It was said that rock ‘n’ roll posed a threat because black and white working class performers who had southern roots and dialects could be successful among the middle-class audience. This challenged the entertainment industry because they had to look for the next person that was going to be a hit. They went on to exploit small groups that would make them money, making sure they were gained control over rock ‘n’ rolls subculture style. They wanted to target the middle-class white people but instead they decided to take care of the more extreme aspects of the music. In my opinion I think Elvis was both an appropriator and transgressor.
The parts of a blackface minstrel show was to present the black character as being stupid, as being laughable, as being a silly person. What was worse about this is that people loved it. It’s as if that is what people had though about blacks all along that makes it really racist. So when you have Rice’s characterization of blacks it almost reaffirms what typical America had been thinking all along. Then you have the Virginia Minstrels that developed other characters that were way more obnoxious than the character Rice had portrayed.
Spike Lee’s films, deal with different aspects of the black experience, they are innovative and controversial even within the black community. Spike Lee refuses to be satisfied with presenting blacks in their acceptable stereotypes. His characters are three-dimensional and often vulnerable to moral criticism. Lee’s collection of films with the theme racism, stood out for me because he is more interested in subverting the status quo of black history, so it isn’t just typical films which show racism. I also liked Lee’s intimate describing of his experience, and how some of his films had interesting elements to them because he was part of the black society.
Ehab Degachi Christopher Litman ENG 2150 December 9th, 2012 Mayberry’s article focuses around discussing the role that males play in not only the community of “Bottom” but how their actions and decision making impacts the relationship between Black males and females. She goes to decipher how white men affect the actions of black men who ultimately affect the black females in the story. The white men are seen as superior, so naturally, the black men want to be like them or at least as powerful as them while still resenting them, not worshiping. They tend to be unsuccessful and resort to black females as the solution to their problems. In the article, Mayberry writes “The bottom is not powerful enough, however, to contain the destructive
They don’t like the fact that he in fact a wealthy black man.. The townspeople although know that Jodie is well respected think that he shouldn’t be because he is an African American male. Not only can racism be a war between people of the same race because of wealth and not believing your race is superior but also from jealousy. Everyone gets jealous and sometimes to cover up that jealousy they become racist against them. If you’re an African American other African Americans could be jealous of you because it is a time period where they feel they weren’t equal.
Besides the obvious black face that white people put on in minstrel theater with the help of burnt cork, the tropes of the genre include stylizations or parodies of black music, dance, speech, and character. Actual blackface theater was already in decline toward the end of the nineteenth century, but here and there it survived much later. In 1848, Frederick Douglass scornfully branded blackface minstrels as “the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied to them by nature ( Blackface and Blackness ,7).” This should remind us that in the years when blackface theater was most popular, slavery was still an American fact of life in Southern states. As one historian put the matter, for a “half-century” these entertainments represented “insurement to the uses of white supremacy.” The
The injustice that King described was the discrimination and segregation of colored people. King fought to break the racial barriers that prevented colored people from living peaceful lives. The only people who benefitted from these conditions of segregation were the Caucasians, because they were treated superiorly compared to colored people, and their lives were easier. King’s use of rhetorical devices strengthened the true depth and damage that discrimination and segregation caused on society. “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination (1).” In this quote, King compares segregation and discrimination to the manacles and chains because they both held something down.
The movie is fully embedded in black culture, as seen in its dialogue, cast, visuals and soundtrack. Given how underrepresented and unsympathetically portrayed black people have been in cinema in general, I applaud the filmmakers for taking this step. The themes of the movie are even concerned with things that most white people don’t have to worry about. By making Killmonger an advocate for militancy and anger, while T’Challa symbolizes love and peace-making efforts, “Black Panther” is about how black people should respond to years of oppression. This adds another layer to their conflict.
The value of their culture was widely received by its users, which give the black a sense of culture superiority. Apparently, this kind of superiority now faces the challenge from stronger cultures represented by white culture. The conflict with the white culture makes the black dislike it. That’s why MJ in the film strongly dislikes the
1. I truly believe that John Singleton used the unusual spelling in this film’s title to appeal to his core audience, young African Americans. I believe had he used the correct spelling of the title that maybe it would not have been so eye catching. I also may be way off base but I was intrigued by the use of the capital N in the title. I have to wonder if Singleton did not use this as a way to get across the ugly word that so many are afraid to even hear uttered.