Department of English and American Studies English Language And

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Kateřina Urubková

Representation of African American Women in Film Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.

2016

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Kateřina Urubková

Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Mr. Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, for his guidance during the process of my writing. I would also like to thank my family and friends for support.

Table of Contents

Introduction 5

The origin and the definition of the stereotype 7

African American actresses and the mammy stereotype 21

Hattie McDaniel 24

Ethel Waters 26

Whoopi Goldberg 28

Octavia Spencer 30

Analysis of the selected films 33

Gone with the Wind 33

Pinky 37

Clara’s Heart 39

The Help 42

Conclusion 46

Bibliography 48

English Résumé 53

Czech Résumé_ 54

Introduction

Film has an enormous power, since it reaches wide audiences around the world and people often tend to perceive distorted images on screens as truthful representations, which subsequently maintains prejudice and racism among people. In the past, stereotypes of African Americans were used for influencing views of whites on them and creating notions about them in order to manifest their inferiority. Film employed these stereotypes of African Americans and played an important role in the process of popularization of the stereotypes. As a visual medium, film brings the stereotypes to life, providing them with real shapes and real faces of African American actors and actresses, which contributes to the intensification of the belief that stereotypical portrayals on the big screens are based on truthful representations of real people with real life experience and stories. Today, permanent preservation of distorted stereotypes of African Americans and their constant displaying continues to degrade

African Americans and thus has negative impact on how people perceive them.

Therefore, Hollywood, as the centre of American cinema, should redefine their images and stop perpetuating and even honouring stereotypical roles.

In the early 19th century, many stereotypes of African Americans were developed, popularized and established as part of American popular culture and they have been preserved up to this day. In the thesis, I am going to concentrate on one of the stereotypes of African American women, the mammy stereotype. The first chapter is concerned with its origin and development. There is showed the way this stereotype has been popularized and employed in various spheres of American popular culture, including literature, theatre, advertising and also film and television. I am going to argue that it is not based on a correct portrayal of real African American women, but rather on a distortion of reality.

The second chapter concentrates on positions of African American actresses in

Hollywood. They continue to be relegated to supporting and stereotypical roles and still struggle to gain visibility and opportunity. In the chapter, four selected actresses, namely Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, Whoopi Goldberg and Octavia Spencer, and their decisions to accept stereotypical roles are discussed. All of them portrayed a mammy figure throughout their careers and they have been selected, since they played a mammy character in films that are going to be analysed in the last chapter, namely

Gone with the Wind (1939), Pinky (1949), Clara’s Heart (1988) and The Help (2011).

In the third chapter, I am going to analyse these four selected films, in which mammy character plays a central role. What I am going to argue is that despite various changes and alternations, mammy stereotype maintains many similar characteristics as at the beginning of its emergence. Particularly, the essential aspect of each mammy figure, her devotion to her white masters and employers, remains unchanged. This deep and almost mythical devotion of mammy to her white employers and white children is what appeals to white audiences and thus film continues to preserve this fantasy and maintains it for future generations.

The origin and the definition of the stereotype

Stereotypical portrayals of African Americans have a long tradition in the United

States of America. Ever since Africans were brought to the New World on the ships to work there on the plantations as slaves in the 16th century; they were perceived as unintelligent and primitive, therefore it was common, as Jennifer Bloomquist remarks in

“The Minstrel Legacy: African American English and the Historical Construction of

‘Black’ Identities in Entertainment,” that “Blacks served as amusement for White audiences on plantations throughout the enslavement period” (411). The notion of

African Americans as a source of entertainment and laughter was, therefore, deeply rooted in American society and culture long before the foundation of the United States of America. The notion endured and later made its way to the popular culture. In “Black

Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture, 1880-1920,” Stanley J. Lemons asserts that

“the black person as entertainment and comic figure has emerged twice in the popular culture, and at both times race relations were extremely bad” (104). First, it was in the minstrel show during 1840s, “when the slavery issue was becoming a serious political question” (Lemons 104), and second, “again in the 1880s and 1890s, when race relations were at their worst, most violent level, the comic black man became the most common figure in America’s new popular entertainment – vaudeville and musical revue” (Lemons 104). During the era of minstrel show, Americans developed many stereotypical portrayals of African Americans, among which the most common and frequent, as displayed in the documentary Ethnic Notions (1986), were Sambo, Coon,

Uncle/Pappy, Aunt/Mammy and Pickanniny. These stereotypes were also referred to as stock characters and they were created in order to defend slavery in the antebellum era, when the debates between abolitionists and pro-slavery authorities over the institution of slavery, at that time also called “peculiar institution,” took place. African Americans

7 were portrayed as contented and faithful slaves in the antebellum era. After the Civil

War, images of African Americans were shifted from faithful slaves to savages, as

George Fredrickson asserts in Ethnic Notions, whites feared that “blacks no longer under the benign or beneficent or kindly guidance of white were reverting to savagery.”

In addition, Erskine Peters in Ethnic Notions observes how the perception of African

Americans was being manipulated according to what was convenient for the society at that moment, when he states, “earlier we wouldn’t have gotten an image of a brute

Negro… because this wouldn’t have helped in the defense of slavery … The image that they needed was that blacks were docile in antebellum times. During Reconstruction the black is a challenge to the political system and … they are saying that the blacks are an offense to civilization.” As Peters suggests, images of African Americans displayed in

American culture were changing according to the needs of whites, since it reflected their attitudes to social and racial issues. As Stanley J. Lemons states, “the dominant popular culture was created by and for whites, they showed themselves in a flattering fashion, while blacks were usually exaggerated in the worst way” (113).

The first massive emergence and propagation of the stereotypes of African

Americans, including the mammy character, came with the emergence of minstrel show in the 19th century. Minstrel show was “an indigenous American theatrical form, popular from the early 19th to the early 20th century, that was founded on the comic enactment of racial stereotypes” (“Minstrel show”). White men performing in blackface were entertaining white audiences by parodying African Americans and their experiences as slaves on plantations. They were singing, dancing and giving comical speeches; all that they presented, then presented as authentic African American culture, even though “in the early days of minstrelsy, more often than not, the actors had little or no real contact with African Americans, so their version of Black culture was almost

8 entirely grounded in racist stereotypes” (Bloomquist 411), thus what the minstrel show presented as authentic was in fact fictional. The minstrel show was widespread both in the North and in the South, because the performers were touring all around the country and “[they] drew large and enthusiastic White audiences, many of whom had never seen an African American face-to-face – and even those Whites who were familiar with

Black culture accepted these comedic distortions of Black life as valuable entertainment” (Bloomquist 412). These so-called genuine depictions of happy slaves appealed to white audiences and they served as the defence of slavery. Their aim was to propagate among white audiences a positive outlook on the institution of slavery.

Blackface performers depicted the relationships between masters and slaves as harmonic and almost idyllic and the lives of slaves full of singing, dancing and joy. As

George Fredrickson states in Ethnic Notions, “the old plantation was presented as a kind of paradise. White Americans were being constantly bombarded by the image of happy slaves … so slavery must be a good institution if the slaves were happy and the masters were kindly.”

Mammy, as one of the stock characters, is seen as further manifesting how good the relationships between slaves and masters were and also how contented the slaves were on plantations. They were depicted as good-humoured and as Patricia A. Turner asserts in Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies, they were “always singing from dawn to dusk” (45). Moreover, they were portrayed as “innocuous, docile black women who posed no threats to white families they served” (Turner 45). Mammies were non- threatening not only in terms of their behaviour, but also in terms of their appearance, since they were portrayed as overweight with glossy round face and bandanna over their hair in such fashion that they appeared asexual. These depictions deprived mammies of any possible sexual attractiveness that could appeal to white male masters, which was

9 desired, comforting image. As Barbara Christian notes in Ethnic Notions, “if the mammy were to be a sexual being, which of course in reality she was ... she would become a threat to the mistress of the house, she would become a threat to the entire system … because she would then be capable of being desired by the master of the house.” And as she adds, it would ruin “this supposedly happy plantation system the planers wanted to project.” They wanted to propagate a positive outlook on Southern plantations among whites and thus, it did not suit their plan to portray attractive African

American woman who would be perceived as threat to the white mistress and subsequently to the relationship between the white mistress and master, so they portrayed Mammy as overweight and asexual. In “Mammies and Matriarchs: Tracing

Images of the Black Female in Popular Culture 1950s to Present,” Christopher J. P.

Sewell asserts that “the Mammy served as a direct juxtaposition to her mistress … Her physical size was an important contrast to the Victorian views of white beauty” (310), hence “the Mammy exemplified the ways in which the Black woman could truly work with white people” (311).

