Film Exam #2

critical race theory

• developed by legal scholars critiquing racism inherent in the US legal system

• argues that pro-diversity efforts won’t matter if racism is hardwired into the system

• concerned with structural racism as the root of racist practice

6 tenets of critical race theory

1. ordinariness

2. interest convergence

3. social construction

4. differential racialization

5. intersectionality

6. voice of color

ordinariness

racism is difficult to address or cure bc it’s not acknowledged- it’s just the usual way society does business, and it’s a common, everyday experience of most people of color in the US

interest convergence

because racism advances the interests of the White elite materially and the White working class psychologically, large segments of society have little incentive to eradicate racism

• ex: woke-washing - a corporate marketing practice where brands superficially adopt progressive language or social justice themes to boost their image and sales, without implementing genuine, corresponding internal changes or ethical business practices

social construction

race corresponds with no biological or genetic reality; “races” are just categories that society invents, manipulates, and retires when convenient

• ex: attempts to define “Black” according to “percents” of “Black blood",” reflected on the US census form, reflect the constructionism

differential racialization

a society considers diff groups racial “Others” at diff times in history depending on that society’s shifting concerns/needs

intersectionality

nobody has a single, easily stated, unitary identity; everyone has potentially conflicting, overlapping identities, loyalties, and allegiances

voice of color

minority status brings with it a unique perspective from which to communicate experiences with racism and relate matters that Whites are unlikely to know; therefore, it’s important these voices be heard

racial idealism

racial equity can be achieved with enough education and pro-diversity efforts

racial realism

racial equity is impossible in a country where White privilege is institutionalized by systems that ignore race

structural racism

the deeply embedded system of laws, policies, and cultural norms that historically and presently advantage white people while disadvantaging people of color

priming, associations, assumptions → history, policies, practices → inequitable outcomes and racial disparities

• implicit bias

• race is created to justify enslaving people from Africa

• policies and practices that consolidate and protect power bestow unearned economic, social, cultural, and political advantage to people called “white,” and unearned disadvantage to people of color

• national narrative about people of color being “less than” human justifies mistreatment and inequality

• inequitable outcomes and experiences resulting from policy decisions in health, housing, employment, education, and life expectancy - reinforces white supremacist beliefs and ideology

film and racial stereotypes

• the protagonist(s) of the film (often a White man in Hollywood cinema) is usually in the center of the frame, and minor characters relegated to the edges

• when a White First World hero enters a Third World, he is often surrounded by a larger band of natives, and his immobility often contrasts with the natives’ frenetic activity

  • ex: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

cinematic stereotyping

white people are often shown being chased/threatened by “angry natives”

• ex: Pirates of the Caribbean

a white savior helps people of color who are being oppressed by Bad Whites (Hollywood shows racism as an individual failing, not a systematic problem)

• ex: The Help, Dancing with Wolves

whitewashing: White people are free to pass as people of color onscreen, but Hollywood less often casts people of color passing as White characters

• ex: Dr. Strange, the Lone Ranger

blindcasting: casting without regard for race… however, when people of color take roles typically reserved for White people, they are not usually passing as White

• ex: Bridgerton, Thor, Hamilton

other

the people or cultural group(s) against which one defines one’s own self or culture

• othering: the process by which this occurs

internalized racism

the result of psychological programming in which a racist society convinces members who do not belong to the hegemonically dominant race that they are inferior to the hegemonically dominant race

colorism/intraracial racism

prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group

tokenism

making a symbolic or perfunctory effort to be multicultural- in film, inclusion of a supporting character to avoid charges of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc

• ex: Stranger Things

cultural separatism

voluntary, full political separation from another cultural/racial group

cultural assimilation

voluntary or involuntary, assumption of another cultural/racial group’s dominant values, behaviors, and beliefs

Irish Americans

• Irish men were stereotyped as lazy, drunken, hot-tempered, and working-class

• mostly complete assimilation by 1950s

• ex: The Quiet Men

Italian Americans

in response to WW2, Italian Americans loudly proclaimed their patriotism and slowly became more accepted and assimilated

