Date of Award
8-2004
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Communication
First Advisor
Dr. Leigh A. Ford
Second Advisor
Dr. Heather Addison
Third Advisor
Dr. Rhodes
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
This project examined the interconnectedness of race, gender, class and the physical body as interrelated marginalization factors in media representations. Using the feminist body image literature, critical/cultural theory and Black feminist thought this study examined the significance of weight as a marginalization variable interdependent with race, gender and class. The motion picture character portrayals of the iconic figure Queen Latifah are subjected to a semiotics analysis, a traditional method in critical cultural studies to examine media representations. This analysis is informed by the cultural standpoint of the author as an overweight African American female. This study revealed that Queen Latifah's film roles reinforce, re-image and resist traditional stereotypes of the Mammy and Jezebel and suggests that Hollywood has developed an emerging stereotype of the female buck.
Recommended Citation
Prater, Angela Denise, "An African American Cultural Critique of Weight, Race, Gender and Class Using a Semiotic Analysis of Queen Latifah’ s Film Roles" (2004). Masters Theses. 647.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/647
Included in
Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons