The representation of Black People in the Media Throughout all media representation and stereotypes can be found about

any minority. Black people are one such minority where throughout the history of all media they have had stereotypes formed from actions they have done and had actions formed by the labels they have been given. Representation of black in the media has always been there from the very beginning. One example of such stereotypes is Birth of a Nation (1915), which sees a white actor who is painted to make him look black stalk then chase a girl throughout woods. The character shown in the film relates very much to the racist society at that point of time following the vast slave trade from 1620 1865. Society although no longer trading slaves the racism that had been taught to generations would take a long time to settle. Birth of a Nation conforms to Travis Dixons theory upon which he explores the archetypes of stereotypes derived from slavery. He explains that there are three stereotypes derived from slavery for each gender of black people the males can be placed into; The Buck (which derived from slavery shows black males as violent causing harm to others and sexually aggressive), The Coon (a laughable figure who has no mental capacity to be able to fit in with society), The Tom (Uncle Tom derives from the house slaves who would be in control of the other household slaves). These stereotypes have been displayed within films throughout history including Birth of a Nation. The Black male at the start is believed to be a Buck as he is sneaking around trying to get close to the girl. He remains the buck whilst he is chasing the girl but then when he attempts to get close we see him change to the coon stereotype as he was not trying to scare the girl but stop her from being hurt. It is that sort of inability to communicate. The representation of the black male is also part of the reaction the white girl has towards the male. The scared running away actions symbolize the racism taught to the young children about black people. Travis Dixons stereotypes still exist in many modern films including Quentin Tarantinos Django Unchained in which we see a Jamie Foxx play a black protagonist in the times of the slave trade. The format of the film has brought a lot of controversy in the comment that he stated he was using the film as a way for a black character to be able to fight back against the suppressors (the slavers) in a way that has the audience rooting for the main character. The violence we see Django perform in the film instantly has him conforming to Travis Dixons Buck stereotype. Throughout the film we see different aspects of Django to which he does not clearly fit into any of Travis Dixons Stereotypes clearly but more into Tessa Perkins theory which states no stereotype is simple they are complex and evolve through time. A prime example of this is the humor we see Django develop using lines that white slavers used against such as I Like the way you beg boy Django uses this line against the slaver just before he is about to kill him and says I like the way you die boy. Stuart Hall states that a film or piece of media can be encoded by a director then will be decoded by the audience for example Tarantinos preferred reading about Django might be a wounded protagonist who is only trying to get to his wife. Where as a oppositional reading

could be that Django is using the ability to kill white characters as a way to return the pain that he has received over the years of being a slave. A character who juxtaposes Django is Steven. Played by Samuel. L. Jackson