The Souls of Black Girls
By kenya on May 9, 2008 in Movies
I had the opportunity to attend a screening of The Souls of Black Girls as a part of the Urban Film Series last night. The film produced by Daphne Valerius questions whether women of color suffer from a self image disorder as a result of media images. It features discussions with teenage girls as well as the familiar faces of actresses Juanita Jennings, Regina King, Amelia Marshall and Jada Pinkett Smith; PBS’s Washington Week moderator, Gwen Ifill; and rapper/activist Chuck D.
The film’s premise is that Black girls and girls of color in general are given two images to aspire to by the media: 1) the European standard of beauty and 2) the video vixen which essentially equates to a Black prostitute. The girls see that they don’t fit the standard of European beauty so they manipulate themselves in an effort to fit that image or gravitate to what looks most like them – the video vixen. In heartfelt interviews, the teenage girls intimate that because what is considered beautiful on TV, in movies, in magazines and the like, looks nothing like them, they feel that they must be ugly. The famous guests give a Hollywood perspective as to which images of Black women are shown. Images that challenge the status quo which are often more realistic are not chosen because executives making the decisions believe they don’t sell.
Valerius’ piece leaves us with the message that in order to counter these images we must hold ourselves accountable for being complicit in promoting them and also for putting positive and realistic images out there. The documentary is a must see not only for girls and women but also for boys and men.
Valerius started this film as a research project at St. Johns University as a Ronald McNair Scholar . Her motivation for studying this subject was that she too as a girl felt that she wasn’t pretty because the images of women in the media looked nothing like her. At that time she had no idea that she would eventually make a documentary based on that research. She went on to make the film as her final project in the broadcast journalism masters program at Emerson College.
Visit the site for listings of screenings in your area. Screenings can also be requested through the site.
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3 Comment(s)
Thank you for your review, Kenya! Seems as though our young black girls are suffering so much from these negative images. Reminds me too of how Kiri Davis revisited these images that Dr. Kenneth Clarke said that black people have of ourselves from the doll test using a black and white doll and asking which doll was prettier? The white doll was picked every time.
Kiri Davis – http://tinyurl.com/2eujcr
This is why images of Michelle Obama (Barack Obama’s wife), Dr. Johnetta Cole (former president of Bennett College & Spelman College), Susan Taylor (Former Editor & Chief of Essence Magazine) and many other accomplished African American women are greatly appreciated and needed.
Just having you, Kenya, here in cyberspace is a WONDERFUL inspiration and that is why I always come and check on you! [hugz]
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I’m going to try to see if I can request that the movie be screened in Detroit, because the message is MUCH needed there.
Thanks for sharing, Kenya!
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It WAS an excellent film. They are doing a tour now and it’s supposed to premier on TV later this year. The DVD will be available after that and they (Daphne Valerius and XM radio host Blanche Williams) are developing a curriculum for girls about self image. I should have included this in the post but I’m just now remembering.