• ex: Scarface, Shark Tale

Jewish Americans

ex: The Jazz Singer, Annie Hall

other points of racial/ethnic tension

• are Middle Easterners “white” or not? media portrayals of those from the Middle East, especially when Muslim, have suffered from Orientalist stereotyping - violent terrorist men, rich sheiks, hypersexualized “harem” women, or downtrodden oppressed submission women

• are Latine/Hispanic people “white” or not? media portrayals of Latine and Hispanic characters shift according to the political winds, as we’ll discuss later in class

why does representation matter?

you can’t be what you can’t see

white privilege, black resistance

James Baldwin: when any white man in the world picks up a gun and says: give me liberty or give me death, the entire white world applauds. but when a Black man says exactly same thing, word for word, he’s judged as a criminal (by whites) and treated as one. and everything possible is done to make an example of him to ensure there wouldn’t be anymore like him

ex: Killmonger

timeline

enslaved people’s history in the US is a history of resistance and rebellion- not quiet submission

• 1619: first indentured servants

• 1712: NYC Slave Revolt

• 1739: Stono Slave Revolt in South Carolina

• 1770: Crispus Attucks, a Black man, is the first casualty of the American Revolution in the Boston Massacre

• 1800: Richmond (VA) slave rebellion led by Gabriel, an enslaved blacksmith

• 1807: Great Britain passes law prohibiting international slavery

• 1808: US passes law prohibiting international slavery (but domestic slavery persists in 11 states)

• 1831: Nat Turner Slave Rebellion in Virginia

• 1833: Great Britain abolishes slavery throughout its empire

• 1836: US House passes “Gag Resolution” prohibiting discussion of anti-slavery petitions in Congress (institutionalized racism and interest convergence)

• 1857: Supreme Court issues the Dred Scott Decision, allowing slave owners to take their victims into free Western territories; this served to legally affirm that enslaved people were property

• 1859: White abolitionist John Brown

• 1861: confederate gov forms; Civil War begins

• 1862: Emancipation Proclamation

• 1865: Civil War ends; Confederacy disbanded; “Black Code”; 13th Amendment prohibits slavery

• 1866: first Civil Rights Act; citizenship regardless of skin color; KKK founded

• 1868: 14th Amendment makes all formerly enslaved people citizens; John Willis Menard first Black man elected to Congress but denied a seat

• 1870: 15th Amendment - voting rights to Black men

• 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson - “separate but equal”

• 1890s: blackface in early silent films

• 1903: Uncle Tom’s Cabin film - faithful, happily submissive Black servant

• 1908: lynch

• 1909: NAACP formed

• 1914: WW1 begins

• 1915: Birth of a Nation

• 1917: US enters WW1 with a lot of Black soldiers

• 1914-1920: Great Migration of southern African Americans to northern cities eventually leads to the Harlem Renaissance

• 1918: Mainstream Hollywood comedies treat Black people somewhat equally

• 1919: End of WW1

• 1920: 19th Amendment - women of any race right to vote

• 1921: Tulsa Race Massacre

• 1928: Jazz Singer; Heart of Dixie (all black cast)

• 1929: Great Depression

• 1930s-1940s: cartoons with racial stereotypes; Oscar Micheaux

• 1932-1971: Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphillis (institutionalized racism)

• 1939: first Black actor to win an Oscar for Gone with the Wind

• 1941: executive order prohibits federal workplace discrimination; US enters WW2

• 1942: Casablanca; internment of Japanese

• 1943: Zoot Suit Riot

• 1945: end of WW1

• 1954: Brown v. Board of Education - separate but equal

• 1955: Rosa Parks doesn’t get off bus; Montgomery Bus Boycott

• 1957: Little Rock School Desegregation Crisis

• 1963: first Black man to win an Oscar; MLK I Have a Dream

• 1964: Civil Rights Act passed

• 1965: Voting Rights Act; Watts Riot

• 1967: Loving v. Virginia; repealing miscegenation laws

• 1968: MLK assassinated

• 1971: blaxploitation

• 1980s: Black cinema

• 1990s: hood film

• 2000s: some begin to wonder whether we need to ask about “Black cinema” anymore; is inclusion now mainstream?

• 2015: OscarsSoWhite movement

race films

genre starring Black actors, featuring Black life, and designed for Black audiences; many were made, but few have survived, but not deemed “worthy” enough for archival preservation until recently

Latinx

an imperfect term first adopted by US academics and activists

Latine

a somewhat controversial term first adopted by teens in Buenos Aires, Argentina

• is there a linguistic power relationship inherent in wanting to degender a language in which genders are “built in”?

• do gender-neutral labels ignore the importance of gender as an intersection with race or provide necessary inclusivity?

• is it worth using such a broad umbrella terms at all, or do they simply erase individual cultural heritages? What terms would be better?

the Hollywood Assimilation Narrative

• a first- or second-generation immigrant protagonist sets out to better themself in the American system

• “success” is defined in upwardly mobile, professional, and socioeconomic terms and goes hand-in-hand with mainstream assimilation

• the protagonist realizes that mainstream American success is incompatible with their root culture’s values; they must either compromise their ethnic identity to succeed or reject their professional ambitions and honor their culture

Latinx Timeline

• 1598: Spain settles New Mexico

• 1781: LA founded by Spaniards, Afro-Latinos, and mestizo settlers from Mexico

• 1810: Separatist movements begin in Latin American

• 1821: The Republic of Mexico declares its independence from Spain. the first Anglo settlers are invited into the Mexican state of Texas

• 1829: Slavery in Mexico is abolished

• 1834: Mexican President Antonio Lopez Santa Anna dissolves Mexico’s Congress

• 1836: Santa Anna takes control of San Antonio, TX. Siege of the Alamo

• 1845: Texas annexed & Mexico upset

• 1846-1848: Mexican-American war

• 1859: Cuban workers for cigar factors in NY, LA, Miami

• 1862: Homestead Act

• 1868: Cubans revolt

• 1892: independence movements from Spain in Cuba and Puerto Rico

• 1896-1898: Spain grants Cuba and Puerto Rico autonomy

• 1897: Spanish-American War starts when US battleship blows up in Cuban harbor. US acquires Puerto Rico

• 1901: Platt Amendment

• 1902: Reclamation Act passed

• 1904: border patrol

• 1910: Mexican revolution

• 1917: Puerto Ricans given US citizenship; Immigration act of 1917: Select Services Act

• 1939: Grapes of Wrath; braceros; Zoot Suit riots

• 1958: West Side Story

• 1959: Fidel Castro takes over Cuba

• 1962: National Farm Workers Association

• 1964: Civil Rights Act

• 1966: Cuban American Adjustment Act

• 1968: East LA Walkouts/Chicano Blowouts

• 1974: Equal Educational Opportunity Act

• 1986: Immigration Reform and Control Act

• 1994: NAFTA

• 2003: Latinx becomes nation’s largest minority group

Platt Amendment

limits Cuban independence, reserving right of US to build a naval base on Cuba, forbidding Cuba from signing treaties or borrowing money unless deemed agreeable to the US

Reclamation Act

dispossessing many Hispanic Americans of their lands

Immigration Act of 1917

enforces literacy requirement on all immigrants

Selective Service Act

requiring Mexican immigrants to register for the draft even though they’re not eligible

postcolonial criticism

examines how texts by colonized peoples articulate their identity and reclaim their past

• examines how texts by colonizing cultures distort and inscribe the inferiority of a colonized people

• examines how texts by colonized peoples articulate their identity and reclaim their past

colonialism

• the appropriation of lands, goods, and human resources by foreign nations

• denial and destruction of the sovereignty and culture of indigenous peoples

  • sovereignty: the power of a group to make decisions for itself, free from external control

othering

• the other is the culturally determined, less-desirable side of any binary opposition:

  • male/female

  • white/black

  • north/south

  • rich/poor

  • straight/queer

  • abled/disabled

  • logical/emotional

  • scientific/superstitious

• whether ally or enemy, the inferior Other is never “one of us”

• othering may include essentializing and totalizing diverse peoples

colonial ideologies

• the colonizer is superior to the colonized

• the colonizer has a moral duty to “liberate” the colonized from “backward” beliefs and practices

scientific “proof” or racial hierarchy

• colonialist ideologies about ethnic/racial hierarchy were supported by the findings of so-called “sciences” at that time in history… such as craniometry

• how is science (or “science”) used to support racist/racially biased policies today

White Man’s Burden

• Rudyard Kipling

Noble Savage Myth

Western literary and philosophical construct that romanticizes indigenous or “primitive” peoples as inherently pure, peaceful, and uncorrupted by civilization, representing a “state of nature”

the White Savior Myth

the white man’s burden + the noble savage = white savior

• this myth reasserts the superiority of any Westerner-gone-native over actual native peoples

diaspora

the involuntary mass dispersion of a people from their homeland

effects of Western Colonialism

• emergence of bourgeoisie classes within the indigenous populations that mimic their colonizers for the sake of advancement

• emergence of hybrid societies tense with internal contradictions and split loyalties

boarding schools

investigations of records marked and unmarked graves indicate from 973 to 3,100 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children died in federal Indian boarding school between 1819 and 1969

mimicry

when colonial subjects imitate their colonizers to gain acceptance and advantages, or because they believe such mannerisms are superior to their own

assimilation

belief that people should work, live, and succeed according to the practices and beliefs of the superior, dominant culture. can be aggressively enforced to wipe out native cultures

double consciousness

describes the internal conflict experienced by marginalized groups navigating a dominant white society

• two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings

• viewing oneself through one’s own eyes and the contemptuous eyes of a racist society, resulting in a fractured identity

decolonization

• an ongoing decolonization

• at the end of WW2, many nations in Africa and Asia gained independence from European imperialists

lingering effects of colonialism

• categorization of the world into “ranks” based on wealth and access to resources - a capitalist interpretation of development and progress

resistance

postcolonial texts (books, music, cinema, etc) may serve as sites of subversion or resistance to the colonizer and to colonial ideologies

hybrid identity

combining and/or negotiating indigenous and colonial identities: integration or bi/multiculturalism

indigenization

when power is returned to indigenous people and indigenous ways of knowing are given equality with Western ways of knowing

neocolonialism

the use of economic political, cultural, or other pressures by a greater power to indirectly other countries or peoples. often associated with the effects of multinational corporations

cultural imperialism

the exportation and promotion of one nation’s cultural artifacts around the globe in ways that replace indigenous artifacts

double colonization

indigenous women simultaneously experience the oppression of colonialism and patriarchy

Native American timeline

• 1492: Columbus

• 1637: First reservations established by Puritans near New Haven, CT

• 1600s: Pequot War

• 1689-1763: French and Indian War

• 1756-1763: Seven Years War

• 1774: Boston Tea Party - Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest against British Tea Act

• 1811: Battle of Tippecanoe

• 1838: Trail of Tears

• 1840s-1890s: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Cochise

• 1890: Wounded Knee Massacre

• 1902: Cherokee Nation v. Hitchcock

• 1944: National Congress of American Indians established

• 1950s: more than 100 tribes are legally terminated

• 1968: American Indian Movement begins

• 1969: Alcatraz

• 1972: Indian Education Act

• 1973: Occupation & Siege of Wounded Knee

• 1978: Indian Child Welfare Act

• 1980: Seminole tribe of FL establishes first tribally owned gaming enterprise ; US v. Sioux Nation of Indians

• 1996: National American Indian Heritage Month

• 2008: given royalties

Native American History

• 2011: seven new saints for Catholic Church, including Hawaii’s Mother Marianne and a 17th century Native American, Caterina Tekakwitha, “Lily of the Mohawks”

• 2017: Navajo's honored

orientalism

• this concept from postcolonial theory addresses the socially constructed binary of “West” vs. “East”

• the Christian Occident [West] vs. the Non-Christian Orient [East]

• Christianity, starting in the early Roman Christian Empire, began Othering its non-Christian neighbors

stereotypes

• in the US, the “Oriental” has been systematically portrayed as someone other than American and as a threat to the American family

• pollutant- arose mid 1800s California

• yellow peril- arose 1900s

• model minority- arose 1950s

• enemy- arose 1970s

yellowface

• a form of caricature that depicts the Asian body as racially opposed to the White

• it often includes (primarily in male images), White people cosmetically made up with:

  • “slanted” eyes

  • overbite

  • yellow skin color

  • facial hair, especially mustache and goatee

  • round glasses

• white people still all too often play characters descent in Hollywood

inscrutable oriental

a derogatory Western stereotype depicting people of East Asian descent as mysterious, stoic, devious, or impossible to understand

model minority

stereotype and social construct portraying certain minority groups - most commonly Asian Americans in the US- most commonly Asian Americans in the US- as inherently more successful, hardworking, and educated than other minority groups

colonialism and women

• the colonial rhetoric of moral superiority was based on the construction of colonized Asian women as subjects of sexual desire and fulfillment and European colonial women as the paragons of virtue and the beaters of a redefined colonial morality

stereotypes of women

• dragon lady

• china doll/geisha/lotus flower

• suzie wong

• tiger mom

dragon lady

mysterious, dangerous, heartless

China doll/ Geisha/ Lotus Flower

hypersexualized, coy, available

Suzie Wong

hypersexualized, innocent, needs rescuing by a White man

Tiger Mom

uptight, demanding, expects academic and physical perfection in her children

CRT

• argues that racism is a normal, everyday part of society, not just isolated acts of prejudice

• it is built into institutions (schools, law, housing, jobs, policing)

• goes unnoticed by those who benefit from it

race is socially constructed

• race is not biological but a social invention created to categorize people and justify unequal treatment

• society changes the meaning of race over time to serve political and economic needs

interest convergence

• progress for racial minorities usually happens only when it benefits white people too

• ex: economic growth, global reputation, political stability

law is not neutral

• CRT challenges the idea that the legal system is objective or fair

• laws often protect existing power structures and can reinforce inequality even when they claim to promote equality

importance of storytelling and lived experience

• CRT values the personal experiences and stories of people of color as legitimate evidence

• these narratives reveal how racism works in real life in ways statistics or legal language often hide

critique of colorblindness and liberalism

• “I don’t see color”

• slow, gradual reform

• purely equal treatment without addressing past harm

• CRT argues these approaches ignore structural inequality and make real change harder

goal of CRT

• CRT is not just a theory but a movement

• its goal is to:

  • expose hidden racism in systems

  • challenge power structures

  • work toward genuine racial justice, not just formal equality

liberalism

describes mainstream civil-rights thinking, including:

• colorblindness (“treat everyone the same”)

• incremental/slow reform

• faith in the legal system

• individual rights over group remedies

• neutrality and objectivity

CRT argues these ideas sound fair but often protect existing inequality

colorblindness can hide racism

CRT says ignoring race does not eliminate racism because:

• ppl of color still face unequal starting points

• past discrimination still affects housing, education, and wealth

• “same treatment” in an unequal system preserves inequality

so colorblindness can freeze injustice in place instead of fixing it

incremental change is too slow

liberalism favors gradual progress through courts and policy

CRT argues:

• slow change benefits those already in power

• marginalized groups are told to “wait” for justice

• deep structural problems need major reform, not small adjustments

rights talk has limits

legal rights can help, but CRT says they:

• are fragile and can be taken away

• often help individuals but not entire communities

• can make people believe the system is fair even when it’s not

sometimes rights are granted symbolically without real material change

neutral laws are not truly neutral

CRT argues that laws:

• reflect the values of those who write them

• often serve dominant (white, wealthy) interests

• can reproduce inequality even without racist language

so “objectivity” in law is often an illusion

group-based solutions may be necessary

because racism affects groups (not just individuals), CRT supports:

• affirmative action

• race-conscious policies

• structural remedies

construction of racial and cultural difference

• This section examines how colonial powers historically constructed ideas of race and culture that justified domination. 

• It explains how European colonial ideology set up binary oppositions such as “civilized/uncivilized” and “self/other,” which were used to rationalize conquest and subjugation. 

