Reducing Characters to Racial Stereotypes

Recently while eating at a local sub shop with some buddies of mine I happened to notice a particularly interesting comic book. After looking a bit closer at the cover I noticed a few things about the black man depicted in the boat that I think show some racism on the part of the author/illustrator. 

For example, while all the other men are saving someone, working the sail, or looking in horror as they sail away, the black man is the one rowing the boat. He is the only responsible for doing the hard work. Also, while everyone else in the boat is fully clothed he isn’t wearing a shirt which I think again simplifies his character too nothing more than someone capable of manual labor. Additionally, the other characters depicted seem to have received more detail. They all receive dramatic poses, facial expressions, while again he is simplified to the guy who rows the boat. Along with this, his body almost appears to be concealed by shadow. We can’t even see his eyes, almost like he is identity is trying to be concealed by one of those black bars the police use to keep people anonymous. Lastly, and I admit that this may be an over-analyzation, but it almost appears that the white man in the back of the boat is afraid of the black man rather than the volcano. These were just some initial observations before I had any real knowledge of the content of the story.

After doing some research I discovered that the man enslaved person who was freed and the story takes place during the civil war, but I don’t think that changes the fact that this cover is racist. If anything I think it can enforce this claim. The author/illustrator has oversimplified and diminished the character of the man rowing to nothing more than a freed slave. All the other men in the boat clearly are feeling all sorts of emotions at this point in time and we can tell this from their poses and facial expressions. The African American man’s face appears to be completely blank, and lacking emotion. Although, it’s hard to even tell what his emotion is because again his face is partially concealed by shadow. His pose is merely rowing and this conveys no feelings whatsoever. In my opinion all of this can lead us to the conclusion that the author/illustrator has oversimplified this man’s character to little else than a black slave.

Now although this book was published in 1963 I think these themes are true in hollywood in modern america as well. The first example that comes to mind, I’ll have to admit is dated, but it seems so shocking nowadays that I think it’s worth mentioning.
(If the video doesn't load use this link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTchUep_bmg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZTchUep_bmg)

This blatant racism was acceptable in the mid 80’s and continues this theme of oversimplification. They literally play a gong every time the guy’s name is said. Gedde’s Watanabe’s character obviously isn’t developed really beyond the point of the racist depiction of a funny chinese guy.

Another example of racism in hollywood that is brought to mind comes from the recent movie remake of classic American t.v. show, The Lone Ranger. In which Johnny Depp portrays “Tonto”, a Comanche Native American. Now this example isn’t as blatantly racist as some of the other examples but it’s at the very least questionable. For instance, in a Huffington Post live discussion Chris Eyre, a film director and producer and an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, makes the says that, “I literally don’t know what is Native American about the character Tonto”. He went on to mention that Kemo Sabe is actually Potawatomi rather than Comanche. Between the face paint not actually being authentic to what Comanche people wore, and the random placement of a crow on Depp’s head, the film seems to depict some strange combination of racial stereotypes rather than an actual representation of a Comanche person.

Although diminishing characters of books and movies to nothing more than the stereotypes of their race has lessened since the 1960’s, it seems that this trend still continues to this day.