Ethnic Notions.

To be completed after watching Ethnic Notions.
Marion Riggs’ documentary Ethnic Notions makes the argument that representations from popular culture historically have helped to create and/or perpetuate notions about groups of people, in the case of the video, African Americans. In doing so, Riggs argues that the racist stereotypes disseminated and reinforced in popular culture have been directly tied to more concrete acts of oppression—from laws and public policy to racial violence and discrimination–by providing “justifications” and rationales for such acts. The video suggests that the legacy of past representations is still with us today and that current images likewise perpetuate certain ideas and perceptions of African Americans, though perhaps more subtly.