INTERROGATING THE REPRESENTATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE IDENTITY IN THE FILMS WAITING TO EXHALE AND SET IT OFF.

The article focuses on representation of African American female identity in the films "Waiting to Exhale and "Set It Off." Research has discovered the critical role the mass media play in shaping attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions. Victims of cinematic annihilation are African American women, whose cinematic caricatures typically perpetuate and rarely challenge longstanding stereotypes ascribed to them via film and television. These images of Jezebel, mammy, prostitute, maid, and welfare queen, among others, have adapted to the changing times. However, they have only evolved into "sophisticated ghettoized" images of African American female identity. Social scientists have observed a double standard in popular culture. While films and television programs that appeal to mainstream society give the opportunity to strictly entertain their audiences, a double standard exists to which African American television programs and movies are held. Whether it is to address racism, sexism, or classism within a political framework, films that capture and express racialized experiences and Blackness are criticized as devaluing the very people they are embracing because the films fail to present an assimilated image of racial identity within a Western framework.