innernerdpenguin

[innernerdpenguin]

The Hypermasculinization of Black Women in Media

Media has an obsession with portraying Black women as hypermasculine. Black women, especially women of darker skin tones, have always throughout history been hyper masculinized. Serena Williams, Michelle Obama, Megan thee Stallion are all incredibly talented women who should be described as beautiful or exceptional, however, all of them face ridicule and are often shamed for their appearance and mannerisms. All of these women have faced accusations of being trans women. These accusations are not only harmful to both trans women and these women, pushing the stereotype that trans women are not real women and are not seen as feminine, but also reinforces the narrative to shame and ridicule Black women in positions of power. Serena Williams was shamed for her muscular body, people have digitally altered pictures of Michelle Obama to exaggerate her physical appearance in order to mock her, People have speculated Megan Thee Stallion to be trans because of her well-built physique and her height. Black women often face mockery for their physical appearance and are compared to men, something that is not common in comparison to White women. Black women often have the stereotypes attributed to them that they are aggressive, angry, and combative which are seen as traditionally masculine traits in contrast to traits seen as traditionally feminine like being quiet, docile, meek, and submissive. Black women of darker skin tones face more colorism and prejudice making it that the lighter you are in skin tone and the closer you are in proximity to whiteness the more you are seen as feminine. Many feminine beauty standards are based in the beliefs of the patriarchy and white supremacy. Black women are often forced into being a hypersexual caricature or being completely stripped of their sexuality entirely and not being seen as a person who could be desirable. I believe this hyper sexualization is also a trait of them being seen as hyper masculine and is used as a way to continue to dehumanize them and to continue to only see them as this aggressive, beastlike creature and not consider them as women. This common theme in media is incredibly disgusting to see and furthers the dehumanization of Black women and contributes to their oppression, encouraging the idea that Black women could never be seen as beautiful or human. Additionally, this unrelenting hypermasculinization of Black women lead to people feeling less sympathetic towards Black women, not seeing them as people who are able to be vulnerable or have a human experience which contributes to more harm done onto Black women and takes away Black women’s voices when they attempt to speak out about harm done onto them.

[innernerdpenguin]

Why I hate The disposable black girl trope

Black women tend to fall into 4 stereotypes in the media. The song Four Women by Nina Simone encapsulates this practice very well. There is Aunt Sarah who is the matriarch, mammy figure. Then there is Saffronia who represents Biracial Black women, Next there is Sweet Thing who represents the hypersexual, jezebel character that is often forced onto Black Women, and last there is Peaches who represents the angry black woman, sapphire stereotype. These stereotypes are harmful, but it is often that this is how black women are presented in the media. However, there is another trope. The “Disposable Black girl” trope is used as a way to represent black women without falling into the previous stereotypes. However, this trope is also harmful, it treats black women as an accessory to the main character and when she no longer has value, she is something to be thrown away. Once the main character realizes they no longer want to be with the “Disposable black girl” they abandon her and typically leave her for a white counterpart. The only purpose of her character is to help the main protagonist develop as a person and help them realize who they actually want to be with. An example of this trope is Amber Bennett from Invincible. Amber is beautiful, smart, funny and presented as being out of Mark Grayson’s lead. All together she is presented as being a flawless character, which is also dehumanizing because real human beings have flaws, they do not develop her character in a well-rounded way. As time passes Amber breaks up with Mark and is demonized. While it is normal to have characters break up, the way the show presents this does not give Amber enough development and then makes her easily unredeemable when she breaks up with Mark. There are so many other instances where this trope happens: Ola in Sex ed, Laena in House of the Dragon, Josie from Riverdale and countless others. This harmful trope furthers the narrative that Black women are just placeholders to be disposed of, they only exist to be an accessory to someone else but can never be taken seriously as a person and also that a Black woman could never be someone who is seen as desirable especially in comparison to White women. To prevent this trope from happening I think studios need to hire more Black people, especially Black women to be in these creative spaces. Due to the lack of Black women and other people of color in these spaces there is a cultural disconnect because there are not enough people there to accurately depict what it is like to be a Black woman. When telling Black stories Black people deserve to represent themselves.

[innernerdpenguin]

I hate how the media typically portrays Black relationships

The media has an obsession with constantly portraying Black love as hypersexual or toxic. This fetishization further perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Black people and their relationships with others. The media portrays Black Women as people that are hypersexual and uncivilized or as undesirable. The media also portrays Black Men as aggressive, violent, untrustworthy, and misogynistic. The media pushes toxic black relationships and treats this trope as comedy or entertainment. In many forms of media, these stereotypes are spread, depicting Black Women as jezebels, matriarchs, or as sapphires. These stereotypes affect Black Women’s relationships in real life. These stereotypes can have an effect on how men view Black Women, and they place more emphasis on the woman’s physical appearance. This creates an increase in featurism. If a girl does not look a certain way or have their desired features to fulfill their fantasy, they would not view the girl as a suitable partner. Additionally, stronger belief in these negative depictions of black people will lead to more distrust and dissatisfaction in Black relationships. An example of a negative Black relationship that is often used as comic relief was Dionne and Murray’s relationship from the movie “Clueless”. Murray would constantly use derogatory terms to refer to Dionne, they did not place much trust in each other, They would constantly yell and fight with each other, and Murray would cheat on Dionne. There is even a comment made in the movie comparing them to Ike and Tina Turner. While this relationship was made to provide entertainment to the audience; it also furthered racial stereotypes. It depicted Murray as untrustworthy and misogynistic, and it also depicted Dionne as a rude, loud, angry Black Woman. This depicts Black people as aggressive and combative. Media often hyper masculinized Black Women. Black Women are often portrayed as undesirable and desperate or as hypersexual and aggressive. I believe this hypersexual caricature that is often projected onto Black Women is a way to further emphasize how they are often seen as hyper masculine and used as a tactic to further dehumanize them and portray them as more beastly and uncivilized. However, when a Black Woman is seen as feminine, she traditionally has more Eurocentric features, such as lighter skin, looser hair, and a particular body type. These negative stigmas contribute to featurism, projecting the ideals that the closer someone is in proximity to whiteness the more respectable and civilized someone is. Derogatory terms constantly used in TV, Movies, and Music constantly used to refer to Black Women further implement in people's mind that Black Women are not people to be respected. Additionally, Black Men are portrayed as deceitful and dishonest and always craving sex turning them into this more animalistic caricature further dehumanizing them. Finally in the movie “Why Did I Get Married?” Mike and Sheila are in an incredibly toxic relationship. Mike degrades Sheila, body shames her, and cheats on her. It is devastating that a Black relationship is represented like this in a movie but this film also pushes stereotypes about colorism, Mike is a dark skin man and this movie further pushes the narrative that dark skin people are miserable and would not make suitable partners. It is immensely harmful that Black people are represented this way in the media because it encourages harmful stereotypes towards the Black community that affect Black people in real life. These stereotypes are hurtful, dehumanizing, and are not accurate depictions of the Black community. I hope that in the future production companies could develop Black characters more as people and not only treat them as accessories to their White counterparts or as caricatures created to act out racial stereotypes.

[innernerdpenguin]

I hate when movies turn Black characters into anthropomorphic creatures

There is a common theme in children’s media where Black characters and characters of color get turned into anthropomorphic beings. This trope is often done because creators of the movie do not see people of color as people to relate to and they do not believe the audience would be able to connect with a character that was a person of color. This trope literally dehumanizes people of color and furthers the harmful expression of blackness in characters, that it is not enough for a character to just be a Black person, they need to change themselves in order to connect with others and be seen as redeemable. In the Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog” the protagonist Tiana Rogers is only seen as a human in the movie for approximately 26 minutes, however we see her character as a frog for approximately 45 minutes. In Blue Sky Studios movie “Spies in Disguise” the protagonist Lance Sterling is seen as a human for approximately 38 minutes, yet we see Lance’s character as a pigeon for approximately 47 minutes. Finally, in the Pixar movie “Soul” the protagonist Joe Gardner is human in the movie for approximately 20 minutes and then the character goes on to take up two non-human forms, he is a spirit for approximately 38 minutes and takes the form of a cat for approximately 33 minutes, making it approximately 71 minutes he is not human. In all of these examples a Black protagonist is a non-human creature longer than they are a human being. Which also raises the question, "Are these studios really telling Black stories if the majority of the time spent in the movie, they are not a Black person?" It is especially heartbreaking that this trope is so common because it is not often Black people are represented in pieces of media so the fact that this trope is so prominent is taking away chances children have to see themselves in cinema that they want to enjoy. Oftentimes when this trope is utilized, especially in the previously mentioned movies, it is used as a way to show character development and depict how the character grows and changes throughout the film. While it is possible to show growth as a person after experiencing a life altering event, movies are able to show a character changing because of this without having the character lose their blackness. I think a solution to this issue would be hiring more people of color in the production of these movies so that these stories could depict Black culture accurately. This dehumanizing microaggression is a way the producers of the movie separate Black characters from their human bodies because of their inability to see Black people as human. This further projects the idea that people of color are not human enough to be able to have adventures or their own stories. People of color have to physically change aspects of their identities in order to be seen as relatable or be seen as a person with innate humanity. I believe this trope is so prominent because these pieces of media are often created by people who are not Black, because of this, there may be a disconnect in telling Black stories and they feel the need to compensate by completely stripping the character of their blackness entirely. A movie that does a good job at developing their character without having them turn into an anthropomorphic creature is “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”. Miles Morales is an Afro-Latino character who maintains his blackness throughout the movie but does grow and change as he experiences a life altering event. Additionally, there is a common trope where one of the Black character’s parents have to pass away. This trope is also used as a way to develop character growth in a protagonist; however, it pushes the idea that a Black story needs to be filled with misery and sadness in order to be valid. The usage of these tropes constantly being used does a disservice to Black stories and fails to recognize the beauty and richness of Black culture and also fails to give proper representation for the children of color who watch these films.

[innernerdpenguin]

The manic pixie dream girl trope and what it means to be a likable protagonist

I wish that there was more representation for weird girls in the media, just weird, strange, uncharismatic, awkward girls in cinema. I want to see girls like this because I identify with these girls. I want to see girls who struggle to fit in and who know what it's like to feel like the odd one out. Girls who don't feel exceptionally beautiful, or smart, or funny. In other words I want to see a weird female protagonist in a show because I feel like it would be an accurate representation of who I am. I don't like the manic pixie dream girl trope. I hate the trope because they do not treat this character like a human being they treat her like an accessory. Her only purpose is to develop the male protagonist, make him a better person, and then she has to leave. She could never be developed more as a character or be treated like a human; she is just an almost broken accessory that completes its service and then is no longer valuable. Additionally, I hate this trope because it fetishizes women in real life who do act like these characters, and then these real women meet other people around them who wish to get close to them however they do not see these women as people but also accessories to help develop them, but when these women act like more than just accessories and like real, complex, genuine people, these fetishizers treat them as if they are disposable, yet again just another almost broken accessory. In some ways I do relate to the manic pixie dream girl trope but the trope does not explore the girl in a truly deep, developed way. It doesn't develop her problems or talk about her thoughts or fears and frustrations as a person. She is just a device to highlight the main protagonist more. Additionally, in movies where there ARE girls who are uncharismatic and weird, the girl is always forced to change. She has to change her hair or her fashion or she needs to take off her glasses. The girl is never able to be herself, she is always expected to change for the people around her. In comparison to her male counterpart, If there is an awkward male protagonist in a movie he never has to change or alter his physical appearance, everyone around him just adapts to his antics and everyone else changes to suit him. Furthering more this idea that women only exist to be someone else’s fantasy. In a movie an uncharismatic girl can’t continue to be herself because it is too unredeemable. She needs to be exceptional in a certain way. She needs to fulfill this role of being gorgeous, or smart, or have a quality that would make her a useful accessory to someone. Which also leads me to wonder, why are there no black manic pixie dream girls? Why are there no black weird girls in cinema? The point of a manic pixie dream girl is she is an “unconventional” girl who is still supposed to be desirable to the male protagonist and weird girls in media are girls that are relatable to the audience but in the movie she still is able to be desirable to a group of people. The reason why I think there are no black weird girls or black manic pixie dream girls in the media is because black women are not seen as desirable or people to relate to in the media. In every coming of age film I see the black side character is either the sassy best friend or an academic weapon. A black girl in the movie could never just be an oddball character who is trying to have fun and navigate her life. I would love to see shows about being an awkward black girl because it would give awkward black girls everywhere representation and something to relate to, to remind them that they aren't alone. It would be really incredible to see both weirdness and blackness in a show because society doesn’t typically allow those things so seeing both of those things be represented at once would be a great act of rebellion.