Why is it that in movies set in the 30's about racism the black people are always portrayed as saints?

Question

Don't get me wrong here. I have no sympathies with the KKK or any other racist groups. I'd just like to know why the African-Americans are always shown to be such good god-fearing people in these old movies.
Considering the huge amount of criminality in the black community today why are we being asked to believe they were such saints the 1930's?
Or is it my imagination?

The issue may have been white people and their attitudes but it should be put into context, and not the cartoon like world we're often shown

Note: I said movies SET in the 30's, not made in the 30's

Answer 1

The law made it difficult for the level of crime we see today. Imagine if the penalty for minor infractions was a severe beating or even death. You could not have the behavior of today's youth in such an environment.

There was crime (drug, violence, assault) in significant numbers among African Americans in larger urban areas such as Harlem and some of the other boroughs. Spike Lee portrayed this in "X".

With much of the African American population still living in the rural South, the depiction of wild, angry, uncontrollable young black men portrayed by today's media did not exist.

Bear in mind, that access to all of the good things in society will lead to access to all the bad as well. Chicago was a violent city in the 1930's; it was not due to African Americans. There were riots in Southern California that had nothing to do with African Americans. Our history hasn't been smooth for any of us.

Answer 2

I see a lot of that: blacks with no street talk or attitude, portrayed as innocents being victimized. or as authority figures. Guess the movie & tv industry want to put things in the best possible light, or not to incite violence. The old toons had some rough portrayals, but the Hayes Act (?) cleaned up the toon industry.

In an episode of the New Mighty Mouse, from the 80s, they have a scooby doo style cartoon parody, and the black character has a british accent!

Answer 3

If it's your Imagination than it is mine as well, I think it may be one big conspiracy , planned by the black man for the black man. No I am not a racist nor am I prejudice it's just that there is no good way to explain or to try to make sense of the whole idea. There is no one group of saints its human nature to be brutal, mean, and cruel so there cant be just one group of people that are "innocent" sorry if I got off the topic but what I am trying to say is your right man they have always been a bit corrupt because when ever they get in trouble or if they get persecuted they always have to go to the old days saying crap like"we were slaves" or " the white man made us this way" or " We're black help us" or "we're black and that's that so whats up ***** I ll shoot you cause we refuse to be mature and civilized and would rather run around acting like a wild pack of gorillas or chimpanzee es "!!!

Answer 4

Q? caught me by surprise, i had to go to yr Q & A pasge to see what else you asked, and as i suspected you are not really lookin for an answer. why should i bother?

since i have socks older than you, maybe you just don't know any better. you are not "being asked to believe they were such saints... ." first off, you're talkin about movies. they are askin that you suspend belief and enjoy the movie. second, the only black people being portayed in these films are treated like sub human mostly. i certainly don't get this "saints" picture that you seem to see. maybe go back and watch those movies again.

Answer 5

For the same reason the hero almost always survives in horror movies, or the same reason the bad guy looses in action movies.

The point of a movie is to tell a story. If the movie is about racism, the purpose is to show how bad things happened to good people. It's not much of a story if someone was a rapist and child molester who got lynched.

So, like any story, the main character is set up to be likable by the audience, so the audience will want them to prevail. And bad characters as set up to be disliked by the audience, so the audience will be happy when they lose.

It's just part of storytelling.

Answer 6

In the 1930's they probably were considered saints because they were captured as slaves and didn't do anything wrong. It has changed since we have had our freedom. I'm black and I am not a violent person. And the thing is, is that black people have their own ways of dealing with things just like white people do and Mexican people do. I'm not saying that their ways are always right, but that's just how they are. Like for example like if you make a black person mad they're going to go off on you which even though people are always like don't believe stereotypes black people actually do act like that. And I hate it when black people get mad like well they believe that I'm gonna shoot them or I'm gonna do this and I just say to myself well if you didn't act like that and carry yourself that way people wouldn't be afraid of you. But the thing is is that it's not all black people like a lot of people think.

Answer 7

this is through fact white human beings interior the U.S. are the main evil and racist human beings on the face of the earth. We consume Latino and Black babies for breakfast, and we many times have seconds. happy? i comprehend that's what you had to hearken to. Take it from me, a white American. we are evil incarnate. we are so adverse. do no longer come to united states of america through fact the White human beings will consume you. We very own Hollywood, alongside with the Jews. So that's many times in basic terms an excellent Jew/White celebration, and we take the Latinos and Blacks for human sacrifice. stay clean individuals evil whites.

Answer 8

The movies chose to represent not those blacks who were criminals, but those who were the victims of . Otherwise it would confuse the issue. The issue was white people and their attitudes.

Answer 9

that sounds like your imagination. and early hollywood racial stereotyping. blacks were either portrayed as good, god fearing (read: non-threatening) people or happy-go-lucky, ignorant sambos. either way it was a terrible stereotype. but those were the only roles written for black characters in those days. it wasn't really until the 1950's that black men and women started to get serious roles.

Answer 10

Because many in that time were hung or killed who would not fight back...they were indeed the angels of the Black American......believe it or not....there are many more angels than thugs in all races.....