The history of representation in American cinema is long and full of victories and setbacks, big and small, for filmmakers and audiences alike.
For your semester research paper, choose a group whose representation in American cinema you want to explore. It can be a racial or ethnic identity, gender or sexual identity, disability, religious identity, regional identity, or economic identity. It can be a group you identify with or a group you’re interested in learning more about.
In your paper, discuss, in brief, the history of representation of that group in American cinema (look to the history of representation of Native Americans in Chapter 4 as a reference). Then, watch and discuss AT LEAST TWO FILMS in which a character or characters represent this group. At least one film should show positive representation of that group and one should show negative representation of that group. Compare the depictions of your chosen group in both films and discuss what makes one film’s depiction positive and the other’s negative.