Since minstrel show was created almost entirely by people who did not come into contact with African Americans as stated above, their depictions were in many cases inaccurate. Scholars have identified several problems with the depiction of mammy in the minstrel show. Mammy was presented as almost inseparable part of the plantation, however Catherine Clinton in The Plantation Mistress: Woman’s World in the Old South challenges that point:

Records do acknowledge the presence of female slaves who

served as the ‘right hand’ of plantation mistresses. Yet documents

from the planter class during the first fifty years following the

American Revolution reveal only a handful of such examples. Not

until after Emancipation did black women run white households or

occupy in any significant number the special positions ascribed to

them in folklore and fiction. (quoted in Turner 43-44).

According to Patricia A. Turner, the reason for the rarity of house servants during slavery could be that “slaves represented an expensive investment [and] only the very wealthy could afford the luxury of utilizing the women as house servants rather than as field hands” (44). In “The Role of the Black Mammy in the Plantation Household,”

Jessie W. Parkhurst underscores the fact that only the wealthy could afford a house servant and that she was almost a symbol of luxury, by claiming: “in order to be recognized as belonging to the aristocracy of the Old South it was necessary to be able to say that one had been tended by a “Black Mammy” in youth” (351). Thus, the depictions of mammies as inseparable and stable parts of the plantations showed by the minstrel show contradicted the reality of plantations during the antebellum era. In addition, those who did work as house servants on the plantations did not resemble the portrayals of the mammy stereotype as depicted by minstrel show. As Patricia A. Turner remarks, “[they] were unlikely to be overweight because their foodstuffs were severely rationed. They were more likely to be light as dark because household jobs were frequently assigned to mixed-race women. They were unlikely to be old because nineteenth-century black women just did not live very long” (44). The minstrel show thus introduced a character that in reality never existed. And although mammy is not based on a truthful image of African American women living on the Southern plantations, she became very popular with white audiences and this fictional representation of the mammy character established by the minstrel show defined how the mammy character would be portrayed from then onwards.

Literature soon employed these stock characters and Harriet Beecher Stowe with the publication of her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (in 1851) became an important figure in shaping the fictional mammy character. Stowe portrayed mammy in a traditional fashion, using this description: “a round, black, shiny face is hers, so glossy as to suggest the idea that she might have been washed over with the whites of eggs” (quoted in Turner 46). Nevertheless, she added the final and most important attribute to the mammy stereotype, which was that “she never put her or her family’s needs ahead of those of her white charges” (Turner 47). The publication of the novel represented the point when the image of fictional mammy was complete in terms of her appearance and personality traits. Mammy was presented as an obliging, good-humoured, robust, asexual, black female with glossy face and a bandanna covering her hair, taking care of white households with white children and white adults. She was an amazing cook and always ready to take care of what was needed, never putting herself, her family or her friends ahead of her white employers. That was the image that appealed to wide white audiences all around the country and became the most popular stereotype of them all, as “no image exceeds the popularity and diversity of the smiling, overweight, copiously dressed figure referred to alternately as mammy or auntie” (Turner 41). Uncle Tom’s

Cabin became a bestseller and was soon adapted to the minstrel show. The adaptations became known as Tom shows and “during its record-breaking run, over 50 people saw the play for every one who read the book” (Bloomquist 416). The popularity of the Tom shows was extraordinary and they stayed popular until the beginning of the twentieth century, when “the minstrel show was dying out in all but amateur theater” (Bloomquist

418). The blackface character, however, did not disappear, since “vaudeville inherited him and passed him on to the musical theater, the movies, and radio” (Lemons 103).

After the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws and segregation secured that job positions available to African American women were only those inside the kitchens of white households. As Jo-Ann Morgan implies in the essay called “Mammy the

Huckster: Selling the Old South for the New Century,” mammy served as “a reunifying gesture toward North-South reconciliation” (88) after the Civil War, since she as a part of the Old South was then working for Northern white employer. In addition, mammy became “a symbol of redemption” (Morgan 96), since “southerners had lost not only the war, but a way of life” (Morgan 96) and therefore, it was important to them that mammy as a part of the old days persisted and even expanded to the North. “Mammy became a figure around which nostalgia for a bygone, idyllic time could emanate”

(Morgan 96). With the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North, African American women started to appear in Northern households and the notion of mammy character became very popular among people whether they were from the South or the North, but only among white people. African Americans and

African American women, in particular, did not share that enthusiasm, “because the

“Black Mammy” originated in and came out of the period of bondage she is an acceptable symbol to whites and an unacceptable one to Negroes” (Parkhurst 349).

The growing popularity of mammy among whites at that time, when development of mass media and advertising was in progress, provided mammy with opportunity for becoming one of the most important parts of advertising industry with the trademark of Aunt Jemima, since “advertisers realized that Mammy had commercial value … Mammy allowed Whites to feel good about themselves while at the same time served as an authority on cooking and cleaning” (“Caricatures”). Similarly, Sewell states in “Mammies and Matriarchs: Tracing Images of the Black Female in Popular

Culture 1950s to Present” that “the Mammy-like figure provided a validation for the

13 quality of the product” (312). Then it is no surprise that when the creators of Aunt

Jemima, Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood, came with the idea of selling ready-mixed pancake flour, and R. T. Davis, to whom they later sold the company, then needed an image for the product, a face which would be printed on the packaging, his choice was

African American woman, Nancy Green, who “became the advertising world's first living trademark” (“Nancy Green”). Of all the women, who could symbolize the excellent cook on the packaging, who should appeal to people, catch their attention and encourage them to buy the product, Davis chose an African American woman. And he was correct in doing so, since in 1893, Davis’s company promoted Aunt Jemima pancakes at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in the presence of Nancy

Green and she became a hit. “Her exhibition booth drew so many people that special policemen were assigned to keep the crowds moving. The Davis Milling Company received over 50,000 orders, and Fair officials awarded Nancy Green a medal and certificate for her showmanship” (“Nancy Green”). Aunt Jemima has been in existence ever since. The Quaker Oats company, which has owned the Aunt Jemima trademark since 1926, has been introducing new products from time to time. For example, they introduced Aunt Jemima Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix in 1957, Aunt Jemima

Complete Pancake & Waffle Mix (“Just Add Water”) and Aunt Jemima Frozen French

Toast in 1970, Aunt Jemima Lite Syrup in 1979, Aunt Jemima Butter Lite Syrup in

1985 and Aunt Jemima Butter Rich Syrup in 1991 (“Aunt Jemima”). In 1989, the appearance of Aunt Jemima was slightly modified, when she lost the headband covering her hair and gained pearl earrings and a lace collar instead. However, the fact that Aunt

Jemima and her products have been in existence from 1889 until today, signifies the exceptionality of her popularity and in a broad sense, the popularity of mammy/auntie character itself.

Besides the Quaker Oats Company’s Aunt Jemima, there were also other companies, which featured mammy images on their packages and labels, such as

Luzianne coffee, Fun to Wash laundry soap, Aunt Dinah molasses and Dinah black enamel. “Mammy faces have been imprinted on virtually every possible accessory for the twentieth-century kitchen” (Turner 51). They were, for example, imprinted on

“cookie jars, creamer and sugar dish sets, spice containers, cornmeal and pancake mix cigarette lighters, Halloween masks, recipe cards, cookbooks and syrup pitchers”

(Turner 51). Besides kitchen-related things, they appeared, for example, on “sewing kits, wall sconces, string dispensers, greeting cards, cookbooks and sheet music”

(Turner 51). As Lemons notes, stereotypical images and caricatures of African

Americans “were so familiar that few people had any notion that they degraded black

Americans. Most people thought the caricatures were simply funny” (102). Due to the fact that the caricatures were so frequently on display owing to advertising, they had strong influence on both white Americans and African Americans. Larry Levine from the University of California implies in Ethnic Notions what impact those images had on white people by asserting: “Blacks don’t really look like that … You look at them

[icons] often enough and black people begin to look like that, even though they don’t.”

Whites, therefore, became so accustomed to seeing these caricatures of African

Americans that they started to perceive them as their truthful representations. On the other hand, it also had impact on African Americans themselves, as Barbara Christian states in Ethnic Notions, “we [African Americans] are seen that way, perceived that way, even in terms of public policy … our lives are lived under that shadow, and sometimes we then, even become to believe it ourselves.” Despite the negative impact of stereotypical images of African Americans, they became so deeply rooted in

American culture throughout the 19th century that they began to be employed in another sphere of popular culture in the early 20th century.

Technological inventions in the 19th century led to the development of the motion picture industry in the early 20th century and mammy swiftly extended her sphere of activity to film production. “The early days of African Americans on screen were filled with nostalgia films and ‘race movies,’ many of which not only featured southern plantation life, but also included films on Black American life” (Bloomquist

421). Stock characters known from minstrel shows were widely employed in early silent films and in the same way as in early minstrel shows; African American characters were played by whites. Mammy, also played by a white man in blackface (Wallace 91), appeared in the first American feature film, The Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915. In the movie, mammy was depicted in traditional fashion as overweight, dark- skinned and loyal to her master and mistress. The Birth of a Nation, nevertheless, added a new element to mammy’s nature, when she came into conflict with black soldiers.

