Week 7: The Oppositional Gaze

The Black Female Spectators

Written by-Aurianna A

    To start off Bell Hooks writes about the expectations of film and tackles the concept of the oppositional gaze. Specifically through the lens of black woman. Bell hooks talks about black viewership of film by explaining how films can play on the stereo-types of black people and even go as far as to target black women in films. In these films they use black woman as a negative prop within the film and so that the audience can relate with the film's black male character and laugh at the black woman. The filmmakers do this by creating the black woman as a nagging, mean character that doesn’t give support to the male but instead appears to be an annoying character, Hooks states; “She was even then backdrop, foil. She was bitch-nag. She was there to soften images of black men, to make them seem vulnerable, easygoing, funny, and unthreatening to a white audience. She was there as man in drag, as castrating bitch, as someone to Be lied to, someone to Be tricked, someone the white and black audience could hate.” Within films this way was the way to unite the two races during a film that contained black characters. As for films with white characters they wouldn’t do that kind of portray for the white woman, as she is used in films to satisfied that male gaze that is so often used when adding woman to film, or just white films. With the films with black characters the women don’t find their alter egos within that screen character. Hook knew this when she watched film as she said that “she was not us” when referring to a black female in the film; Amos ‘n ‘Andy and referring to the character Sapphire. Bell Hooks explains that black women didn’t have their representation the same as white women representation and it was obvious within the films provided for the people that showed these representations. Black woman felt a struggle to enjoy cinema films as it was like sitting in a room with everyone against you because, you’d be the black woman and the film doesn’t dare to portray you in a way similar to the white women's portrayal, for black woman there was no desire, no way to relate to these characters, but instead to feel negative emotions towards themselves. But on the other hand Hooks spoke with some women who could relate to Sapphire but they understood her through her anger, and they hated the way that the screen represented black womanhood Hooks wrote, “they claimed Sapphire as their own, as the symbol of that angry part of themselves white folks and black men could not even begin To understand.”

”Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood”

Rated: R, 1996 ‧ Comedy/Crime ‧ 1h 34m

        Even in today’s films we can see the use of stereotypes being used to carry a story line or to create a character that follows those stereo-types, sometimes I believe they may just surround the main character around characters that follow those perpetuated stereotypes and yet the film still may become a very popular movie amongst the public, because in a way those stereotypes are what brings interest to the films, it’s like mockery of these characters or where they come from can create this intriguing glance this moment when us the audience starts to believe that what we are seeing is the true representations, but actually the films are really exaggeration of what the film wants us to believe. When I think of modern society using stereo-types I notice they’ll place the stereotypes within black and white movies some popular movies that comes to mind that shows some displays of stereotypes with black neighborhoods is Menace to society, Boys in the Hood, South central, and Juice. These movies perpetuated the idea of gangs and violence in predominantly black neighborhoods suggesting the idea that all black neighborhoods are like these films, not necessarily is it false but it plays on the idea when creating these films that blatantly show stereotypes. To take it farther they began to play with these ideas as a joking manor and make, “Don’t Be a menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood” this film completely takes out the serious factor behind the other films, combining them into one movie that showers the audience with stereotypes to create this humor about the black neighborhoods and the people there this film reached not only black audience but also some white audience as the humor behind the film is to make it easy going, but when you really watch the film the you’ll notice the characters are exaggerated and almost always do things way out of proportions to break those serious boundaries that were placed within the original films this one mocks. Not only do we experience this idea the film gives us but we watch and see how the woman, black woman get portrayed in these films, the way they show the woman on the screen during movies. Black women are shown off as more aggressive and assertive than we see in white films with white women. The gaze that white women experience in film differs from black woman as black woman don’t seem to get that same gesture as white women. Hooks wrote; “black female spectators have gone to films with awareness of the way in which race and racism determined the visual construction of gender. Whether it Was Birth of A Nation or Shirley Temple shows, we knew that white womanhood was the racialized sexual difference occupying the place of stardom in mainstream narrative Film.” and continues; “Mulvey posits of ‘Woman as image, man as bearer of the look’ was continually deconstructed. As critical spectators, black women looked from a location that disrupted” This argues that black women didn’t get used for men’s pleasure to look as suggested with white women in film. Black women got to see themselves from another perspective that completely went against Mulvey as black women weren’t used with the male gaze in mind this created the oppositional gaze for black women they began to rebel on how they viewed the films not associating themselves with the characters.

    Today we can see films with all black characters and it’s made for black audience as well as white films with white characters for white audiences this brings me to think about the new recent movies and shows that are out today and they normally show black characters of all kinds similar to how white cast are in white movies but I feel this reaches those alter egos that are created within film so it’s only natural that more black people are going to gravitate towards films with black people because that alter ego really exist, and for black people, indigenous people or people of color they look for their representations within these films and when the film provides many black characters the chances of finding a character to relate with is higher than finding a character portrayed in a predominately white film that can represent the black, indigenous, or POC within a community while white people are also seeking their alter egos through their films with predominantly white characters. So these films are made to entertain the public so they look to relate to their audience in order to do well when they are released to the public for viewing.



Sources-

Hooks, Bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Routledge, 2015.