The representation of white and black women in society through films.

Table of contents

1.0. Introduction……………………………….p2-p3

2.0 Literature review………………………….p3-p7

3.0 Method and methodology, including rationale and ethical considerations……....p7-p10

4.0 Discussion of findings……………………………p10-p13

5.0 Conclusions…………………………………………p14

6.0 Critical Reflections…………………………………. p14

7.0 References……………………………………………. p15-16

7.1 Filmography…………………………………...p16

8.0 Appendix …………………………………………….p17

1.0 Introduction

This report will analyse how women from different two different ethnicities, black and white are represented in society through films. Two films will be analysed for this report in order to find a contrast between how women were represented and how they are now according to society. The two films that will be analysed are The Help 2011 as the storyline narrates the lives of women from these two different ethnicities cohabiting in a sexist environment in the year 1960 in Mississippi. Meanwhile, the other film that will be analysed is Captain Marvel 2019 which represents the most powerful superhero as a woman.

Nevertheless, captain marvel was supposed to be a man according to the old version of comics, however, the marvel company decided to change it to a female. Not withdraw the female they chose for the paper was Brie Larson a young, white, blond and fit female. Making again the Marylyn Monroe prototype female stand out before anyone else.

Before discussing this report, we need to analyse the patriarchy culture and society we live in and how they are portrayed in these two films. Women have been portrayed in many different ways throughout films, mainly they have been represented as vulnerable creatures giving the male figure full control over them.

We can see this in The Help 2011 as to how all of the women are controlled by the masculine sex and how they portrayed the sexism of that specific era. However, with the rise of feminism throughout society, films have changed giving the women role leaders such as being the protagonists in films and also making their character invincible and equal or better to men, we can see this in Captain Marvel 2019.

Now, for analysing this topic qualitative methodology is going to be our tool, due to the fact that it is a social concern, we need to be able to produce or alternate meanings and concepts, and that’s only possible when there is an approach to shared language. Therefore, language is a platform of representation where the process of creating meaning is involved. So, our vision of things translates into common language and therefore correlate the same conceptual ideas with a certain way of writing, sounds or images. However, this their elements carry out the meaning of signs. These signs stand out for representing the concepts and the relationship between them, which we as a whole community carry in our heads and all composed create the meaning-systems of culture (Hall, S., 1997.)

Nevertheless, the sign of women and the way women are used in language means weakness and vulnerability so even though evolution has allowed women to have more rights, it is not a surprise that living in a patriarchy world the female figure is still oppressed and there are changes to be made for women to have the same equal liberty as men. It will also not be a surprise to see how inside the abuse white women have more privilege than black women due to colonialism as white people had more benefits and rights than coloured people as they were differenced by colour to state their position.

2.0 Literature review

“Gender issue has long been an important theme in the fields of sociology, social psychology, economics, literature, education, and political science.” (Dahlerup, D. and Freidenvall, L., 2005) Gender inequality has been an issue since the beginnings of times until now. It is true that to this day some inequalities have been solved as the right to vote for women in 1918 or the right for women to study in 1888. Nevertheless, these dates were different for other women from different ethnicities.

Meanwhile, white women in the UK started to vote in 1918 it was not until 1920 in America where black women had the right to vote. Not only there is political inequality but there is also inequality in social behaviour, “There are pervasive and remarkably uniform differences in the personality traits ascribed to men and women. There is considerable agreement across a large number of psychological studies that a typical woman is seen as warm, gentle, kind and passive, whereas a typical man is viewed as tough, aggressive, and assertive” (McKee and Sheriffs, 1957, p121).

Not only that but “These expectations, about male and female traits are linked, in turn, to assumptions about men’s and women’s gender roles: in addition to being rated as more warm and gentle than men, women are also assumed to take a greater role in caring for their children, performing housework duties, and so on”. (Deaux and Lewis, 1984, p121) Therefore women are seen as nurses and slaves to men.

