Reel Image or Not

Reading Reel Women: Black Women in Literacy and Feature Films by Joanne Kilgour Dowdy modified my perspective on black women in films and the roles that they choose to play. In fact, it made me think of how negatively other people could be viewing our race because of films. In the films that many black women are featured in or are the main character in, they are usually portrayed negatively, which puts our gender and race in one specific role that do not all fit into or play. In the movies the author chose to analyze there were only two movies that showed women in positive, very literate roles. This means that two out of nine movies display black women in compromising, illiterate, maybe even drug addicted roles. This could correlate to be a stereotype to someone out of the United States and make it as if inside the United States that only two out of every nine black women are successful and live positive lives. Even in the movies, advertisements, and media as a whole of our generation you could probably count on one hand things in the movies, advertisements, and media that portray black women in a positive ways, or movies that display black women as black, powerful leaders who make a difference. It is up to us to change this, we have to show people that characteristics seen in movies do not apply to every black women. Therefore, we have to stop letting people categorize us and show them black women who go against the grain of what is being show in films and in the media. The people of the world need to see free thinking black women with power, who make a difference in our society and in the world. It’s our choice, let’s choose correctly.