Extended essay / BA (Hons) Film and Moving Image Production / November 2024
The Impact of Exploiting Black Trauma on Black-Focused Filmmaking and Cultural Representation
An essay about what happens when suffering becomes the story audiences expect from Black cinema, and how that expectation can restrict the work filmmakers are able to make.
The argument
- My work
- Film analysis, critical research and writing
- Written at
- Norwich University of the Arts
- Length
- 14 PDF pages, including references
I examine how the commercial appeal of stories about Black suffering can narrow the range of Black lives represented on screen. The essay considers films including 12 Years a Slave, Queen & Slim, The Hate U Give and American Fiction.
Michael B. Gillespie's idea of “film blackness” and Kobena Mercer's “burden of representation” help frame the discussion. I use them to question the expectation that Black filmmakers should produce a particular kind of socially authentic story, and the pressure to make those stories recognisable to a predominantly white audience.
The essay acknowledges the importance of depicting historical and contemporary injustice. My concern is the restriction that follows when trauma becomes the main lens through which Black characters are understood, leaving less space for joy, ordinary experience and artistic freedom.
The original essay text and references are unchanged. The portfolio copy omits my student number from the cover.