Colorism In The Film 'Dark Girls'

Imagine a monotonous world, where people possessed the same tone and features as others around them. Now imagine this monotonous world became a place of existence through colonization, and abrogated practices of uniformity to an idea of supremacy. Because every person’s physical makeup would then be the equivalent of the other, this hypothetical place could possibly eliminate discriminatory acts against individuals, and groups based on race, or skin color. Unfortunately, we do not live in this world. Instead we live in a world where society separates, group, and ostracize us based on our differences. When these differences cause communities to fight within themselves, such as in the case of colorism, it causes a great divide that tears these communities apart. The documentary film “Dark Girls” examined the internalized impact of these discriminatory acts on variant ethnic communities. The film looked at the history of colorism, and how European colonization has greatly affected the social stratification of ethnicity and color. Psychologist Dr. Tifase Webb-Msemaji states, During the time that they were enslaved, there were others [children] who had been either from birth or, from rape from slave owners […] somewhat different in complexion than others. These children …show more content…
Though beautiful women of color [American popular culture icons]…have achieved renown in U.S. culture, media representations of these women have become increasingly “Anglicized” or “whitewashed” over time […] finding positive depictions of women with dark skin tones or natural hair is still nearly impossible in mainstream media. Further, when we do see women of color represented as beauty icons in the media, they almost always already fit white ideals – meaning they already have light skin tones, light-colored, straight hair, ideally “white” facial features, thin figures, etc. (Kite