How were black people represented through 'Sapphire'?

Throughout 'Sapphire' there is a very strong racist view of black people throughout. This is clearly shown by the use of the quote, "she died because she was black" this gives the immediate racist view as it connotes the way that Britain have a very poor view of Black people in Britain. Another sense of racism shown from the film would be where the detective says "nice enough for a coloured" which shows how he thinks yeah for a black person its okay but if it was a white girl then it would be disgusting as a white girl is so much better then what they believe a black women is so therefore black people can wear such horrid clothes. However this is the case  I believe there is what appears to be a racial solution through the film, this comes particularly through the brother and the fact that he is presented as a smart respectful man as they would expect a typical white man would be, this is shown typically towards the end of the film where the brother and the more racist of the two detectives shake hands showing the mutual respect they have now between black and white. 

Britain 1948 - 1962

Investigate what was happening in Britain between 1948 – 1962 –

·       Although people from the Caribbean have settled in the UK for more than 300 years, large-scale migration did not begin until 1948.

·      Civil registration - the central recording of births, marriages and deaths - began in the mid-19th century in the Caribbean

·      The arrival of the Empire Windrush 60 years ago represents a defining moment in British history. This ship docked in June 1948

·      Over 10,000 West Indians volunteered to defend Britain against the Nazis during the Second World War. Among them was Donald Clarke. The RAF veteran was born in British Guyana. He enlisted during the war and served in the West Indies, then signed up for a further 12 years of service in 1948.

·      Many people in the British empire took part in raising money to help the war effort – in addition to the extra taxes, raw materials and food that flowed from the colonies to support the war. 

·      Some 15,000 black merchant seamen helped keep the vital supply routes open. The majority of them hauled coal on the older, slower ships. Over 5,000 perished at sea. 

·      Trinidad and Tobago gains its independence 31 August

·      Commonwealth immigrants act 1962

How was the social landscape changing?

Throughout this time period the social landscape had been changing dramatically! There was a beginning of some form of structure between the glasses and a grading system was brought in. this also changed due to the number of west Indian and Asian and the dominance in which they slowly take in the British work force.  This soon lead to many conflicts between the white and black community, an example of this would be the Nottingham riots which was a broad number of racial attacks from whites to blacks. This lead to many issues between the two different races and it became obvious that there was going to be a number of difficulties among the two sides of cultures an example of this would be a white women’s family rejecting her for being with a black man and she would be segregated by society.

How did the changing social landscape lead to a ‘racialization’ of British politics?

The major change in social landscaping caused much anxiety to the amount of coloured immigrants in Britain at the time mainly within the conservative party. This is shown by soon after empire windrush happened there was a letter sent o the priminister of the time requesting the control of black immigration as people view it as a negative thing to be black. The black community became the aim of much blame throughout this period such as the British economic standing and how bad it was through this period. 1962 introduced the first legal act restricting entry of British Commonwealth citizens.

Representation works through construction – how were black people represented in the film?

Sapphire 1959 is a British crime drama about a girl of black origin that appeared to be white that had been stabbed and murdered after people recently began to find out that she was not white but in fact of black origin. Black women were portrayed to be sluttish as they are referred to as the police officer says “the child could be any bodies” hinting that because she is black she may have slept with anyone the women also had there own clothes in which shows the difference between black and white culture. It was believed as they were black they must be involved in some sort of crime. Throughout the film they were treated as if they were scum like they should be slaves to do as the white man believes and ask no questions about it. Although at the end of the film there is some respect gained which is represented through the hand shake between the brother and the police officers.

Task 6

Black British – black British is a term in which is used in which to describe British people of a black origin. 

Through this task I will be watching the clip and stating what I have learnt from this and what I personally believe that black British culture is. Firstly I have learnt that people of a black origin have many different ways of which origin they call them selves they are not just English or African they are black British or Nigerian or even British Caribbean, this personally has taught me that as a society we label everything to be either one thing or another we do not generalize a society, and that a black society themselves have many different views there not all the same in which many prejudice societies may label them. I have learnt of what black British culture consists of and the things in which they have bought to this country, which is; music (hip hop, R&B, Ghetto, Reggae etc.), food (chicken, rice, curries, etc.), fashion, heritage (patwa) and a new way of talking.

Also I have learnt that primarily in the 20^th century the original black communities came to fulfill our own labor shortages which therefore leads me personally to believe that the reaction had by the people of the 20^th century had become even more progressively unnecessary because through the help in which the black community had been giving as a country we have and would have continued to receive major financial advantages and medical as they had many nurses come over to aid hospital staffing issues.

Furthermore I have learnt of how harsh life had been for the now black British people, the only place in which they were able to socialize with each other would be through house parties through the obvious fact that they have not been able to go to most public places like the white people and socialize, houses throughout the times would also be very over crowded with more then one black family possibly living there at any one time.

Also I have learnt from my own personal experience of how much the language that me myself and others in which I personally know talk today where as we see it as a natural way to talk back in the 70s and 80s we would have been known to talking black, this has taught me of how much times have changed and how we as a country have developed and embraced other cultures as our own and moved with the times and left behind the old prejudice views in which used to exist.

Overall from this clip I have learnt a great deal. I have learnt of how much times have changed from how prejudice and against black people they were back in times when my parents were young compared to the now where we embrace it all and have adapted to the times and now all have black aspects to our life be it in our music or even the way in which we talk.

Task 5

Through watching this clip i asked myself the questions: Who is being represented?

What is being represented?

How is the representation constructed? (communicated?)

And i personally have come to the conclusion that being represented through this clip is the first generation of black visitors of which have settled in this country and how the majority of white people have reacted and view the immigrants. I believe that this clip shows the extreme narrow minded nature in which the people of that generation had towards a new change and how they were not prepared to modernize and move with the times. This is represented by the language used by the commentator and the general negative tones undertaken by him about the new generation of visitors, also by the clip in the background showing mostly tones of skin which represent the white man, this shows the racism undertaken and how they believed in white supremacy.  

Task 3- Definitions

Identity - the state of having unique identifying characteristics held by noother person or thing. The identity of people are able to be used through murders and are able to help identify criminals by the use of fingerprint identification. 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/identity 

Collective identity - The term collective identity may refer to a variety of concepts. In general however, these concepts generally pertain to phenomena where an individuals' perceived membership in asocial group impacts upon their own identity in some way. The idea of a collective identity has received attention in a wide variety of academic fields. In psychology, and in particular social psychology, this has led to a vast research literature and concerted scientific study. Most archetypal perhaps being Henri Tajfel’s and John Turner's work in developing social identity theory. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_identity 

Mediation - Mediation in Marxist theory refers to the reconciliation of two opposing forces within a given society (i.e. the cultural and material realms, or the superstructure and base) by a mediating object. Similar to this, within media studies the central mediating factor of a given culture is the medium of communication itself. The popular conception of mediation refers to the reconciliation of two opposing parties by a third, and this is similar to its meaning in bothMarxist theory and media studies. For Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, this mediating factor is capital or alternately labor, depending on how one views capitalist society (capital is the dominant mediating factor, but labor is another mediating factor that could overthrow capital as the most important one).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation_(Marxist_theory_and_media_studies)


Representation - Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity (the 'cage' of identity) - representation involves not only how identities are represented (or rather constructed) within the text but also how they are constructed in the processes of production and reception by people whose identities are also differentially marked in relation to such demographic factors. Consider, for instance, the issue of 'the gaze'. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women?

Mediation and representation

View more presentations from kbamediastudies


This slide share has examples of Mediation and Representation in Media.


Hegemony - Hegemony is the indirect form of imperial dominance with which the hegemon (leader state) rules sub-ordinate states, by the implied means of power, rather than direct military force. this can relate to media through the institutions such as Disney taking full control of the media industry and buying the independent movies off of the makers of the film, therefore showing them taking control and dominating the others areas of media.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony


Colonialism and Post-Colonialism - Post-colonialism (postcolonial theory, post-colonial theory) is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism. Postcolonialism comprises a set of theories found amongst anthropology,architecture, philosophy, film, political science, human geography, sociology, feminism, religious and theological studies, and literature. 
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Colonialism is a process whereby sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by colonists - people from the metropole. Colonialism is a set of unequal relationships: between the metropole and the colony, and between the colonists and theindigenous population.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcolonialism


Youth Subculture - A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, work, homeand school. Youth subcultures that show a systematic hostility to the dominant culture are sometimes described as countercultures. this term may relate to collective identity through the different behavioral types of each in a collective identity and the different interests in which each collective identity may have. 


Syncretism - Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining," but see below for the origin of the word. Syncretism may involve attempts to merge andanalogise several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.

Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture as well as politics.

Post-Modernism - Postmodernism is a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. More specifically it is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problem of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place.

Urban Music - a genre of music in which covers such styles as hip-hop, drum and bass, R&B and garage.

Black Britain Prezi

Black Britain on Prezi