Racial Disparities Seen In Films

Improved Essays
Most people do not understand how important the Bechdel Test is to the film industry. It does not focus only about the inadequacy of women of films but also the racial disparities seen in films. The women should be treated equal to men, but the real thing is that they are treated as second class citizens regarding representation when it comes to most movies.
Women are either depicted in movies as wives, mothers or girlfriends. The women in most films are valued about the people they marry, bed or birth. Most films depict women as male-dependent and one dimension. I feel this is undermining women in the society since films try to emulate the society.
The article by Cantrell (n.p) shows some highly-rated movies that took people by surprise by

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Maio includes a valid argument at the beginning of her review of Another Woman in which she states “If male filmmakers cared what I and other feminists thought about there work, I’d almost pity their predicament. They face what amounts to a no-win situation” this adds levity to her point but it does not stand for a resolution between Maio and Hollywood (174). At the end of the paragraph, Maio goes on to state that “It seems as though it matter little wether it’s a wether it’s a bimbo bit part or a dramatic lead, male filmmakers can’t seem to keep themselves from saying nasty things about women.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1.3 Racial Diversity It would be completely incorrect to assume that the problem with female representation has been resolved. One cannot be supportive of feminism if it is only seen in one dominant ethnicity. The casual racism that often appears on the Hollywood screen is not only politically incorrect but also unsupportive of female empowerment.…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The media is a wonderfully powerful force in our society. The media gives us everything from important world news to videos of cats. The media also gives us film and television, and while those are two of the most amazing inventions ever they have a major flaw. The media, especially film tends to struggle with female characters. This leads to women feeling like they have less power than men based on the ways they are portrayed in the media.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Before reading the article, I had no idea what a Bechdel Test was. I never even really focused on two women conversing during the movies. Is funny how 90 percent of the movie the Arthur mentioned in the article I have watched, and retrospect I really never witness any women conversing. He also provided a shocking statistics, out of 2,500 movies only half pass the test. For a movie to pass the Bechdel Test isn’t tough, two or more named female characters just have to talk to each other for more than few lines, but they can’t talk about men.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Laura Mulvey states in male controlled society “the pleasure in looking is split between the active-male and passive-female.” this is echoed in the dominant forms in film. Classic Hollywood narratives traditionally focus on a male protagonist with an assumed male viewer. Men are presented as controlling characters and treat women as docile objects of desire; this applies to both on screen and to viewers. Women are objectified in relation to the male gaze, showcasing women as an image and men as owner of what is to be viewed.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial segregation can be defined as a separation of people based on their race who live in a fixed boundary. Each group experiences the same life styles by participating in the same activities or eating the same foods but just in another part of town. The book Maniac Magee can be compared to the artwork New Kids in the Neighborhood in several ways by creating a mood dictated through the setting of racism. The setting of Maniac Magee takes place in a small town called Two Mills where blacks and whites are separated by Hector Street.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Role Of Racism In Film

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In today’s society which we call the United States of America there may be many predictions, speculations, and myths that have been thought of when it comes to our history. I have analyzed and did my own research on the history of racism. Racism is the belief of people of each race, who acts as if one is superior to another race. There are several prejudice practices practiced by racial individuals which discriminates against people of other race and due to their skin color. I watched four movies such as Birth of a Nation, Beloved, 13th, and Do the Right Thing which tells us where racism comes from, and how it is has changed over the years.…

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    NAME: Tera Lovelady COURSE: Socio 154 REVIEW #: 10 TITLE : REVIEW – Miss Representation A) ABSTRACT OR THESIS SUMMARY – Miss Representation is a film written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. It began with statistics of average U.S. media consumption, and discussed media's view of women.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism In Film

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Yuechen Yang Yiman Wang Film 120 03/17/2018 Section H Closes up in Racism in the Cinema of 1915: The Cheat and The Birth of a Nation The year 1915 was a notable year in cinema. Not only there were motion pictures importances mentioned through directors; the formation of the Motion Pictures Directors Association; but also some of the iconic and celebrated films were created in this period.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Segregation In Film

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The two texts District 9 and "Once Upon a Time" both use genre to portray the idea of segregation in two different ways. District 9 uses a blend of the science fiction and documentary conventions whereas "Once Upon a Time" manipulates the conventions of the fairy tale genre. The use of manipulated fairy tale in "Once Upon a Time" shows us that neither side wins in segregation. " IN A HOUSE, in a suburb, in a city, there was a man and his wife who loved each other very much and were living happily ever after" is one of the most prominent examples of classic fairy tale language. Other examples of classic fairy tale include the character of the wise old witch and the building up of the houses which is symbolic of castles.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wonder what the reactions people would have against the discrimination. In this essay, it will show the differences and similarities between the characters from the movie, and story. The 4 characters, Sephy/Paro, and Callum/Devdas from each movie, and story have a lot of differences and similarities at the same time. There are a lot of similarities and differences between Sephy, and Paro.…

    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the years, several Oscar categories traditionally offer a mix of gender, race and sexual orientation among nominees, including documentaries, shorts films, feature animations costume design, hair/make up and editing. As such, based on this year’s Oscar nominations, the general consensus does reflect institutional bias against minorities and women within the motion picture of Arts and Sciences. The academy’s lack of diversity has become so evident that, it attracted a lot of attention from not only the public but to a lot of Hollywood stars who are on the minority side of the spectrum. Diversity does prevail in the film industry, As a matter of fact; the lack of diversity was so obvious that, it prompted some African American stars to boycott…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hollywood: Truly a Land of Opportunity? From white actors portraying black men in classics, such as Othello, or even from white actress playing dark skinned women, such as Mariane Pearl, white actors portraying people of color in american films has been a tradition in Hollywood. Hollywood has historically made the decision to cast white actors instead of letting minorities play their own roles. While Hollywood is known for being a white industry, over the past years more noise, such as the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite (8), has been made about the lack of diversity in their films.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bechdel Test

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Today some of Hollywood’s movies don’t pass the Bechdel test. What exactly is a Bechdel test? It is a test to see if movies pass the three requirements. The first requirement is it must have at least two women in it, second who talk to each other, and third about something other than a man. This test is a type of litmus test to assess the presence of women in movies.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Gender Inequality in Action Films: The Underrepresentation, Misrepresentation, and Over-Sexualization of Women There has been a great rise in women who want to prove that they are just as capable, if not more capable than men. This is especially true in our government and I feel that if the films we watch are still portraying women to be followers instead of leaders.…

    • 1835 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays