African American Films Research Paper

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Film has taken over the media industry. All over the world, film is one of the most influential types of medium within a society. In countries, such as India, cinema has become more popular than books and newspapers combined (Shah). I believe this has to do with the influence of film on a society. Whether a film is action based, a romantic comedy or a horror story, each film is trying to bring awareness to a current social issue. However, even though films share social issues, there is history of racism in film, specifically in horror film. Throughout history, African Americans are usually seen as a “lesser” race. This flows into the cinema industry as well. They are underrepresented and under casted as actors, actresses, and even producers …show more content…
Specifically, in horror cinema, we see colored people being the villains or being killed off within the first half of the movie. A lot of times directors would add colored people to fill a quota or body fill. However, film also has the beautiful potential of shining light to these issues. The world values actors and actresses and the cinema industry. We give away sacred awards and trophies for best picture and actress. In the horror film industry, George A. Romero started down a necessary path with Night of the Living Dead and fifty years later, Jordan Peele created a thought provoking, uncomfortable, and necessary film with Get Out. Even if one argued that recent films share racism to white people, through horror film cinema it is clear that that is not true. One could argue that there is racism in both types of film; one with racism against African Americans and the other with reverse racism of white people (Prestigiacomo). Is there a balance that can be achieved, where both sides are treated without racism? It is important to understand that supporting a certain race does not mean you are against another race (Herring). People of color are needed in the film industry, as actors, actress, and directors. Hopefully, it won’t take another fifty years before another life altering film is
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