For nearly a century, Hollywood portrayed Africa and Africans through the lens of overt racism. As part of Worldview’s occasional series, Images, Movies and Race, produced in conjunction with WBEZ’s Race: Out Loud series, film contributor Milos Stehlik sits in for Jerome McDonnell and hosts a series of discussions about how modern Hollywood films on Africa hide racist overtones within heroic, feel-good stories.
First, we talk with MaryEllen Higgins, author of the forthcoming book Hollywood’s Africa after 1994.
Then, we look at the Eurocentric treatment of genocide through the popular film Hotel Rwanda, with Joyce Ashuntantang, an actress and professor at the University of Hartford.
And, we take a big-picture look at representation in cinema with renowned professor and filmmaker Jill Godmilow.