'Bibliography Books'

To help me with my Critical Investigation I will be using a wide range of information for books, as it will allow me to gain an understanding and different perspectives of my subject.

1) King, Geoff (2002): Film Studies. London, Wallflower

"If Whoopi Goldberg is one of relatively few women to have established a persona as a disruptive comedian-comic in Hollywood in recent decades- albeit somewhat sporadically- it is perhaps no accident that she should also be a black, African-American performer"

"Success has also come for a more recent generation of comic black performers such as Martin Lawrence, Christ Tucker and Chris Rock. To what extent might the success of these performers, in the format of comedian comedy, be explained by the degree to which their antics conform to racist stereotypes such as that of the 'coons'?"

"The same qualities might fit more easily into the parameters of long-standing racial stereotypes, however, most notably that of the 'coon': the racist version of the African American as black buffoon and object of amusement"

These three quotes and statement discusses the way black actors have been labelled in the film industry as the 'coons', this states that they have been treated differently to the norms of characters i.e. white actors and are subordinate within the film industry. They are more entertainers who play roles in comedy films rather than being take seriously in Drama films. This will allow me to assess the negatives that have been portrayed in the media against black actors and how this can change the way they are been seen as a whole and off screen.

2) Casey, Bernadette, Casey, Neil (2002):Television Studies The Key Concept, London, Routledge

"What it may possible to assert is that the media process of reducing human to stereotypes at the very least acts as a means of establishing boundaries between 'insiders' and 'outsiders. The audience is encouraged to identify with 'positive' rather than 'negative' characters. Put simply, viewers are asked to see themselves as 'us' and not 'them'."

This quote above can be interpreted as the explanation of stereotypes regarding audience, for example I can relate this to my topic as it puts forth the audience and the way they stereotypes 'black actors' as the others, rather then see them as a character. As stereotypes increase they become negative and have an impact upon characters roles and their outside appearance and I can relate this to how many people nowadays are able to identify with black actors/actresses rather then brush them off as 'them'.

3) Bennett, Peter, Slater, Jerry (2003): A2 Media Studies The Essential Introduction, Canada, Routledge

"The representation, for example, of minority groups often founders at a simple level"

This statement above discusses how minority groups often founders at a simple level and when referring this to my topic, I am able to discuss how black actors are that minority group and within films they are given a simple level, where they play roles that the audience can't really identify with.

4) Williams, Kevin (2008): Understating Media Theory, London , Arnold

"Analysis of hegemonic media representation Hall, claims that ethnic minorities are continually misrepresented by racial (and racist) stereotypes.".

This quote above states that ethnic minorities are misrepresented and I am able to use this in reference with my topic as I am able to discuss how black actors have been misrepresented and mistreated in films from historical era, and how that representation has changed over time.

5) Laughey, Dan (2009): Media Studies Theories and Approaches, Harpenden, Kamera Books

"Blacks are natural cause of tension within films"

"Racist stereotypes identified by Hall include the 'single slave'-devoted to his master but seen as a threat to civilised white manners and decorous-as represented in films like Gone with the Wind (1939)"[1]

"Then there is a 'native figure' who is dignified but ultimately becomes barbarism and savagery. This native figure is not unlike the black ghetto gangster in films like New Jack City (1991)"

"And there is also the 'clown and entertainer' figure who jokes about his ethnic peculiarities in such a way that (white) people laugh at him, not with him. Characters played by Will Smith and Eddie Murphy in various Hollywood films of the entertainer type".

These quotes above all indicate the way black actors can be labelled and now have become the stereotypes, this will allow me to investigate the certain genre black actors have been associated with i.e. comedy and have become the entertainers. According to theorist like Hall, I will be able to discuss the impact it has had on the black people are being treated within society and in reference in the media.

6) O'Sullivan, Tim (2008): The Media Studies Reader, London, Edward Arnold

"The Cosby Show is a half-hour situation comedy about an upper middle-class black family, the Huxtables"

"What makes the show unusual is its popularity, its critical acclaim, and the fact that all its leading characters are black"

"Henry Lewis Gates puts it ' black people are no longer black, in most respect they are just like white people'. Gates argues that these 'positive images' can be counter-productive, since they suggest to the world the myth of the American dream, a world where anyone can make it, and where racial barriers no longer exist".

"As long as all blacks were represented in demeaning or peripheral roles, it was possible to believe that American racism was, as it were, indiscriminate. The social vision of ' Cosby', however reflecting the minuscule integration of blacks into the upper middle-class reassuringly throws the blame for black poverty back into the impoverished" [2]

I would be able to use these quotes in my essay, as I am able to give relevant reference to a specific text into how black people were becoming identified in the media and having their own programmes. This shows the rise of level that black actors were beginning to have.

7) Hebdige, Dick( 1979): Subculture The Meaning Of Style, London, Methuen

"Hegemony is the power or dominance that one social group holds over the other"

This quote will allow me to discuss in my essay how white people in the media industry i.e. the producers and directors have had an influence in the way black actors are portrayed within a film for example I will be discussing the shortage of black people in being directors and the off-screen representations of black people. This will also allow me to discuss about how white people i.e. directors and producers are able to portray black people they way the interpret it to the audience.

8) Nelson, R (1997): TV Drama in Transition Forms, Values and Cultural Changes, Basingstoke, Macmillan

"Colonisation, slavery, war and economical or political migration recent centuries have witnessed a much greater mixing of ethnic groups within the world than was the case previously"

This quote will allow me to discuss how black actors have come such a way that now the way they have been represented in films is equal to white people and have been given roles greater than white characters.

9) Stevenson, N (1995): Understanding Media Cultures, Social Theory and Mass Communication, London, Sage

"While the terms 'black' or 'people of colour' are themselves open to doubt and dispute"

I would use this statement as it talks about the way the name black and people of colour has an affect on things and relate this to how black people can be portrayed in films in that sort of term.

10) Humez, Jean M (1994): Gender, Race and Class in Media, London, Sage

"Hegemony is not a direct stimulation of though or action but, according to Stuart Hall, is a 'framing (of) all competing definition of reality within (the dominant class's) range, bringing all alternatives within their horizons of though."

This statement will allow me to discuss Marxism's theory of class control and relate it to how white people are controlling black actors and portraying them their own way, to lower them.

[1] Hall, Stuart (eds) (1980): Culture, Media, Language;Working Papers in Culture Studies 1972-79, London, Hutchinson

[2] Henry Lewis Gates