For most of my life I've been caught in between who I really am and how I'm perceived." When the #Oscars-so-white hashtag took off in 2015, it drew attention to the larger conversation around whose stories get told and recognized. "In 2016 the nominations came out and again there were no people of color in any of the acting categories." But it’s equally important to discuss how black stories have long been told. "The network does not want to see negros on television unless they are buffoons." There’s a long history of grotesque racist caricatures depicting black people as childlike, animalistic or lazy, "I'm just a worn-out ol' man what don't do nothin' but tell stories." in order to justify slavery, and the systemic mistreatment of black people. "When you mock or belittle us, you enforce an existing system." Versions of these caricatures carried over into our earliest blockbuster movies and remained popular onscreen, "If you don’t care what folks says about this family, I does." in large part because, while black characters have always been a part of American films, black filmmakers (and sometimes even performers) tended to be excluded from their creation. If we look closer, numerous anti-black stereotypes persevere in some form to this day across our films, TV shows and culture. "When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called: 'How to Get Away with Being an Angry Black Woman.'" Here’s our Take on the history of black stereotypes on screen, where they came from, and how they still influence our society today much more pervasively than you might think. "Cops everywhere staring down the barrel of a gun at a black man don’t see a human being, they see a caricature, a thug, a n[BLEEP]." If you're new here, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell to be notified about all of our new videos. This video is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. It's like your own personal Film Festival streaming anytime, anywhere. One major category of anti-black stereotypes portrays black people as contented faithful servants. "My head is splitting." "Well, leave that to me, let Aunt Lily rub the back of your neck." Slavery’s defenders used these depictions to argue that the institution couldn’t be amoral because black people enjoyed serving white families. "I don’t know why we leaving Massa’s house. He been good to us." Hard-working and loyal, the "Mammy" figure was painted as deeply devoted to her "white family." "How I gonna take care of you and Miss Jessie if I ain't here... I'se your cook. And I want to stay your cook." In The Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith’s 1915 white supremacist film which is largely credited for the 20th century resurgence of the KKK, the mammy character (played by a white actor in blackface) defends her master’s home from union soldiers, suggesting that she’s so committed to serving that she would risk her life rather than seek freedom. Proponents of slavery used the Mammy to suggest that, far from being abused, black women were beloved and willing surrogate mothers to the families they served. "Massa Carey’s coming!" "Praise the lord!" But historians have found little evidence to substantiate the idea that enslaved black women were even commonly working in the home, as the mammy trope suggests. "Just hold on and suck in." Due to the high price of slave labor, all but the wealthiest families generally limited their slaves to field work. Those slaves who were assigned to housework were likely to be light-skinned, skinny, and quite young, in contrast to the onscreen mammy who was almost exclusively portrayed as dark-skinned, older, and heavy set. "Who’s always in the kitchen but never seems to know what’s cooking?" Aggressively desexualizing the Mammy helped to conceal the fact that many ‘house slaves’ (especially women) were frequently sexually abused by their white masters. Nevertheless, the Mammy figure persisted on film and TV throughout the 20th-century. In 1934’s Imitation of Life, Louise Beavers’ Delilah refuses her boss’s offer to pay her for her pancake recipe, insisting that she would be happier to continue to work for and live with her. "My own house? You gonna send me away, Miss Bea? I can't live with you? Oh, Honey Chile, please don't send me away." In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black woman to win an Oscar for acting for her role as a character named Mammy in Gone With the Wind. "Oh, now Miss Scarlet, you go on and be good and eat just a little." Over the years, more films and shows have explored the problems and emotional plights of black women who continued, after the end of slavery, to raise white children as domestic workers. "Well, someone has to look after those children." "Really? And where are your kids? Are they all doctors and lawyers?" But even modern films that are sympathetic to black rights can still perpetuate aspects of the Mammy trope in their characters. While the maids of The Help are shown to be unhappy serving white families, they still come across as "noble servants," mainly celebrated for their selflessness and kindness. "You is kind, you is smart, you is important." Arguably, the modern trope of the "black best friend," too, can be seen as a partial