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Ethnic Notions Film Analysis

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In 1987 Marlon Riggs produced a documentary titled Ethnic Notions. Ethnic Notions reviews the evolution of white America’s perception of African Americans. The title Ethnic Notions can be defined as, a conception or belief of a particular race of people. In a more in-depth manner, the tile can be defined as, a conception or belief of what white America thought about African Americans. Ethnic Notion’s definition provides a general summary of what this documentary is about. I believe the significance of the title upholds the belief that everyone does not look at African Americans the way some white Americans have perceived them to be. This movie gives me the impression as if white American thought of African Americans as fools or even just …show more content…
It tickled me how they’d put the white makeup around their mouths to make their lips look fuller. The sad part is they're the one who looks like fools trying to look and act like a race who they couldn't live without. This action took me back to a Shakespeare course I had taken. In the Shakspeare course, we watched Othello this is where I noticed that a white man was actually playing the black character, Othello. He too was painted black, but without the white paint around the mouth. The most enlightening part of this documentary was the scene about where the Jim Crow dance came from. I'm not so positive I remember ever learning or reviewing the Jim Crow dance and figure in any of my history classes. This documentary showed an exaggerated stereotypical depiction of what African Americans looked and acted like. They used characters such as; Sambo, which inspired the Jim Crow dance. Mammy, who was an obese, coarse, maternal figure. Uncle, the male version of mammy. Pickinniy, who was the silly, inferior African American child. These characters were a generalization of what African Americans look like. This generalization in a way gave me the thought that white America showed African American as selfless, ugly, silly

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