Colorism In Film

Since their inception, hashtags, such as #BlackBoyJoy and #BlackGirlMagic, have blown up on Twitter, inspiring black children to be confident with their racial identities, despite not being able to identify with the role models shown on television and movies (Onyejiaka). Hollywood has always been seen as a measure of our nation’s racial progress, starting in 1903 with the first use of blackface1 in film for Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In the past decade, the advancement of technology and connectivity has allowed communities to come together and take a stand against discrimination, eradicating many racist portrayals of people of color; yet, nothing has been done to stop colorism within our communities. Colorism is defined as a “light-skin color preference,” (Dixon) which can be traced back to slavery as a form of white supremacy meant to divide slaves and make them easier to control (Harrison).

Despite its origins, the black community has continued to allow and even encourage colorism to segregate others within our race, aided by Hollywood’s oppression of darker skinned characters and favorability of individuals with lighter complexions for a more diverse range of roles. By doing so, the media now “glorifies the White standard of beauty in women, and demonizes dark skin for men, may

The Proud Family exhibits this exact stereotype for their representation of Dijonay. Dijonay is one of Penny’s best friends who is dark skinned, blond hair, chubby and always shown in crop top shirts. She always talks loudly, is aggressive and is in love with Sticky Webb who wants nothing to do with her and even mocks her feelings towards him (Fig. 4.). By doing this, the audience is led to believe they too should not find Dijonay attractive and the stereotype that dark skinned women are unattractive and rowdy is