descendant of the mammy, since this character’s role is to constantly provide support (and sometimes tough love) to the white main character. "Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to go to lunch with my friends and have them ask me about my problems." The Strong Black Woman trope (which we’ve discussed in a separate video) also portrays black women as using their apparently infinite strength primarily to help other (frequently white) characters. Celebrating black women for their selflessness and service "The minute you started working here, she started getting better." creates a bind where black women feel they’re not allowed to be selfish or need help themselves. "I think the superwoman syndrome is suffering in silence." The male version of the faithful servant caricature was the docile, pious, and extremely subservient Uncle Tom. "What does that mean? Free the slaves?" "I don’t know what it means myself." Ironically, this type originated from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s extremely popular abolitionist novel, Uncle Tom’s cabin, in which the devout Tom nobly chooses to sacrifice his life rather than sell out other runaway slaves. "I have made up my mind that I’m gonna kill you lest you tell me what’s happened to them." But Stowe’s abolitionist message was lost in popular pro-slavery minstrel stage adaptations of her novel, which morphed Uncle Tom into a degrading caricature so devoted to serving that he was more than willing to backstab other black people. "Why's you cryin?" "Because you scarin me." Films also portrayed Uncle Tom characters as totally subservient. "Put that big smile back on your face." "Which one? This one." In 1935’s The Littlest Rebel, Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson (who later became famous for playing Tom characters) plays an enslaved man who protects his confederate master from persecution during the civil war. "Is there a rebel hiding in this house?" "No sir no sir, master general. nobody at all sir." In movies like 1936’s Show Boat and 1943’s Heaven Can Wait, Clarence Muse plays amiable black servants to white families. "Boss, boss, got good news for you, the captain is out, ain’t that fine? Now you can have a few more cakes." Over the years, the "Uncle Tom" name evolved into a damning insult in the black community, describing black people who are subservient to white people at the expense of their own communities. "Only an Uncle Tom would do this shit, they’re just looking for somebody to sell out." But films continued to feature descendants of this character who was happy to serve white people, treating the Tom as a so-called "positive stereotype. "It was my fight." "No!" "It was my fight." Celebrated black actor Sidney Poitier played modern-day toms in 1957’s Edge of the City, where his character sacrifices his life to save a white man. "It’s me you really want, isn't it?" nd in A Patch of Blue, where his character befriends a blind white girl and helps her come into her own. "There just as I thought," "What?" "Now you’re a very pretty girl." "Pretty? Me?" In the 1989 Academy award winner for best picture, Driving Miss Daisy, Morgan Freeman’s Hoke echoes the demeanor of the toms of the past in his selfless service to Daisy. "On the trolley?! Why don’t you let me carry you Miss Daisy?" One enduring trope that partially descends from the Tom is the Magical Negro- a black character who possesses some special insight or magical-seeming ability. "My grandmother and i could hold conversations entirely without hardly opening our mouths, she called it shining." and who exists in the story solely to help the white protagonist on a journey of personal self-fulfillment. "I hear you lost your swing. I guess we got to go find it." The enduring popularity of these characters suggests that black men remain most palatable to white audiences when they are submissive, selfless and always affable. "Hey, you kids hungry?" And puts pressure on black men to perform these qualities. Another historical legacy of mammies and toms is the enduring idea that black people (and especially black women) are only suited for domestic work. "Miss, another martini." "Oh hell no, I know she ain’t talking to me." "Ashley, she doesn’t work here." This conception, which severely limited black women’s upward mobility after slavery, is also reinforced by the many American brands that feature mammies and toms on their packaging, and who, after decades of criticism, have finally vowed to change their imaging. A second category of black stereotypes were crafted to send the message that black people are generally unfit for society. "What are their character traits?" "Ignorant," "Uh!" "dull-witted," "Uh!" "lazy," "Uh!" "and unlucky!" "Uhhhhh!" The Sambo caricature-essentially a slow-witted "happy slave"- sent the message that black people were childlike, lazy, and perpetually smiling. "I thought of it all by myself." "Well, you must be thinking better than you used to, James Henry" "Yes massa Kerr, I even think more often now." This caricature is at least as old as America but was popularized by 19th century blackface minstrel theater performers with painted-on smiles. "Show...time!" and it promoted the idea that black people liked