As a matter of fact “Sociologists of knowledge characterize epistemologies as strategies for justifying beliefs: appeals to the authority of God, of custom and tradition, of "common sense," of observation, of reason, and of masculine authority are examples of familiar justificatory strategies”. (Harding, 1987) So religion is also a factor to the abuse of female gender and one of the reasons women are seen as less than men. Moreover, every religion dominates people and makes them prisoners of their beliefs. However religion is more injustice with women than men, the best example of evidence for this point is the religion of Christianity as it is one of the oldest, invented in 3000 B.C. When “God” created a male and a female, the first female wasn’t Eve, it was Lilith. However, not anyone knows the existence of Lilith as it has been tried to be eliminated by the church. Lilith was a very liberated woman that thought for herself and was as independent as Adam. Now Christianity didn’t approve so they tried to remove her and created Eve from Adams' rib. Nevertheless, she has been represented by many artists such as Michelangelo, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and James Joyce. “In most manifestations of her myth, Lilith represents chaos, seduction, and ungodliness.” (Howe Gaines. 2018) and nowadays she’s known as the mother or demons and a role model in feminist theories.

Additionally, since we live in a patriarchy world. “In the hierarchy of patriarchy, all men, whatever their rank in the patriarchy, are bought off by being able to control at least some women” (Stoeltje, 1988). Stating again the fact that women are manipulated by men. However, “In many cases, feminists have already begun to construct models that acknowledge both female and male as equally valid dimensions of human activity” (Stoeltje, 1988).

Moving on, inside feminist theories, there is one called black feminism. “Black women activist developed a feminist consciousness that gave them an agency to strive for empowerment on their own terms” (Oesterreich, 2007). Collectively, their feminism was more expansive than the agenda put forth by White women, in that specific social, economic, and political issues facing African American communities were incorporated into a theoretical paradigm that today we call Black feminism (Collins, 2005; Oesterreich, 2007).

Black feminism “seeks to develop institutions to protect what the dominant culture has little respect and value for—Black women’s minds and bodies” (Taylor, 2001, p. 18). This is due to its “important to understand and address the ways in which different oppressions intersect”, and “to analyse the entire system of thought and the ways in which it meshes with ‘political economies of race, gender, and class oppression” (Gurminder K. Bhambra, 2015).

Also, the idea of black women being oppressed “emerged out of theoretical consideration of the social location of many African American women who undertook domestic work within white households. This allowed them access to know something about the lives of the dominant group and to see, and assess, the differences between the lives being witnessed and the ideologies that otherwise sustained notions of superiority and difference.” So, if black people wouldn’t have been colonized and slaved into working for white people women wouldn’t have mimicked the female white figure as in obeying to their master which in this case was their husband and they could have been more liberal inside their community.

Now, colonialism “works to ‘decivilize’ the colonizer: torture, violence, race hatred, and morality constitute a dead weight on the so-called civilized, pulling the master class deeper and deeper into the abyss of barbarism” (Césaire, A., 2001, p8) meaning that one race has more power over the other one and therefore making the black people have fewer rights due to their colour skin and treating them with hatred and violence. Therefore, black women had it more difficult than white women as they were inferior due to gender and colour. Not only that but nowadays most of white people don’t see the discrimination or understand the oppression, in fact “The effects of segregation are such that white Americans know little about the lives of their fellow African American citizens and thus their view of the social world is limited simply to their own experiences” (Gurminder K. Bhambra, 2015).

So even though society is evolving, and people are opening up more their minds, there are still some people that due to their gender or race privilege do not see the injustice inside these topics as they are not aware of their surroundings and therefore not concern about them.

3.0 Method and methodology, including rationale and ethical considerations

For this report the approaches to analysis the findings are discourse analysis and semiology this is due to the fact that qualitative methodology focuses on interpretations, emphasizes in experience and in the meaning of different aspects of people’s lives. In other words, “qualitative researchers look for relationship among phenomena; qualitative researchers look to understand how phenomena are seen through the eyes of their research participants.” Treadwell, 2013) and as the themes that are going to be discussed in this report are both social, people’s opinions have to be analysed.

