Is Tiana the Tipping Point? What Is Known About the Prevalence of Black Characters in Popular Film

[Blue_Tires]

On December 11, Disney unveils its new animated ingénue: Tiana. This G-rated gal is unique; she's the first African-American royal in the successful Disney princess lineage. Tiana will become a household name, just like Denzel, Halle, and Will. With this impressive line up, one might assume that black characters have shattered the Caucasian ceiling and "made it" in the film industry.

Given this, I thought it might be a good time to step back and shed some empirical light on what we know about black characters in popular films. My colleague Carmen Lee (California State University, San Diego) and I conducted a secondary analysis of a large database recently gathered to examine gender portrayals for See Jane, a program started by Geena Davis. The sample included 400 G, PG, PG-13, and R-rated films that were theatrically released between January 1, 1990 and September 4, 2006 in the United States and Canada. 12,837 characters across the films had discernible cues that made evaluating ethnicity possible. What we found was shocking. Let me share a few of the major findings with you, which we presented at the National Communication Association Annual Conference in November.

#1 Black Characters Are Still Marginalized in Movies

Only 9.5% (n=1,214) of the 12,837 single speaking characters evaluated across the 400 films are identified as black. If equivalence with U.S. Census estimates (12.3%) is one benchmark of racial assimilation of black characters in film, then our data show that this has not yet been achieved. It also suggests that the recent recognition of black actor distinctions from the Academy Awards or even a black Disney Princess might create a false perception among the public that racial equality has been attained in the film industry.

The findings also revealed interesting trends by gender and MPAA rating. 71.2% of black characters are male and 28.8% are female. This gender finding should be of no surprise to activists or female actors. Several studies have found that girls and women can't seem break the 30% barrier of speaking roles in film. Ratings also vary in the presentation of race. Of the 1,214 black characters coded, 4.9% are featured in G-rated films, 8.7% are depicted in PG films, 10.2% are portrayed in PG-13 films, and 11.9% are represented in R films. Tiana's début is timely, as the sheer prevalence of black characters in G-rated films is the lowest across ratings. If people of color aren't seen in general audience fare, then kids of color may perceive that their stories are not worth telling. Clearly, this needs to change.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacy-smith/is-tiana-the-tipping-poin_b_379226.html

[Number23]

1. Great read. Thanks for posting!

They just showed The Matrix:Reloaded on tv last night. The Matrix movies is one of the few "mainstream" movies that I have EVER seen with more than one or two token black people in it. And they actually had **gasp** black WOMEN in these movies too!! Hot, sexy, smart ones who kicked some serious ass!!! The future is looking very promising -- onscreen anyway. :)

[FrenchieCat]

2. Thank you for that article.

I remember, like it was yesterday, how Black folks were killed off in most movies in the first 15 minutes, and how Black love was like Yukky....

We do have a way to go....but it appears that we are facing in the right direction.

OT.....Although Tiger Woods did some damage.

cause you know how it goes; you ain't never too Black
to be pulled from that pedestal folks placed you on,
even if you're doing about the same stupid shit
that many, many others do.