Skip to content
1981
Female Trajectory in Film and Media
  • ISSN: 1601-829X
  • E-ISSN: 2040-0586

Abstract

For many years, Black female representation of women in mainstream movies has been lacklustre at best. Most Black female leads have been misconstrued as one-dimensional, stereotypical beings portrayed for the world to see. The decade of 2010–20 proves to be pivotal for cinematic portrayals of Black female leads. A narrative thematic analysis is used to examine Black female lead characters represented in romantic relationships. Fifteen films were chosen in the genres of romantic comedy and romantic drama. Stereotypes are found to still exist. Yet, the relationships of the characters are nuanced, and movies provide more in-depth development for Black women characters than seen in the past and offer more variances of romantic relationships that better reflect those actually existing in the real world. Finding love is not without its obstacles; however, Black female leads tend to still find a Hollywood happy ending.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/nl_00056_1
2025-10-15
2026-04-17

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Akil, Salim (2011), Jumping the Broom, USA: TriStar Pictures.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Aras, Gökşen (2017), ‘Literature and film: Different approaches to two narrative forms’, Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi (Journal of Social Sciences), 41:2, pp. 3354.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bathran, Radha and Goswami, Manash Pratim (2022), ‘Sustainability communication in Tamil films: Are popular Tamil films promoting sustainable development goals (SDGs)? An analysis of Jai Bhim (2021)’, Global Media Journal-Indian Edition, 14:2, pp. 118.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bausch, Katharine (2013), ‘Superflies into superkillers: Black masculinity in film from blaxploitation to new Black realism’, The Journal of Popular Culture, 46:2, pp. 25776, https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.12025.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Benard, Akeia A. F. (2016), ‘Colonizing Black female bodies within patriarchal capitalism: Feminist and human rights perspectives’, Sexualization, Media, & Society, 2:4, pp. 111, https://doi.org/10.1177/2374623816680622.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bleakley, Amy, Ellithorpe, Morgan E., Hennessy, Michael, Jamieson, Patrick E., Khurana, Atika and Weitz, Ilana (2017), ‘Risky movies, risky behaviors, and ethnic identity among Black adolescents’, Social Science & Medicine, 195, pp. 13137, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.10.024.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bogle, Donald (2003), Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in American Films, 4th ed., New York: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Bordwell, David (1985), Narration in the Fiction Film, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Braun, Virginia and Clarke, Victoria (2006), ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3:2, pp. 77101, https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Carey, Tamika L. (2014), ‘Take your place: Rhetorical healing and Black womanhood in Tyler Perry’s films’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 39:4, pp. 9991021, https://doi.org/10.1086/675546.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Carroll, Noël (1985), ‘The power of movies’, Daedalus, 114:4, pp. 79103.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Cartier, Nina (2014), ‘Black women on-screen as future texts: A new look at Black pop culture representations’, Cinema Journal, 53:4, pp. 15057, https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2014.0050.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Cohen, Paula Marantz (2010), ‘What have clothes got to do with it? Romantic comedy and the female gaze’, Southwest Review, 95:1–2, pp. 7888.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Coleman, Renita (2010), ‘Framing the pictures in our heads: Exploring the framing and agenda-setting effects of visual images’, in P. D’Angelo and J. A. Kuypers (eds), Doing News Framing Analysis: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives, New York: Routledge, pp. 23361.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Cruz, Ariane (2015), ‘Mis(playing) Blackness: Rendering Black female sexuality in the misadventures of Awkward Black Girl’, in T. Melancon and J. M. Braxton (eds), Black Female Sexualities, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp. 7388.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Deleyto, Celestino (1991), ‘Focalisation in film narrative’, Atlantis, 13:1–2, pp. 15977.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Entman, Robert M. (1993), ‘Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm’, Journal of Communication, 43:4, pp. 5158, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Erigha, Maryann (2018), ‘Black women having it all: The rise of professional women in African American romance films’, The Black Scholar, 48:1, pp. 2030, https://doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2018.1402253.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Fillmore, Charles (1982), ‘Frame semantics’, in Linguistic Society of Korea (ed.), Linguistics in the Morning Calm, Seoul: Hanshin Publishing, pp. 11137.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Frankel, David (2016), Collateral Beauty, USA: New Line Cinema.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Frye, Northrop (1957), Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Gamson, William A. (1989), ‘News as framing: Comments on Graber’, American Behavioral Scientist, 33:2, pp. 15761, https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764289033002006.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Grismore, Kathy (2007), ‘Framing African Americans in Hurricane Katrina’, New Orleans Historical and Cultural Review, 1:1, pp. 116.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Gul, Shjia (2013), ‘Representation of American policy on war against terror in Hollywood movies’, Global Media Journal: Pakistan Edition, 6:2, pp. 11934.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Hamri, Sanaa (2010), Just Wright, USA: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Hefner, Veronica and Wilson, Barbara J. (2013), ‘From love at first sight to soul mate: The influence of romantic ideals in popular films on young people’s beliefs about relationships’, Communication Monographs, 80:2, pp. 15075, https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2013.776697.