Locked in Media
Think of a movie, TV show, or even a commercial. What do the characters look like? Are they People of Color? Are there any People of Color? If there are, what kind of character do they play? Are they a side kick? Are they comic relief? Are they a main character? How do they dress? How do they speak? Though it may seem excessive to ask these questions of media as simple as commercials and magazines, they all relate back to one overarching question: how does the media portray characters of color? It turns out, characters of color are often portrayed in a way that fits into standards of Eurocentric beauty. In other cases, they are forced into negative stereotypes surrounding their race. The quickest example to come to mind is Black characters and their hair. Black children do not normally see their natural hair on the heads of positive characters. They see their afros on the heads of loud sidekicks, their braids on the heads of criminals, and their locks covering the faces of characters who are unhinged. If they do see a Black main character with more socially acceptable traits, the character’s hair is straightened. Why does this matter? The general portrayal of Black characters in the media reinforces negative cultural stereotypes of the Black community in the real world; these stereotypes often become widely accepted and stifle cultural change.
Consequences of Inaccurate Portrayal
Before one can understand the true effects of the portrayal of Black characters, one must understand why these negative connotations exist historically. Black children already exist in a society that devalues them because of their heritage. In the words of Cheryl Holocomb-McCoy, “…African American adolescent females are contending with typical developmental tasks in the context of a society that has historically devalued and portrayed African American women as either poor, welfare dependent, working-class women, or as mothers of illegitimate, impoverished, and delinquent children.” When these negative stereotypes are reinforced in the media, Black children begin to see that as their place in society regardless of the characters sex. Holocomb-McCoy continues, “These negative societal images and stereotypes have adversely affected the self esteem and, consequently, the academic and emotional development of young African American[s].” This supports the claim that the media’s portrayal of Black characters can affect the self-esteem and self-worth of Black children.
Isn’t it Just Hair?
The importance of hair in the Black community spans back to the 1500s and the trans-atlantic slave trade. Prior to this, hair held a plethora of meanings. The article, “African American Personal Presentation: Psychology of Hair and Self-Perception” explains that hair styles could be indicative of religion, status, age, and more. In an attempt to strip away their culture, slave owners would cut off the hair of the enslaved Africans. This resulted in the wearing of scarves. Those who still had their hair began to utilize more long-term styles, such as braids, knots, and twists. Less kinky hair was much easier to maintain and manage with the “bacon grease, butter, and kerosene” that those who were enslaved were forced to make do with (Ellis Hervey, et. al). This fact led to the separation within the black community and eventually colorism. Black people with more Eurocentric features, specifically hair, were seen as “better” than their more Afrocentric counterparts.
Lighter-skinned and straight-haired Africans were sold at much higher prices than darker-skinned and kinky-haired Africans were. This enforced the idea that taking on more Eurocentric traits made a Black person more acceptable, an idea that continued after emancipation. Brenda A. Randal writes that hair was a large part of what White people used to categorize Black people as Black; it was the “Blackest” feature of Black people other than their skin color. The article “Hair Matters: African American Women and the Natural Hair Aesthetic” explains, “[t]he problem was not with hair but Blackness itself. The hair is a representation of Blackness, the otherness itself.” Randal explains that the disguising of Black hair became a way of conforming to the Eurocentric world that Black people were forced to exist in.
How Far We Haven’t Come
Despite the fact that this lack of acceptance may seem to be an issue that has already been solved through the passage of time, Black hair in its natural state is still not fully accepted in the eyes of many people. In a study shown in “Hair Matters: Toward Understanding Natural Black Hair Bias in the Workplace,” it was found that the way “individuals feel about their hair is largely influenced by a labeling process, such that hair that is different from the Eurocentric norm of ‘smooth and straight’ is stigmatized as unprofessional and less beautiful.” The stigma being referred to led to an influx of hair alteration in the Black community. This began with simply straightening hair using hot combs and flat irons, such as the hair softener sold by Madam C.J. Walker. This product was more significant than others and “revolutionized the way Black women thought about their hair. Because she was also Black, not only did her product sanction the act of straightening, it also turned it from something Whites had demanded that Blacks do into a collective signifier of progress” (Thompson). Eventually, the constant straightening of hair grew tiresome and frustrating, leading to a completely new and permanent option: the perm. This could be a day-long process that resulted in permanently pin-straight hair along with irreversible damage.
This history of Black hair has led to the semi-rite of passage that is hair alteration in the Black community. My first relaxer was a boxed relaxer at six years old. That continued until I was ten, and at that point, I started getting my hair permed at a salon. That continued until I was about fourteen. After going natural, I was frequently told I should start straightening my hair again. Although it has become much more acceptable today to wear Black hair in its natural state, the stigma surrounding Black hair still exists. The less Eurocentric a person’s hair is, the more Black they are considered, and the more they are associated with negative stereotypes. This absurd connotation has existed for centuries and continues to persist in the media today.
