thesis project | Aj Studios

The Black Trauma Discourse is a visual conversation guiding viewers through how racial trauma is displayed in the film industry. The categories of trauma explored (code-switching, psychological fears, and racial stereotypes) will aim to explain how these depictions relate to the Black experience. The goal is to question how films feature Black trauma and its relevance to the underlying message.

Objective

With new film adaptations featuring aspects of Black Trauma, it is important to analyze how filmmakers use it and its impact on how the Black experience is shown. To determine what is deemed appropriate and inappropriate, I created this visual conversation that can be used as a guide to practice audience discernment. The goal is to see how these types of traumas are visually, verbally, and physically represented in films and how they relate to depicting Black voices accurately.

Solution

My process started with researching types of trauma that commonly show up in films in the 21st century that talk about topics of Black Trauma. I found three common tropes of Black Trauma that show up in films in this era that relate to the Black Experience: Code-switching, Psychological fears, and Racial Stereotypes. These three categories became the structure for this project and I started gathering films that fit into these tropes. From there, I began developing the identity for this project to leave my audience with a general guide on analyzing depictions of Black Trauma in a desensitized society using discernment. By encouraging awareness of how lack of intent from filmmakers can lead to re-traumatization, I aim to shift the focus on pushing a greater narrative in the film industry when it comes to displaying Black stories. This conversation is a complete exhibition with print pieces that help get my audience involved in my messaging.

Featured Deliverables:

1. Exhibition Catalog

2. Poster

3. Museum Banners

4. Events Guide

These deliverables work together to advertise the event and keep people involved in the events in the community that further speak to my project. The colors, shapes, and layouts are meant to be approachable while maintaining that bold feel that emphasizes the importance of this conversation.

With the combination of my own judgment and concrete statements, I will be displaying my research as a way to show filmmakers the affects of using these types of traumas as the blueprint for their narratives and guide them on the right path.

Sketches + Ideation

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Starting Point:
Identifying Black Trauma + Narratives

Racial Trauma is defined as the mental and emotional distress of a minority group caused by encounters of discrimination, hate crimes, bias, and microaggressions. This form of trauma can manifest through generations of the Black community and family identities that span for generations. Racial trauma extends to other forms of trauma experienced by Black people such as psychological fears, colorism, and code-switching.

Filmmakers such as Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, John Singleton, and Ava DuVernay have paved the way for telling Black stories in an innovative way that challenges us to look at history from different perspectives. The issue comes into play when filmmakers (Black and non-Black) take these stories for shock value. With new film adaptations of moments in Black history, conditions of life, and concepts that fall under this umbrella of racial trauma, it is important to look at the intent and the way these examples are being used.

The film industry has a long history of bad rep when it comes to not only equal and accurate representation of Black people in the media but also how racial trauma is shown. The featured film, Birth of a Nation is an example of early pieces of harmful media that negatively portrayed Black Americans in a racially hate-driven way. The impact of this film along with many other films added to the justifications for the mistreatment, bias, prejudice, and discrimination of Black people by false representations and realities. This furthered the exclusive nature of the film industry toward minority groups. However, it is still important to acknowledge how Black advocators have still prevailed in the industry despite this structure pushing for better and equal representation in film.

As we take a look at depictions of Black trauma in films and how filmmakers use it, we have to consider the various types of trauma that Black people experience and how that differs based on the storyline of certain films.

Code-switching is a method of adapting or changing one’s appearance, language, and behaviors to mold to specific environments.
This is often used to comply in environments that celebrate White American values and ideals to improve their well-being or economic status. People within the Black community are the main minority group that experiences this on the level that causes them to separate themselves from racial stereotypes.

Film examples

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Sorry to Bother You is a film directed by Boots Riley that is a visual commentary on modern-day consumerism and capitalism through race identities and class. The plot follows the main character, Cassius White, with his experience in corporate America as a Telemarketer yearning to rise to the top of the ladder to meet his economic desires and aims for higher status.

