Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films

While reading this excerpt by Joanne Kilgour Dowdy, it was hard for me to truly relate to what she was saying because while watching films, I never actually thought of the literacy level of black women that the film director was trying to portray. Although I have seen the majority of the films referred to by Dowdy, I never thought of how negatively black female literacy was being portrayed. The one film that I could actually think of literacy as a main topic of the film was Losing Isaiah. This film actually portrays how illiteracy can affect your life negatively. The  main character didn't have any "book sense" (170) and only decided to learn as a way to prove to the court system that she was serious about regaining custody of her son.
Moving on to another film mentioned, Wit, it amazed me how the African American nurse, Sue, did not know the definition of "sophorific" (171). I remember watching this movie in class and wondering how this lady could become a registered nurse without knowing the terminology needed to become one. I didn't look at this as a bad representation of the literacy of black women, but instead it made me wonder if doctors actually knew what they were doing regarding healthcare and patient care.
Besides the films that do not have a mainly African American cast, it is difficult for people to think of how blacks are portrayed unless a comparison is seen with a white person in the film. For instance in the film Passion Fish, both the protagonist and antagonist were addicts, however, the black woman was looked down upon by the white woman once she found out about the addiction problem she was having and also on the fact that she did not finish her nursing program. The white woman had no problem with the way the black woman took care of her, it was just that once she had the knowledge of her addiction, she began to look at her differently and treat her differently. This stood out to me although Dowdy didn't mention that it came to the attention of her students. The African American woman could have easily treated the patient badly once she found out about her alcohol addiction, because that could have been the reason behind her car accident, meaning the reason why Woodard had to be there in the first place.
This excerpt has taught me a lot actually, because now when  I look at films, I will not just watch it, but look at the way the director is trying to portray certain types of people and cultures through the characters. This should encourage other readers to do the same, because if they are not aware of certain images purposefully being displayed, then stereotypes of genders, or ethnicity, will be formed.