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MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THE AMERICAN FILM INDUSTRY Diploma Thesis Brno 2006 Supervisor: Written by: Michael George, M.A. Lucie Pezlarová - 1 - Pod ěkování Děkuji všem u čitel ům Katedry Anglického jazyka a Literatury na Pedagogické fakult ě, kte ří ovlivnili mé názory na výuku cizích jazyk ů svými p řednáškami a seminá ři. Zvlášt ě bych cht ěla pod ěkovat vedoucímu mé diplomové práce Michealu Georgovi, M.A. za cenné rady a konstruktivní p řipomínky, které p řisp ěly ke kone čné podob ě této práce. Acknowledgements I would like hereby to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers of the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Education who have influenced opinions by their lectures and seminars about foreign language. My grateful thanks belong to the supervisor of my diploma thesis Michael George, M.A. for his valuable advice and constructive comments which contributed to the final form of this work. - 2 - Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci zpracovala samostatn ě a použila jen prameny uvedené v seznamu literatury. Souhlasím, aby práce byla uložena na Masarykov ě univerzit ě v Brn ě v knihovn ě Pedagogické fakulty a zp řístupn ěna ke studijním ú čel ům. I proclaim that my diploma thesis is a piece of individual writing and that only the sources cited in the Bibliography list were used to compile it. I agree with this diploma thesis being deposited in the Library of the Faculty of Education at the Masaryk University and with its being made available for academic purposes. Brno 18 April 2006 ………………………… - 3 - TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ………………………………………………………………………6 Chapter 1: The Influence of History on the Development of the Stereotypes . 8 Native Americans………………………………………………………….8 Latinos……………………………………………………………………..9 African Americans………………………………………………………... 10 Asians…………………………………………………………………....... 11 Chapter 2: Before the Massmedia – The Live Stage ………………………….. 13 Minstrels………………………………………………………………….. 13 Vaudeville……………………………………………………………........ 14 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West……………………………….………….……... 15 Chapter 3: The Silen Era (1889 – 1927) ………………………………………... 16 The Birth of a Nation……………………………………………………... 17 The Lincoln Motion Picture Company…………………………………... 19 Sessue Hayakawa…………………………………………………………. 23 Anna May Wong………………………………………………….………. 24 Oscar Micheaux………………………………………………….…….…. 24 Chapter 4: From 1927 Until World War II …………………………………….26 Race Movies ………………………………………………….…………...28 Dr. Fu Manchu …………………………………………………..…..….... 29 Charlie Chan ………………………………………………….………….. 30 Chapter 5: Transition Period (1946 – 1965) …………………………………... 35 Sidney Poitier ………………………………………………….………..... 39 Chapter 6: Hollywood Renaissance (1964 – 1976) ………………………….… 45 Blaxploitation ………………………………………………….……….… 46 Bruce Lee ………………………………………………….………….….. 48 Chapter 7: The Return of the Myths (late 1970s and 1980s) ………………… 53 The Vietnam War and Hollywood ……………………………………..…58 Chapter 8: The New Wave (the 1990s) …………………………………..……. 61 Strange Orient ……………………………………………………………. 69 Legacy of Blaxploitation ………………………………………..……..… 72 Dorothy Dandridge ……………………………………….……....……… 73 - 4 - Chapter 9: The New Millennium ……………………………………………….74 Appearance of Ethnic Minorities in the Media …………………………... 74 The “Magic Negro” Stereotype ………………………………………….. 76 Lucy Liu ………………………………………………….………………. 80 Suggestions on Methodology ……………………………………………….…... 81 1 Minority Stereotypes and Where to Find Them…………………...…… 81 2 Getting to Understand the Terminology ……………………..………… 82 3 Video in the Classroom …………………………………………….…... 83 4 Consequences of Stereotyping …………………………………………. 84 5 Projects………………………………………………….……….……… 84 Conclusion ………………………………………………….……………...……. 86 Bibliography ………………………………………………….…….……………. 87 Attachments ………………………………………………….…………….……. 103 Attachment I: Stereotypes……………………………………………..….. 103 Attachment II: Ethnic Film Festivals in the United States………...……... 107 Attachment III: Film Index...……………………………………………... 110 Resume (Czech) …………………………………………………………………..131 Resume (English) ………………………………………………………………... 