“Early twentieth-century mammies did more than just cook for and clean up after white families. If necessary, they would raise their fists against other blacks in order to defend the sanctity of the white households” (Turner 52). The portrayals of African Americans in movies were still based on stereotypes introduced by minstrel show, yet they were further formed and shaped in order to display to white audiences what they wanted to see, since “popular art … is what the public likes … [and] popular culture acts as a mirror” (Lemons 103). Film’s purpose is to draw wide audiences to the cinemas and in order to do that, it has to contain something that the public wants to see, which was the reason why mammies were incorporated into many films, since “the American population at large still yearned for images of the Mammy” (Sewell 316).

Probably the most famous and beloved mammy character played no longer by a white man, but by African American actress, Hattie McDaniel, was the Mammy in the movie Gone with the Wind in 1939. “McDaniel then epitomized in truest form what the

Mammy should look like. The increasing imagery around the figure then would now not only be imagined but bound by this new contained view, to be a good care-giver, the

Mammy had to be big and black” (Sewell 315). In the movie, there is depicted a strong bond between the mammy and her young mistress, which is also a characteristic feature for the mammy figure in many movies. She has close relationships with any of her white employers, but the relationships between mammies and their white mistresses are the strongest ones. In Gone with the Wind, mammy’s attachment to her mistress is emphasized when she decides to stay with her after Emancipation that enables her to leave the plantation. She stays and similarly to the mammy from The Birth of a Nation, she protects her white mistress by assaulting black soldiers. Hattie McDaniel won the

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind and she became the first African American to win an Academy Award.

The mammy character was then featured in many movies, however, “the mammy caricature as a type seemed dated by the 1950s, and she slowly faded away in the movies” (“Caricatures”). However, mammy did not disappear. In 1950s, the emerging medium of television employed the mammy character in several shows. “Popular from

1950 to 1953, Belulah was one of the first shows in which black character’s name was also the series’ title” (Turner 53). Other shows that included mammy character were, for example, Julia (1968-1971), Good Times (1974-1979), The Jeffersons (1975-1985),

What’s Happening!! (1976-1979), and Gimme a Break (1981-1987).

The popularity of the mammy character was on the decline during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, when actual African American men and women were fighting

17 for their rights on the streets. African American female activists did not resemble those stereotypical portrayals and thus it was not possible to maintain them on display. The disappearance of mammy products started already, when Rosa Park and other African

American women boycotted the Montgomery bus system from 1955 to 1956. “By the

1960s, mammy cookie jars, memo pads, and similar objects were retired into attics and garages … manufacturers ceased to market them, and antique and thrift shop proprietors did not display them” (Turner 55). Stereotypical portrayals disappeared with the only exception, Aunt Jemima. She endured, but her appearance was transformed. “The Aunt

Jemima of the sixties was less rotund and less toothsome than her earlier incarnations”

(Turner 55). 1960s represented a period of time, when African Americans were gaining their rights with the passages of bills such as The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the United States of America slowly began the journey to the integration within the nation, as the laws outlawed discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin. It also meant that African American women could leave the white households, seek employment elsewhere and enter higher education. African American women began to be in demand, since “employers were eager to display their credentials by hiring African-American employees [and] hiring an

African-American female satisfied twin requirements of opening doors to minorities and women” (Turner 56). African American women, therefore, were often given the best jobs or the kind of job that was visible to the public. They finally gained better positions in the society, which could have represented the end for the mammy stereotype, but did not.

Despite the decline in the popularity and displaying of the mammy character in the 1960s and the change in the position of actual African American women, mammy stereotype persisted and managed to make its way to the 21th century. Although African

American women are no longer restricted to take care of white households, in the minds of whites, there are still nostalgic memories surrounding the days when they did.

Together with the civil rights movement of the 1960s, feminist movements also took place and when African American women were leaving the white households, white women were also leaving their houses to seek employments outside their homes in order to be independent and equal to men. Therefore, there was nobody left to take care of the white households and children. From that point on, the mammy figures always appear somewhere from time to time and “the idea that a selfless, sexless, black woman might want to come into your kitchen and organize your household has retained a persistent hold on the American imagination” (Turner 61). The most recent reminder of the continuation of the popularity of the mammy character was the success of Kathryn

Stockett’s novel The Help (2009) and its film adaptation (2011). It is yet another fantasy created by whites about African Americans, which became very popular and successful.

As Jennifer Bloomquist remarks, “in this wildly popular novel and film, a White woman distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experience of Black domestic workers” (422).

Despite inaccurate portrayals of African American women in this movie, Octavia

Spencer won the Academy Award for Supporting Actress for playing a mammy character and her victory caused controversy and aroused displeasure among African

Americans, since Spencer represents another African American actress awarded by The

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for playing a mammy stereotype. Stereotypes are, therefore, still a present and topical issue in today’s society.

As Barbara Christian states in Ethnic Notions, “it [stereotypical images] has become a part of our psyche.” Mammy stereotype can be still seen from time to time in today’s

United States of America, although not in such numbers as during the pre-Civil Rights

19 era, but she is still there. And her endurance is surprising considering the fact that her whole existence and portrayal is based on a figment of imagination.

African American actresses and the mammy stereotype

African Americans became part of film industry in 1920s, when they began to be hired as extras by Hollywood. The period was a time of segregation and racial tension between whites and African Americans, which was mirrored in the positions of African

American extras in predominantly white Hollywood. In “African American Extras in

Hollywood during the 1920s and 1930s,” Charlene Regester notes that “African

American extras were continually marginalised in American cinema,” (95) and she continues to state that they were marginalised “not only by being relegated to demeaning roles that cast them in subservient or comic capacities, but also they were marginalised by having their contributions considered less valuable than those of whites and therefore, were paid less money for those contributions” (Regester 103). Hollywood followed the tradition of stereotypical portrayals of African Americans established by minstrel show and continued to cast them in subordinate roles which resembled the stock characters. “Hollywood’s stereotypes of African Americans, like many of the industry’s storytelling conventions, derived from minstrelsy, an earlier cultural form”

(Frost 41). Despite being marginalised and relegated to stereotypical roles, they established themselves as part of the industry and with the emergence of sound film, the number of African American extras increased. They, nevertheless, continued to be in difficult positions, since “most African Americans were denied opportunities to land major roles” (Regester 99) and when they managed to land such roles, it “meant playing racially stereotypical roles that came with an emotional and political cost, but trying to change or refusing such roles meant risking or very probably ending a Hollywood career” (Frost 54). As a result, African American actors and actresses had to make a difficult choice whether they would participate in perpetuating stereotypes that degrade

African Americans by doing what they liked, acting, or not and thus stop acting.

Their choices were difficult, since film possesses an enormous power, because its images tend to be perceived as accurate representations and for many people film is a valuable source of knowledge. As Briley notes, “most Americans, for better or worse, tend to learn their history through popular film rather than historical scholarship”

(Briley 454). Thus, while “African American audiences and actors knew the stereotypes were a performance” (Frost 52), whites perceived them as accurate representations.

Continual displaying of stereotypical representations of African Americans had consequently major impact on racial relations in the country, since “it changes minds and cements biases” (Winfrey-Harris 70) among people. That is why it was difficult for

African Americans to accept stereotypical roles, since on one hand, thanks to these roles they were able to pursue their acting career, but on the other hand, they contributed to justification of oppression of their own people.

During 1960s’ civil rights movement, African Americans were determined to break Hollywood’s racial barriers and demanded equal job opportunities not only for actors, but for all in front of and behind the camera jobs. African American actors were in better positions than behind the camera workers, since, as Andrew Dawson notes in

“Challenging Lilywhite Hollywood: African Americans and the Demand for Racial

Equality in the Motion Picture Industry, 1963–1974,” “[white] actors were more open to the idea of racial inclusion because … unlike other occupational groups working in

Hollywood … they already had decades of experience performing with African

Americans” (1210). Thus, “black actors made greater strides in movies and TV than those employed behind the scenes” (Dawson 1220). Although African American actors increased their screen presence, stereotypes have been maintained and African

Americans continue to struggle to gain better positions. In today’s Hollywood, there are still problems of not having equal racial representations and enough job opportunities

22 not only for African Americans, but for all ethnic minorities. In “Race, Gender,

Hollywood: Representation in Cultural Production and Digital Media’s Potential for

Change,” Maryann Erigha notes that “comprehensive data on employment in

Hollywood production illustrate that racial/ethnic minorities are vastly underrepresented in acting, writing, directing, and creating for Hollywood film and television” (80).