being enslaved- because they were simple-minded, perpetual children unable to care for themselves. "You don't put your shoes on?" "I save them in case my feet run out then I'll have them." The Coon caricature similarly ridiculed the idea that black people could successfully integrate as free members of American society. Like the Sambo, these coons (also called zip-coons and urban coons) were depicted as lazy and unintelligent. "Why don’t you get a job and go to work?" "I almost had me a job this morning." However, while the Sambo was content to be a slave, the coon wanted to be free. Minstrel shows and beyond derived their humor from mocking this aspiration as ludicrous, showing the coon trying and failing to assimilate to white society, speaking in malapropisms, dressing flamboyantly, and avoiding work at all costs. "And the man said to give me a situation he’d have to put me through a simple sap examinution." "No stupid you mean a civil service examination." Stepin Fetchit, one of the first black actors to reach mainstream prominence, became synonymous with this caricature. "Stepin there’s a letter for you." "Well if I was you I’d bring it to me myself." His slow-talking mannerisms and exaggerated body movements othered his characters to an extent that made his performances almost grotesque. "Alright can’t say I never told you now." Though this caricature has been largely condemned, its lasting legacy is evident in the volume of 20th century films and TV shows in which a black or black-coded character’s slowness is played for laughs. "Are you brainless?" "I speak." "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent." "Mesa called Jar Jar Binks, mesa your humble servant!" It can be seen in classic Disney animations, from Dumbo, (whose crows are coded as black) "They ain't dead, is they?" "Dead people don't snore-or do they?" to The Jungle Book, whose King Louie (referencing Louis Armstrong) and his black-coded monkey followers are characterized as dirty, amoral and uncivilized. "Why you flat-nosed, little-eyed, flaky creeps!" "A disgraceful performance. Associating with those undesirable, scatterbrained apes." When Louie sings about wanting to be like a man, "I wanna be a man, mancub, and stroll right into town, and be just like the other men." this can be read as expressing his desire to be white (and therefore treated as human). "An Ape like me can learn to be human too." He wants to possess fire- "Lay the secret on me, of man's red fire." a longstanding symbol of what elevates humans above the animals, ever since the Ancient Greek myth of Prometheus stealing it from the Gods to give to mankind. But the other Jungle Book characters view Louie’s goal of being human (i.e., white) as depraved and unrealistic "Fire! So that's what that scoundrel's after." and when Louie and his monkeys realize they won’t get what they want, they quickly descend into brutish violence and destroy their own home in the jungle’s ancient ruins, which scholar Greg Metcalf reads as representing the "slums," in a scene that he sees as an allusion to the 1965 Watts Riot. The coon caricature resulted in widespread stereotyping of black people as lazy, unintelligent tricksters, even influencing American social policy. "From now on, our nation's answer to this great social challenge will no longer be a never-ending cycle of welfare. It will be the dignity, the power, and the ethic of work." In the 1980s and 90s, these negative caricatures evolved into the myth of the welfare-queen, who would rather live off of state money than work, "Y'all stupid for going to work every day and paying taxes. I let the government pay for all of my shit, and I lives like a queen." a stereotype that can still be seen in modern entertainment. "School ain't gon help none. Take your ass down to the welfare!" While the "coon" caricature led to black men being portrayed as lazy and unintelligent, black women tended to be characterized as domineering, sassy, and downright angry. "And why does everyone just assume I'm angry all the time? It's called being sassy, Mr. Schue." The pervasive Angry Black Woman stereotype is also known as the 'Sapphire,' after the domineering character in Amos and Andy, the 1950s radio show voiced by mostly white actors which became a TV show with an all-black cast. "It’s about time you met some decent people instead of that horrible uncouth group you associate with." This show depicted Sapphire as constantly scolding her lazy husband for being irresponsible and unemployed. The idea that black women are inherently sassy, "Mmhm. Ma'am, this over-the-counter diaper cream is prohibited." has much earlier roots, in a subsection of the mammy trope known as the 'sassy mammy.' "Miss Scarlett, Where are you going without your shawl with the night air fixing to set in?" Popularized by actress Hattie McDaniel, in films like Judge Priest in addition to Gone With the Wind, the trope of the sassy housekeeper who still ultimately loves the family she serves was another way that the mammy was painted as "part of the family," comfortable enough to give them a hard time, and versions of this sassy housekeeper type still live on today. "I'mma go in that laundry room and I'mma get on my knees and PRAY that that tequila I