Ethnic Notions

Ethnic Notions is a film that explains how blacks are viewed in society. The main point of the film is to show that blacks have been falsely portrayed in society to make them look in ways that are convenient to white society.

The film begins with numerous cartoons that portray black men and women as being foolish. The film states how the images shape feelings about race, and even though blacks aren’t really that way, we begin to view them in that way. Black men were often portrayed as being happy, irresponsible, and childlike. This image became known as the “happy darky.” Slaves were portrayed as being happy which caused some to believe that since slaves were happy, slavery must be a good thing. There was also the Jim Crow character and minstrel shows that again depicted blacks as being silly and childlike. In these shows, whites put on “black face” and basically acted as foolish as they could. Later on blacks themselves played the role of Jim Crow. The film states that black comedians play the role of black minstrels today. The media then began to portray blacks as being brutes and savages. Even when blacks tried to rid themselves of these stereotypes by fighting in World War I, they were not given a chance and treated as servants. At the end of class, the film was discussing how these images are what caused the racial stereotypes. Often we view these stereotypes as being funny, but they really aren’t.

Just why were black portrayed this way in our past? I believe blacks were portrayed this way for many reasons. All of the reasons are beneficial to whites and detrimental to blacks. By making black look silly, foolish, and childlike, it made it easier to enslave millions of them. Making them look happy as slaves also promoted the idea that slavery was good for the slave. Making blacks look like savage animals and brutes also helped to justify keeping northern jobs from them. Whites made blacks look in whatever ways were beneficial to them at the time. It was profitable to enslave them and also beneficial to deny blacks jobs in order to keep them for white men.

It was very sad to see they ways in which blacks were treated while watching the film. I was already familiar with much of the slavery issues and the way in which blacks were viewed in our past, but I had never seen many of the cartoons and the ads. These were new and quite surprising to me. I also knew of the minstrel shows, but never knew that blacks actually played roles in them. I always thought all of the actors were white men made to look like black men. Overall, I liked the film because it showed actual cartoons and ads and made it easier to understand how blacks could be viewed the way that they were.