When it comes to the portrayal of Black culture, mainstream media has never been particularly kind. America’s racist past has bled into the practice through inaccurate, often stereotypical portrayals of Black people.
Throughout the history of film and television, Black people have been depicted as less than white people. Minstrel shows played a part in birthing this trend, as Black people were racially ridiculed for comedy on stage. Stereotypes like the “Mammy” and “Sambo” have existed in American culture for decades, surviving through media.
As recently as 2020, the Mammy stereotype was alive in American households through the Aunt Jemima syrup, which had a Mammy caricature as their mascot. As the popularity of film, television and general media has grown, these misrepresentations have bled into everyday life off-screen.
Although other minority cultures also face these misrepresentations, they are able to keep their culture intact because of their direct connection to it. Whether it be through their status as immigrants or relationship with family members from the mother country, it is something that Black Americans aren’t able to rely on due to cultural erasure and policing during and after slavery.
Post-slavery, Black people were already subject to misrepresentation and cultural policing through Black codes and general racism from the white populace. When film became popular, it was arguably the birth of contemporary Black misrepresentation. The length and ease of watching films gave those wishing to further police Black people a platform to expand.
This expansion can be seen with the 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, which depicted Black people as ill-witted and barbaric through caricatures and blackface. Not only did this reaffirm racist beliefs among white audiences, but it also put a target on the backs of Black people. In the film, the Ku Klux Klan is portrayed as heroic, and this feeling transferred off-screen when the film was released. In the 1920s, there was a rise of KKK activity that coincided with the film’s popularity. With the KKK being considered heroic in popular culture, their acts were overlooked, putting Black people in danger.
This misrepresentation of Black people has transformed throughout the years, but at the core, Black culture is warped or erased in some way. Whether it’s the inaccurate family dynamics in Euphoria or the open racism towards Black characters in The Sopranos, Black people are often denied access to well-rounded portrayals of themselves in mainstream media.
The lack of widespread representation and culture on the same accord has created a fragment within the community, as people have different ideas of who they are and what they stand for as Black people. This can be seen with the spread of Black people across the political & social board and how they perceive Black culture. Some harbor resentment toward the community, while others believe risky policies are the best option in a bad situation. There are a host of other feelings across the spectrum, but the point is, things are fragmented.
Due to Black people being painted as violent and ill-witted in a society that is more and more media driven, people have been able to get away with violence against them without major repercussions. And without a fully connected culture, they have to mask in order for survival. People have their enclaves where they can freely be Black, but when operating in white America, they are encouraged to code switch and do whatever they can to seem less threatening.
Black people have to operate in an ever-tightening box if they wish to succeed on the same level as white people. Even if we are free people by law, our culture is considered unprofessional in certain spaces, making it so we have to hold back a part of ourselves if we wish to succeed in those spaces. Rather than attempting to understand what it is that makes our culture unique, the issue of misrepresentation in the media landscape makes it so we are looked at as less than in comparison to other cultures and communities. This isn’t the case for every single person in the country, but for many, it is true.
If we want to see a culture of proper, authentic representation, it is important to suss out cases of misrepresentation and misunderstanding. After identifying them, we must come to a consensus on how to properly represent Black people in order to drown out centuries of misrepresentation. Long story short, people need to respect the culture rather than dismiss its nuances. They must, at the very least, work to understand how we operate and respect us on that premise, especially across the media landscape.
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