From its birth to today, film has become an indispensable part of human cultural life. It comes from life, reflects the changes that occur in a particular time and space, and responds accordingly; opinion on an issue. The cookie-cutter black screen image that fills today’s Hollywood films vividly reflects the connection between film and real life: because of the persistent struggle of black people, “blatant discrimination against black people” has gradually become a taboo; and because of the shock of this taboo, “screen” “Good Black” became one of the criteria for Hollywood’s political appeal.
The image of black people in today’s Hollywood movies
For people who don’t know Hollywood movies but have heard the history of black blood and tears, the screen image of black people must be associated with “stealing chickens and dogs”. No wonder, after all, Hollywood is white’s Hollywood. In fact, in the early Hollywood movies, black people were some “stealing dogs” or even worse villains. Take the famous American director Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation”. The film has become an epoch-making masterpiece in film history with its innovation in film techniques, and at the same time it has caused huge controversy because of its obvious racist tendencies. The film is based on the American Civil War and Reconstruction period, depicting brutal black people’s burning, killing and rape of white people. In the film, director Griffith constantly vilifies the black race. Black people are described as hateful and inhuman inferior races most of the time in the film. At the same time, the subtitles of the film repeatedly appear “nigger”-“black people”. Ghost” is an extremely demeaning word for black people. In an era of rampant racism, it is not surprising that in Hollywood movies dominated by white people, the image of black people is vilified and demonized. Although in the works of some writers and directors who have sympathy for black people, black people do appear in a relatively positive image rarely, and the shining points they are described and praised are also determined by the interests of white people. In “Gone with the Wind”, which has become a classic in the film industry, the director used a lot of details to portray a dull but honest and honest black slave image – Scarlett’s old nanny. And Hattie McDaniels, who played the old nanny in the film, also won the first black Oscar for this role. In the eyes of white people, the so-called good black people can only be black people who serve the white people and do not go against the interests of the white people.
The screen image of black people changed qualitatively after the 1980s. After the baptism of the civil rights movement in full swing in the 1950s and 1960s, from the Baker case in 1987 to the judgment of the affirmative action in 2003, the protests of black people forced the white society to face up to and respond to the demands of black people. At the same time, Hollywood began to conform to the historical trend, and had the courage to express the desire to eliminate racial segregation and the sympathy and support for the black civil rights movement in the film. Therefore, films that portray and praise black people from the front are naturally born.
At the end of the 20th century, a very interesting phenomenon occurred in Hollywood’s screen image of black people, that is, Hollywood’s portrayal of black people’s image has gone from the initial negative to another extreme: as long as black people appear in movies, their image will always be Positive, and even play the role of guide and savior. It’s not hard to find a bad black man in a Hollywood movie these days. In “Family Man” starring Nicolas Cage, an angel who appears in the image of a black person leads the protagonist, who has long been insensitive to money, to happiness and regains true love; in “Sex and the City Movie Version”, Kelly’s black assistant Once again acted as a guide. At that time, Kelly was hurt by love and lost the courage to love again. At this time, the black assistant guided and encouraged by his own emotional experience, and finally helped the latter to achieve happiness. In the romantic comedy “The Groom is Not Me”, Tom’s black friend repeatedly told Tom, who is in a game relationship, about the positive meaning of marriage and family from the beginning of the film, and the film also used a considerable amount of space to describe his happy family life. With his encouragement, Tom finally turned his prodigal son back and married Hannah. In the first half of the film, Tom and other white friends have an evasive attitude towards marriage. Under the influence of the black friend, all of them finally joined the camp to match Tom and Hannah. This episode can be said to be rich in symbolic meaning. In the West, where singleness and divorce rates remain high, black friends have become the embodiment of mainstream social values, playing the role of guides and leading lost people back to traditional values.
Hollywood’s portrayal of the black screen image is no longer limited to the role of guide. This emerging tradition of “good black people on the screen” has expressed its political appeal. As a result, a black American president appeared in the American drama “Twenty-Four-Hour Counter Terrorism”. Many fans associated this character with the election of the African-American Obama to the US president, and were filled with emotion and were impressed by the screenwriter’s foresight. In fact, before this, the black American presidents in Hollywood movies have already taken office and are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Looking ahead, “The Comet Hits the Earth”, a film that once swept the world, has long portrayed how the black president played by Oscar winner Morgan Freeman has resolutely and decisively dealt with the existential crisis of all mankind. Hollywood’s penchant for black people and the tireless passion for portraying black heroes is evident today. With the election of Obama as president, many movie fans have also linked this milestone in the United States to the positive portrayal of black people in Hollywood movies. This connection is indeed not unreasonable. The relationship between the two can be said to be truly complementary. Because of the efforts and struggles of outstanding black people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama and countless anonymous black people, they have won the respect of society and the glorious image of black people in Hollywood; in turn, to a certain extent, because of Hollywood’s constant Foreshadowing and raising the flag, so there is today Obama’s election. This close relationship between the two just explains another interesting phenomenon – the American literary and art circles represented by Hollywood have an extraordinary and unprecedented enthusiasm for Obama.