However it not only focuses on people, it also focuses on media and society: “much of the qualitative discussions are in the context of researching people, but researching media content requires the same kind of decision” Treadwell, 2013) which is another reason why for this specific research discourse analysis and semiology are going to be used as gender inequality and racism are both seen in the media, as our society is influenced by that factor.

Also “Qualitative research calls for moral responsibility in a field scattered with dilemmas not for quick pre-fixed answers” as stated before as the two themes that are discuss are social so, there has to be more depth in researching the themes as they are not analytical and are not going to be solved by using quantitative methodology.

These themes have to answer the question of how these polemic topics are developed in our society by words and images. By what influences people to continue to degrade others or change and accept colour and gender as equal.

Discourse analysis consists of “Documenting a close relationship between the linguistic details of media texts and the production of ideology and, by implication, to substantiate that media ideology contributes to the reproduction of a social order founded on inequality and oppression” (Schrøeder, 2012: 115). As sexism and racism are both themes that relate to inequality and oppression discourse analysis works for finding in which areas of The Help 2011 and Captain Marvel 2019 are seen this types of injustices towards white women and black women, due to the patriarchy society we live in and also the amount of racism there is.

“Discourse analysis can be understood as an attempt to show systematic links between texts, discourse practices, and sociocultural practices” (Qadeer, 2013) this helps to analyse in depth the two common subjects as first of all in the films the dialogue can be evaluated to which extent racism and sexism are present and how they are presented. Secondly, both issues come from a sociocultural background, therefore discourse analysis is needed.

“Although it is used in different ways, most significantly it enables us to focus not only on the actual uses of language as a form of social interaction in particular situations and contexts but also on forms of representation in which different social categories, practices, and relations are constructed from and in the interests of a particular point of view, a particular conception of social reality” (Deacon, D., Golding, P., & Pickering, M., 2007, p151) in other words, discourse analysis not only will help to inspect the dialogue of the character but also how that dialogue is interpreted in different situations and according to their social standards.

Moving on semiology is another tool which helps to investigate these social matters. “Semiotics distinguishes analytically between the signifier and the signified. The first of these is that part of the sign which consists of the actual material aspect of an artefact, act or image which holds the potential of signifying. This potential is fulfilled when it connects with the signified, the mental concept associated with the signifier. For example, the signifier star is the sound-image of the word ‘star’ before it has acted as a word which denotes the signified of a media performer who is credited with huge public acclaim.” (Deacon, D., Golding, P., & Pickering, M., 2007, p142)

Not only that but “Semiotics helps us to think analytically about how such texts work and the implications they have for the broader culture in which they are produced and disseminated” (Deacon, D., Golding, P., & Pickering, M., 2007) This is why in this report semiotics is going to be used as a tool to get more detail in what the sign represent according to the language of the film, in the sense of the dialogue and what a specific phrase or word plants an idea of women and their ethnicities in someone’s head, also how the type of cloths or accessories a character has helped to analyse the representation of females.

Not without standing “Its basic concepts have entered into the general currency of analytical language in media and cultural studies” (Deacon, D., Golding, P., & Pickering, M., 2007, p141) again enhancing the fact that semiotics is needed to tackle this topic as this report analysis society and more specifically women in society.

4.0 Discussion of findings

In order to analyse Captain Marvel 2019 and The Help 2011, the two qualitative methodologies that are going to be used are Discourse analysis and Semiology.

First of all discourse analysis is going to be used to analyse Captain Marvel 2019, and therefore compare how society nowadays is reflected in films. Also how women fight for inequality, as the dialogue inside this movie expresses how the main protagonist, Carol Danvers fights gender inequality against her oppressor Yon-Rogg a military commander of Helion who works for the supreme intelligence.

