Melodramatic Melanin

Black feminist scholars such as Lisa Anderson describe the most common stereotypes as that of the mammy, the mulatta, and the mistress. My research analyzes how each of these negative stereotypes are articulated or challenged in contemporary plays and films by bringing together scholarship that critiques dramatic representation, mass media that disseminates those representations, and social media that reveals popular perceptions of race. I utilize Black feminism to critique the stereotypical representation of Black women in dramatic works, and critical race theory to consider the social and political environment that allows these representations to proliferate. After setting up the historical context of stereotypes from the slavery era to the present day in chapter two, each of the following chapters explore one specific stereotype, beginning with the mammy in chapter three, moving to the mulatta in chapter four, and ending with the mistress in chapter five. Each of these chapters focuses on two case studies include one successful play and one film with a nation-wide release that features Black female characters and plays on mainstream networks. With theatrical case studies ranging from Lydia Diamond's Voyeurs de Venus (2006) to Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2013), films from The Help (2011) to Dear White People (2014), my work questions how these stereotypes persist and create meaning in popular culture. The work addresses the following questions: How have the mammy, mulatto, and mistress stereotypes functioned and persisted in dramatic works and popular culture in the contemporary era? How do contemporary works adapt, challenge, reinterpret, and reimagine these stereotypes? What does this suggest about shifts in representations of Black women in the contemporary United States?