What do films teach us

What do films teach us has been one of the hardest questions that I have been asked to answer during this course, I’ve had to really think and consider what have I’ve learned so far while watching these films. Films teach us about the many different narratives,that are relevant to everyone from a place of objectivity and sometimes subjectivity. As Bell Hooks told us, stories hold power and only hearing one side or one person’s perspective can lead to ignorance. Truth is revealed by many different perspectives. Compared to the progress made in education and employment we as African Americans have struggled to gain control or even entry into how we are portrayed in the media. More often than not we’re not in the board rooms, we’re not the script writers, or the casting directors etc., and therefore we are not authentically represented, our stories not being told from our perspective. In this course films have taught me that black image is multi-dimensional and has many different diverse layers because we as people are very diverse. These films have taught me to question the status quo, more importantly taught me to challenge the image of black characters in mainstream media. For example the movie Sweet Sweetback required me to reexamine the notion of black masculinity. Sweet Sweetback attempts to destroy the boundaries of femininity and masculinity. Here we have a male prostitute, who is quiet and docile, he’s submissive, told when to have sex and furthermore the leader of a biker gang is none other than a white female.  

                                          

Another example of gender blending is seen in the movie Superfly, the main character embraces a variety of categories, he is very metro-sexual and flashy while still being very tough and gangster. Too often we shy away from stereotypes but the only way to combat them is with reality and different perspectives.

Films have the power to open our minds and see things from another perspective. My reality can be vastly different from someone else, but until I am made aware of this I will always be ignorant of that. One of the most important things that films teach us is how to engage and can make you question ideologies thought to be set in stone.

The following is an interesting video I saw about how black people are always the first to die in movies, yet the orators manage to connect this to the harsh reality of what it means to be black in America,