Representations Practice Question[Carousel][08/06/11]

Media representations rarely challenge the dominant values of society, nor do they give a voice to those with little power. To what extent is this true for the group or place you have studied? why?

The above statement may be criticized through many movies recently released within hollywood, for example ‘The Pursuit Of Happyness.’ The main character, played by Will Smith, is one who may be seen to stray from all mainstream stereotypes of a black male, most of which may be seen to be negative. James Monaco stated that black actors would only be hired within a movies cast if the character they were asked to play was specifically black. These characters always came with stereotypes such as the brutal black buck or the remus portraying black males as being a danger to the success of those around them, unless they were under a white mans control. Will Smith’s character however is hard working and strives to be successful at all costs giving a positive light to black male representations. This view of him bringing positivity to black representations will be seen as the preferred reading from the movie’s directer, however his struggle to be successful and his willingness to obey every command from his white superiors may create an alternative reading, this being one which brings back a representation from early Black Hollywood; the uncle tom, as this character was usually a good slave, always obedient to his white master.

‘The Pursuit Of Happyness’ although generally being a positive movie, can be seen to have underlaying negative aspects to it in relation to African American success. Christopher Gardner (Will Smith), when compared to the predominantly white cast of characters around him, clearly works far harder to gain the success he eventually achieves. Although a black male working hard could be considered a positive reading, the fact that the black male is shown to have to work twice as hard and take twice as long to gain the same success level of his white counterparts is likely to be considered a negative aspect of the movie. This feature of the movie shows its audience how society’s views and workings have not changed as much as some may think it has since the late 70’s, and so sticking to the dominant views of society, although Christopher’s eventual success can be seen as the film giving a ‘voice’ to the minority group of African Americans.

In conclusion to this, it would be fair to say that media representations, although not happening all the time, do sometimes challenge the dominant views of a society. Black Hollywood has progressed significantly within the last few decades, moving black representations from slaves to heros within their films. As always, there is still areas in which the film industry must improve on in order to completely remove early stereotypes and to help give a voice to the minority’s, however it may be seen that this overthrow of old stereotypes and the creation of new ones will eventually lead to futuristic representations being used to challenge these current ones. By this we see that media is continuously progressing.