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Defining race and representation in film
RACE
A division of humankind into groups of people with similar (physical) characteristics. A sister concept to race is ethnicity, a division of humankind into groups of people with shared cultures or customs, including nationality, religion, language, and so on. In practice, the two are used somewhat interchangeably. The physical characteristics via which racial classifications have been made have no basis in science and are superficial: any given racially classified group is broadly similar in biological terms to any other. However, although race is constructed by and through culture, designated or adopted racial distinctions are a social and institutional fact, underpinning legislation, shaping common sense, bolstering prejudice, and informing cultural production.
In film studies, early film theory, including Screen theory, was relatively mute on questions of race. Work in this area began in earnest in the late 1970s when scholars began to examine how US cinema, and especially films of the silent cinema era and those produced within the Hollywood studio system, played a role in cultivating a deep-seated racism, founded on colonial conquest and slavery. Celebrated canonical films, such as The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915), were re-evaluated and critiqued for their dissemination of negative stereotypes of African-Americans, including stock characters such as the Uncle Tom, the Lazy Coon, the Mammy, the Tragic Mulatto, and the Black Buck. The western genre was also re-examined in relation to its depiction of Native Americans, and further work described Hollywood’s representation of Irish-, Italian-, Latino-, Jewish-, Asian-, and Arab-Americans (see also stereotype).
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Race. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 28 Aug. 2023
REPRESENTATION
The image or idea of a thing. In film studies, representation is an overdetermined term with various meanings.
1. In a common use, representation is a synonym for film in general, inasmuch as all films constitute an image or idea of the thing they depict. In relation to this, it is necessary to note that what we actually see is a re-presentation (i.e. the screening) of a representation (the film).
2. In debates about film and realism, the specific qualities of photography have led to claims that the film image transcribes, or indexes, reality rather than represents it; in this formulation the film is the thing (see index). A counterclaim has it that all representation is governed by a framework of codes and conventions specific to a particular time and place (see poststructuralism; semiotics) and also that the thing represented is often just another representation (see intertextuality): in this formulation the once-removed nature, and perhaps even the untrustworthiness, of representation is emphasized.
3. Representation is also a key term for scholars who work on questions of identity and on the ways in which films may construct or deploy negative stereotypes of marginalized or oppressed groups (see disability; gender; race; religion; sexuality; social class). In this context, the term can also mean to advocate on behalf of an individual or a group, as with an elected politician or legal representation. Used thus, filmmakers from marginalized or oppressed groups are sometimes said to bear the burden of representation inasmuch as their work is asked to speak on behalf of, or represent, the group to which they belong or are presumed by others to belong (see cultural studies and film).
4. The use of the term to denote the process of mental representation is less common, though it is integral to some theories of perception and psychology that are occasionally addressed within film studies (see cognitivism; phenomenology and film).
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Representation. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 28 Aug. 2023
In the Library's collections
Suggested subject headings for searching the online catalog include:
- minorities in motion picturesCall number range is PN 1995.9 .M56 on Baker Level 4.
- minorities in mass mediaThis is a more general subject heading to use.
Introductory reading(s)
The encyclopedia of ethnic groups in Hollywood by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .M56 M85 2003ISBN: 9780816046041Alphabetically arranged biographical and topical entries cover the treatment and progress of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Jewish Americans, and Native Americans in motion pictures and television.- Ethnic and racial images in American film and television: historical essays and bibliography byCall Number: Baker-Berry Z 5784 .M9 W65 1987ISBN: 9780824087333
Filming difference: actors, directors, producers, and writers on gender, race, and sexuality in film by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .S62 F55 2009ISBN: 9780292719743Addressing representation and identity in a variety of production styles and genres, including experimental film and documentary, independent and mainstream film, and television drama, Filming Difference poses fundamental questions about the ways in which the art and craft of filmmaking force creative people to confront stereotypes and examine their own identities while representing the complexities of their subjects. ...
Selected book title(s)
Beyond the Chinese connection: contemporary Afro-Asian cultural production by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781617037559In Beyond "The Chinese Connection", Crystal S. Anderson explores the cultural and political exchanges between African Americans, Asian Americans, and Asians over the last four decades. To do so, Anderson examines such cultural productions as novels (Frank Chin's Gunga Din Highway [1999], Ishmael Reed's Japanese By Spring [1992], and Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle [1996]); films (Rush Hour 2 [2001], Unleashed [2005], and The Matrix trilogy [1999-2003],) and Japanese animation (Samurai Champloo [2004]), all of which feature cross-cultural conversations. In exploring the ways in which writers and artists use this transferal, Anderson traces and tests the limits of how Afro-Asian cultural production interrogates conceptions of race, ethnic identity, politics, and transnational exchange. ...
Otherness in Hollywood cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .E95 R53 2010ISBN: 9780826463111In Otherness in Hollywood Cinema, Michael Richardson argues that the Hollywood system has been the only national cinema with the resources and inclination to explore images of others through stories set in exotic and faraway places.
Reel inequality: Hollywood actors and racism by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780813586328When the 2016 Oscar acting nominations all went to whites for the second consecutive year, #OscarsSoWhite became a trending topic. Yet these enduring racial biases afflict not only the Academy Awards, but also Hollywood as a whole. Why do actors of color, despite exhibiting talent and bankability, continue to lag behind white actors in presence and prominence? Reel Inequality examines the structural barriers minority actors face in Hollywood, while shedding light on how they survive in a racist industry. ...
Other library resource(s)
Miss representation by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #14627Explores how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in influential positions in America and challenges the media's limiting and often disparaging portrayals of women, which make it difficult for the average girl to see herself as powerful.
Internet resource(s)
- Annenberg Inclusion Initiative - USCThe Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is the leading think tank in the world studying diversity and inclusion in entertainment through original research and sponsored projects. Beyond research, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative develops targeted, research-based solutions to tackle inequality. ...
- Hollywood Diversity Report from UCLAThe reports primarily examine the relationship between diversity and the bottom line in the entertainment industry.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
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