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. hooks, b. (1992), Black Looks: Race and Representation, Boston, MA: South End Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Johnson, Kimberly R. and Holmes, Bjarne M. (2009), ‘Contradictory messages: A content analysis of Hollywood-produced romantic comedy feature films’, Communication Quarterly, 57:3, pp. 35273, https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370903113632.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Jones, Sharon L. (1998), ‘From margin to centre?: Images of African-American women in film’, Social Alternatives, 17:4, pp. 3539.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Keating, Nicole Marie (2005), ‘Mamma’s boy: Counting on ghosts, sending smoke signals, and finding surrogate fathers in contemporary film’, in M. Pomerance and F. Gateward (eds), Where the Boys Are: Cinemas of Masculinity and Youth, Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, pp. 24663.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Landrum, Nancy E. (2008), ‘A narrative analysis revealing strategic intent and posture’, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 3:2, pp. 12745, https://doi.org/10.1108/17465640810900540.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Lombardi, Kate Stone (2012), The Mama’s Boy Myth: Why Keeping Our Sons Close Makes Them Stronger, New York: Penguin.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Luo, Yujin (2020), The Streaming War During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Pittsburgh, PA: Arts Management & Technology Laboratory.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. MacDowell, James (2013), Happy Endings in Hollywood Cinema: Cliché, Convention and the Final Couple, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Mask, Mia (2009), Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Matsoukas, Melina (2019), Queen & Slim, USA: Makeready.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Meghie, Stella (2017), Everything, Everything, Canada: Alloy Entertainment.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Meghie, Stella (2020), The Photograph, USA: Perfect World Pictures.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Metz, Christian ([1968] 1974), Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema, New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Mitchell, Matthew Craig and Egudo, Margaret (2003), A Review of Narrative Methodology, Edinburgh: DSTO Systems Sciences Laboratory.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Mustafa, Nayyer and Riaz, Saqib (2022), ‘Portrayal of the colonization in Indo-Pak cinema: A case study of four period movies’, Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 10:4, pp. 140714.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Mwedzi, Duke (2021), ‘On subversion: A critical assessment of the male gaze in contemporary film and video games’, Liberated Arts: A Journal for Undergraduate Research, 8:1, pp. 19.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Neupert, Richard John (1995), The End: Narration and Closure in the Cinema, Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Patterson, Robert J. (2011), ‘“Woman thou art bound”: Critical spectatorship, Black masculine gazes, and gender problems in Tyler Perry’s movies’, Black Camera: An International Film Journal (The New Series), 3:1, pp. 930.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Perry, Tyler (2010), Why Did I Get Married Too, USA: Lionsgate Films.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Pink, Steve (2014), About Last Night, USA: Screen Gems.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Perry, Tyler (2012), Good Deeds, USA: Tyler Perry Studios.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Perry, Tyler (2013), Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, USA: Lionsgate Films.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Perry, Tyler (2018), Nobody’s Fool, USA: BET Films.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Reese, Stephen D., Gandy, Jr., Oscar H. and Grant, August E. (eds) (2001), Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World, Hoboken, NJ: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Reid, Mark A. (2005), Black Lenses, Black Voices: African American Film Now, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Roberts, Nicole (2020), ‘Strong father-daughter relationships lead to healthier, happier women’, Forbes, 21 June, https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2020/06/21/strong-father-daughter-relationships-lead-to-healthier-happier-women/?sh=13aa286c2b63. Accessed 16 October 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Sims, Yvonne D. (2006), Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture, Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Sprecher, Susan and Metts, Sandra (1989), ‘Development of the “romantic beliefs scale” and examination of the effects of gender and gender-role orientation’, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 6:4, pp. 387411, https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407589064001.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Story, Tim (2012), Think Like a Man, USA: Screen Gems.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Story, Tim (2014), Think Like a Man Too, USA: LStar Capital.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Talbert, David E. (2013), Baggage Claim, USA: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Thompson, Kristin (1999), Storytelling in the New Hollywood: Understanding Classical Narrative Technique, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Tillet, Salamishah (2020), ‘Filmmakers with a focus on justice’, New York Times, 1 July, p. C1.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Turner, Graeme (1999), Film as Social Practice, London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. White, Hayden (1973), Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-century Europe, Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Woodruff, Billie (2016), The Perfect Match, USA: Codeblack Films.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/nl_00056_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/nl_00056_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test