The movie Black Girl is set in France and Africa during the 1960’s. Diouana, a Senegalese woman, moves from Dakar to France to care for a rich couple’s children. She soon realizes that her work is not to care for the kids but to clean the house and serve food. She has basically become their servant, but had been hoping for a much more “glamorous” lifestyle. Throughout the movie we see Diouana discriminated against because of the color of her skin. As she realizes the life she is living is not what she expected she begins to feel alienated and wants to return to Africa. Black Girl shows the effects of colonialism, racism, and post-colonial life in Africa and France. The movie exemplifies unequal colonial relations as it depicts the changing treatment that Diouana experiences once she moves with the French family from Dakar to France. Black Girl illustrates postcolonial life for a young African girl, who though she pursues ideals of freedom in France, ultimately finds that Africa still has economic dependency on France, there is racism, and do not have independence from France after post-colonialism.
In the movie Black Girl, we see a time when African’s had little rights in France. In Senegal, African’s were fighting for their independence from France. Senegal was named after the Senegal River and covers around 76,000 square miles. In the 1850’s, the French expanded into Senegal, which was free from slavery. It wasn’t until after WWII that Africans began to have political authority. In 1945 French West Africa was allowed to participate in writing a New French Constitution. In 1958 another Constitution was written which changed the structure of the colonies from the French Union to the French Community. This basically made it so that African’s had more of a voice and they were able to slowly decolonize from France. (Bajorek). On June 20, 1960 they become fully independent and all power was given to Senegal. Although Senegal had independence, the first president was Leopold Senghor: a French man who advocated for the Africans and believed in African socialism. We see in this movie as well as in history that the French still had a huge impact on the Dakar community after they had gained their freedom. They did not have an African president but a French president. (Sall).
The fact that Diouana has to get a job in France to be economically sound shows the dependence that Africa had on France. Black Girl reiterates that if you are French you have an upper hand in society. In Senegal there are no job opportunities for a young woman, she believes that France will give her a chance to start over. This is ironic because she is supposed to be free in France to find her individuality but ends up being forced down in society because of her race. She came into the job with hope for a modern society, filled with beautiful dresses and fancy shops, but is stuck in a house doing work that she didn’t even have to do in Senegal. Diouana was under the impression her relatives were going to be jealous of her new lifestyle but what in reality the mother believes she has become selfish and her family feels abandoned. The French couple has not been paying her for her work. The movie calls into question whether the people of Africa can survive, financially, without France giving assistance. Diouana represents the people as whole; who cannot succeed without the help of the people who once took away their freedom.
Lipstitz’s quote explains how a victory regarding issues on race may turn out to be not so great, “It is a mistake to posit a gradual and inevitable trajectory of evolutionary progress in race relations; on the contrary, our history shows that battles won at one moment can later be lost”. This relates to the situation that the people from Senegal were facing. Although they lived in a world where colonialism was stopped, they still lived as though there was colonialism. The victory of winning independence was bitter sweet as soon as people realized that society couldn’t function without assistance from France.
We see the racism aspect of the movie through the mask. When the young girl gets the job with the rich couple she gives them a mask. She wanted to give it as a gift to thank them for the wonderful opportunity but it symbolizes something much deeper. The mask shows the differences between the two groups of people and how the French felt about post-colonialism. They feel as if they are superior to the people of Africa and the culture of Africans has basically been given to the French. The African culture has become exploited. The French man even asked if it was a “genuine” mask because it could be valuable or an investment. This is how they viewed the African people: as an item instead of human beings. The mask is also similar to how the young girl feels in France. The producer makes an effort to show the mask alone on a white wall, symbolizing how Diouana feels when she comes to France. She has no one to speak to about her feelings and becomes desperate to leave the house she is confined to.
After colonialism, the French still had most of the power. The French wife had much more power in Senegal than in France. We see her walk up to the maids sitting in the street, look all of them up and down, and choose a lady to work for her. She can act this way because she knows that the women on the streets need her to make a living so they can provide for their families. She seems to be happier in Africa and allows Diouana to work with the children. In France it seems as though they do not have as much funds, they cannot afford other maids so Diouana is forced to do work she had not signed up for. They yearn for the life that they once had in Africa and discuss going back to Dakar where there is greater opportunity for success.
The couple does not even realize that Diouana is unhappy, believing she is just sick. They never understand that she has the same needs and desires as they do, she is a human being just like them. They are unaware that their whiteness is the cause for the problems. Omi and Winant bring up the problem that happens when people believe that race has been seen as “natural” and pre-given. Omi and Winant believe that this hides the ways that race is constructed through socio- cultural, historic and economic means. This means that race has become a factor in every part of life. The white couple has the advantage over Diouana because that is how it has been through history. The couple does not believe they are being racist, they just believe that this is how society works. It has become a social normal for them to treat the young the way they do. The couple’s actions portray how ignorant society was towards racism in the 60’s.
Over all, the producer wants us to realize that Africa needed France to support them financially. I don’t think Black Girls main goal was to see the racism of the situation but to see how Dakar needed their support to survive. This is shown through Diouana who wants to fit into the French culture soon forgetting her own culture, through the mask hung on the French couple’s wall showing they have control of the African people, and the treatment of Diouana by the rich French couple. Diouana wants to go to France for a new life but finds that a new life is not possible because of where she has come from. At the end of Black Girl the mask is returned to the little boy, which represents the lack of change in Diouana’s life or any other African’s life. Although they have received their independence they still depend on France to survive. While watching this movie it calls us to think about society today. Are we all completely free or do we still depend on other countries to provide for us? Not only did this movie bring up the topic of post- colonialism but it also made us think about whether or not this has happened throughout history. We see the struggles of being a woman, being African, and being French to learn about during this time.

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Work Cited

Bajorek, Jennifer. "Photography and National Memory: Senegal About 1960." National Geographic. 01 2010: 158-169. Print.
Lipstitz, George. “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy and the "White" Problem in American Studies”. American Quarterly. 47.3 (1995): 369-387. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.
Sall, Oumar. "Communication and Mass Media Complete." Communication and Mass Media Complete. 4.3 (2009): 313-330. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.