This
particular assignment, of looking at some of our favorite movies with an
analytical eye, has brought up a number of discussion within the discourse of
our classroom. I would even pose the argument that it made some of look at our
favorite movies in a slightly different light. This rang especially true with
the movie that I chose to analyze this time.
Bring
It On, any version to be specific, has been some of my favorite movies to watch
in my leisure time. It is a known fact that there is a rivalry within every
movie. It is also a known fact that one side of the rivalry is almost always
people of color and that they are also portrayed as mean and aggressive beings.
If there was not a dichotomous race separation between the two cheerleading
teams, then the actors of color portrayed stereotypes particular to their
culture. It was not until recent conversation pertaining to these movies that I
realized that this was indeed an apparent trend within the Bring It On series.
To
make this analysis more specific and less general, I chose to analyze and
expound upon my particular favorite sequel- Bring
It On: All or Nothing. To provide a common knowledge for the audience, a brief
synopsis of this movie is as follows:
-It is centered
around two rivaling teams. (From vastly different parts of town, one being
affluent and the other being underserved.)
-One team is populated
with minorities while the other has mostly white people.
-There is a
competition where both teams are competing for the chance to be in Rihanna’s, a
current pop star, video.
-The main
character Brittany Allen has to relocate from her affluent high school where
she is the captain of her cheerleading team to an underserved high school where
she is just a number at cheerleading tryouts. (Which is ultimately where the
rivalry begins because Brittany’s former cheerleading team feels that joining
another cheerleading team is an act of betrayal.)
Brittany, obviously being outside of
her comfort zone takes a while to adapt to her new school but looks to the cheerleading
team as a means of finding her comfort in a new environment. Unfortunately,
Brittany primarily does not have luck due to the horrible and non-inclusive
from the current cheerleaders- Leti, Camille and Kirresha. All of these women
happen to be minority women of color. An example of the horrendous attitude
that these young women had is:
-“You can’t keep
up white girl?”
Even the
rivaling teams had some things to say about the minority filled team, an example
of their perceptions is:
-“If anyone
deserves to be on TV, it’s me! Look at them! They’re so ghetto!”
These
are only a few of the portrayal of their attitudes unfortunately. Of course,
this is not the actor’s choice to decide holistically how they are supposed to
act- the director(s) of the movie decide that. What I have found to be ironic
and problematic is how the director decided to reinforce a negative stigma that
is attached to minority women of color- to be angry and full of attitude. This
is an actually a phenomenon that has been researched, the portrayal of minority
women within film. One of the most famously coined terms relating to minority
women is “the angry black woman” syndrome.
This
phenomenon of a skewed representation of minority women that there is even
research that solidifies or validates it. Trina Jones and Kimberly Jade Norwood
have extensive research that speaks of the construction and deconstruction of
the angry black woman trope and many more topics pertaining to this concept in
their work “Aggressive Encounters and White Fragility: Deconstructing the Trope
of the Angry Black Woman.” The solution that they propose to dispel this trope
and furthermore this representation in media is, “dismantling this trope requires
overcoming barriers of race (within the community of women) and gender (within
the Black community.)
Of
course, to achieve the infamous happily ever theme, these young women of color
ultimately accept Brittany and form a bond with her. However, this consistent
portrayal is problematic and is arguably detrimental to the representation of
women of color and women of color as whole. Wendy Ashley in “The angry black
woman: the impact of pejorative stereotypes on psychotherapy with black women”
supports this by saying that, “This myth and corresponding negative stereotypes
significantly affect Black women intrapyschically, interpersonally, and are
likely to influence the efficacy of mental health treatment.
“Aggressive
Encounters and White Fragility: Deconstructing the Trope of the Angry Black
Woman:”
“The angry black
woman: the impact of pejorative stereotypes on psychotherapy with black women”
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