The problem of marginalising African American actresses is very topical. Films with a leading African American male character, in some cases even a biographical film based on a real person, are quite common in Hollywood, but films with a leading

African American female character are very rare. African American women still tend to be relegated to supporting roles. “It is rarely, if ever, that we see a film in which a black woman is the central character and her husband or partner plays the sidekick or emotional supporter to her goals” (Jackson 173). Moreover, they are still offered stereotypical roles, in many cases updated mammy figures, which denotes the fact that in Hollywood it “is still more comfortable casting Black women as maids than as prime ministers, action heroes, or romantic leads” (Winfrey-Harris 68). Due to the lack of diversity of roles available to African American actresses, they still struggle with the decision of accepting or declining stereotypical roles. Here are four selected actresses who made the choice of accepting the role of mammy in their careers, namely Hattie

McDaniel in Gone with the Wind (1939), Ethel Waters in Pinky (1949), Whoopi

Goldberg in Clara’s Heart (1988) and Octavia Spencer in The Help (2011). They all made that choice in different periods of time and their decisions to accept these roles will be further analysed.

Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952) came from an artistic background and before she came to Hollywood in the late 1920s, she performed in minstrel show and was also a blues singer. She was part of white Hollywood when segregation laws and discrimination of African Americans were in force in the United States of America, thus she and other African Americans also experienced it in the industry, since, as Jill Watts notes in the interview “The Life and Struggles of Hattie McDaniel,” they were “totally constrained by discrimination outside the studios [and] within the studios.” From the beginning of her acting career, she was offered stereotypical roles, particularly roles of mammies, often marginalised and inferior, which was the standard for that period. As

Charlene B. Regester notes in African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility,

1900-1960, African American actresses were usually cast only “as a shadow who reflects the positivity of the leading white female character” (135). Thus, similarly to the mammy in the antebellum household who was created as the opposite of the beauty of white mistress in order to be able to work inside white household, in films African

American actresses also served as “racial Other” (Regester 244), as the opposite of white female beauty in order to be able to appear in the movie.

Throughout her career, Hattie McDaniel portrayed hundreds of roles of mammies, but the most famous, beloved and memorable one was the role of Mammy in

Gone with the Wind (1939). The film was a blockbuster and the role of Mammy as well as Hattie McDaniel herself became very popular with white audiences. As Jennifer

Frost notes, Hattie McDaniel “had become nearly synonymous with her role in Gone with the Wind and was often billed as Hattie ‘Mammy’ McDaniel” (50). Hattie

McDaniel played so many roles of mammies that they started to define how she was perceived by whites. It underscores the point of the black community, which was

24 concerned with the impact of stereotypical portrayals on their positions in society. As

Jill Watts notes in the interview “The Life and Struggles of Hattie McDaniel,” “these roles continued to enforce the oppression of African American people.” In spite of the displeasure among African Americans, Hattie McDaniel continued portraying mammies. She as an African American actress had not many choices, since at that time there were only stereotypical roles available to them and thus when she wanted to continue pursuing her acting career, she had to portray them. However, she managed to make modifications and played her roles not as a shadow, but as a central role.

Particularly, in Gone with the Wind, she gained visibility and came to the fore, as her performance of Mammy drew attention the most. She saw herself as a pioneer, as doing good for her people, the black community, by becoming successful in white Hollywood.

Even though she was nominated for an Oscar for that role, “she herself was prohibited from attending the 1939 Atlanta premiere of Gone with the Wind, due to segregation laws, and was forced to sit at a rear table at the Academy Award ceremonies that honored her” (Frost 50). On one hand, she was praised for her talent; on the other hand, she was still treated in the same fashion as mammy that she was playing, as inferior.

After winning an Oscar, Hattie McDaniel thought that there would be more opportunities for her and other African Americans, but change did not come. “Even though Hattie had won an Academy Award, she was continually cast as a servant”

(Regester 134). “Hollywood still continued to reinforce these stereotypical roles. She hoped for breakthrough … but it wasn’t forthcoming at all” (Watts).

Hattie McDaniel portrayed stereotypical roles, since those were the roles available to her and as an actress and artist she performed what she was given. At that time, not perpetuating stereotypes meant stop acting and McDaniel chose to act. Her famous response to the criticism was: “why should I complain about making seven

25 thousand dollars a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making seven dollars a week actually being one!” (quoted in Bogle 82). She opted for doing what she loved despite criticism and she was brilliant at it, which is demonstrated by the fact that she was the first African American to win an Oscar.

Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters (1896-1977) was another African American actress who struggled in Hollywood and who had to make the choice whether to portray stereotypical roles or not. “She worked her way up from a domestic, to a performer in Harlem nightclubs and vaudeville, to a star of all performance media” (“Ethel Waters (1896?-1977)” 64). As

McDaniel, Waters became part of Hollywood when racial relations between whites and

African Americans were tense, thus, as Charlene B. Regester notes in African American

Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900-1960, she “was subjected to the same kinds of racial discrimination and racist treatment that other actresses and entertainers of the period suffered” (253). Moreover, she was also relegated to stereotypical matriarchal roles, since “no matter how powerful a performer she was, she could not escape being cast as either a subservient or a matriarchal figure” (Regester 248).

After the World War Second, there were debates about the race relations in the country and African Americans felt the chance of improvement in their positions. As

Jill Watts notes, “the war opens up the doors for the potential for better images with the government supporting the idea that Hollywood should reform its images.” At that time, after the World War Second, Pinky (1949), and other films dealing with race relations and segregation, was produced. “The emergence of such films and their subsequent popularity signalled a growing opposition to the Jim Crow system on the part of many whites across the country, including those in charge at the Hollywood studios”

(McGehee 23). In Pinky, Ethel Waters played a grandmother of the leading character and Waters’ character resembles the mammy stereotype in terms of both her appearance

(dark-skinned, robust, and asexual with an apron and a bandanna over her hair) and also her nature (obliging to her white employers). Her performance was both praised and criticised, but Ethel Waters herself said to Edward R. Murrow in an interview on the programme Person to Person, when she was asked about criticism, that “I’ve been fortunate enough to be sensible enough to understand constructive criticism and when I got that I try to improve on that, but I have never received a bad review.”

The reason why Waters accepted the role of Granny in Pinky could be the fact that due to “overwork, exhaustion, exploitation, and personal unhappiness” (Bogle 162) her Hollywood career was in decline in mid-1940s, when she was unemployed for six years, and thus “by 1948, when Darryl Zanuck asked her to test for Granny in Pinky,

Ethel Waters was almost at the point of begging for a role. Her Granny was an old typed vehicle but she got mileage out of fit, and her career swung back into full gear” (Bogle

162). It depicts the position in which Ethel Waters and many other African American actresses were. When they wanted to act, they had not many choices and had to accepted roles that were available to them.

Ethel Waters was a great performer both as an actress and as a singer, and as

Hattie McDaniel, she decided to do what she loved and therefore she played the roles that were available to her. “However limited many of her screen roles were, it was because Waters commodified Otherness on the screen that she became one of the few leading African American jazz artists to have an illustrious screen career in Hollywood as a dramatic actress” (Regester 281). And she would not have had “an illustrious screen career in Hollywood” if she had not accepted stereotypical roles.

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg (1955) is a multi-talented person; she is a comedian, an actress, a producer and a host. Before she became an actress in Hollywood, she was a stand-up comedian and with her one-woman stage show she travelled the United States of America. She also performed in a Broadway show called Whoopi Goldberg, for which she won a Grammy Award (“Whoopi Goldberg”).

In an interview called “The Hilarious One-Woman Show That Sparked

Whoopi's Career,” Whoopi Goldberg says that she had had a hard time finding a job for herself and states about the one-woman show, which started her career, that “at that time, people didn’t really think a young women of colour could do a lot, I don’t know what that means, but I know that I had to write a show so they can see what I was capable of doing.” She did not wait for someone else to discover her talent and write a part for her, she did it herself. She was determined to make herself visible by her own means and she succeeded. Shortly after that an offer of a film role came. “For a spell,

Whoopi Goldberg’s career took off. She became the only black woman of the late 1980s to star in Hollywood films” (Bogle 297). For her first movie, The Color Purple (1985), she was nominated for an Oscar and for her performance in Ghost (1990), she won the

Oscar. However, in between these two films she played in a series of less successful films and one of these was Clara’s Heart (1988).