All of the above give rise to an illusion: Have black Americans no longer been discriminated against, or have even achieved a social status higher than whites in moral values, as portrayed in Hollywood movies? This is not the case . Black Americans are still victims of racial discrimination. In real life, the phenomenon of black people being discriminated against and subjected to unfair treatment can be seen everywhere. So, why is the portrayal of black people in Hollywood today so uniform and positive? On the one hand, black people are still discriminated against, on the other hand, black people are always portrayed as positive and heroic on the virtual screen. How to interpret the connection between the two?
”Blatant discrimination against blacks” has become a social taboo that people dare not break easily
In today’s America, discrimination against blacks has become a taboo in ideology, and few people dare to blatantly advocate discrimination against blacks. The formation of this taboo comes from the words and deeds that white society has learned from racial discrimination against blacks. lesson.
Although discrimination against blacks is ubiquitous, the latter’s struggle also makes white society unavoidable. In April 1992, the largest racial riot in the 20th century broke out in Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. The riot lasted for three days and spread to the entire United States, shocking the world. The incident was caused by a white police officer beating a black man. In this way, under the pressure of black people’s resistance and public opinion, openly expressing discrimination against black people has become a social taboo. Breaking this taboo often means paying a considerable price, for example, public opinion condemnation and black protests. Therefore, almost all black people who appear in Hollywood movies are positive. This is largely because the director is afraid of being charged with “discriminating against blacks”. Gradually, “good black people on the screen” became one of the standards of Hollywood’s political appeal. This standard is used in many aspects of American social life. Sonia Sotomayor, who was recently nominated by Obama to the U.S. Supreme Court, has sentenced in such a controversial case. In 2003, the New Haven, Connecticut Fire Department planned to pass an exam to promote a group of firefighters. None of the black firefighters who took the test that same year passed the test. In order to avoid the suspicion of “racial discrimination”, the city fire department even decided to cancel the test scores of all people that year. The practice provoked outrage among white firefighters, who took the case to a judge. To their great disappointment, the judge ruled that the fire department’s actions were reasonable. The New Haven Fire Department and the justices avoided the suspicion of “discrimination against blacks” by sacrificing the interests of white firefighters. The social deterrent of the taboo “discrimination against blacks” is evident.
Realizing racial equality is the fundamental solution to the problem
Because of the continuous struggle of black brothers, in the United States, blatant discrimination against blacks has become a high-cost act, and “blatant discrimination against blacks” has gradually become a social taboo with strong deterrent effect, so that Hollywood does not hesitate to implement “screen” in order to avoid suspicion. good black” standard of political correctness. While we applaud our black brothers for this battle, we must also recognize that on today’s white, Western-dominated Hollywood screen, directors and producers are still doing their best to vilify other races. As long as there are terrorists, this “honorable task” must be the “patent” of the Middle Eastern people, which abruptly equates terrorists with the people of Middle Eastern countries. We Asians with yellow skin and dark eyes are often the targets of stigma. From time to time, some oriental faces can be found in Hollywood movies. However, unfortunately, the appearance of oriental characters is often for the purpose of pleasing the audience, making the audience laugh, and adjusting the atmosphere. In other words, the screen image of the Orientals has become a prop for the director to make a gag. Generally speaking, the Hollywood screen image of the Orientals is dominated by the following three types: homosexuals who are neither male nor female; low-level characters who are rigid and philistine; and nonsensical characters like clowns. In “Sex and the City: The Movie”, there is a scene in which the protagonist Kelly hires an assistant. There were waves of applicants, not surprisingly, one of them was an Oriental with yellow skin and black hair. Let’s take a look at the tricks Hollywood directors are good at. The sissy Oriental sat opposite the heroine, winking at her, scratching her head. The camera pans under the table. I saw his feet in pink high-heeled shoes twisted together, constantly rubbing. In this situation, Kelly couldn’t help but make a vomit expression. At this point, the director’s purpose of making the audience laugh by vilifying the Orientals has been achieved. For the director’s “good intentions”, the audience, who has been constantly trained in this way, will basically let out a burst of laughter in cooperation. The director gradually fixed the image of the oriental, and conveyed it to the audience through the powerful Hollywood, and educated the latter again and again about the oriental. In the same film, the director gave the role of life mentor to black people, but why did Asians who also made great contributions to the development of the United States become the director’s joke to entertain the audience? Orientals (including Chinese) and other ethnic groups In my opinion, the reason why people of African descent are not welcome in Hollywood and cannot enjoy the treatment enjoyed by black brothers is that discrimination against these ethnic groups has not yet become a taboo, or the deterrent force of this taboo is not strong enough. The price to be paid for breaking this taboo is not enough to make one shy.
Because of the strong taboo, the black brothers have a brilliant screen image; because of the lack of taboo, other ethnic groups different from white people have become the object of ridicule in Western culture. The above two phenomena are not what a harmonious and equal society should have. When people, races and races coexist peacefully, appreciate each other, and do not discriminate, all the taboos about discrimination are unnecessary. Let us look forward to the day when skin color will no longer be the standard for measuring personal value, and everyone will no longer be discriminated or treated specially because of race or skin color; black people are no longer necessarily screen heroes, and Orientals are no longer winking homosexuals, Middle Easterners are no longer ideal for terrorist roles.
