Our inaugural “archival post” consists of interview, essay, review, “leitmotif” adaptation, and addendum to a scholarly dictionary of biography—relating to our theory and praxis. During the course of our journey, we will post additional entries as they become available. These works can be viewed at the hyperlinks indicated after titles and author’s names below:
SomosPrimos, Mimi Lozano, editor: Anti-Spanish Legends, “Subliminal Racism” http://www.somosprimos.com/sp2007/spjun07/spjun07.htm
[See also Graham’s article on QE II “visit,” “By What Process.”
at Content Areas # 137: African American.]
Catch a Plagiarist! Louis LeRoy, of San Antonio, Texas. Archives: New York Times
This unwitting dupe, “who founded the Association of American Cultures,” is/was seeking funding to conduct “national forums to address subliminal racism in the arts,” according to Times reporter, Judith Miller. To locate her article in archives, enter at “search”: { January 1, 1997} & Click # 9, “Despite Arts Fund Cutbacks ….” http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E6DF1E30F932A35752C0A96195826&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
Catch a Doublespeak Hijack of Graham’s coined term, “Hollywood Color Code”
This con artist spells his own guessing-gamefate by “Playing With The Code,” as he is caught in the act of making up “causes and effects” to “structural breakdown” of segments dealing with “racist anti-Harold Ford commercial.” This is a blatant, high-tech lynching by BagnewsNotes, “a progressive blog dedicated to the political, psychological, and media analysis of news images, and the support of ‘concerned’ photojournalism.” This DoublespeakHijack of Graham’s Theory & Praxis makes a mockery of “fair use” under U.S. Copyright Law. [See p. 28, Image Coverage, 1995] You must repair upon the mercy seat, so back that sinister, “photojournalism” ass up, Bag! http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2006/10/playing_with_th.html
By popular demand, we present the first TV interview of Arthur Graham on “The Mercy Seat,” an original “tetranalysis” critique of the movie, “Schindler’s List.” This courtesy “archive viewing” is for educational purposes only, and is not for sale, downloading, or any other usage by electronic transmitting, replay or storage devices.
*[Editor’s Note: The pamphlet, “The Mercy Seat,” shown during the Book Beat Interview is reprinted in Subliminal Racism Essays, available for online purchase via “Village Store” on the menu below.]
Threading Waves™
[This article is an excellent starting thread for extending the dialogue of media literacy, one we hope all will find informative, stimulating and engaging, surely, as it speaks for itself in “The Wave Entertainment” reprint below, an excerpt from Image Coverage: Academy Awards and Other Movie Reviews, pp.69-72.]
In the film, “Cape Fear,” a family flees to a remote hideaway to escape a psychopathic rapist named Max. As they near their destination, the camera cuts to an elderly black woman.Immediately afterward, the audience learns that Max has followed the family and intends to do it harm.The black woman is an extra with no line, but to the Los Angeles branch of the NAACP, she has a very significant purpose. She is a “death’s-head” symbol.
["Cape Fear" Black Woman (Esther Rolle) in non-speaking role
with SUBLIM "fetish" symbolism amidst "green" and "black"]
SUBLIMINAL RACISM
The organization has issued a 19-page report on what it alleges is subliminal racism in 20 randomly selected motion pictures released last year, including all of the Academy Award nominees for best picture.
“The death’s head symbolism uses Latinos and other minorities, especially blacks, to symbolize a degree of inferiority or oncoming crisis,” the report’s author, Serita Coffee, told reporters at a March 27 news conference. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be death, but any sense of negativity.”
The report, the conclusions of which were later called into question by a professor at USC, also condemned “color coding,” or using colors associated with minorities to symbolize impending danger.
In the case of “Cape Fear,” for example, it pointed out that Max drives a red car with black upholstery, regularly wears red and black clothes, and in one scene wears red and black spotted bikini underwear patterned after leopard skin to signify his predatory nature.
["Cape Fear"Max (Robert DeNiro), a psychopathic rapist.]
