John McWhinnie

5/22/12
SUPA Sociology

Final

Exam
Hollywood: The Modern Day Jim Crow
Racism has been a pervasive element throughout history, and can be
seen at nearly any point in time; in biblical times, the Talmud states that the
descendants of Ham are cursed by being black and it depicts Ham as a
sinful man and a progeny for degenerates. Throughout much of the Middle
Ages, and Renaissance Era up until the end of World War II, anti-Semitism
was quite common, starting with the Spanish Inquisition targeting Jews and
Muslims, ending with the Holocaust in World War II which exterminated
millions of people in Hitlers effort to cleanse Germany and then the rest of
the world. Into modern times, African-Americans, and other racial minorities
have been targeted by extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. But, what
one may ask, is: How is racism spread? The answer is not a simple one, but
to show how racism is spread and the minds of millions are molded to be
racist, we can look to Hollywood for the answer. The expansive reach of
movies makes them a particularly important site for examining popular
constructions of race relations in American society. According to Matthew
Hughey, of Mississippi State University, the average citizen spends about
thirteen hours at movie theaters and nearly half of all adults watch movies at

least once a month and sixty percent of people ages 9 to 17 watch at least
one movie a week (Hughey 2009). Internet film downloads are also growing
at an exponential rate, and the popularity of movies as a source of
entertainment and cultural expression mean they reach further than many
other forms of entertainment. This expansive reach allows for Hollywood film
producers to disseminate racist views, and stereotypes through their films.
Russell Middleton, of Florida State University explored the influence of
motion pictures upon ethnic prejudice towards Semitics and the influences
that films themselves can have on peoples ethnic views. The study
conducted found astonishing results, showing that various motion pictures
that urge tolerance and promote pro-ethnic and pro-foreign themes
oftentimes had no positive effect on viewers expression of ethnic prejudice;
rather, motion pictures that promote racist themes, and ethnic prejudice, the
effect was much greater on the viewers, however, in a negative manner
(Middleton 1960). Middleton argued that the more anti-Semitic the subject
the greater his vulnerability to persuasive appeals. Middletons argument
supports the theory that Hollywood does have an influence on racist views of
the viewers. However, he also states that there must be a pre-existing racial
prejudice, but, there is also evidence that many people have racial
prejudices to begin with. In a recent survey at Broadalbin-Perth High School,
it was found that nearly ninety percent of all people surveyed had racial
prejudices and admitted to using racial slurs, or spoke down unfavorably of
other races (McWhinnie 2012). So, it can be assumed that the majority of

people have racial prejudices and therefore are susceptible to influence by

Hollywood films.
Continuing off of the work of Russell Middleton, Matthew Hughey, of
Mississippi State University, explores Magical Negro films, in which lowerclass, uneducated, and magical black characters who transform dishelved,
uncultured or broken white characters into competent people (Hughey 2009).
Hughey argues that these Magical Negro films promote anti-black
stereotypes and white superiority. Hughey notes that many of the central
black characters in the films studied occupy a position of lower
socioeconomic extremity (Hughey 2009). For instance, in the film The
Legend of Bagger Vance, Will Smiths character, Bagger Vance, is an
unemployed golf caddy. Also, in the popular film Bruce Almighty, Morgan
Freeman, although playing God is first introduced as a janitor mopping the
floors of an abandoned factory. Hughey also argues that popular films have
married blackness to various pathologies: criminality, hostility, a child-like
demeanor, a lack of mental capacity, and a poor work ethic (Hughey 2009).
The theme of the pathologies that Hughey describes is shown a great deal in
the movie The Green Mile, as John Coffey, the black protagonist, is portrayed
as a child-like, simpleton on death row with magical healing powers. The
cinethetic racism that Hughey describes has been pervasive within the
past twenty years, with numerous groups taking notice, Christopher Farley,
of TIME Magazine noted most Hollywood screen writers dont know much
about black people other than what they hear on records by white hip-hop

star Emineminstead of getting life histories or love interests, black

characters get magical powers (Farley 2000). Magical Negro films have
had a great influence on American culture of the past twenty years; with
many films promoting anti-black stereotypes, these stereotypes have been
spread throughout the viewers of such films that promote the stereotypes. In
the free-response portion of a recent survey at Broadalbin-Perth High School,
there were several comments regarding black stereotypes, including calling
blacks derogatory slurs that should not be reprinted under any circumstance
(McWhinnie 2012).
With the pervasiveness of Magical Negro films and the attention on
African-American stereotypes, there is an ethnic group that is quite often
attacked by Hollywood, and with recent events, has become a hated group
for Americans: Arabs. After the events of September 11th, 2001, Americans
were left with the pains of watching two planes hijacked by Muslim
extremists crash into the Twin Towers and watch their friends, family and coworkers die. The event left Americans hunting for a race to blame, and to
hate, the target, were Arab-Americans. Fueled with the September 11th
attacks, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s and the World trade Center
Bombing in the 1990s, Jack Shaheen argues that film makers distorted their
lenses to please the masses, and Arabs were the easy target. Shaheen
argues that Arabs are portrayed as heartless, brutal, uncivilized, religious
fanatics who are all hell-bent on the destruction of America and American
ideals (Shaheen 2003). Numerous films throughout the history of Hollywood

has portrayed Arabs as the villains, from early films such as Lawrence of
Arabia, to modern films such as, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and even the
popular Disney film, Aladdin. These films all portray Arabs in a negative and
stereotypical light.