The film is mostly surrealist satire that explores the effects of code-switching for Black people in the workplace and the extremities of how that influences the separation between one’s true self and fabricated self to meet a goal.

The grotesque and mind-warping feel of the film allows Riley to challenge the way audiences look at these exaggerated implications of horror that can be found in everyday life.

Blackkklansmen (2018)

Spike Lee’s Blackkklansmen follows the true story of the first African American detective, Ron Stallworth, in the Colorado Springs Police Department in the 1970s. The biographical film follows the detective’s mission to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan chapter with the help of his partner to expose them. His goal also includes to prevent an attack on Black activists of the Black Panther Party and terminate the chapter all together. The plot follows their risky journey to succeed in their plan.

Lee’s usage of code-switching with Stallworth shows the lengths people in minority groups go to blend in with their environment. In this case, it’s for a greater cause to provide a sense of political relief to the community. However, we still see the implications of the extreme measures of code-switching as the line between one’s true self and performative self becomes blurred.

Psychological fears refers to a basic, intense emotion that involves a physiological and emotional response to a perceived threat of harm. It refers to the idea of mental distress based on previous experiences that induced harm on a specific group of people. We see this come up with Black people having issues trusting White companions, avoiding certain parts of the country known for its demise against Black people, and fears of being complaint about the ways the system continues to discriminate against the Black community.

Film examples

Get Out (2017)

Get Out is directed by Jordan Peele and follows the story of Chris Washington who visits his girlfriend’s family at their house in the countryside in Upstate New York. What starts as a typical family affair turns into an unimaginable nightmare as he discovers the family’s sinister secret and their intentions with him. The psychological film mentions the concept of benevolent racism which relates to keeping certain minorities in inferior positions in society.

Peele’s references to psychological fears opens a new perspective of how racism presents itself in modern times and how equally violent those measures can be. Despite the implications of fear in the film’s plot, the touches of humor and revolt from the Black characters allow the audience to come to a resolution and allow for a somewhat happy ending from which is usually not the case in most horror films involving Black people. This usage of trauma flips the narrative to call out
the parties contributing to the system of inferiority defined in the race pyramid.

Us (2019)

Jordan Peele’s Us plays into the trope of psychological fears within the Black community with alternative versions of self in a capitalistic world. The film
features a woman named Adelaide and her family dealing with interactions
with their doppelgangers called the “tethered” in hopes of surviving their attacks and preventing them from taking over their lives.

The film explores the idea of false individuality in modern society as well as the darkness within oneself that is often ignored. American culture has been built on the violence and hatred for opposing forces so in a way Peele is expressing this sense of darkness within all people residing in the country. The concept of oppressing this darkness or what isn’t known applies to the Black community trying to not succumb to that nature and developing a fear of what happens
when one self indulges in these concepts pushed by societal norms.

Racial stereotypes refer to the generalized beliefs and assumptions of a race group’s behavior, characteristics, abilities, and physical attributes. They are often inaccurate and oversimplified which often leads to bias, prejudice, and discrimination. They are often negative and impact the way certain groups and ethnicities are perceived in society based on unknown knowledge. It takes away aspects of individuality and unfairly projects certain opinions based on the misrepresentation of these groups. It assumes that race can be identified by behaviors and situations which are untrue.

Film examples

Bamboozled (2000)

It can be concluded that Bamboozled is a satirical film that calls out the television industry for its anti-Blackness in the sense of providing entertainment that is deemed valuable by the masses. The film correlates to how the television industry was built in the 1940s, points out the harmful ramifications of minstrel shows, and the misleading portrayals of Black Americans on TV that last to this day.

This was arguably one of Spike Lee’s unequivocal films that calls out the industry for what it is and the people conforming to the standards of the limitations of Black talent in the industry. Most critics disliked the film for its use of minstrel shows and for bringing up TV’s racial history that the Black community avoids talking about in some cases. However, the film itself reveals the same implications that existed then and how that is manifested now in modern-day television.

