Analyse the representation of masculinity and femininity in one genre or body of work and discuss the portrial of black actros in Hollywood

Essay by Point5College, Undergraduate April 2004

download word file, 8 pages 4.5

My analysis for this assignment is to be conducted on the following. The representation of black's in film and how they are portrayed by Hollywood. The way masculinity is portrayed by men in film and femininity by women, the structure of Film Noir and its transformation into Film Neo-Noir, and how the physically and mentally impaired are portrayed in film.

Christopher Miller says "A systematic exclusion of black people from the production, distribution, and exhibition of film exists in Hollywood. This "system" is white America's continuing subversion of a whole race that has existed since the first slave was dragged from African soil and put to work on an American plantation. In these "politically correct" times the system is not an overt racist activity. Rather, it is more of a hidden political agenda that does not appear to exist when looked for. The system operates in all aspects of commercial American cinema and, thus, defines how blacks are portrayed on the screen which, in turn, defines how black audiences define themselves.

Hollywood has traditionally portrayed the black male negatively, providing inappropriate role models for young black males."1 This statement is also made in a documentary called Classification X which concentrates on the representation of blacks in film by Melvin Van Peebles. Van Peebles is against the way Hollywood use's black actors as scapegoats and has overrode orders from producers several times so not to wrongly portray black people in films. One example is a film that he directed called Watermelon Man. "Watermelon Man is ostensibly a comedy of contrived situations. The same concept has been repeatedly made, in which a bigoted man is forced (often through fantasy) to confront his racism. Jeff the lead actor [white male] is introduced in a quick montage of frantic exercise. He has purchased...