In Clara’s Heart (1988), Goldberg played a mammy character, although slightly modified in terms of appearance, in particular, but still a mammy figure. “The script desexed her character, presenting the black woman once again as a mighty nurturer - an updated mammy - without enough of a life of her own” (Bogle 298). The film was produced in the period of time, when stereotypes of African Americans began to be

28 visible again and began to be employed in movies and on television after they were on the decline during the civil rights movement in 1960s. Although stereotypical caricatures then almost disappeared, they were resurrected in 1970s and 1980s. As noted in the first chapter, mammy figures appeared in several TV series during 1970s and 1980s, including Gimme a Break (1981-1987). Rita Kempley in her review of

Clara’s Heart compares Goldberg’s role to the mammy figure in Gimme a Break by stating, “while she’s [Whoopi Goldberg] nowhere near so fat and friendly, she does have that same urge to nurture white people” and also compares her role to the Mammy in Gone with the Wind, “hasn’t anybody noticed that these are just ’80s variations of

Miss Scarlet and Mammy?,” suggesting that although the film was produced in the period of time after civil rights movement and many decades after Gone with the Wind, it still employs the same stereotype with many similar characteristics. Yet, Rita

Kempley continues to say that “Goldberg does, however, bring dignity to her domestic’s role,” implying Goldberg’s major impact on the impression that the role and the whole movie itself gives. As Janet Maslin states in his review called “Review/Film;

A Superior Servant,” Whoopi Goldberg “appears at ease in every way, and for the first time seems genuinely to become the character she is playing. That’s a lucky thing, since without any charm or verisimilitude from Miss Goldberg, the film would have degenerated into hopeless go.” Whoopi Goldberg with her talent played a central role in the reception of the character and the movie by public, since although there were reservations, her performance was mostly praised. Roger Ebert in his review of the movie also states that “Goldberg is magnificent. The character belongs in a different movie, even a different universe, from the rest of the ludicrous plot.” Roger Ebert also reflects on why Goldberg accepted this stereotypical role by stating, “looking at her choices of projects since ‘The Color Purple’… it is easy to imagine she has been ill-

29 served by her agents and advisers,” suggesting that it was a decision of Goldberg’s agents rather than her own. Either way, even though she played a mammy figure, she put into the performance her talent and tried to portray her in a dignified manner, which she did.

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer (1970) was the next African American actress, after Hattie

McDaniel, awarded an Oscar for playing a mammy character, in this case Minny in The

Help (2011). Her win was controversial and there were many heated debates about the role, the film and her win itself. In the movie, there are many domestic maids, but the two central ones are Minny (played by Octavia Spencer) and Aibileen (played by Viola

Davis). These two actresses were both nominated for an Academy Award and they had to defend their decisions to accept the roles of domestic maids in the 21st century on many occasions.

As previously mentioned, there are still limited opportunities and limited diversity of roles for African American actresses in today’s Hollywood. As Octavia

Spencer notes in an interview on Tavis Smiley Show, “there is a limit of roles that are out there for African American women and women of a certain size, women of a certain age.” In an interview for British newspaper The Independent, she states that “there’s only a few archetypes that women get to play. The ones that usually line up for me are the nurturer, the mother or someone who is heart-sick for a child or the sassy whatever”

(Pringle). Spencer could not escape being typecast into these kinds of roles as yet another African American actress. She knew Kathryn Stockett (the author of the novel

The Help) and Tate Taylor (the director of the film adaptation) personally. Kathryn

Stockett even notes in an interview called “Friendship: Octavia Spencer & Kathryn

Stockett,” that “her [Octavia Spencer’s] very being - her mannerisms, the ways she handles things - all went into creating Minny,” (Mansfield) suggesting that she wrote the character of Minny for Spencer. Then it comes as no surprise that when another of

Spencer’s friends, Tate Taylor, decided to make the novel into a film, Spencer was his choice and she accepted the role. When Octavia was asked whether she had any issue with the character or with accepting the role on Tavis Smiley Show, she answered, “I didn’t have one issue whatsoever, because you know … if I am going to be a doctor who’s going to tell me what patient not to take. You cannot live to please everyone else

… you have to … fulfil your own dreams and destiny.” She suggests that as an artist she simply wants to create and perform despite the criticism that might come along. She then continues to state her view on the criticism, “if it is received, great, I respect you for receiving it, if it is not received, great, I respect you for not.” On Tavis Smiley

Show, Octavia Spencer also states her view on the fact that she depicted stereotypical role of domestic maid in the 21st century by saying, “to me it is about excellence. If I am going to play Minny in 2011, I’d rather be the best Minny in 2011.” Spencer implies that as an actress her only concern is about her performance, about playing her part brilliantly and giving the best of her, which, in fact, is the task of an actress once she did agree to play the part. There is not much that an actress can do in terms of eliminating stereotypes, since when she declines a stereotypical role, because she does not want to perpetuate stereotypes, there will be another who will take it. Actresses and actors are dependent on the roles that they are offered. It is the directors, script writers and the executives in Hollywood that have to bring about a change and start to create and offer

African Americans diverse and multi-faceted roles.

From Hattie McDaniel to Octavia Spencer, the United States of America experienced great changes in racial relations with great advancements of African

Americans, however, these advancements do not hold true so much for the diversity of roles that African American actors and actresses are offered. Creators often resort to stereotypes when it comes to roles of African American women and they are still marginalised. That is why even in the 21st century African American actresses still have to decide whether they would accept or decline stereotypical roles and their struggle for visibility, opportunity and diversity is not over yet.

Analysis of the selected films

The films that are going to be analysed in this chapter, namely Gone with the

Wind (1939), Pinky (1949), Clara’s Heart (1988) and The Help (2011), have been selected, since they manifest how the stereotype has been employed in American film throughout different periods of time. They depict the development of the portrayal of the mammy character and illustrate the point that I am making about the continuation of portraying mammy as entirely devoted to whites. The films were popular within the time of their releases and they continue to be highly popular. They also featured many film stars and important African American actresses in the roles of mammies, namely

Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, Whoopi Goldberg and Octavia Spencer. Three of these actresses were nominated for an Oscar for playing mammies in these films, and two of them won the Oscar, which manifests the attention that these films received both from the public and from the experts. They were widely discussed in mass media and also in

African American community, which was critical of perpetuating the stereotypes and even honouring them.

Gone with the Wind

Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), who serves the O’Hara’s family on the

Tara plantation, functions as a prototype for mammies portrayed in following years. Her appearance fits precisely the description of the mammy stereotype, since she is overweight, dark-skinned with glossy round face, her hair is covered by bandanna so tightly that no hair could spill out of it and an apron is an inseparable part of her uniform. She stays dressed in the same fashion throughout the whole film, even after

Emancipation, and the only alteration of her appearance is when she wears a red petticoat that she gets as a gift from her mistress’ Scarlett’s third husband, Rhett.

Although she wears a dress, which is a feminine feature, she is otherwise defeminized in her looks, walk and behaviour, which is also mirrored in her deep and almost masculine voice. Mammy fulfils her role as “racial Other” perfectly, since she and her mistress Scarlett are polar opposites. Scarlett represents the beauty of the Southern belles, while Mammy, in the way she is dressed and portrayed, only supports and emphasizes Scarlett’s beauty.

Apart from appearance, Gone with the Wind’s Mammy also has all the attributes and traits of character needed for portraying mammy as it was common and desired by white audiences since the times of minstrel show, which created a character, who, as

Micki McElya notes in Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-century

America, “loved her white ‘family’ and would defend and protect them fiercely” (8).

Mammy in Gone with the Wind captures this stereotypical notion about mammy figure precisely. She has good relationships with her masters; particularly her relationship with her mistress Scarlett is very strong, since, as Donald Bogle states in Toms, Coons,

Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: an interpretive history of Blacks in American films, they “maintain a complex mother-daughter relationship” (88). Mammy raised Scarlett and still functions as a substitute for her parents, since she is the one, not her parents, who advises her, takes care of her and scolds her for doing something wrong. “It is

Mammy who knows - and keeps secret - Scarlett’s every plot. It is she who criticizes or advises … but always understands” (Bogle 89). When Scarlett does not want to eat before the barbecue, Mammy tries to persuade her to eat by saying: “you come on an’ be good an’ eat jes’ a lil’.” When Scarlett does not want to take a nap, Mammy tells her,

“well brought up young ladies takes naps at parties. And it’s high time you started behavin’ lak you wuz Miss Ellen’s daughter.” In addition, it is Mammy who reminds

Scarlett of how she should behave when she becomes a widow for the first time. “You

34 ain’t supposed to be around people. You’se in mourning.” Mammy knows that Scarlett loves Ashley Wilkes, even though Scarlett does not tell her about it, and when Scarlett agrees to come to Atlanta to spend some time with Melanie, Ashley’s wife, she knows precisely why Scarlett wants to come there. “You’ll jus’ git in trouble in Atlanta… I’se talkin’ about Mistuh Ashley Wilkes … You sittin’ there waitin’ fo’ him – jes’ like a spider. He belongs to Miss Melanie…” She knows everything about Scarlett and strives to instruct her in good manners. Moreover, Mammy’s voice can be sometimes perceived as “the voice of Scarlett’s conscience,” (Regester 152) reminding Scarlett of what is right and what is wrong.

Mammy’s deep affection to the white family that she serves follows the faithful slave narrative tradition, which asserted that “enslaved people appeared faithful and caring not because they had to be or were violently compelled to be, but because their fidelity was heartfelt and indicative of their love for and dependence on their owners”

(McElya 6). Mammy in the film truly cares for the family, she is very proud of the fact that she has raised several generations of the family and she is truly blissful, when

Scarlet is about to give birth to her child. “Dis sho’ is a happy day ter me. I done diapered three ginrations of dis fambly’s girls, and it sho’ is a happy day.” One can only wonder whether she has her own husband and children. There is nothing mentioned about her family life and apart from other domestic servants, she is completely isolated from other African Americans. When she comes into contact with them in downtown

Atlanta, she pushes them away making way for Scarlett so that she can get through.

