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Acting Black: an Analysis of Blackness and Criminality in Film

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Acting Black: an Analysis of Blackness and Criminality in Film The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Master's Theses Summer 2019 Acting Black: An Analysis of Blackness and Criminality in Film Blake Edwards University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses Part of the Civil Law Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Criminology Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, and the Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons Recommended Citation Edwards, Blake, "Acting Black: An Analysis of Blackness and Criminality in Film" (2019). Master's Theses. 661. https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/661 This Masters Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACTING BLACK: AN ANALYSIS OF BLACKNESS AND CRIMINALITY IN FILM by Blake Montel Edwards A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by: Dr. Joshua Hill, Committee Chair Dr. Charles Scheer Dr. Thomas Panko ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ Dr. Joshua Hill Dr. Lisa Nored Dr. Karen S. Coats Committee Chair Director of School Dean of the Graduate School August 2019 COPYRIGHT BY Blake Montel Edwards 2019 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT This thesis will attempt to answer how films deal with blackness and crime, specifically when intersecting with the concepts of exploitation, appropriation, whiteness and the criminality of the black body. While not entirely the root of the negative perceptions of African-Americans in the United States, the manner in which African-Americans are portrayed in motion picture media influences how their presence is seen in society. This thesis will examine specific films that include elements dealing with the listed factors and what effects they may or may not have. Key words: blackness, criminality, white privilege, racism, film, cultural appropriation ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First I would like to thank God, because without Him none of this would be possible. I would like to thank my family and friends who supported me while working on this project, especially my mother who stood by my side during the good and bad times. I would also like to thank my committee chair Dr. Joshua Hill as well as my committee members Dr. Charles Scheer and Dr. Thomas Panko for providing me with the guidance and encouragement to develop this research to be my best work that I have possibly ever done. Finally, I would like to thank myself for sticking with this process and seeing it through to the end while overcoming any obstacle that stood in my way. iii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to my mother whose love and support kept me going even when I thought I could not continue. You are much loved and appreciated. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 Issues of Race in America ............................................................................................. 1 African-American Depictions in Film ......................................................................... 3 Thesis Purpose ............................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 9 Media, Race, and Film .................................................................................................. 9 Race, Crime, and Film ................................................................................................ 12 Exploitation, Appropriation, Whiteness, and the Black Body ............................... 17 Blackness ...................................................................................................................... 20 Theory .......................................................................................................................... 24 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 28 A Brief Note on “Culture” ......................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER III -METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 32 Movies .......................................................................................................................... 33 Analytical Methodology Approach ........................................................................... 33 v Conceptual Definitions ............................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER IV – FINDINGS/DISCUSSION .................................................................... 38 Malibu’s Most Wanted ............................................................................................... 38 Get Hard ...................................................................................................................... 46 White Chicks ............................................................................................................... 55 Discussion..................................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER V – Conclusion .............................................................................................. 80 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 80 Limitations ................................................................................................................... 81 Considerations for Future Research ......................................................................... 82 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 82 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 85 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 .............................................................................................................................. 37 Table 2 .............................................................................................................................. 39 Table 3 .............................................................................................................................. 47 Table 4 .............................................................................................................................. 56 vii CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION Issues of Race in America The relationship between the police and African-American communities in the United States has become one of the most engaging discussions of the political and social landscape in the last twenty-five years (Berg, 2016). While some social scientists and observers claim that the United States has entered a “post-racial era” of permanently moderated racial tension, and despite improvements in race relations since the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s-1960’s, contemporary altercations between the police and African-Americans casts doubt on the idea of a “post-racial era” (Bert et. al., 2016; Joseph, 1991; Bonilla-Silva, 2015). Evidence indicating persistent and disparate contacts between the police and African-Americans, along with high-profile episodes such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray popularized through various forms of media, fuel race-related confrontations and claims of abuse of authority by the police (Carbado, 2017, USDOJ, 2011; USDOJ, 2016). From the Baltimore police shooting of Freddie Gray, to the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson (MO) Police, to the shooting of a fleeing Walter Scott by North Charleston police, many African-Americans have lost trust in police officers, and believe that they have an active racist political agenda resulting in violence (Ibe et al., 2002; President’s report, 2015). In the summer of 2016, Charles Kinsley, an African-American male behavioral therapist in North Miami, Florida, received a gunshot wound from a police officer despite having complied with commands to lay down, put his hands in the air, and identified himself as a therapist trying to help one of his patients (Silva, 2017). Charles Kinsley’s interaction with the police officer, along with other interactions with the police 1 in the “post-racial era”, demonstrates that race still plays a role in how African- Americans are treated in their dealings with the police (Smiley & Fakunle, 2016). These policies and practices are evidence of the lingering effects of police enforcement of drug war policies
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