hid in the cabinet is still there." But in the 20th century, sassy mammies working in white homes evolved into characterizations of black wives and mothers who chastised their own families. "Michael, get your feet off my damn couch before I slap the jam out of your toes." Like the coon caricature, the sapphire pathologizes any black woman who wants to exist outside of the white domestic structure, by suggesting she’s unfit for traditionally feminine duties like marriage or mothering her own children. "Gina how you gonna have a baby when you’re still taking care of one?" The prevalence of these characterizations helped solidify enduring, damaging assumptions that black families are more likely to be broken or dysfunctional, defined by an absent black father and an overbearing black mother. "I’m so mad at you, I could jump down your throat and stomp on your liver." In more recent years, black women’s perceived anger has shifted from being focused at their families to being directed at society. "You owe me an apology.I have never cheated in my life." Today the Sapphire remains a fixture in Reality TV. "With Omarosa it’s either her way or it’s no way." And the angry black woman trope has been weaponized against any black woman who dares to speak out against the systemic oppression and injustice perpetrated against her- even being leveled at accomplished professional women like Michelle Obama and Serena Williams. "I was called an angry black woman" Finally, a third category of pervasive stereotypes paints black people as animalistic. Whereas the mammy and tom caricatures were purposefully desexualized, certain caricatures portrayed black people as wild or animalistic by hypsersexualizing them. "I know I'm not good enough for you but let me have your precious white body just once." The jezebel caricature portrays a black woman who is lascivious and insatiable by nature. "I’m told that you are a dangerous man, Arturo. I like that. It excites me." During slavery, this caricature was commonly utilized to justify the common sexual abuse of black women by white men. "Queen of the fields, she is." The jezebel became popularized on screen in the 1970s during the rise of ‘blaxploitation’ movies. "You’ll be nice to them boys, won’t you, if we’re nice to you?" And, to this day, black women face a double standard that judges them as being "too sexual" even when they make the same clothing choices that are accepted for white women. For black men, hypersexualization took the shape of the aggressive, amoral buck or brute caricature, also known as the Mandingo. "Be my victim." To this day, it is not unusual for black male characters to be described as more virile, "Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady." naturally strong, or athletic. Going back to Birth of a Nation and 1933’s King Kong- which can be read as a racist allegory about a black man stealing a white woman before she’s rescued by heroic white men- "We’ll give him more than chains. He’s always been king of his world but we’ll teach him fear." movies have helped propagate the dangerous lie that hypersexual black men are a danger to white women. This myth has had devastating real-world consequences, as it was used to justify the practice of lynching. "It’s my story, you attacked me." and to shoot down the 1922 anti-lynching bill in the US Senate. The weaponizing of the animalistic brute and jezebel caricatures against black people- who are overrepresented as violent criminals and sex workers in the media- "When I started working, me and my fellow actors, we were always drug dealers, we were mugging somebody." has fueled long-standing assumptions that black communities must be overpoliced and brutalized. "You cannot deny we live in a world where people see a black man and they think oh, I’m more likely to get robbed." So this ingrained misrepresentation has led directly to the systemic police brutality and abuses of power driving the 2020 global Black Lives Matter protests. "There is an African American man, I am in Central Park. He is recording me and threatened myself and my dog." "Hi, my name is Robert Taylor and I’m a black actor." Speaking of Hattie McDaniel’s performance in Gone with the Wind, film historian Donald Bogle said, "She’s got a hostile edge, and there’s something she’s angry about. Of course Gone With the Wind won’t tell us that she’s angry about having always to work for Miss Scarlet." In the earliest mainstream films, the majority of black characters were portrayed by white actors in blackface. But, as Bogle argues, once black performers got in front of the camera, they could bring their lived experiences and imply three-dimensionality in their characters beyond what was in the script. "I knew that you know, there were things they weren’t telling us. I said you know where does Mammy live?" Some performers like McDaniel have argued the negative effects of caricatures they’ve played were overshadowed by the positives, as their success opened doors for other black actors and creators to go on to more complex roles. "I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race." Fetchit is quoted as saying, "It was Step, who elevated the Negro to the dignity of a Hollywood star." "He was the first black actor to