Some of the phrases that express sexism in the script are “the powers that have been given to you can also be taken away” (Captain Marvel 2019) meaning that her source power comes from him, the male figure and even though he has given her the power of fighting and being worthy he can also take that away from her and leave her with nothing if she disobeys following his rules. Another sexist phrase of male dominance inside the dialogue is “I made you the best version of yourself” (Captain Marvel 2019) as if being herself was not enough and she needed to be transformed and build up by him in order to be somebody and have an identity in the galaxy. This resembles society as saying that men gave us power and they can also take it away from us, as women ‘are the weaker gender’.

However, as the film develops Carol Danvers takes control of her powers and finds her own identity fighting against her oppressor, “They will not summit to your rule and neither will I” (Captain Marvel 2019). As the film progresses she starts to take control and make her decisions for herself, without any man telling her what to do and in fact enhancing the fact that she is independent and wants her freedom as an equal person.

Moreover, she does not only affirm her autonomy but also the film shows an extreme powerful feminist message in the dialogue “you will be ready the day you will knock me down as yourself, prove, prove to me” […] “I have nothing to prove to you” (Captain Marvel 2019) stating the message of not having to prove to any men how worthy you are and also making yourself an equal. It’s obvious that she does not respond to him anymore and she has evolved, mimicking the 21st-century society as females are starting to have more power, their own judgment and making their own actions.

Nevertheless, if we analyse the discourse analysis of The Help 2011 inside the script we see the oppression in women and even more in black females.

At the beginning of the scene, the dialogue starts with a black woman telling her story during the year 1960 in Mississippi. “Did you know as a girl, growing up, that one day you’d be a maid?” “Yes, ma’am. I did. “And you knew that because?” “My momma was a maid. My grandmother was a house slave” (The Help 2011) right at the beginning of the film we see the discrimination of gender and race, as she is a woman she can only be a maid but since she is black she is forced to it making her the ‘house slave’.

Inside the oppression of women, it is obvious that there are state classes as black women are forced to be maids meanwhile white women can opt for a better job. We can see this in how Skeeter the main white female protagonist has a job at a magazine

Still, the job she has is still discriminating, as she is a woman she can only apply for degrading and sexist jobs such as a columnist giving cleaning advice to other females. “Oh, Christ, I guess you’ll do. Can you clean?” “I’m sorry. Clean?” “Clean!”[…] “You know who Miss Myrna is?” “I read her articles all the time” “Articles? Ha! Miss Phelan, it’s a cleaning advice column. Eight bucks a week. Copy is due Thursday” (The Help 2011). Not without standing maids do more hours of work “I make ninety-five cents an hour. That comes to a hundred eighty-two dollars every month. ”I do all the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing and grocery shopping, but mostly… I take care a Baby Girl” (The Help 2011) and still get paid less due to white privilege.

So inside the injustice white women have it better than black women. In other words, in those times it was clear that the society of 1960 oppressed women more than in 2019, however, there are still different classes of oppression due to race that have to be solved.

Although discourse analysis shows the gender inequality inside the film, semiotics proves how there is white privilege inside gender inequality of that specific era in society.

Starting with Captain Marvel 2019, the main protagonist is a blond, white, fit and young woman (appendix 1), basically the Hollywood canon of beauty. From all the women in the world, they decided to have a white American woman as the strongest superhero from the whole galaxy. This is a symbol of how the patriarchal society we live in imagine the ‘perfect and strongest’ woman in the world.

However, inside the film, there is a symbol that expresses Carol Danvers independence and liberty of the oppression against Yon-Rogg which is her uniform. As she starts to define herself and finds the truth about her story, she changes the colour of her uniform (appendix 1) and has her own one except having the same on as her oppressor. Therefore, there is a change of ownership as she does not belong more to them and in fact, she is her own persona.

More in-depth this mimics our actual society as women are starting to become more powerful and as it shows in the film, they start to identify themselves as dominant figures.

Even though in Captain Marvel 2019 there is a big symbol of feminism and women overcoming the abuse, in The Help 2011 there are a variety of symbols which show the white privilege inside gender inequality.

