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Janet Adebiyi-Ojo
Explore the ways in which the representation of black women has changed
between the 1970s to present day.
My thesis focuses on the different representations of black females in film, from
the 1970s to present day. Throughout this essay, I will be exploring how black
women have been presented to an audience, whilst relating these reasons to
wider issues such as social, political, cultural and historical factors that may have
contributed to these different portrayals of ethnic women in film.
From the 1970s until the present day, it is quite clear to see that representations
of women, in particular black women, have not remained the same. In some
ways, it has drifted away from the typical stereotype of them struggling
financially, relying on their husbands to provide for them, and single-handedly
looking after the children they have. Black women have long been negatively
stereotyped in society, which in turn lead to negative portrayals in the media.
Examples of this include stereotypes such as sexual objects, uneducated and
stubborn women. The early 1970s was an era where the creation of the
Blaxploitation film craze emerged in the United States. It was originally made
specifically for the black urban audience; however it soon broadened across
other racial and ethnic classes. The strong black woman representation was
easily seen throughout blaxploitation films and showed them having control over
their lives, as well as people that mattered the most to them. Long after slavery
had been eradicated in the mid-1800, black females were still negatively
illustrated throughout the media for example, they have suffered discrimination
in various areas such as employment, law enforcement, criminal justice and
education. Examples of such films include The Sapphire, The Jezebel and
Mandingo. It is commonly argued that being black and being a woman is seen as
a double negative as they have to fight twice as hard in comparison to a woman
who is white for example.
Laura Mulveys male gaze theory suggests that the way visual arts are
structured around a masculine viewer denies women of their human identity,
relegating them to objects that are simply admired for their physical appearance.
Mulvey states that two main roles of a female character in a narrative is to be
used as an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view, as well as
to be seen as an erotic object for the audience to view. This can be reinforced by
Richard Fleischers Mandingo (1975), which portrays black slave women as
sexual objects to be used to increase the prosperity and wealth of their slave
master. This representation of women is derived from slavery and is simply a
reconstruction of it. The women slaves were made to believe that they were less
than a human, as the masters not only had physical hold over them, but also
psychological hold of them. This idea was even more prominent in the women
due to the extra control the slave owners had over the paternity of the children
and their sexuality. This can be exemplified through the quote pleasure me, you
ebony wench! which is aggressively said by Hammond Maxwell (Perry King), the
son of a plantation owner in the film. This implies that the women had no input in

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who they have sexual intercourse with, and they are simply doing it for the
pleasures of the man and not for themselves. This is also shown through the
costumes the women wore in the film; their bodies were simply covered in robes
which gave the men easy access to them. The term ebony is a phrase
commonly used when referring to people to a dark skin tone ie. Black or
coloured people. A wench is defined as a voluptuous female pirate type
woman, usually with a feisty attitude and is usually seen sleeping around it is a
slightly less offensive term similar
in meaning to bitch. 1 Thus,
black women have been portrayed
and treated as inherently dirty,
inferior and impure and their
sexuality was just a tool to
increase white supremacy in the
slave trade. Mulveys gaze theory
supports my thesis as it is
representative of the passive role
of females in film. This is also reinforces the idea that women had the smaller
positions in film in comparison to men who were given the more significant roles.
There are a number of films that have represented black females as welleducated and intelligent young women. Films such as The Color Purple (1985),
Waiting to Exhale (1995) and Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) are examples of
films that empower black females, showing how they didnt allow the struggles
they faced in their childhood affects their future and they did everything they
could to better their lives. Relative wage gains among black women throughout
the 1950s and 1960s have been attributed to progressive educational and
occupational shifts and antidiscrimination law. 2A movement away from the
stereotypical domestic service and into better-paying occupations was
particularly advantageous for the wages of older cohorts of black women
workers. 3In the 1980s', antidiscrimination law and affirmative action encouraged
black wage gains by supporting black people and helping them secure
employment in government jobs and professional occupations and through
declines in overt wage discrimination. F. Gary Garys Set It Off (1996) is a prime
example of a film where one of the four protagonists is portrayed in a positive
way. The film closely follows four black women who go through a number of
problems in their lives, but have an end goal which is to better the lives of
themselves and their families. The character of Francesca Frankie Sutton
(Vivica A. Fox) works in a bank and is one of the very few ethnic minorities that
work there. In comparison to Mandingo (1975), this film gives a slightly more
positive portrayal of black females. It shows how despite coming from a low
1 Urban Dictionary definition of wench
2 Brown 1984 Black-White Earnings Ratios Since The Civil Rights Act of 1964
3 Beller 1992 Black-White Earnings Over the 1970s and 1980s

