Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2017 Contemporary portrayals of blacks and mixed- blacks in lead roles: Confronting historical stereotypes of African Americans on the big screen Melissa Ann Garrett Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Garrett, Melissa Ann, "Contemporary portrayals of blacks and mixed-blacks in lead roles: Confronting historical stereotypes of African Americans on the big screen" (2017). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 15307. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/15307 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Contemporary portrayals of blacks and mixed-blacks in lead roles: Confronting historical stereotypes of African Americans on the big screen by Melissa Ann Garrett A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Journalism and Mass Communication Program of Study Committee: Tracy Lucht, Major Professor Daniela Dimitrova Linda Shenk The student author and the program of study committee are solely responsible for the content of this thesis. The Graduate College will ensure this thesis is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2017 Copyright © Melissa Ann Garrett, 2017. All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my wonderful parents, friends and loved ones who have faithfully supported and encouraged me to pursue my master’s degree. I owe my success to my loved ones and thank them for all the prayers, letters, phone calls and texts that helped me stay strong and focused throughout my graduate and undergraduate years at Iowa State University. I would also like to dedicate this thesis to my major professor, Tracy Lucht, for her enthusiasm, advice and encouragement in guiding me through this thesis, from beginning to end, and for sparking my interest in qualitative research. Her devoted mentorship and insight was truly invaluable throughout my graduate career, and I am forever thankful for her advice. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................... v ABSTRACT………………………………. .............................................................. vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1 Cultivation Theory ............................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 8 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 16-7 CHAPTER 3 METHOD ...................................................................................... 18 Film Selection ...................................................................................................... 18 Explanation of Chosen Method ........................................................................... 22 Comparative Analysis .......................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS ...................................................................................... 28 Broken or Absent Families .................................................................................. 29 Servitude and/or Subordination ........................................................................... 33 Association with Criminality and/or Weaponry .................................................. 55 Facing One’s Fears and Striving for a Better Life ............................................... 71 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND INTERPRETATION .................................... 97 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 111 iv LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1 Film Selections........................................................................................... 18 Table 2 Themes of lead characters played by blacks and mixed-blacks ............................................................................ 29 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Tracy Lucht, and my committee members, Daniela Dimitrova and Linda Shenk, for supporting and believing in me throughout this thesis and my master’s education. In addition, I would also like to thank Michael and Diane Bugeja for encouraging me to follow my dreams and pursue a higher education at the Iowa State University Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. Finally, thank you so much to my family, friends, colleagues, the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and Iowa State staff for making my experience at Iowa State one that is truly worth remembering. vi ABSTRACT This study examines portrayals of lead characters played by black and mixed-black men and women in four contemporary top-grossing box office films released from 2010- 2015. The qualitative textual analysis assesses whether leads played by black or mixed-black people conform to or stray from Hollywood’s historical messages that have allowed for racial and gender inequalities on screen. By cross-analyzing characters in terms of genre and gender and forming an understanding of how each character functions in their respective narratives, my analysis identified four major themes. Lead characters played by black and mixed-black people are shown a) having broken or absent families; b) engaged in servitude and/or subordination, which also included uniformity in terms of appearance; c) associated with criminality and/or weaponry; and d) facing one’s fears and striving for a better life, which often involved confronting one’s financial struggles. My findings also suggest that there is more complexity to be found in the roles given to black and mixed black actors/actresses than has been the case historically, as historical portrayals of African Americans are challenged and complicated by contemporary films with both historically based and fictionally based plots. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Scholars have long examined how Hollywood cinema has oppressed women and people of color, particularly in the case of black/African American and mixed-black/African American actors and actresses. Through a destructive tradition of providing few and stereotypical roles for non-white actors, scholars have argued, Hollywood cinema has oppressed both African American men and women by limiting a number of speaking roles, which are available to a majority of white actors (Smith, Choueiti, Case & Tofan, 2016; Fain, 2015; Covington, 2010; hooks, 2009; Mapp, 2008; Smith & Cook, 2008; Smith & Choueiti, 2008; Berry & Berry, 2007; Berry & Manning-Miller, 1996). Hollywood is accused of consistently selling negative and incomplete images of African American culture to viewers at the box office (hooks, 2009), normalizing the notion of white dominance over blacks by means of an “old racism developed with the historical legacy of colonialism and modern slavery” (Giroux, 1994, p. 74-5). Hollywood films are said to project these damaging images to audiences through the exploitation of blacks that relies on a patriarchal white supremacist lens, where black bodies are distorted and commercialized for the sake of entertainment (Glenn & Cunningham, 2007; Covington, 2010). Throughout history, African American existence in the United States has “consisted of sustained oppression and discrimination, with those of African descent characterized as subhuman, irresponsible, lazy and unintelligent” as they have been deprived of basic human rights under “a system that privileges white, light and fair skin color as well as other physical characteristics that suggest a background other than African heritage” (Norwood, 2014, p. 141, 151). 2 As Hollywood’s attitudes were translated to the big screen leading up to the civil rights movement, blacks protested the racist images coming out of Hollywood alongside their protests about racial inequalities. Covington (2010) found that because race is “constructed in a way that it justifies black exclusion and exploitation, there is a long history of blacks protesting these conditions. Hence, to maintain a racial hierarchy in which blacks can be exploited and excluded, it has been necessary for white elites to contain and control the black population” by often “construct[ing] blackness in such a way so that it seems to justify this kind of white domination” (p. 2). Fighting for an end to racism in U.S. culture, black protests called for a change in the negative images produced by Hollywood after the civil rights movement and further advocated for equality and freedom from persecution by whites: Prior to the civil rights movement, blacks appearing on the big screen had largely been confined to the subservient roles of toms, coons, mammies and tragic mulattos.