132 - 5 - INTRODUCTION Nowadays we live in a post-modern society 1 and one of the characteristic features of post-modern societies is the influence of media. They also add to the feeling that the world is getting smaller. However, the perspective of the world is sometimes distorted and biased, especially the perspectives proffered by the mass media. The power of mass media and its influence are well known and the image they impose is often considered true to reality. Often people are not aware of the stereotypes used and members of certain minorities are perceived through a scrim of images created by the media. American culture is spread all over the world and is the most influential. Taking into account that there are only a few ethnic minorities in the Czech Republic (the Roma people, Vietnamese, Ukrainian and a growing Arab population), other groups are perceived through media. Moreover, the majority of films in Czech cinemas are of American production. Having an understanding of the stereotypes in English-speaking countries can help students to better comprehend minorities and minority stereotypes in the Czech Republic, which could have the eventual effect of the stereotypes changing or disappearing altogether. This issue is part of multicultural education, which should be an integral part of all educational plans. When teaching a language, the teacher also teaches cultural background. Culture is an inseparable part of the educational process. It has become necessary to devote some time to discussing cultural awareness. One of the components of cultural education should also be an awareness of racism and xenophobia, because a foreign language is an attribute of something foreign and cannot be separated from the culture that uses it. I would like to attempt to organise and chronologise the relationship between ethnic minorities and the American film industry, including a brief overview of changes in the society and politics that influenced the development of stereotypical role in films. Of many minorities, only four of the major ones are dealt with, i.e. Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans and Asians. Other minorities (ethnic or not), e.g. Arabs or homosexuals, are not be taken into account in this diploma thesis. Also I 1 Some sociologists call the society after the attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001 post- post-modern. Nevertheless, the role of mass media is the same. - 6 - concentrated more or less on mainstream films that have reached Europe (in cinemas, on video or DVD) or are generally known here. The first two chapters provide a short insight into the historical background by drawing attention to certain historical facts under which minority stereotypes originated. Following development is divided into seven chapters; periods described are separated according to historical events or, especially after the Second World War, according to changes in the American film industry (as suggested by Mast). For a better orientation Attachment I contains a list of stereotypes and Attachment III a film index. In order to help students and teachers include the issue in their lessons, there are Suggestions on Methodology at the end of this thesis. - 7 - Chapter 1 THE INFLUENCE OF HISTORY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF STEREOTYPES Native Americans The European settlers had to learn to coexist with people they viewed as primitive, but who had many admirable qualities as well. This dilemma was mirrored in the concept of the “noble savage”. 2 Native Americans were “noble” because of their innocence, their willingness to share and their dark, handsome appearance. At the same time they were “savage”: they were not Christian, they showed a blatant disregard for proper dress and there were even possible cannibalistic incidents described by the early settlers (Wilson II and Gutiérrez 62).3 In order to create a European society, there were attempts to convert Native Americans to Christianity. After the Civil War, authors of Western developed a concept of a single Indian culture, i.e. no distinction was made among the hundreds of Native American cultures. 4 Moreover, history has often been presented from only one point of view: “From contact with the first European settlers, the people writing the books were the Europeans”, says Duane Hall, the American Indian Institute at the University of Oklahoma. “There were very few Indian writers giving an Indian account of the story. Down through the pages of history, Indians became people without names and faces, people who are very stoic, and have no feelings” (Hill). 5 Rennard Strickland, an expert on Indian Law at the University of Oregon, says “It goes between what I call the ‘savage sinner’ and the ‘red- skinned 2 The phrase “noble savage” appeared for the first time in Dryden’s The Conquest of Granada in 1672 as nomenclature for the ideal “nature’s gentleman” (30). The concept is a hypothesis that man is essentially good when not bound by civilization. Shaftesbury, in his Advice to an Author, tells future writers “to search for that simplicity of manners, and innocence of behaviour, which has been often known among mere savages; ere they were corrupted by our commerce” ( Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Vol. 3 599- 600). The concept of a noble savage is usually associated with Romanticism, Rousseau and his romantic philosophy. In the first chapter of his Emile: or On Education (1762) he expounds that “Everything
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