Mammy, Jezebel and Sapphire: Stereotyping Black women in media | The Listening Post (Feature)

yes lord got to get out the mummy you tell me who you want done and i'll do the hell out of him the jazzabal [Music] and the sapphire submissive sexy sassy three stereotypes of black women that return to our screens over and over again [Music] the miami is probably the most familiar to people it's usually a maid heavy taking care of the family he is kind you is smart it is important she is asexual she doesn't have really a life of her own she's really only there to support the family and probably one of the most famous examples is mammy from gone with the wind just hold on and suck somebody who is always seeking out to put aside her own desires her own needs for white families white men white women white children meat sugar hill sexiest deadliest chicken town [Music] the second stereotype is the jezebel and that someone who is generally over sex is mysterious her only power is in her body and in the influence she has over men unattainable and then finally the sapphire character i think that's seen in tv more often than anything else get some kleenex wipe your nose cause it ain't that damn sad the sapphire is usually sharp tongue manipulative woman who emasculates her husband there was actually a character called sapphire stevens on the amazon andy show and i guess you think you could cook clean and get along just fine all by yourself i does the representation of the angry black women and that's kind of metamorphosized to today where we just have sassy angry black women who doesn't take anything from anybody [Music] caricatures of black women have been around in western culture for centuries they are rooted in a transatlantic slave trade when stereotypes were used to commodify black bodies and justify slavery [Music] these characters were popularized in what americans called minstrel shows comedic performances in which white actors in blackface lampoon black people just to entertain other whites by the early 1900s minstrel's shows were fading in popularity but the stereotypes endured they made the jump to film then electronic media and they have survived to this day [Music] throughout history more often than not black women are depicted in reductive ways that denies the different experiences and emotions that are a part of their life aunt jemima perfect pancakes in 10 shakes depictions of black women in the media throughout time have been used to put forward ultimately oppressive ideologies generalizations are useful i constantly say this but they're also shortcuts and it feeds into our own racist imagination and we miss the realities the full depth of black women's stories because you are essentializing black people you're saying there is no complexity beyond this well it's going to be no surprise that the audience and the creators alike are going to constantly think that we have represented black women in the way they are when really what they've represented is just the same racist caricature over and over again stereotypes like the mammy jezebel and sapphire have however evolved over time reinvented in characters like the welfare queen and the sassy black friend oh you looking for a sassy black friend oh no i didn't well you got one now girlfriend in the wake of the black lives matter protests there has been renewed pushback against this kind of racist imagery look tin or red bull yeah poor half horay will the rest up with bob's car that is me suited these nails are digging in tonight i have ascribed to play the part of the the welfare queen and my mom is playing the mummy and um it's two like stereotypes together um with no like deep interrogation as to why it's 10 pounds to get in and drinks cost a fortune we just like pop up as like best friends of like our white leads i remember being on set and almost being asked to give us more sass give us more attitude i watched this back and um i absolutely was complicit in the propaganda of the anti-blackness i advocated anti-black-like rhetoric for the sake of capitalism for the sake of a credit cyrus for black actors caricatures are no longer the only parts out there tv shows like scandal how to get away with murder and insecure feature layered black women in their leading roles but such complex multi-dimensional characters are the exception while stereotypes or token black rules remain the rule a fact that is at least partly explained by a lack of diversity behind the camera at the writing desk and in the director's chair one of the problems is that there just really aren't a lot of people of color who are making decisions who are writing who are producing right it's like no job [Music] no man all of this sounds bad but it's actually really good it's good vibes when you think about a show like insecure on hbo issa rae does that because she is a black woman she has black writers black producers and so she makes it her business to make sure that the full story is told the complex parts that's reality and we just don't see a lot of that on tv or in film the fact that the majority of class and directors are white and predominantly male absolutely adds to the further sort of marginalization of black bodies and absolutely contributes to the misrepresentation of who we are and our stories what the hell is bob marley salty can't do vegetables please they just call it a different name now no i'm not eating jamaican food made by english people and so i think we're turning to the internet because the internet allows us to commune mobilize stabilize educate decolonize and free ourselves from the sort of the the dominance that is like the white the white culture the internet has offered black artists a space to tell their own stories and they have proven successful web series like akien saltfish and issa rey's awkward black girl amassed large followings online and both shows were eventually picked up by big broadcasters but it's taken a lot of clicks and likes for tv executives to acknowledge that black women's stories the good the bad the ugly are worthy of their screen time a lot of major networks consider it a risk to tell black stories because they're not always sure that the mainstream will receive them well unfortunately black creators are in a position of having to prove over and over again that our stories are worth telling stop trying to engulf my nose content created by black women who are incredibly talented but who've often been overlooked by industry is engaging it's interesting it's dynamic and also because it typically doesn't conform to the conventions of industry that have been very narrow and prescriptive it's more exciting in many ways than what is offered in the mainstream the white world if you will tells its stories like they are global stories whereas when black people tell their stories those stories are only stories about those people i think that that is something that people really need to question because the way white stories are told the rest of us are supposed to find our humanity in those stories why can't white people find their humanity in our stories as well

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 113,693

Keywords: black women stereotypes, racism, stereotypes, tv, black stereotypes, television, sexism, film, media, representation, women

Id: 2teqoyPe3TU

Length: 9min 8sec (548 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2020