Throughout the history of American films many different cultures have been misrepresented through film. this can have a negative impact on the way those cultures are viewed and the way the people of those ethnicities are viewed by those outside of that culture. we can see the harmful affects of these types of stereotypes when we look at slavery and how black slaves were given the name sambo because according to Ronald Takaki in his book A Different Mirror on page 104 white southerners thought “slaves were childlike, irresponsible, lazy, affectionate, and happy”. this greatly contributed to the mistreatment of slaves and the feeling of superiority that lead to the continuation of slavery for far too long. we can see similar effects like this from film as well certain stereotypes and prejudices people have in their minds that they likely don’t even realize they have because those stereotypes feel more like facts when you aren’t aware of the truth.
A recent example of the controversy of american film today is the movie Moana. an animated disney movie about a pacific islander girl set long ago. despite disney hiring people from the pacific islands to be apart of this film and to portray the culture as accurately as possible the controversy lies within the fact that disney is an american corporation that will be profiting off the movie. Since Disney will be making all the money and none of it will be going to people of the actual culture portrayed in the movie besides the few who worked on it this was still viewed as wrong since many believe only those from that culture should make movies about that culture. another controversy surrounding the movie was during halloween when many children who weren’t pacific islanders but still dressed up as the character which some saw as cultural appropriation. others noted that it wasn’t an issue because the children weren’t trying to dress up as a culture or ethnicity they were dressing up as a character they admired which they believe shouldn’t be viewed as appropriation. this shows how controversial the topic of cultural appropriation can be since so many people have different opinions on it.
The easiest way to avoid cultural appropriation in film is to have the ethnic groups those movies are about be apart of the process of making the film. In 2016 Hollywood made about 10 billion dollars in film revenue making it the highest grossing film industry of all. this means that American films are seen by lots of people and have a huge impact on those who see them. this is why it’s important for the U.S. to put out films that correctly portray other cultures. according to our community partner dustin who is apart of the Seattle international film festival, he believes that the best way to get films that portray different ethnicities is to bring in films from the countries themselves that are made by people of that culture in order to get an authentic view of their lives. the people at siff actively seek out movies from different countries that may introduce a new culture to their audience in Seattle. Dustin has found that the best representation for cultures in film comes from people of those groups themselves.
Today most Americans rely heavily on the media to get most of their information about the world, specifically the parts of the world that don’t show up in your everyday life and that you don’t come face to face with to see for your self. because of this combined with the inaccuracy with which many american films portray other cultures we are faced with the problem of a country that only knows about some cultures what they learned from tv and movies which makes their view of the world narrow and often incorrect and filled with inaccurate stereotypes. to make matters worse this has been going on since before film was even invented with stories and newspapers being the only outlets to spread misinformation. but with the invention of film and television these problems can be spread faster and further than ever before. because film has become what used to be books, then newspapers in terms of how they captured peoples attention as Neil Postman says in his book Amusing Ourselves to death on page 41 “the influence of the printed word in every arena of public discourse was insistent and powerful not merely because of the quantity of printed matter but because of it’s monopoly”. today that monopoly mostly belongs to film which is why with film capturing so much of our attention today we need to make sure it’s giving us accurate information about other cultures and that we’re not allowing cultural appropriation to dominate film.
Home of SIFF Cinema, Seattle International Film Festival, and SIFF Education. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2017, from https://www.siff.net/
Nine ‘Cultural Appropriations’ By Music and Movies In 2015-16. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2017, from https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/mairead-mcardle/2016/05/19/nine-cultural-appropriations-music-and-movies-2015-16
Postman, N. (2007). Amusing ourselves to death public discourse in the age of show business. Burnaby, B.C.: Simon Fraser University.
Takaki, R. (2008). A different mirror: a history of multicultural America. New York: Back Bay Books.
American Film 