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social class and struggling to survive, the women in this film will do everything
they can to provide for their loved ones. However, in some ways, they were still
negatively portrayed at the same time. For example, regardless of the fact that
Frankie has a job in a bank, she is shown to have affiliation with gang members
and ex-convicts. As the film progresses, the audience are made aware that she
loses her job for this very reason and aims to seek revenge.

In

the

film Precious (2009), Blu Rain (Paula

Patton) plays the role of Precious new
teacher. She
has
a
positive
representation
of
black women, as she
plays
a
teacher with
nothing but
Precious
best
interest
at
heart. Blu teaches Precious to read and
write, and increases her self-confidence. She is presented as a well-educated,
young black woman who is caring and shows love to younger females, who have
struggled in various ways throughout their childhood. Throughout the film, the
audience soon understand that Blu Rain plays the position of the nurturing
mother that Precious never had. Ms. Rain walks a thin line between the
mother/teacher roles throughout the film, filling Precious with hope that she is
moving into a positive direction in her life that she strives for. Ms. Rain listens to
Precious needs and gives her advice on what to do things a mother would do
for her daughter anyway. However, Mary Jones (MoNique) is a callous and
indifferent mother, who is consumed by afternoon television and psychologically
dependent upon welfare.
John Singletons Poetic Justice (1993) presents the character of Angel (Crystal A.
Rodgers) who is Luckys ex-girlfriend as an uneducated, welfare dependent single
parent. Angel is portrayed as an unemployed, promiscuous woman who has two
children with two different fathers. She is caught sleeping with another man in
her bedroom by Lucky (Tupac Shakur), her ex-boyfriend, whilst her two young
children (including Luckys daughter) are left unaccompanied in the living room.
Here, the character of Angel instantly conforms to one of the stereotypes of
black women in film a single parent who struggles financially and
indiscriminately sexually active. Angel is also dependent on the welfare system
to provide for herself and her children, which is similar to Precious mother, Mary
Jones in Precious. Precious mum actually encourages her daughter to apply for
the benefits system, thus discouraging her to go to school and get an education
for herself. Precious mum, Mary is constantly abusing her daughter, physically
and verbally, and an example of this is during the scene when a social worker

