No Positive, Literate Roles For Black Women in Movies

In Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films, Joanne Dowdy discusses how Black women haven't been featured in movies as characters that are literate and how the filmmaker makes sures the audience knows that the women are black by the women using dark skinned black women. Of the examples of movies that she gives descriptions about, there were two that I remembered watching: "The Color Purple" and "Losing Isaiah". I find this reading interesting because I never once thought about or questioned how black women were being portrayed in these movies. In "The Color Purple", Whoopi Goldberg portrays a young woman who was raped by who she thought was her father but was really her step-father. She does learn how to read and write from her sister. In "Losing Isaiah", Halle Berry portrays an unfit mother and crack cocaine addict who abandons her own son. While in rehabilitation we realize that she can't even read a children's book. Not once, while watching movies like this, have I questioned why only black woman portrayed like this in movies. I wonder how many people would have watched these movies if it was white women actors instead of black women actors.  Every woman is given challenges in life because of our society so I believe that any woman, white or black, could portray any mother or woman that is having struggles in any movie director’s movie script.  For now on when I am watching a movie I will take note on how the main character is being portrayed because it does make a difference to me now.