The first one is how women are dressed, as the movie proceeds one can see that all ‘the maids’ which in this case they are the representation of black women in the ’60s are all dress the same. Meanwhile, white women are dressed in different gowns black women are all dressed the same. This is a symbol of white privilege as white women can express themselves in their own clothes and all the black women in the film have the same uniform (appendix 1). Looking like slaves and taking their liberty of expression away from them.

Not only that but another symbol of racism and gender inequality is the fact that during the whole movie black women are forced to have straight here. Not even one of them has her afro hair, they basically mimic the white women’s hair as that is what society wants. In fact, in real life society during the ’60s only the women’s that were involved in the black panther movement wore their afro hair as a statement of rebellion against the oppression of racism. So black women needed to look like white women in order to fit in that patriarchal era of white male dominance.

5.0 Conclusions

To conclude, women have been oppressed since day 0 and even though feminism has helped to restructure a less gender inequality society there is still oppression and things to fight for. Not only that but inside the gender inequality there is a huge gap of abuse due to that white privilege makes white women have more rights and makes it easier for them to overcome the male dominance than for black women. This is all due to racism which is another brutality that should be resolved in order for black women to have as equal rights as white women. Therefore, in order for all women have equal rights they should come together to help one another to overcome the patriarchy we live in.

6.0 Critical Reflections

For this Research report, the quantitative methodology could have been used due to the fact of having more methods and therefore more findings to compare and contrast. Also inside the literature review racism should have been more explained as more detail in feminism itself and talking about the structure of it and how it operates in white women not only in black women and mainly focusing on black feminism. The theme of racism should have also been more discussed during the research as gender inequality is the main topic and both of them are equally important. Finally, inside ‘Discussion of findings’ the arguments should have been more in depth rather than basic arguments.

7.0 References

Césaire, A., 2001. Discourse on colonialism. NYU Press.

Collins, P. H. (2005). Healing identities: Black feminist thought and the politics of groups.

Dahlerup, D. and Freidenvall, L., 2005. Quotas as a ‘fast track ‘to equal representation for women: Why Scandinavia is no longer the model. International feminist journal of politics, 7(1), pp.26-48.

DEACON, D., GOLDING, P., & PICKERING, M. (2007). Researching communications: a practical guide to methods in media and cultural analysis. London, Hodder Arnold.

Deaux, K., & Lewis, L. L. (1984). Structure of gender stereotypes: Interrelationships among components and gender label. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(5), 991-1004.

Gurminder K. Bhambra (2015) Black thought matters: Patricia Hill Collins and the long tradition of African American sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38:13, 2315-2321, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2015.1058497

Hall, S., 1997. The work of representation. Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices, 2, pp.13-74.

Howe Gaines, J. (2018). Lilith Seductress, heroine or murderer? Biblical Archaeology Society. [Online] Available at: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/lilith/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].

Oesterreich, H. A. (2007). From ‘crisis’ to ‘activist’: The everyday freedom legacy of Black feminisms. Race, Ethnicity & Education, 10(1), 1-20. DOI: 10.1080/13613320601100344

Qadeer, Faisal, Theories in Management: A Compilation of Most Commonly Used Theoretical Perspectives (December 23, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2371261 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2371261

Schrøder, K.C., 2013. Discourses of fact. In A handbook of media and communication research (pp. 110-128). Routledge.

Sheriffs, A. C., & McKee, J. P. (1957). Qualitative aspects of beliefs about men and women. Journal of Personality, 25, 451-464.

Stoeltje, B.J., 1988. Introduction: Feminist revisions. Journal of Folklore Research, pp.141-153.

Taylor, U. Y. (2001). Making waves: The theory and practice of Black feminism. The Black Scholar, 28(1), 18-28

Treadwell, D., 2013. Introducing communication research: Paths of inquiry. Sage.

7.1 Filmography

Captain Marvel 2019

The Help 2011

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