“The colors of African-Americans, red, black and green, are colors that we have adapted to our African-American consciousness,” said Los Angeles NAACP President Joseph Duff. “The green representing the land – Mother Africa – the red representing the blood of our people and the sacrifices we’ve made, and the black, the color of our skin.
“Now, these are positive symbols that we have been trying to develop within our people. When these colors are then associated with death, with criminality, with evil, this is something that we resist. There is nothing in the colors themselves that makes it important. It’s how it’s used and how the symbolism is associated in the minds of the public.”
DELIBERATE RACISM
Duff charged that death’s-head symbols and color coding are not unintentional coincidences, but are deliberately racist.
“A casting director chooses who he or she will hire,” he said. “A wardrobe person chooses what the cast will wear. Those are conscious choices.”
But the assertion met with skepticism from Tad Danielewski, a movie director and professor emeritus of theater at USC.
MEANING OF COLORS
“Only a very unaccomplished filmmaker would use white and black so crudely,” he said, referring to the traditional use of black to symbolize something bad and white to symbolize something good. “It certainly is not a standard practice.”
Danielewski did concede, however, that colors send strong messages.
“The color red is certainly used to emphasize violence and anger,” he said. “Blueis pacifying, and symbolizes intelligence in a lot of paintings.
“Green will give a sense of harmony and pleasure of living. Black is an enigma, something unknown. That could symbolize something threatening or something promising. Purple is used to emphasize pain and discomfort, a sort of melancholy sadness.
["Beauty and the Beast" Villain Gaston.]
PERCEPTION OF WORLD
“That is primordially the perception of the world we have. It has nothing to do with race or the color of someone’s skin. It’s the perception of the universe.”
USC Anthropology Professor Timothy Asch, who has expertise in ethnographic film, said cultures worldwide ascribe meanings to certain colors, and most successful artists incorporate those symbols into their work.
“You use everything you can to get your point across,” he said.
But Asch added that it is not unreasonable for minorities and other communities that are discriminated against to look closely at how symbols such as colors are used.
“Colors are very important part of sensory input as a device to communicate,” he said. “You can open up most any issue of the L. A. Times Magazine and see all sorts of sexist advertisements.
“They are print ads, so the women aren’t talking, and there usually is very little copy. But the color of their clothes and their body positioning says a lot.”
Duff said he hopes organizations that present awards to filmmakers will take such detail into consideration when they select winners. The NAACP is looking into using the report for its own Image Awards, and plans to submit a copy of it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Not one of the 20 films evaluated in the report escaped criticism. Even the animated musical “Beauty and the Beast” was problematic.
RED ROSE
“Sure enough, a red rose delivered by an old woman in dark garments marks the instant the spell is placed on the callous prince, turning him into a beast and enchanting the castle,” the report said.
["Red" rose delivered by "Old Woman"]
Later, when the spell is lifted, sparks of white light shoot through the air prior to his transformation back to a handsome prince wearing a white shirt, the report said.
["white" shirt and "white light" for the hero]
The films were assessed using a process Coffee called “tetranalysis.” Developed by her media consulting firm, Image Analysts, the process examines color, form, sound and motion.
Filmmakers borrowed color coding and other forms of subliminal racism from literature, said Coffee, who noted that darkness and the color black have symbolized death in fiction for centuries. By contrast, white is traditionally associated with goodness and purity, she said.
Even a character’s name can have a deeper meaning, said Coffee. She criticized the use of the names Buffalo Bill and Hannibal the Cannibal for two serial killers in “The Silence of the Lamb,” a criticism included in the report.
Hannibal is the name of a legendary African general, which calls to mind black people, and the buffalo is usually associated with American Indians, said Coffee.
EAT HIM THERE
She also noted that at the close of “Silence of the Lambs,” Hannibal stalked his former psychiatrist to the Caribbean, where the doctor was vacationing. The inference was made that Hannibal planned to kill and eat him there.
“He went into a Third World country to do this, an association that was absolutely unnecessary other than to make the connection that these countries are the ones that can be associated with death and evil and cannibalism,” said Coffee.
Duff said audiences must pay closer attention to such detail.
