Assignment 1-3

King Kong Ain't Got Sh** on Me, Allegories, Anxieties, and the Performance of Race in the Media

The article that I read is titled, “King King ain’t got Sh** on me: Allegories, Anxieties, and the Performance of Race in the Media (Henderson, 2010). “. The article goes in depth as to how the roles and awards given to African-Americans in the media, feeds into America’s stereotypes. As I analyze the article I will discuss the intended audience, the summarization, the style, and the key ideas I got from the article.

The intended audience for this article is anyone who is interested in the debate over how African Americans stereotypes are immersed in movies and how this affects our view on blacks in today’s society. This has been a trivial debate because the roles that African American males and females play are often seen as being the sidekick, not the main character. However, if they are the main character, the character usually has problems. Such as the females are single moms or the males have no direction or guidance. While others may argue that these characters are just that characters and they have no affect on society. But these views are instilled in our minds and they become stereotypes. The roles they play become the norm for the way Americans believe African Americans live and behave.

This article began by discussing how in 2002, Halle Berry was nominated for the 2002 Best Actress Award for her role in Monster’s Ball (Henderson, 2010). Given the previous history of not many blacks being nominated for the roles, this was a huge step for African Americans. However, the role that Halle Berry was played in the film was that of a poor single mother, because her husband was just executed in jail for murder. She also played in an explicit sex scene in the film between her and her love interest the racist executer, played by Billy Bob Thornton. Some may argue that the sex scene alone put Halle Berry up for the Best Actress nomination, and her portrayal of a poor single mother in the movie does not pain African American woman in a positive spotlight.

Then the article discusses how men are perceived in roles on film. For instance in two other films nominated for Best Picture, The Green Mile and The Cider House Rules both depict men with troubling sexual dynamics (Henderson, 2010). The Green Mile shows a man on death row convicted of the rape and murder of two white girls, for which he claims innocence. The Cider House Rules has a black man, named Mr. Rose who is shows to have impregnated his own daughter (Henderson, 2010). These portrayals of black men affect the way that society views black man, as being on a lower rung and as having many problems. Another movie called Boys n’ the Hood, portrays black men as being just that boys, without any guidance or direction (Henderson, 2010). The debate is that many people believe that for African Americans to be able to move up in society, the media’s depiction of African Americans on screen will have to transform to a positive spotlight.

While this article was mostly logically organized, I do believe it jumps around a little. They started out with a great opening discussing Halle Berry’s nomination, they the article begins talking about African American male roles in film, and then it goes back to Halle Berry’s roles in Monster Ball. The main ideas were clearly presented starting with the title, introduction, and body and in the conclusion. The title alone gives it away calling it “…Performance on Race in the Media (Henderson, 2010).” The article was a little difficult to read at certain times because it made references to some movies I had never seen before and the article used many big words. An excerpt from the article, “these oversights return attention to those narratological paradigms that seek to silence the speaking subject through the semiotic process of mimetic representation (Henderson, 2010).” I was very confused by this statement as they were talking about the movie Hurricane, I have never seen before.

The main idea taken from this movie is that the depiction of African Americans develops stereotypes, and this affects how blacks are viewed in society. The article gave many specific examples, and used quite a few different films for references. My analysis of this article is that it was well written but at times was a little confusing to read. However, the main point was clear and was defined throughout the article, and was well researched and gave specific examples. The beginning caught my attention, and had an obvious beginning, middle, and end. The main idea and points were also clear and thoroughly discussed with specific examples given.