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turns up at their house and asks the mother questions after their well-being.
You're a dummy, bitch! You will never know shit! Don't nobody want you, don't
nobody need you! is what Precious mum says to her daughter once the social
worker has left. MoNiques character is not one you would expect of a mother,
once again, giving a negative portrayal of black women in film, even in the more
contemporary films.
The American drama film Tyler Perrys For Colored Girls (2010) presents black
women in a variety of ways. Each character in the film deals with different
personal struggles and the film describes the interconnected lives of nine
women, analysing their lives and conflicts as women of colour. Crystal Wallace
(Kimberly Elise) is shown as a vulnerable, young mother of two who is abused by
her violent husband who is also an alcoholic. The film clearly shows how she is
conforming to the female stereotype of being inferior to men. Crystal is
characterised as submissive to Beau Willie Brown (Michael Ealy) who plays
Crystals husband and this is a prime example of how some black women were
represented (the film was produced in 2010, however it is an adaptation of
Ntozake Shanges 1975 stage play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered
Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf). A key scene supporting this is when Beau
demands an alcoholic drink from Crystal and says I want a damn drink! in an
aggressive and harsh tone. Crystal doesnt think it is the right thing for him to
drink but she still proceeds and gives him the alcohol that he requests, despite
how she feels about it. Rather than Beau asking politely if Crystal wouldnt mind
getting him a drink, he delivers the dialogue in a hostile tone. This gives the
impression that women in that era were shown to have the least authority within
their household as Crystal obeys her husband instantly. The representation of
black females that is created here is that they are susceptible to abuse
physical, mental and emotional, and they have trouble standing up for
themselves. This is a stereotypical portrayal of women, and may possibly be
derived from the way women were treated during the slave trade. This can be
linked to the representation of the protagonist in Lee Daniels Precious (2009)
who is repeatedly raped and abused by her stepfather. The film begins with
Precious already having a child that suffers from down-syndrome, and then later
on in the film she finds out she is pregnant with her step-fathers second child.
Her disjointed slang is an index of her illiteracy and of her troubled relationship
with society outside of her disastrous home life, and of her Harlem ghetto. Her
vulnerability is not only physical abuse in her home life, but also in her school life
where she is bullied for being overweight and of a darker skin complexion than
her peers. The film also shows a specific scene where Precious is looking in her
bedroom mirror, but sees herself in the reflection of a blonde white woman, like
that was the prettiest thing you could be and look like. This reinforces the idea
that women of colour are shown as having low self-esteem and a lack of selfconfidence within them as Precious believes that her life would be much better if
she were a white woman. Here, black women are represented as females that
are insecure and lack self-belief. Crystal Wallace and Mary Jones in For Colored
Girls and Precious are portrayed as being very submissive to their husband and

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being afraid to stand up for
themselves

a
significant
representation of women in film where
they are again living up to the
stereotypes society has of them.
Tyler Perrys Why Did I Get Married
(2007) is about the difficulties black
women
and
men
face
when
maintaining a solid and healthy
relationship in contemporary times.
Tasha Smith who plays the character of Angela is conveyed as a very stubborn
and head-strong black woman; the audience soon understand that she is the one
who makes all the decisions in the relationship and has the most control. Tasha
Smiths character Angela does not conform to the typical stereotype of women
being submissive to their husbands, showing that there has been a positive shift
in the way black women are presented in film. During conversations between
Angela and Marcus in the film, the volume of her voice always overpowers her
partners voice and he is usually left speechless and/or with his sentences
unfinished. This is not something that is seen as a norm because it is usually the
man that is more dominant between the two spouses, not what the audience see
in Why Did I Get Married. A key scene that can be supported by this idea is
during the film when Angela and Marcus are travelling on a train, on their way to
spend the weekend away with a group of friends. They are arguing about Marcus
ex (Keisha) who is also the mother of Marcus two children. During the argument,
Angela continuously raises her voice and doesnt give Marcus chance to speak.
She chooses when she wants to speak as well as when she wants to listen to
what he has to say a complete opposite from the previous stereotypical
submissive women character.
To conclude, the representation of black females in the film industry is
continuously being reformed. Comparing the 1970s to present day, they are no
longer only playing subordinate characters roles; some are given various
opportunities to play the more substantial characters, highlighting a reform of
the female gender role. However, it is argued that some of the roles might be
seen in a positive light, these roles have reinforced an ideology that the clear
reflection of a black womans status was that of a subservient individual who
would always do as they are told, regardless of the gender, age, race and
position in society of the person they are obeying. In present day, black women
want to identify with being strong and independent, and have control over their
own lives and not have to depend on their significant others to provide for them.
The distinctive illustration of black women in Blaxploitation films to that of the
slavery era shows how the shift in representations affect the values and
identities for these women.4 Social and political impacts have been push factors
in creating more equal opportunities for women, particularly those of colour. In
4 4.Shift in Portrayal of Black Women in America

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film, despite the fact that male protagonists are known as being superior in
present day film, female protagonists are also capable of carrying out similar
tasks.
Word count: 2,536
Bibliography:
1. Urban Dictionary the definition of a wench (2006)
2. US National Library of Medicine - Employment Gains and Wage Declines:
The Erosion of Black Womens Relative Wages Since 1980
3. Beller 1992 Black-White Earnings Over the 1970s and 1980s
4. Shift in Portrayal of Black Women in America T. Francios High Point
University