Is It Socially Acceptable For Black Women To Be Delicate, Fragile,& Vulnerable In Movies?

In pop culture, white women have more leverage due to the fact white female sexuality has been constructed as pure,  pristine, and palatable to the mainstream. For instance, Sigourney Weaver she was a strong woman and she kicked ass in the Alien movie series.

Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon,  Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, and Kate Hudson have illustrated that  white women can be delicate, fragile, feminine, and vulnerable in their movies.

Are black women still relegated to the  margins of femininity or moving closer to the center of femininity?

In 1939, Hattie McDaniel she won an Oscar for her performance in “Gone With The Wind.”

McDaniel’s character was a negative stereotype of black femininity she was the obese, nurturing, asexual, mammy.

However, black women continue to be  constructed in pop culture as mammies. For instance, Oprah is a 21st century version of the mammy. Oprah is nurturing and the faithful black mammy she has crafted, developed, and profited from this racist  image of black womanhood for over twenty years.

Meanwhile, Beyonce Knowles and Rihanna are  constructed as  licentious young black women. I am not suggesting black women can’t be sexy.

Beyonce and Rihanna shake their asses and make millions of dollars in the process. However, what is the cost? Where are the positive images of young black women? Of course, black women can be sexy and attractive and they have a right to feel feminine and desired.

Why can’t there be more social spaces where more social representations of black womanhood exist?

There are only two A list black actresses in Hollywood Halle Berry & Queen Latifah.  Berry and Queen Latifah have multi million dollar endorsement contracts, million dollar pay cheques, multiple industry awards, and global fame.

However, it appears Queen Latifah is favoured over Halle Berry in terms of representing the image of black womanhood in movies. Is Queen Latifah a more palatable image of black womanhood for society? I am not suggesting there is only “one”  social construction of black womanhood. I do not believe a black woman should be either “strong”, “sassy”, or “vulnerable.”  My argument is, black women should be allowed to be depicted in movies as complex women with a multitude of emotions and representations.

Queen Latifah she is the sassy black woman she has a sense of humour but she is also asexual.

Queen Latifah rarely has a  male love interest in her movies. Latifah will have a male love interest in her new movie  “Just Wright” but this is rare. Queen Latifah also has never been involved in an intense sex scene with a man in any of her movies.   Queen Latifah has only appeared in one intense sex scene in the 1996 film “Set It Off” kissing another woman.

Queen Latifah’s character Cleo was a complex black lesbian and her performance in “Set It Off” was incredible.

Meanwhile, Berry has no projects she hasn’t starred in a movie in her 2007 flops “Perfect Stranger” and “Things We Lost In A Fire.”

Although, “Things We Lost In A Fire” was a box office failure, the movie did  illustrate a black woman grieving the loss of her husband. Berry’s character Audrey Burke was a depressed widow she was able to release her emotions by crying, having self doubt, and being depressed.  Halle Berry’s strengths are in dramatic films not romantic comedies or action films.

I wonder though, is Halle Berry not  working because she is a beautiful, talented, black actress, and Hollywood doesn’t know what do with her? Or has Berry allowed herself to be typecast as the interracial vixen? Unfortunately, for Halle Berry, she has been typecast in  incendiary roles in Monster’s Ball & Swordfish. However, Berry has also illustrated her acting talents in complex roles such as “Losing Isaiah”, “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge”, “Jungle Fever” , and “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Despite my criticisms of Halle Berry, she have presented the social representation that a black woman can be vulnerable in movies.

In Halle Berry’s  movies, the characters she plays tends to be fragile, delicate,  vulnerable, and feminine black women. It is rare to see a television movie or film that depicts black women as vulnerable. I am conscious of the fact some women in society do not like the “feminine” label.  There is a predilection in society to stereotype black females as being just “strong women.” Why can’t a black woman also be delicate, feminine, fragile, depressed and vulnerable in pop culture? Why can’t there be a balance?

The First Lady Michelle Obama, she is a new representation of black womanhood,  she is beautiful, educated, intelligent, and feminine.   Angela Bassett she is a beautiful, classy, dignified, black actress she refuses fall into the racist and sexist traps Hollywood reserves for black women.

I hope Halle Berry can make a comeback she is a talented actress when she has the right material to work with.