• The chapter shows how such constructions were not neutral descriptions but active ideological tools of power. 

race, class, and colonialism

• Loomba explores how colonialism was not just about territorial control but also about class and economic hierarchies. 

• Colonial identities were shaped by overlapping systems of social stratification—colonial subjects were racialized and placed into lower class positions to make exploitation seem “natural” or inevitable.  

psychoanalysis and colonial subjects

• The chapter engages with psychoanalytic theory to explain the psychological impact of colonial domination. 

• Concepts such as internalized inferiority and the ways colonized people absorb and reinterpret colonial values are discussed. 

• This helps explain why colonial power persisted not only through force but through shaping minds and subjectivities.  

gender, sexuality, and colonial discourse

• Colonial identity wasn’t only racial or economic; gender played a key role. 

• The chapter shows that colonial power also defined proper gender roles and sexual norms, often portraying colonized men and women in stereotyped, demeaning ways that reinforced Western dominance.  

hybridity

• Loomba introduces the concept of hybridity—the idea that cultures under colonial rule don’t remain pure but mix and transform each other. 

• Rather than seeing colonized cultures as stagnant or wholly erased, hybridity emphasizes cultural negotiation, adaptation, and transformation.  

post colonial theory

Postcolonial theory is a framework used to analyze the cultural, political, and economic effects of colonialism and imperialism, especially how colonial power continues to shape societies, identities, and knowledge after formal colonial rule ends. 

It asks: 

• How did colonialism shape the way people see themselves and others? 

• Whose knowledge, history, and voices are valued — and whose are marginalized? 

• How does colonial power persist in culture, language, media, and institutions today? 

core ideas of postcolonial theory

• power and knowledge

• representation and the “other”

• identity and hybridity

• language and voice

• resistance and agency

• gender and colonialism

power and knowledge

• Postcolonial theory argues that colonialism worked not only through military or economic control, but through control of knowledge. 

• European powers represented colonized peoples as inferior, exotic, or backward, which justified domination. These representations became embedded in literature, education, media, and scholarship. 

Knowledge is not neutral — it reflects power. 

representation and the “other”

Colonized peoples were constructed as the “Other” in opposition to the European “Self.” 
Binary oppositions such as: 

• civilized / savage 

• rational / emotional 

• modern / primitive 

helped naturalize colonial hierarchy and racism. 

identity and hybridity

Colonialism produced hybrid identities — cultures and identities shaped by both indigenous traditions and colonial influence. 
Postcolonial theory rejects the idea of “pure” cultures and emphasizes cultural mixing, adaptation, and resistance. 

Key concept: Hybridity (often associated with Homi Bhabha) 

language and voice

Colonial languages (English, French, Spanish) often became dominant, marginalizing indigenous languages. 
Postcolonial theorists ask: 

• Who gets to speak? 

• In what language? 

• Who is heard or silenced? 

Writing back in the colonizer’s language can be both a tool of resistance and a source of tension. 

resistance and agency

Postcolonial theory challenges the idea that colonized people were passive victims. 
It highlights: 

• Cultural resistance 

• Anti-colonial movements 

• Everyday acts of survival and reinterpretation 

Colonized subjects actively negotiated and reshaped colonial power. 

gender and colonialism

Colonial rule was deeply gendered. 
Colonized women were often portrayed as oppressed or exotic to justify intervention, while colonized men were depicted as violent or weak. 
Postcolonial feminist theory critiques both colonial patriarchy and Western feminist universalism. 

key thinkers of postcolonial theory

• Edward Said – Orientalism: how the West constructed the “East” as inferior and exotic 

• Homi Bhabha – hybridity, ambivalence, mimicry 

• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak – “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (voice, silence, power) 

• Frantz Fanon – psychological effects of colonialism, internalized oppression 

what postcolonial theory is used for

• Analyzing literature, film, and media 

• Understanding global inequality 

• Critiquing Western narratives of history and progress 

• Examining race, migration, nationalism, and identity 

Postcolonial theory examines how colonial power continues to shape culture, identity, and knowledge by analyzing representation, resistance, and the lingering effects of imperialism.