Selma (2015)

Ava DuVernay’s Selma is considered to be a masterpiece displaying the height of the Civil Rights Movement and the story of Martin Luther King Jr. during the peak of his career. The plot focuses on the infamous march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 to demand voting rights for Black Americans. The story follows the events leading up to that as well as the challenges, conflicts, and perseverance when faced with violent opposition from local and state authorities. The film is a tribute to how King’s impact and legacy changed the conditions of the Black community for upcoming generations.

The way DuVernay went about creatively directing this film is what makes it unique. She depicts the violent moments in history that can be hard for anyone connected to the movement to see. Despite this, she does a good job describing these events it to uphold the truth of the matter and not watering down the obstacles King faced during this time. The film serves to celebrate King in a way that focuses on his wins during his career and the power within the community when it came to adversity and racism in America during that time that can still be applied today.

FIlm critiques:
shock value in film + Examples

The way shock value in film-making is similar to the way someone may expose information that is knowingly harmful and is brought up for the sake of generating attention. Filmmakers use this tactic to gain more audience traction to their films and what they have to say.
Some also use it for monetary gain based on what they know to be of interest of their audiences. An example of this in connection to
Black trauma would be various film re-enactments of moments of tragedy in history such as slavery, assassinations of well-known leaders, or romanticizing the struggle Black Americans experience based on systematic oppression. The idea of re-traumatization comes into play when using sensitive stories and concepts that are often exploited in society and further taken advantage of in the media to generate views and attention. Keep in mind that educating an audience of cultural history and struggles is one thing however, not everything needs to be on the big screen as Black people experience these racial implication in their daily lives.

Film examples

Till (2022)

The recent film adaptation of the Emmett Till story is an example of how specific tragedies while may be intended to bring awareness to a horrific moment in history, can do more damage than good. While some historical films are

educational by highlighting stories that are often overlooked, the story of Emmett Till is well-known when it comes to tracking the history of violence against Black Americans.

This film falls under the concept of re-traumatization as it does nothing more than create a modern-day version of the same story that still is gut-wrenching to hear about to this day. I think the film adaptation was not needed in my opinion and I feel that it only fueled the same feelings Black people have about the justice system today. The film also adds to the idea of dramatizing the struggles of
Black people who is the audience mainly affected emotionally by the matter.

The Help (2012)

The Help is one of those films that seems empowering on the outside looking in but display something different when it comes to the messaging. The plot mainly focuses on the White main character writing about Black voices and on the concept of the White Savior Complex if anything. The film takes place in the Jim Crow Era in the South. The hope for this film was to highlight the voices of the Black maids and how they felt working for the White families they were subjected to.

However, the movie glamorizes the idea of White do-gooders and White allies being praised for acknowledging the struggles of Black people but without taking any real action. The film didn’t accurately fit into the perspective of the Black women being represented and more or so fell into dramatizing the life they lived. The film misses the opportunity to address a greater message of how race issues and concepts of segregation starts with American households.

End Point:
the film industry + Audience discernment

After taking a look at examples of inappropriate uses of Black trauma in films, it is important to acknowledge the why when pointing out these types of films going forward as we participate in media culture. It is less about what is being shown but how and why. When watching films that touch on this concept, is it vital to question the intent behind it.

Does the film push for an underlying meaning that stems from the trauma being used? What does this say about the issues Black people face in America? How does this relate to modern times? These are starting points of how to identify if the trauma being used is beyond what it presents itself as. This all comes down to writing for the masses or pushing a greater narrative to inquire about what has been already known.

It is impossible to prevent all films like this from being produced, but being able to point out these uses can contribute to challenging how Black characters are portrayed, the treatment of the Black community in the film industry, and the way Black stories are told.

There’s a need to reconstruct the narratives of Black voices in film to become more accurate and complex.