse to admit; that black women are the most disrespected, unprotected, and neglected people in America. The negative stereotypes displayed in television and movies play a role in the way black women are viewed in the world. When movies involving black women come to mind many people think of these negative characteristics: loud, ghetto, angry, struggling to make ends meet, provocative, etc. Many popular African American films in the black community such as: Friday, Players Club, The Color Purple, any Tyler Perry production, Boyz in the Hood, etc. In all of these films black women are seen as single mothers, drug addicts, provocative, objects and possessions instead of humans, ignorant, incompetent, etc. While a lot of these movies shaped several people in the black communities childhood and adulthood they have sculpted the negative black women character negative stereotype. While these movies are classics in the black community they have kept black actresses in a bubble of characters to play. 

Black women are also viewed poorly in reality television, while there are few reality shows based solely on successful black women, those that are promote violence, drama, and “shade”. For example, Real Housewives of Atlanta, a very popular reality TV show about successful black housewives, almost always has drama in every episode. The ladies can never just sit down and have dinner or go on a trip without fighting or arguing. While drama seems to sell better on reality TV this makes the world view black women as almost always getting out of character, instead of their success they see their drama. These women play into the stereotype that was prescribed to them by society.  Shows such as Bad Girls Club,  Love & HipHop,and Basketball Wives do the same thing. Beverly Tatum stated in her famous piece The Complexity of Identity: Who Am I?  “Who  am  I?  The  answer  depends in large part on who the world around me says I am.” (Tatum 1). A person's identity depends mostly on what the world says, these shows and movies play into the stereotypes of what the world says the black woman is, which causes black women in the real world to have to adapt to these stereotypes or even have to surfer their character or personality being assumed due to what someone has saw on TV or in a movie. For example, a black woman may bite her tongue from truly expressing her concerns at work because she does not want to be seen as the “angry black woman” that she saw in the new Tyler Perry film. Beverly Tatum states “In  a  situation  of  unequal  power,  a  subordinate  group  has  to  focus  on  survival.” (Tatum 6).  Or, a black women in her late twenties may feel as though she has accomplished nothing in life and rush to get married and have kids because it makes her look lonely and in television and movies single women are seen as unwanted or sad, or their family, mostly their mother, is pushing them to get married and start a family despite the woman being completely happy being single. Beverly Tatum also said “What do I learn from the media about myself? How am I represented in the cultural images around me?” (Tatum 1). The media plays a huge role in black women’s identity and how other people see them, which is why we need better black women representation in television and film. 

I lastly want to discuss the skin tone representation and how it negatively affects younger and older women of color's self esteem. In several TV shows, especially in the 90s and 2000s  dark-skin characters were replaced with lighter skin characters. For example, Aunt Viv from Fresh Prince of Bel- Air, Claire from My Wife and Kids, etc. While the original actress left the show for whatever reason there was never a reason to change the characters skin tone. For many young black girls around the world, especially of darker skin, these characters meant a lot to them, especially because there is rarely ever any darker skin representation of black women in television and film with positive characteristics. They are often seen on television as more angry and bitter, and always “picking on” the lighter skin girl. We need more representation where dark skin women are shown as successful, beautiful, unproblematic, desired, etc.  While this post mainly is TV in film this also occurs when books are turned into movies and TV shows. The main character is described to be darker skin and to look a certain way and when the movie comes out the character looks completely different. For example, in the popular book The Hate U Give written by Angie Thomas, the main character Starr was described to be darker skin, fans and readers of the book were excited to be able to see darker skin representation in an interracial relatioship that was loved and supported by her community while she was an activist. However, when the movie hit the big screen, myself among many others readers across the world were shocked to see Amandla Stenberg, a lighter skin actress, portraying the main character Starr. This has occurred several times in television and films and it gives off that dark skin characters are not good enough to play these roles. Instead of handing out roles for romantic films, action films, anything besides struggling films, slavery films, provocative films, etc. Hollywood needs a change immediately

Works Cited

Tatum, Beverly. The Complexity of Identity: Who Am I?”. (2000)

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