Mammy even uses a term “field hand” in such a disrespectful manner, when she says to

Scarlett: “got no more manners dan a fiel’ han’” and “eat lak a fiel’ han’ an’ gobble lak a hawg,” that it degrades African Americans. No close relationship between her and other African Americans is thus displayed and her world revolves only around O’Hara’s

35 family, their household, their needs and their well-beings. However, she is not too obliging; she has a mind of her own and is confident enough to express her feelings, both positive and negative. She is not afraid of criticising her masters and expressing disapproval. “Not once does she bit her tongue” (Bogle 88). When Suellen, Scarlett’s younger sister, complains to Mammy: “I think it’s humiliating the way you’re treating

Mr. Kennedy,” Mammy answers shortly: “you’d be a sight mo’ humiliated effen Mr.

Kennedy’s lice gits on you!” She has a straight answer for everything, behaves confidently and always tells people what she thinks.

McDaniel’s Mammy is in the spotlight in every scene in which she appears. She is not a shadow in the background, but she makes her presence properly known. She is a scene-stealer and she also serves as a kind of a commentator, since she makes fitting and in many cases also amusing remarks in plenty of scenes. “McDaniel’s Mammy becomes an all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing commentator and observer. She remarks. She annotates. She makes asides. She always opinionizes” (Bogle 88). When

Rhett comes to visit Scarlett after she becomes a widow for the second time, not truly mourning this time either, Mammy utters sarcastically: “I tol’ him you was prostrate with grief.”

McDaniel managed to put Mammy in the foreground and make a central, not an inferior, character of her, since her “interpretive performance rescripts this character and moves Mammy out of the margins into the filmic center” (Regester 159), yet she is still dependent on her masters and fully devoted to them, never thinking of her own well- being, her own desires, dreams and needs. The only time when she speaks about herself is when she complains about the backache to Scarlett, but Scarlett does not pay much attention to it. She, Pork and Prissy are the only servants staying with Scarlett after the

Civil War, the others, as Mammy says, “went off to de war or runned away.” Mammy

36 does not take advantage of her freedom and devotes her life entirely to her white masters, their household and their needs. This only supports the notion of whites about the stock mammy figure’s mythical devotion to whites and their notion about faithful slaves. Mrs. G. Gilliland Aston of Asheville voices the view of many whites: “slaves who remained loyal when they had the opportunity to free themselves or to attack those who held them in bondage must have made their choice out of genuine love for their masters” (quoted in McElya 121).

Pinky

Dicey Johnson, also called Granny, played by Ethel Waters, in Pinky (1949) is another type of the stock mammy figure. In her appearance and in her nature, she possesses the attributes of the mammy stereotype, although she is not a domestic maid.

She performs “the second-largest category of ‘domestic and personal service’ for black women in the 1920s, according to the census” and that is “laundering clothes” (McElya

231). Although she is a mammy figure, she is different from McDaniel’s Mammy in

Gone with the Wind. She is less indignant, less vocal, but she is devoted to her white employers in the same way. “Unlike previous screen mammies, she was never emotionally one-sided, neither all Christian resignation (like Louise Beavers) nor all rage and indignation (like Hattie McDaniel)” (Bogle 152). She is not as outspoken and confident as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, particularly when dealing with whites; she appears rather reserved. For example, when her granddaughter Pinky returns to the

South after many years spent in the North, Granny mistakes her for white, since Pinky is very light-skinned, and thus stays very restrained before she recognizes her. Similarly, when she meets Pinky’s white lover, she is not eager to get to know him and rather goes inside her shed. In addition, when she is being interrogated by a white layer at the court, she is timid and insecure. However, she is very affable to her white employer Miss Em.

As a washerwoman, not only does she wash her clothes, but she also nurses her. This contrast in behaviour towards whites gives impression that she is not very comfortable being around whites unless they are her employers, which feeds inferior positions of

African Americans.

Considering the relationship between Granny and Miss Em, Granny is obliged to

Miss Em for taking care of her when she was ill and she is fully devoted to her. When

Granny is not washing, she is most probably found at Miss Em’s taking care of her.

Miss Em also becomes a mover of Granny’s and her granddaughter’s lives. Granny persuades Pinky, who is a trained nurse, to stay in the South by asking her to nurse Miss

Em. Miss Em is so important to Granny that she urges Pinky, when she declines the request, by shouting frenziedly: “you gonna take good care of her like a nurse you is or

I swear on the Holy Bible I’ll whip the livin’ daylights out of you.” Pinky eventually obeys and nurses Miss Em and they establish a close relationship. Moreover, it is Miss

Em, not Pinky’s grandmother, who induces that Pinky accepts herself, her origin and begins to be proud of it after she has been struggling with her identity and even has passed for white in the North, since Miss Em’s words: “nobody deserves respect as long as she pretends to be something she isn’t” and “wherever you are be yourself,” have a major impact on her and her actions. After Miss Em’s death, Pinky is bequeathed a house and a land and Miss Em’s wish has such a power that Pinky changes her plans, leaves her lover and dedicates her life and time to carry out what Miss Em wanted her to do. It is Miss Em’s will, not her Granny, that makes Pinky stay in the South. Therefore,

Miss Em has a major impact on their actions, even after her death, and Granny and

Pinky only serve her needs.

Granny is depicted as a subordinate character throughout the movie. “Indicative of Dicey’s subordinance in the film is, of course, her overbearing allegiance to Miss

Em and her eagerness to withhold her support of Pinky when Pinky fights to retain the property inherited from Miss Em” (Regester 280). When Granny discovers that Miss

Em’s kindred want to sue Pinky due to the inheritance, Granny immediately intends to withdraw by saying in a reconciled voice: “if it’s something that white folks don’t want you to have … you might as well forget all about it,” suggesting Granny’s inferior position and her tone in which she says it indicates her reconciliation with it. She has no tendency to change her status and fight for her rights. On the other hand, she is quite independent considering that she lives in her own shed and also unlike Mammy in Gone with the Wind she is not isolated from African Americans, as she lives in the African

American quarter. In addition, presence of her granddaughter Pinky also implies that she had a child, which is more than it is known about family of Mammy in Gone with the Wind.

As far as appearance is concerned, Granny is depicted in a traditional fashion as overweight with an apron and a bandanna. However, she differentiates between work and free time. She wears her bandanna and apron only when she does the washing or takes care of Miss Em, otherwise she does not wear them. When she goes to Miss Em’s funeral and afterwards to the court, she even wears nice festive attire with a smart hat, suggesting that she takes care of herself at least a little and buys herself nice clothes. It also allows her to be seen in a more attractive way and thus it elevates the mammy character, giving her at least a little female attractiveness that she is often denied.

Clara’s Heart

Clara Mayfield in the movie Clara’s Heart (1988) represents an updated mammy character. “Mammy was forced underground for an all-too-brief period of time in the 1960s and early 1970s when sensitivity to the impact of stereotypical depictions

39 of African Americans peaked. But before long, a new, made-over mammy was resurrected” (Turner 60) and 1988’s character of Clara represents this made-over mammy. She is a Jamaican maid, who meets Leona Hart, American mother who recently lost one of her children and is on holiday in Jamaica, on the island and shortly leaves with her and her husband Bill to become their housekeeper and to take care of their little boy called David. She has dreadlocks and her figure is no longer overweight.

In addition, she does not wear an apron and a handkerchief over her hair and wears rather loose-fitting clothes. Clara’s Heart thus offers an unconventional and updated portrayal of a mammy figure in terms of appearance; however, there are still many mammy’s features left.

Considering her behaviour and nature, on one hand, she appears to be also updated in this respect by being more independent and self-contained. As Roger Ebert notes in his review of the movie, “she is a strong, opinionated, [and] completely self- reliant maid from Jamaica.” She also represents a new type of a domestic maid in terms of the position she possesses, which is different from the previous domestic maids, since

“by the 1980s and 1990s only the most affluent could afford the wages commanded by domestic workers who exert more control over the market for their services than their predecessors could have ever imagined” (Turner 58). Higher wage enables Clara to be more self-reliant and she makes use of it, thus although she moves in with Hart’s family, she soon finds herself a flat so that, in her own words, “I got someplace to go on the weekends when I’m not working … and then when me husband gets here, he’s got someplace to stay while I’m working.” The fact that she seeks her own accommodation denotes her desire to be independent and also the fact that taking care of people is not her whole life. She has plenty of African American friends, socialises with them frequently and she makes plans for her free time, thus she is not available to serve her

40 employers ceaselessly. Moreover, even though he is not present in the movie, Clara has a husband about whom she talks at least a little and she had a child, which is part of her tragic past. Thus, to some extent, Clara represents a progress in portraying the mammy stereotype.