earn a million dollars. The first black actor to get an on-screen credit." Ultimately, though, this subversion was limited. McDaniel wasn’t allowed to attend her movie’s whites-only Atlanta premiere, had to sit at a segregated table at the Oscars, and was honored for a film that civil rights groups protested for romanticizing slavery. "All I’m saying is that without Lincoln Perry paving the way, we might not have a Denzel. And all I’m saying is that without Stepin Fetchit, I might be comfortable napping in front of white folk." Meanwhile, black playwrights and filmmakers have used satire to undermine popular stereotypical depictions and give audiences the tools to critically evaluate portrayals of black people onscreen. "Satire is the way if we are ever to live side by side in peace and harmony." Films like Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle use satire to critique the processes in Hollywood that value caricatures over authentic black storytelling. "I need, uh, a little more black, you know what I'm saying? Uh like, stick your ass out, bug the eyes?" Works like George C. Wolfe’s 1986 play 'The Colored Museum' and Keenen Wayans' 'I’m Gonna Git You Sucka' take historical caricatures to grotesque extremes in order to expose the dark messages that underlie them. "We also ask that you please refrain from call and response singing between cabins as that sort of thing can lead to rebellion." while 1996’s 'Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood' skewers the "gangsta" stereotypes of those '90s "coming of age-in-the-hood" films. More recently, nuanced, realistic shows like Insecure and Dear White People utilize show-within-a-show formats to highlight how one-dimensional and ridiculous long-standing black stereotypes really are. "I hate Slavery!" "Yes Mr. President." "Oh!" "I pledge allegiance to your [BLEEP]." In Jordan Peele’s 2017 satirical horror movie Get Out, the white characters baselessly hypersexualize the black male protagonist- "Where's Rose?" "You dirty dog..." while the stereotypical black maid and groundskeeper are revealed to be literally controlled by white people, symbolically getting at how these one-dimensional characters are really white props. "The Armitages are so good to us." Donald Glover’s Atlanta explores how insidious many of these stereotypes remain through characters who are highly conscious of being perceived through the lens of caricatures like the Sapphire and the dead-beat father: "Why are you always turning me into the angry black woman?" "'Cause you are." "I'm the stereotype?" "Mm-hmm." "While your ass, you can't even take care of your own goddamn kid? "I'm fine with being a stereotype." Despite being highly intelligent and complex people with strong professional potential, Earn and Van both frequently feel trapped by these damaging and reductive stereotypes, which their situations and their society’s preconceptions make it almost impossible to escape. "I’m not asking for money." "You should be. Ain’t you homeless?" "Not real homeless. I’m not using a rat as a phone or something." Once we become aware of how these negative caricatures were crafted to uphold slavery and segregation, we start to see how deeply ingrained they still are, both in our stories, "I am sick and tired of you always jumping to the "Angry Black Woman" of it all." and in our culture at large. "If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks... ...want their government to give them everything ...so be it." It can be very hard to escape these stereotypes precisely because they've shaped our cultural views so deeply and for so long. "What would you have done if I told you that the solution to all your problems was a magical black man sitting out on the edge of town?" Numerous contemporary examples, to varying degrees, still play into these stereotypes or bear subtle hallmarks of them. "Here you go, Juggy!" As modern viewers we must do all we can to critically interrogate the stories we watch, to avoid slipping into assumptions, and to seek out thoughtful, nuanced depictions of black people and others who have marginalized throughout film and TV history. "At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you." Only through this mindfulness can we unravel and start to counteract the insidious effects of centuries of misrepresentation. "If I’m not the n[BLEEP] here and if you invented him, if you the white people invented him, then you got to find out why." This video is brought to you by MUBI, a streaming service we love. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film, whether it's a movie you've been dying to see or one you've never heard of before, there's always something new to discover. So in this world where it's very easy to spend hours debating what you should watch, MUBI is like having a really cool friend with amazing taste in movies, making it so much easier for you. They feature hard-to-come-by masterpieces, indie festival darlings, influential art house and foreign films, lesser known films by your favorite famous directors and more. Plus you can even download the films to watch offline and there are no ads-ever. This month on movie you can check out Ganja and Hess. 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