The Portrayal of Black Characters in Media
This persistence has made it extremely difficult for the media to allow for diversity in the portrayal of Black people. “That’s Not Me I see on T.V….: African American Youth Interpret Media Images of Black Females” explains that “Media socialization is a critical factor that impacts how youth come to acquire static or stereotypic self- and other representations. The process is defined as the exposure to mass communication messages such as television, radio, the Internet, and newspapers; messages that teach people socially accepted behaviors.” This idea is followed by a list of research that has been conducted on the topic, including the connections between media and body image, self-esteem, and behavior. Now more than ever, the media plays a large part in how society views the world and the people in it. If people are not being shown diversity within the Black community and instead are shown stereotypical characters, that will affect the way they view actual Black people. Since these stereotypes are rooted in centuries of hatred, racism, and bigotry, the reinforcement of these stereotypes stifles change in the perception of Black people in society.
The problematic portrayal of Black characters can be seen in all forms of media. Helán E. Page sums it up by saying, “In addition to our need for a new generation of ethnographic studies on black community life in all the Americas, we must also methodically observe the media’s strategic deployment of black male imagery (and all mass-produced nonwhite imagery). We must be theoretically equipped to show how it encourages the viewing public.” This means that, as a society, we must come to terms with how Black people are presented in the media and how that affects our viewing of the Black community as a whole. As explained in “That’s Not Me I See on TV . . . : African American Youth Interpret Media Images of Black Females”, generally speaking, the media adheres to stereotypes, showing Black women who fit into categories of oversexual, overbearing, and/or overly motherly (Adams-Base, et. al). The media does not only stereotype Black women but does the same of Black men. In the words of Helán E. Page, Black men are often protrayed as violent, unembraceable, and incompetent threats to White public spaces. Cheryl C. Holocomb-McCoy explains that the media not only damages the appearance of African-Americans in the eyes of non-POC, but has damaged them in the eyes of other African-Americans. Excessive exaggerations in the media have led to distortions of what the personality of a Black person could be in reality and can be damaging to see.
Black Hair in the Media
Alongside this piece, you will find a notebook in which each Black model has been cut out of the October 2020 Vogue magazine. Less than half of the notebook is filled with models despite leaving a page for each picture and a separate page for each description. The magazine was labeled to have 131 pages but since the pictures were cut from torn-out pages, I’ll be referring to the magazine as having 65 pages. Out of these, only 25 pages of this notebook were filled. In the magazine, 33 pages of white-passing models were left. There were about seven pages of solely text. In this notebook, there are only two models (taking up full pages) with un-contained natural hair. In both cases, the hair looks undone and not well-kept. In both cases, the models are much more exposed compared to Black models with their hair more maintained. In the other four cases of obvious and uncontained natural hair, they are incredibly small pictures that would go virtually unnoticed. In one especially aggravating case, we see what appears to be a Black male with long and uncontained natural hair being put almost entirely out of the frame of the picture. One of which was in the fold of the magazine and the other, a small picture that is barely visible. It is obvious that there is a preference for hair that is slicked back and contained in a bun or ponytail. In five of the photos, Black models show their hair in these styles. In eight cases, they use Black models who either have extremely short hair or aren’t showing hair at all. Only four photos exist in which the models’ hair is braided and three in which the models’ hair is straightened. Three black men are seen modeling in this edition, and in all three cases they’re difficult to even see. In the other 33 pages of models, only two photos occur in which the model’s hair is up (Vogue). In this case and many others, when Black people are shown people like themselves, their hair is either cut short enough to be “manageable,” hidden, or straightened. As a Black person with obviously Black hair, who used to flip through the same magazines wishing I could be as beautiful as the models they held, not seeing natural hair on full pages, or in a well-kept state, or on skin that I could perceive as similar to mine made it difficult to believe that I could be beautiful while having long, obviously natural hair. Many other Black people share the same memory.
It can be easy for one to ignore the clear stereotyping that occurs in the cases of Black people in the media if those stereotypes don’t affect them personally. In, “African American Personal Presentation: Psychology of Hair and Self-Perception,” the author explains that a large amount of representation of the Black community is based on beauty standards and each person has a personal opinion on their standard of beauty. However, despite the personal nature of the meaning of beauty, societal standards are put in place through the use of the media. The standards shown in the media are highly Eurocentric. In movies, books, magazines, etc. positive traits such as determination, wealth, and drive are displayed by Black characters with altered hair, whereas more negative stereotypes are shown by Black characters with more natural hair. The article “Hair Matters: Toward Understanding Natural Black Hair Bias in the Workplace” sums it up best in saying,
Popular movies and television have also perpetuated the idea that “Black hair is only
beautiful when it is altered” by predominantly casting Black women who have long,
flowing, Eurocentric hair (e.g., Kerry Washington in Scandal, Taraji P. Henson in Empire,
Nia Long in NCIS). In contrast, Afrocentric styles are shown when casting Black women
in roles that depict negative stereotypes, such as Danai Jekesai Gurira in The Walking
Dead and Mo’Nique in Precious. (Dawson, et al.)
