Alice Walker and Cheryl Dunye leads mainstream viewers to think that black female lesbianism has become more accepted in society. For instance, the lesbian images in the Watermelon Woman and The Color Purple represent black lesbian sexual identity in a dominant makes reference to the slavery period where society’s mentality at the time was not open to homosexual relationships. The directors were able to make reference to this and erase the stereotype that black women were undesirable. Specifically, Dunye was able to re-envision the mammy figure of the 1930s to fill the gap of black lesbians missing history. Walker, on the other hand, movies was set in the slavery period where Celie discovers that she has a lesbian desire for women. It's not
