NAACP REPORT:  OSCAR PIX CONTAIN

SUBLIMINAL RACISM

by Kathleen O’Steen

 

A new study reports subliminal racism in 20 motion pictures released during the past year, including all of the best picture Oscar contenders.

 

The report, “Academy Awards and Other Movie Reviews,” prepared by Image Analysts All Media Services for the communications committee of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, used a new critical methodology called tetranalysis to determine how certain aesthetic elements in film can reaffirm racist ideas.

 

Analysts used four elements—form, color, sound and motion—to determine exploitation of sexual or racial differences as it related to a film’s overall theme, the character portrayals, and a black/white comparison and contrast.

 

‘Lambs’ killers

For example, in “The Silence of the Lambs,” the two killers—Dr. Hannibal (the Cannibal) Lector and “Buffalo Bill”—are white men who are given the attributes of a black and an Indian, respectively, according to the report.

 

The term “Hannibal” is historically linked with an African general, and the term “Buffalo” generically identifies an animal associated with Indians, the study said.  Both terms also refer to the color black—which subliminally denotes terror and death—and red, which again conjures up negative images.

 

“Filmmakers used racist techniques and symbolism that are damaging our psyches and serve to perpetuate racism,” said Serita Coffee, a Los Angeles NAACP official and the author of the report.

 

“Bugsy” filmmakers used ethnic color code yellow, red and back as objects, such taxicabs, automobiles and trains, to induce terror and death, Coffee Said.  “Red, yellow and black are used as negative images,” she said.

 

Daviau dubious

Oscar-nominated “Bugsy” cinematographer Allen Daviau dismissed the criticism, saying:  “With all due respect to the NAACP, I find this premise utterly preposterous.”

  

“You have so little time to make the movie, if anyone were trying to execute a separate agenda like this, well, we just don’t have the time,” said Daviau.  “There are just so many period cars out there.  You use what you get.  You get a yellow cab for two days and you use it.”

 

In the case of “JFK,” the most damaging sequence of “color-coding” is when a black man is seen acting as a spotter who is standing behind one of the shooters in the window of the book depository building, although there is no such official record of such a character, according to the report.

 

Study goes on to say that the character’s appearance is one of several culminating factors in creating a sense of terror, insomuch that the negative image “satisfies artistic and ideological designs” in a “slick movie.”

 

Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, wasn’t immediately available for comment, said Elizabeth Barnes, a spokesperson in Valenti’s Washington, D.C., office.

 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reprinted with permission of DAILY VARIETY, March 30, 1992

©1992 by Cahners Publishing Company

[Excerpt:  pp. 67-68, Image Coverage:

Academy Awards and other Movie Reviews]