Popular Culture Review Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1999 | Page 57

African American Female Identity

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forms are constructed to address a collective of social issues that are historically
bound by race.
The final stereotype found in only one movie was that of the welfare
mother in Set It Ojf. The character Tee-Tee personifies this stereotypic representa
tion of African American women by her dependence on the welfare system to
assist in her transition to motherhood and adulthood. She succumbs to the very
oppressive force that has constructed her reality by choosing a life of crime to
resolve her economic plight. The movie presents the welfare mother through a
“victim of the system” framework which positions Tee-Tee as woman who has no
control or will over her own destiny. Instead, this character is accustomed to a life
of passivity, as this appears to be a part of her identity. The communication strate
gies used by Tee-Tee, including being passive, shy, even-tempered, and introverted,
contribute to this persona, thus conveying to the audience that she is lazy and
unable to find good work. Despite the fact that she only has a high school educa
tion and lacks a support system, Tee-Tee’s efforts to find a job and provide a better
life for herself and her son are minimized when she is deemed an unfit mother by
social services, thus perpetuating the welfare mother stereotype. Her son is taken
away from her and becomes a ward of the state, which ultimately serves as the
catalyst for metamorphosis into an angry Black woman.
As the various images presented in Waiting to Exhale and Set It (^ in d i
cate, cinematic portrayals of African American women present a dialectical ten
sion despite attempts made to capture their multidimensionality. For the characters
in both films, their pursuit of relational satisfaction and overall happiness poten
tially becomes overshadowed by their “preoccupation” with sexual gratification
(Waiting to Exhale) or getting out of the ‘hood {Set It Off) by any means necessary.
Despite the fact that sex and violence are primary components of most mainstream
films. Waiting to Exhale and Set It Off are held to a different standard of credibil
ity. While the characters’ experiences may be reflective of reality for many African
American women, the stereotypes of Jezebel and welfare queen have the potential
to become pronounced as the viewer is exposed to these images on-screen. Instead
of accepting sexuality, sexism, racism, and classism as a part of life for these char
acters, audience members stand the chance of perceiving these representations as
confirmation of their beliefs about African American women as a whole.
In recent years, there have been a number of movies released specifically
targeted to African American audiences. These visual texts create a dialectical ten
sion in that they capture a myriad of “snapshots” of life for African Americans in
the U.S. yet have the potential to distort reality through the perpetuation and/or
maintenance of negative stereotypes. In order to fully understand the degree to
which such tensions directly impact the socially constructed gender identities of
African American women, this critical essay examined the portrayal of African