On the other hand, she is still loyal and devoted to whites, particularly to the little white boy David. Her devotion and her willingness to serve whites is apparent when after spending only a few moments with Leona, she abandons everything on the island, packs her little red suitcase and comes to live with Hart’s family to take care of them. Later she says to David that “nobody makes me do nothing I don’t want to do,” suggesting that it was her decision to move and not anybody else’s, which implies her inner need of helping and taking care of people, which is the essential part of each mammy figure. Throughout the movie, David and Clara develop a close bond, as

David’s parents get divorced and their subsequent lack of love and interest makes him closer to Clara. She knows that he needs her and thus she is always there for him. She also assures him that “you can depend on me.” However, when he asks whether he can always depend on her, she answers: “always is much longer than you’re going to need me.” As a maid, she is aware of the fact that children grow and no longer need them and in the end, she and David also have to say goodbye, since David has to move away with one of his parents. Although he wants to stay with Clara, she suggests that he should stay with his mother, as they are family, while Clara is, in her own words, “just a housekeeper who loves you.” That is the only time, when she voices her subordinate position. She appears not to be very emotional or saddened by their detachment, which is not very typical of a mammy figure, however, when David comes to see her after some time, she eventually meets the requirements of a traditional mammy devotion by saying: “you must know, David, that no matter where I am… for as long as I live… that

I will carry you right here in my heart always.” Although Clara’s Heart’s mammy represents progress in some respect, she does not succeed in divesting herself utterly of all of stereotypical features related to the mammy stereotype.

The Help

The Help (2011) centres on the women’s world in 1960s’ Jackson, Mississippi and depicts relationships between white women and their African American domestic maids. Two central mammy characters of the film, both utterly different, are Minny

(played by Octavia Spencer) and Aibileen (played by Viola Davis). Minny is sassy, opinionated and outspoken, while Aibileen is more timid, docile and obliging. They are best friends and Minny has her own family, while Aibileen, after her son’s death, lives by herself, and there is nothing mentioned about her husband. Generally, men are mostly in the background throughout the film, playing only minor parts. It provides women, particularly African American women, with a chance of being in the spotlight and playing leading roles; however, they are once again stereotypical roles. Minny can be termed as Aunt Jemima type of mammy, since her merit is that she is, using

Aibileen’s words, “the best cook in Mississippi.” Cooking is her pleasure and there is nothing wrong about it except for the fact that she does not avoid uttering stereotypical phrases, such as: “fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life … I love me some fried chicken,” and thus perpetuates stereotypical notions about African

Americans, particularly the notion that they “have insatiable appetite for fried chicken”

(Turner 7).

The relationships between white employers and African American maids are depicted in a different fashion than in the previous films. They are not portrayed as harmonious and they are divested of any affection or friendship. For white women,

African American maids are only their employees and they almost consider them to be their property. They want them to do their job without seeking advice or companionship from them. For the maids, white women are simply their employers. There is displayed no affection of maids to their employers and Minny and Aibileen even mock at their female employers when they are not watching. Thus, there is utterly different dynamics and atmosphere in the household and mammy character is no longer portrayed as a family member, a friend or an advisor, but rather as an employee, who she actually is.

This change could be caused by the fact that in that period domestic maids no longer lived with their employers and housekeeping was only the job of African American women for which they were paid. “Giving money to the black women who toiled in white homes clearly connoted that they were not there because they felt a special responsibility to or love for the families they worked for; they were there because they were being paid” (McElya 224).

However, the devotion of maids did not disappear in the film; it is now aimed solely at white children that they are taking care of. They develop strong relationships with them and as it is depicted throughout the film, children have frequently closer relationships with them than with their own mothers, which is displayed in the case of

Mae Mobley and Aibileen, particularly in a scene, where Mae Mobley strokes

Aibileen’s face and says: “you’re my real momma A.B.” Thus, the family-like bonds are preserved; they are only shifted from being between white employers and maids to being between white children and maids.

However, The Help eventually offers the hackneyed maid-mistress relationship, which is so popular since the times of Gone with the Wind, in the relationship between

Minny and her white employer Celia. Celia has major impact on Minny’s life and conversely Minny changes Celia’s life. They both have their own problems and they

43 help each other to solve them. Although Minny’s best friend is Aibileen, they have known each other much longer than Minny has known Celia and they spend with each other large amount of time, it is of course Celia, who notices that Minny has been assaulted by her husband, addresses this issue and advises her to leave him by saying:

“you know what I’d do if I were you? I’d give it right back to him … and I’d tell him to go straight to hell.” In addition, it is Celia and her table full of food, which she prepared for Minny to thank her for all she did for her, which eventually encourage Minny to leave her husband, as Aibileen says: “that table of food gave Minny the strength she needed. She took her babies out from Leeroy and never come back.” Only for Aunt

Jemima-like figure could food represent something that encourages her to revolt against her violent husband. On the other hand, Minny also aids Celia. She helps her to get through miscarriages, supports her, teaches her how to cook and how take care of the household. Minny is subsequently praised by Celia’s husband, Johnny, for the fact that she is of benefit to Celia. “The minute you started working here, she started getting better. You saved her life.” Thus, Minny represents another maid who helps her mistress save her life.

The Help does not avoid clichés and stereotypes concerning portraying domestic maids, since still only dark-skinned African Americans are employed as maids, although they are of different shapes and sizes. They are still portrayed in an unattractive way; particularly Aibileen is defeminized in her appearance, behaviour and also her walk. In addition, as it was mentioned above, the film does not avoid depicting mother-daughter relationship between a maid and her mistress. Moreover, whites are again portrayed as the movers of the lives and fates of African Americans. “The Help illustrates that Hollywood still filters (and distorts) the lives and histories of minorities through the eyes of the majority; celebrates white saviors” (Winfrey-Harris 68).

Although Aibileen is supposed to be the leading character, it is Skeeter, a young white journalist and writer, and her story that is in the foreground of the film’s focus. Skeeter induces the maids to share their stories so that she could write a book about it. However,

“Skeeter sees the book [only] as her path to a real job with a New York publisher”

(Laws 56) and not as a way to help the maids ameliorate their situations. She exploits the maids and their stories to pursue her career and to fulfil her dreams, thus suddenly the maids play only supporting roles. After the book is published, Skeeter is offered her dream job and when she is leaving, Minny and Aibileen stand there assuring her that they will be fine, as if Skeeter was their saviour without whom they would be lost. Their stories of discrimination and oppression do not arouse any response among whites in terms of improving racial situation in Jackson. It was all about the book and the book is written. Skeeter has landed the job. Happy ending.

From the analysis of the films above, there can be summarized two spheres in which film mammy underwent major changes and two in which she did not. The most visible change was made in her appearance. Overweight Mammy in Gone with the Wind wears always the same uniform with an apron and a bandanna, while Clara with dreadlocks in Clara’s Heart dresses according to her style and is in good shape. Second change is apparent in a higher level of mammy’s independence, resulting from the fact that updated mammy no longer lives with her employers, which also makes her more integrated into African American community, since she lives in African American neighbourhood. However, two main features which have remained being portrayed in the same fashion as at the beginning of mammy’s employment in film are firstly, mammy’s deep devotion to whites and secondly, the fact that even though she is an excellent mother figure, her own family is often either marginalised or omitted entirely.

Her whole maternal love and attention is thus devoted solely to white children.

Conclusion

From the discussion of the films in the third chapter, it is apparent that despite several changes of the mammy character, particularly in her appearance and in higher level of her independence, resulting from the fact that updated mammy no longer lives with her employers, film mammies are still portrayed in the romanticised manner as fully devoted to their white employers and white children that they are taking care of.

This trait of character, which was allocated to her in the past, continues to be the key element of her nature and has remained unchanged from the beginning of the emergence of the stereotype. Screen mammies’ lives revolve around white families that they work for, while their own families are marginalised or omitted entirely. Moreover, whites are portrayed as their saviours and the movers of their lives. Mammies frequently appear to be doing something only to fulfil needs of their white employers instead of their own.

The mammy stereotype continues to be portrayed with similar characteristics as it was established by the minstrel show in the early 19th century, since such portrayal of

African American woman, who is wholeheartedly devoted to whites, appealed to white audiences and gained large popularity. Its popularity ensured that the stereotype has been employed in so many spheres of American popular culture that it managed to get into people’s minds. The portrayal of African American women working happily inside white households distorts reality of African American women’s past and still continues to degrade them. The notion of African American women as some kind of super mothers is so embedded in society that in many cases, African American actresses still tend to be typecast into matriarchal figures and thus they often face the same decision, whether to accept or decline stereotypical role, as their predecessors did. Actors and actresses are, however, dependent on the roles that they are offered and as long as stereotypical roles are created, there will always be someone who will portray them.

Elimination of the stereotypes and the change in portrayals of African Americans has to, therefore, come from the executives, directors and script writers in Hollywood.

