PowerPoint Presentation

Explore How Black Youths Are Represented In Films

During Queen Victorias reign (1837-1901) the main contact white Britons had with people of African descent was either in sport( primarily boxing) or in entertainment. However , few black entertainers existed on stage, though as historian Ziggi Alexander explains, whites appeared with regularity in blackface

Representation during 19th century

This short extract was taken from a book by Steven Bourne Called Black in the British Frame. It explains how during 1837 1901 (the Victorian era) how black people were often imitated by white people in the entertainment industry, this was a normal thing to see during this era. Even though black characters were involved in many plays for example, Britons believed that black people had no place on stage. This was one of the first representations of black people in the entertainment industry.

The Birth Of A Nation was a film that depicted Black men as Dangerous and Violent. When this American film was made in 1915, this was again an early representation and image of black men in particular. They were shown as a threat to society and film was an effective way to instil this idea. . However we see that this was a representation of black men in both the entertainment industry and in society in general.In terms of representation there are still some similarities today, in many films black men are represented as violent and dangerous people. Black men have been represented as this stereotype for many years.

Early 20th Century

During the 80s/90sDuring the 80s and 90s there was boom in Black Culture in film, many more movies were made about Black Culture, black youths and their place in society. Not only was there an increase in films about black culture but there was an increase of black actors and directors for example Spike Lee. An article in BFM talks about how in 1998, although black people were approximately 3% of the population, they accounted for 14% of the lead characters in that years top 100 films.

An article from the Journal of Popular Film & Television talks about The depiction of Black students in films such as School Daze(Spike Lee, 1988) and Higher Learning(John Singleton,1995) that reveals aspects of college life that are not seen in other films based on White, Middle class youth, like law enforcement and poverty.

Present Day..Now in the 21st century the representation of black youths and black people in general within film has progressed. There has been a large increase in the amount of black actors we see on screen and there are things like BFI Black Star which celebrates the range, versatility and power of black actors.

However we still see a level of inequality in film regarding black filmmakers in the UK especially. And even though we see more black actors on screen we still see negative representations of black youths, like for example, we very often see black men and youths as criminals and gang members and we regularly see them die in films. We very hardly however see young black men with intelligence and aspirations, young black men are very scarcely shown as someone with a lot of power unlike the dominant ideology.

In an issue of Black Filmmaker, there was an article about the genuine lack of funding opportunity and encouragement from commissioning groups for UK Black Filmmakers. This lack of funding subsequently results in the small amount of black, British films made by black film makers on our screens today.

Of course we do see some anomalies and breakthroughs for example Amma Asante(a well established black female director) as well as the film Bullet boy as it was funded by the British film council and BBC films.

Bullet BoySaul Dibbs film Bullet boy(2004)is a low budget film about young black teens and the influence and effect of crime. This film was full of stereotypes which explored black on black crime within the youth society and created an interesting concept about criminals and victims, that criminals often are the victims.

An article from the magazine Sight&Sound explored British Urban Youth Dramas at the Uk Box office. Bullet boys gross income was only 453,301. This is an indicator that there is a clear lack of mainstream interest in black orientated youth dramas, this also shows that there is a lack of funding going into youth dramas.

The fact that these films get little funding and support may influence the way in which they present black youths, they may not feel that their film is established enough to cater for all types of audiences so rather than presenting young black people in a true light they present them in a way that they think will attract the most people. Also the stereotypes make it easier for people understand and relate to.

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This is the trailer for bullet boy, in this 2 minute long trailer we can already see the representation of young black men within this film. The fact that this trailer starts off with the scene of police raiding the young mans house instantly installs the idea that he is the criminal rather than the victim, it immediately conforms to the stereotypes of black men throughout history, presenting them as violent criminals, just like the 1915 film Birth of a nation

The Pursuit Of HappinessThe pursuit of happiness is much different in how it present black men, there is still a very strong ongoing theme of racism and prejudice and the relationship between minority groups and the dominant ideology, for the majority of the biographic film these themes are explored in depth. However the film ends in different to many films about black men and black youths, and its message is entirely different. This film shows how black men are intelligent and how they can progress and do something other than become a criminal.

A review online on how this film portrays racism and prejudice explains how Chris(Will Smith, leading role) battles the dominant ideology to obtain his goal.

Overall I think that black youths and black people in general , although with some exceptions ,are generally represented in a negative light in films and the film industry. This is done either for propaganda, to make people believe and agree with the dominant ideology. Or because people find it a much easier subject to digest and find it more relatable. The effect that this has on the film industry and society is that it allows people to continue pursuing specific stereotypes, not supporting young black film makers and actors and instilling prejudice within society.