Black Women in Films

In the essay, “Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films”, Joanne Kilgour Dowdy talks about how the media portrays African American women in movies and books.
When black women have leading roles in films, it is usually a role where they are struggling; most films involving black actors are never positive. Movies such as, “The color purple” and “Precious” are prime examples of this. In these movies, the actresses are playing roles where they are struggling and trying to overcome their struggles. In “The Color Purple” Ceile, the main character, is being emotionally and physically beat down by a man. She is psychologically confused about her role in society because of it, and throughout the movie she is slowly realizing who she truly is and how she should be treated. So she tries to fix her situation. In “Precious”, where the title is named after the main character, she is living in a home where she is abused and treated like a slave by her own mother. However, at the end of the movie, she escapes the situation. In both movies, the women triumph at the end from their struggles in the beginning. Movies like these not only show that black women struggle, but it shows how strong they are through their triumphs. So it’s kind of a bittersweet depiction of African American women in society.

People who are of a different race and are closed minded who watch these films, will think that all black women go through troubles like these. That is definitely not the case, because I don’t know many who have gone through horrific events in their lives. Life is not always happy and easy going so it isn’t unreal for writers to write movies like this, but I think that there should be more movies written about black women in a positive way, so outsiders can see both sides. The media plays a major role in altering peoples perceptions on things.