Stereotypical images of African Americans maintained by film industry influence both whites and African Americans and it is not a positive impact on either side. It only feeds prejudice, racism and discrimination among people. Moreover, film preserves these distorted images for future generations and enables them to get familiar with them and get to like them once again, since stereotypes of African Americans have been portrayed in the way that they appeal to whites. Hollywood should, therefore, stop perpetuating and even honouring stereotypical roles and start to create and offer multi- faceted roles to African Americans.

Bibliography

“Aunt Jemima’s Historical Timeline.” Auntjemima.com. The Quaker Oats

Company, 2016. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Bloomquist, Jennifer. “The Minstrel Legacy: African American English and the

Historical Construction of “Black” Identities in Entertainment.” Journal of

African American Studies 19.4 (2015): 410-425. Springer. WEB. 6 Mar. 2016.

Briley, Ron. “Hollywood's Reconstruction and the Persistence of Historical

Mythmaking.” The History Teacher 41.4 (2008): 453-468. JSTOR. Web. 4 Apr.

2016.

Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: an interpretive history

of Blacks in American films. New York: Continuum, 2001. e-prezencka. Web. 6

Apr. 2016.

“Caricatures of African Americans: Mammy.” Authentichistory.com. 25 Nov. 2012.

Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Clara’s Heart. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perf. Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Patrick Harris.

Warner Bros., 1988. Film

Davis, Viola and Spencer, Octavia. Interview by Tavis Smiley. PBS.org. Public

Broadcasting Service, 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Dawson, Andrew. “Challenging Lilywhite Hollywood: African Americans and the

Demand for Racial Equality in the Motion Picture Industry, 1963–1974.” The

Journal of Popular Culture 45.6 (2012): 1206-1225. EBSCO. Web. 17 Apr.

2016.

Ebert, Roger. “Clara’s Heart.” Rogerebert.com. Roger Ebert, 21 Oct. 1988. Web. 4 Apr.

2016.

Eichler, Alan. “Ethel Waters, Person to Person, 1954 TV, I Got Rhythm.” Online video

clip. Youtube. Youtube, 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Erigha, Maryann. “Race, Gender, Hollywood: Representation in Cultural Production

and Digital Media’s Potential for Change.” Sociology Compass 9.1 (2015): 78–

89. EBSCO. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

“Ethel Waters (1896?-1977).” Music Educators Journal 64.7 (1978): 64-65. JSTOR.

Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Ethnic Notions. Dir. Marlon Riggs. 1986. Documentary.

Frost, Jennifer. “Hedda Hopper, Hollywood Gossip, and the Politics of Racial

Representation in Film, 1946-1948.” The Journal of African American History

93.1 (2008): 36-63. JSTOR. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Gone with the Wind. Dir. Victor Fleming, George Cukor, and Sam Wood. Perf. Hattie

McDaniel. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939. Film.

Jackson, Kellie Carter. “’Is Viola Davis in it?’” Transition No. 114 (2014): 173-184.

JSTOR. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Kempley, Rita. “Clara’s Heart.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 21 Oct.

1988. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Laws, Page R. “The Help.” CINEASTE (2011): 56-58. EBSCO. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Lemons, J. Stanley. “Black Stereotypes as Reflected in Popular Culture, 1880-1920.”

American Quarterly 29.1 (1977): 102-116. JSTOR. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.

Maslin, Janet. “Review/Film; A Superior Servant.” The New York Times. The New

York Times, 7 Oct. 1988. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

McElya, Micki. Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-century America.

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007. EBSCO. Web. 17 Apr.

2016.

McGehee, Margaret T. “Disturbing the Peace: ‘Lost Boundaries, Pinky’, and

Censorship in Atlanta, Georgia, 1949-1952.” Cinema Journal 46.1 (2006): 23-

51. JSTOR. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

“Minstrel show.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Morgan, Jo-Ann. “Mammy the Huckster: Selling the Old South for the New

Century.” American Art 9.1 (1995): 86-109. JSTOR. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

“Nancy Green, the Original Aunt Jemima.” Aaregistry.org. African American

registry. n. d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

OWN. “The Hilarious One-Woman Show That Sparked Whoopi's Career | Master Class

| Oprah Winfrey Network.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 1 Jun. 2014.

Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Parkhurst, Jessie W. "The Role of the Black Mammy in the Plantation Household." The

Journal of Negro History 23.3. (1938): 349-69. JSTOR. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.

Pinky. Dir. John Ford, and Elia Kazan. Perf. Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, and Ethel

Waters. Twentieth Century Fox, 1949. Film.

Regester, Charlene. African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900-

1960. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010. EBSCO. Web. 4 Apr.

2016.

---. “African American Extras in Hollywood during the 1920s and 1930s.” Film History

9.1 (1997): 95-115. JSTOR. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Sewell, Christopher J. P. “Mammies and Matriarchs: Tracing Images of the Black

Female in Popular Culture 1950s to Present.” Journal of African American

Studies 17.3 (2013): 308-326. Springer. WEB. 6 Mar. 2016.

Spencer, Octavia. “Octavia Spencer interview: The Help star and Oscar winner on

becoming James Brown's aunt.” By Gill Pringle. The Independent. The

Independent, 7 Nov. 2014. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Spencer, Octavia and Stockett, Kathryn. “Friendship: Octavia Spencer & Kathryn

Stockett.” By Stephanie Mansfield. MORE Magazine. MORE Magazine, 25 Oct.

2011. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

The Help. Dir. Tate Taylor. Perf. Emma Stone, Viola Davis, and Octavia Spencer.

DreamWorks, 2011. Film.

Turner, Patricia A. Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their

Influence on Culture. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print.

Wallace, Michele Faith. “The Good Lynching and ‘The Birth of a Nation’: Discourses

and Aesthetics of Jim Crow.” Cinema Journal 43.1 (2003): 85-104. JSTOR.

Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Watts, Jill. “The Life and Struggles of Hattie McDaniel.” NPR.org. National Public

Radio, 5 Oct. 2005. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

“Whoopi Goldberg.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Winfrey-Harris, Tamara. “No Disrespect.” Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop

Culture No. 70 (2016): 67-70. EBSCO. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

English Résumé

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to show the way African American women were, and still are depicted in American film. The thesis concentrates on one of stereotypical portrayals of African American women, the mammy stereotype, and it argues that even though this stereotype has been updated and modified through time, it is still present and possesses many similar features as at the beginning of its emergence.

The first chapter deals with the emergence and the origin of the stereotype. It shows the way this stereotype has been employed in American popular culture from its emergence in the early 19th century until the 21st century. There is also illustrated why this stereotype is based only on a figment of people’s imagination.

The second chapter is concerned with positions of African American actresses in

Hollywood. They are still marginalised and relegated to stereotypical roles and the chapter concentrates on four selected African American actresses, who portrayed this stereotype in four selected films, which are subsequently analysed in the next chapter. It illustrates stereotypical features of mammy character in each film and it argues that despite several modifications of the character, the most significant feature is always unchanged and that is the devotion of mammy to her masters and employers.

The conclusion draws attention to the fact that a film, with its enormous power to influence people and their notions about certain matters, continues to perpetuate stereotypes and thus maintains prejudice and racism among people. Film preserves these distorted images for future generations and enables them to get to like this mythical character once again.

Czech Résumé

Záměrem této bakalářské práce je ukázat, jak byly a stále jsou zobrazovány

Afro-americké ženy v americkém filmu. Práce se zaměřuje jen na jedno ze stereotypních zobrazení Afro-amerických žen, a to stereotyp, který je nazýván

„mammy,“ a tvrdí, že i přestože byl tento stereotyp zmodernizován a časem pozměněn, je stále přítomný a vlastní spoustu stejných rysů jako na začátku svého vzniku.

První kapitola se zabývá vznikem a původem stereotypu. Ukazuje, jak byl stereotyp použit v americké populární kultuře od svého vzniku na počátku 19. století až po 21. století. Je zde také objasněno, proč je tento stereotyp založený pouze na výplodu lidské fantazie.

Druhá kapitola se zabývá pozicí Afro-amerických hereček v Hollywoodu, které jsou stále přehlíženy a degradovány k stereotypním rolím. Kapitola se zaměřuje na čtyři vybrané Afro-americké herečky, které ztvárnily tento stereotyp ve čtyřech vybraných filmech, které jsou poté analyzovány v následující kapitole. Ta názorně ukazuje stereotypní prvky jejich postav v jednotlivých filmech a tvrdí, že i přes několik pozměnění tohoto stereotypu, ten nejvýznamnější rys zůstává nezměněn, a to oddanost

„mammy“ jejím pánům a zaměstnavatelům.

Závěr upozorňuje na fakt, že film se svou mocí ovlivňovat lidi a jejich představy o určitých záležitostech nadále zachovává stereotypy a tím mezi lidmi udržuje předsudky a rasismus. Film zachovává zkreslené představy pro budoucí generace a umožňuje jim tak oblíbit si tuto imaginární postavu zas a znovu.