HELLO WORLD!

Wow, I feel like I’m in an early 2000s movie in which I am making my debut into society at a cotillion ball…Except this isn’t the early 2000s, I’m not wearing a gigantic gown of tulle, and the only debut I have to look forward to right now is the creation of this blog. Either way, welcome! I am very excited and slightly terrified to be writing this right now, but I pretty much feel this way all the time (so, nothing new). My name is Jayana, I thoroughly enjoy watching movies, and I am completely, positively, without a doubt…winging the f*ck out of this. But, I digress.

This blog will venture deep into several genres of movies in which I will select several films (old and recent) to discuss how/and if the Black characters (both main and secondary) have been poorly stereotyped throughout the film. I am putting my own spin on the popular 70s subgenre of movies called blaxploitation, which decisively placed Black characters in roles of high regard, rather than making them villains that served to advance their counterparts’ success in the movie.

The title of this blog, Black-ploitation, is derived from this movie subgenre (clever use of wordplay, I know). As I am going to be examining various stereotypes that plague Blacks—both in society and in Hollywood—I’m also going to be describing how these stereotypes have affected me throughout my life and how they continue to affect me. I’m going to be thoroughly scrutinizing how Hollywood crafts roles for minorities that perpetuate negative stereotypes that can ultimately affect how they view themselves and how society views them.

Movies have been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. Even now, I can picture this young, perplexed girl staring at the TV screen, wondering where characters that looked like her were. Or, if they did happen to look like her, why they were so often crafted in roles that only served to immortalize the tired stereotypes that continue to trouble Blacks today. Because of this, I began searching for myself in people on the big screen who didn’t look like me.

It was only later that I realized I didn’t have to live by the rules crafted by an unforgiving society—I could make my own. This blog is going to capture how I did exactly that.

Note: This blog is definitely not aimed at just one kind of person. This is mainly for anyone—not just minorities—who has ever felt as if they were alienated, misunderstood, or placed into a box by a society that continues to ridicule anyone that it doesn’t understand. I mainly just want people to know that it is totally unnecessary to try to abide by standards that are crafted by people who lack understanding or who have narrow minds. Because, frankly, I think that you’re truly awesome.

Now, let’s do this thing.