Each of these roles coincide with either a valuable or negative trait. For example, Taraji P. Henson plays “Cookie” in Empire. She is shown as a woman with wealth, drive, and determination, time and time again. Those traits are what her character is well-known for. In comparison, Danai Jekesai Gurira of The Walking Dead plays “Michonne,” a character who also has drive and determination, but is remembered as a stand-offish brute who is a great fighter and walks around with two zombies on a rope whose limbs she cut off with her machete. Cookie has perfectly straightened hair whereas Michonne has her hair in a historically natural style: locs. As shown in this journal, positive traits are associated with more Eurocentric-leaning characters and negative traits are associated with more Afrocentric-leaning characters. Generally, this distinction is made by the hair styles worn by the given character.
A Curl-cusion
The history of Black hair is full of shame and anger—from having their hair and history stripped of them, to being ridiculed and discriminated against for their hair, to reclaiming their curls in the 60s, and then still being stereotyped because of it in the 21st century. In a period of time in which society is evolving to a point where one can accept one’s natural self more than ever, it’s a shame that in the media, Black people aren’t shown wearing their natural hair in a more positive light. Instead, the media connects obvious Black hair to negative stereotypes of violence, uncleanliness, and more. This presentation in the media damages self-perception in the Black community and enforces a need to present as Eurocentrically as possible, the easiest way to do so is to change one’s hair. Locs, braids, and knots are used to show off characters with more negative and Afrocentric traits whereas perms are used to show off characters with positive and Eurocentric-aligning traits. This virtually prohibits change in society’s perception of the Black community, leaving Black people and Black hair locked in the same place they’ve been for the past 400 years.
How can this be changed? Firstly, we need to come to terms with the negative stereotypes associated with Black characters in media. The Kent Test, created by Clarkisha Kent, a Black woman, is a good example of how to do this. Similar to the Bechdel Test, a test that evaluates a woman’s character in a show or movie, the Kent Test is defined as, “a test designed to determine whether a film or any other piece of media has provided the audience with adequate representation of femmes of color. This is meant to encourage discussion on what good representation can look like for femmes of color and it is not the be-all end-all test (but it is a good place to start)” (Kent). The criteria includes a point system and rubric that describes whether or not the media in question is a representative piece for women of color. Despite its intended use to be for women of color in media, it can be used for all characters of color. The Kent test explains that the character in question,
Must not solely be a walking stereotype/trope… can and should have a story that
contributes to the film/piece of media’s overall narrative… must not be solely included in
the narrative just for the purpose of “holding down” some male character and his story…
must not solely be included in the narrative to prop up a White female character…. must
not solely exist in the film/piece of media for the purpose of fetishization…must have at
least one interaction with another woman/femme of color…. [and] must not be the go-to
character “sacrifice” in a film/piece of media. (Kent)
By utilizing criteria such as this and listening to Black voices about the issues of portrayal surrounding the Black community in the media, we can begin alleviating the stigma that exists because of this inaccuracy. By doing so, the stigma surrounding natural hair will also fall out of practice and we can move toward a time in which afrocentricity, braids, afros, and locs leave the Black community less locked in place.
Works Cited
Adams-Bass, Valerie N., et al. “That’s Not Me I See on TV . . . : African American Youth
Interpret Media Images of Black Females.” Women, Gender, and Families of Color, vol. 2, no. 1, 2014, pp. 79–100.
JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/womgenfamcol.2.1.0079. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
Dawson, Gail A., et al. “Hair Matters: Toward Understanding Natural Black Hair Bias in the Workplace.” Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, 2019, pp. 389–401., doi:10.1177/1548051819848998. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
Ellis-Hervey, Nina, et al. “African American Personal Presentation: Psychology of Hair and Self-Perception.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 47, no. 8, 2016, pp. 869–882. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26174232.
Hargro, Brina. “Hair Matters: African American Women and the Natural Hair Aesthetic.” Thesis / Dissertation ETD, 2011.
Holcomb-McCoy, Cheryl C., and Cheryl Moore-Thomas. “Empowering African-American Adolescent Females.” Professional School Counseling, vol. 5, no. 1, 2001, pp. 19–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42732310. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
Kent, Clarkisha. “HR_The-Kent-Test.”
Page, Helán E. “‘Black Male’ Imagery and Media Containment of African American Men.” American Anthropologist, vol. 99, no. 1, 1997, pp. 99–111. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/682136. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.
Randle, Brenda A. “I Am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair!” Race, Gender, and Class, vol. 22, no. 1-2, 2015, pp. 114–121. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26505328. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.
Thompson, Cheryl. “Black Women, Beauty, and Hair as a Matter of Being.” Women’s Studies 38 (2009): 831 – 856.
Vogue, October 2020.