Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: African Americans Film Makers - 1,083 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

... pplication's of the technology that were to become central to the language of film thereafter While such techniques as fades, close-ups, use of perspective, juxtaposition of symbols, tracking shots, reveals, dissolves and wipes, would be used by the industry to make cinema more effective in communicating with its audience, they would also later be used by Leni Reifenstahl to glorify Hitler with her production virtuosity, and blame Jews for the economic woes of Germany. African-Americans, Islanders and Aborigines of various races, Arabs, Jews, Hindus, and Asians were the groups most mercilessly lampooned, patronized, defamed, insulted, demeaned and maligned in films they were the sneaky, restless, natives, usually vicious and untrustworthy, or merely stupid and harmless. African-Americans and Asians were particularly victimized by the medium. When these cultures were not being portrayed as vicious villains as in Birth of a Nation (1915), they were generally depicted as ridiculous and humorous such as in Little Black Sambo (1935), the Rastus movies such as How Rastus Got His Turkey (1911), and the smiling fawning Chinamen of westerns, to the weird Oriental in such performances as Mickey Rooney's Mr. Moto in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), or Peter Sellers in The Fiendish Plot of Dr.

Fu Manchu (1980). Even the most benign efforts of film-makers in engaging race usually merely reinforced the view of the person of another race as an inferior, essentially happy in their role in society, and respectful of white superiority, as in the Mammy and Uncle roles depicted in Gone With The Wind (1935) and Uncle Toms Cabin (1903 1976). Essentially all of the principal players were white actors in blackface or yellow face or reduce, often with bizarre prosthetics or silly ethnic makeovers, underlining the fact that the cinema industry considered that non-whites were not actually capable of making films about themselves. Film-makers of recent times have attempted to compensate for the mistakes of the past, and more production control has passed into the hands of individuals from a much broader race spectrum, but the imprint the past century of race portrayal on film has had on our social fabric is not easily washed away. Gender in the Cinema Since the earliest days of cinema, gender roles and sexual politics in most films have followed clearly defined parameters with a didactic precision.

The dogma reads that men are intel aggressive and dominant and must battle to overcome their rivals, and a womans resistance, while women are weak, flighty creatures, subject to extreme emotional outbursts and irrational actions, and incapable of sustaining themselves, physically or emotionally, without the support of a man. Most of the female characters who were not the marrying type were femme fatale's who either repented, reformed, and married, or met with a bitter end, while the male roles were either heroes, villians, or cowards. Politics and Propaganda in Cinema As early as 1898, film was used as propaganda to enlist support for the war effort in Spain, and in 1900, films were screened in Britain showing alleged Boer atrocities that had been staged by English actors. Both sides of the conflict in the First World War used propaganda films extensively, and between the wars and beyond, propaganda was used to extol the virtues or expound upon the evils of political ideologies such as capitalism and communism, dependent on the Governments point of view, and to convince voters to support domestic politicians. During World War I, Woodrow Wilson had formed the Committee on Public Information, while Britain, Australia, and most European countries also used similar bodies to coordinate their propaganda efforts from that time on.

Classic examples of blatant socio / political propaganda such as the anti-Marijuana Reefer Madness (1935), and the anti-Communist Bolshevism on Trial (1917) achieved much of their goals, but cinematic propaganda has had its most profound effects in influencing the moral imperatives of films made primarily for entertainment. Violence in the cinema Violence in the cinema is as customary as popcorn. Since the phantasmagoria in pre-cinema times, one of the main functions of the cinema was to allow people to come together and be afraid, be very afraid. Vampires, monsters, ghosts, demons, dragons, sharks, crocodiles, aliens, and worst of all, human maniacs, have scared the endorphins out of audiences to the present day. Murder, combat, and other forms of violence are major tools of cinematic expression, even in childrens films and cartoons, the only apparent moral dimension being whether the violence is being conducted by the goodies or the baddies, and is it too realistic or is it make believe. Cultural anthropologists and others have posited for decades that the preponderance of violence in cinema might create a more violent society.

Other social commentators have argued that film has merely reflected the trend, not inspired it. Empirical research is extremely difficult since no readily-available control group exists that has not already been subjected to cinematic violence, or at least been in contact with those who have. Now and beyond In the modern world, the discourse in and about cinema is much broader than ever before. Modern humanity has seen the tricks up the conjurers sleeves, and while some are happy with the status quo, a vast number of people worldwide are working specifically to redress the imbalances and repair the damage by creating more diversity in films.

Governments throughout the world have thrown huge amounts of money toward these goals in recent times, and not all of it has been wasted. The Australian film industry is a good example of how government funding has often lead to the success of good films with original, positive messages inclusive of culture and gender, that might not have been made without such assistance. But the results of the star system in inflating wages bills, and the threat of being consumed by the video industry, digital television, and the internet, mean that the democratic dollar will hold sway with the big players for a long time to come. Whether consumers continue to be fed a diet of dogma via the cinema will depend most on whether they continue to support such films at the box-office. Advances in technology mean that anyone can access the means of creating an effective film now for about as much as the cost of a new car. This potential broad banding of the production base, and its flow on effect to the creative base, should have an extremely liberating effect on human cultures ability to express itself with minimum distortion through the medium of cinema.


Free research essays on topics related to: recent times, propaganda, cinema, film makers, african americans

Research essay sample on African Americans Film Makers

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com