“Throughout history, the powers of single black men flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness.”[1]
Are 'Token Minorities’ still prevalent in the horror genre, paying close attention to UK/US texts such as 'Doghouse' and ‘Friday The 13th’?
The horror genre is well known for its use of stereotyping. From the ‘dumb blonde’ in ridiculous chase sequences to the final brunette girl who remains a virgin. Over time the audience has become used to these stereotypical characters. One of the most common characters in horror texts are ‘token characters’: “A token character is a character in a work of fiction that only exists to achieve the minimum compliance with assumed normality for the environment described in the story”.[2] This means that token minorities in fiction are only there for the sake of it. Token black characters are usually added in films in order to make them seem anti racist, the producers’ way to avoid racial issues regarding token minorities.
Tokenism in fiction is often seen as racial stereotyping: ‘Stereotypes are generalizations about a group of people whereby we attribute a defined set of characteristics to this group. These classifications can be positive or negative, such as when various nationalities are stereotyped as friendly or unfriendly.’[3]
Furthermore: ‘though there is no scientific basis for racial distinctions, the discredited idea of "biological determinism," or a hierarchical taxonomy based on physical differentiation continues to influence discourses about human classification and racial characteristics.’ This supports the idea that stereotypes are social constructs which film makers may use to help the audience gain a clearer understanding of a film.
As there are minimal ethnic characters in the text they tend to only offer one representation of that minority which is not representative of the larger community. ‘One common outlet of racial stereotyping is the mass media; specifically news, television, and film. Inaccurate portrayals of certain individuals or groups based on skin colour, religion, or region can be seen in films of all genres.’[4] This may suggest that token minorities are still common across the contemporary media landscape.
These token characters usually are not important to the plot but are there for show. Token characters will usually be relegated to the background: “Such a character may also be disposed of relatively early in the story in order to enhance the drama while "conserving" the normal characters”.[5] This is why ethnic minority characters are usually one of the first people to be killed off in a horror film.
They may also have many negative stereotypical qualities associated with their race: ‘These stereotypes serve to neutralize the power relationships in society and serve a hegemonic function.’[6] This basically means that the stereotypes in horror films are reinforce by society’s dominant class who maintain negative perceptions of ethnic characters amongst the rest of society.
This therefore keeps the dominant social class in power. Which is also called ‘cultural hegemony’, and it basically means: ‘The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.’[7] Token characters have many other purposes in film including broadening appeal and bringing about the notion of racial equality. The main Horror texts which have been selected in this investigation are, Friday the 13th (2009) and Doghouse (2009) as they cover both sides of the argument.
Friday the 13th is an American film which falls into subgenre of slasher. ‘The genre first became popular in the late '70s and early '80s, with the release of the three most iconic slasher films: Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare On Elm Street.’[8] With Friday the 13th’s most recent remake in 2009.
In an attempt to be antiracist, two token minorities have been casted in Friday the 13th. A black character called Lawrence, and an Asian character called Chewie. The character of Lawrence is a ‘Token Black Guy’. He has little importance in the plot but seems to make an attempt to break free from the stereotypes associated with black people. Lawrence does not dress like a typical black person and often uses the phrase ‘is it because I’m black’. The phrase connotes that he does not want to be stereotyped because of his skin colour and suggests that his character wants be treated as equally as everyone else. However, later on in the film we find that even though he may want to break free from the stereotypes he is to some extent a stereotypical character.
When asked if the record label he wanted to start would be rap, Lawrence becomes very defensive and accuses the character Bree of assuming that he likes rap just because he is black. Ironically, Lawrence admits that his record label will be rap which reinforces the idea that he is a very stereotypical character as rap music is typically associated with black people.
The character of Lawrence is therefore shown as a stereotypical; though he tries to break free from stereotypes he still happens to fall back into his racial ‘norms’. Another element of the film which shows the unimportance of token minorities is that, when Lawrence is being killed and everyone else can hear him screaming in pain no one tries to save him.
Furthermore, unlike ‘Token Black Guys’ from the past Lawrence isn’t one of the first characters to be killed off and he dies later on in the film. This shows that black people have more status in society now that they did decades ago but are not yet equal. The phrase ‘token character’ doesn’t always refer to black people, but there is in fact a ‘token minority’’. This includes all other ethnic minorities such Asians, Hispanics etc. The character of Chewie on the other hand is not shown as a stereotypical character; in fact he is the total opposite. Common stereotypes of Asians are that they are; good in school, sensible and obedient.
However the character of Chewie is none of these, he is rebellious, he drinks a lot and he is very unintelligent. Support for this is his simple vocabulary and that fact that in one point of the film he drinks alcohol from a shoe. Even though his character is not stereotypical it portrays Asians in a negative light. Chewie is not shown as very important, he dies early on in the film even before Lawrence; the other characters don’t even seem to notice that he is even gone. This shows the unimportance of token minorities in the film’s plot and further reinforces the idea that token minorities are still prevalent in contemporary horror films.
The dominant race in Friday the 13th is white. The main characters are white and the majority of all the other characters are also. They are shown as rich and powerful. (They spend the weekend at Trent’s big holiday home). The character of Trent is a negative representation of white people. He is bossy, disrespectful, arrogant and promiscuous. Whereas Clay is the hero, he looks out for others and confronts the villain (Jason).
‘In Britain, the Token Minority is just as likely to be South Asian as Afro-Caribbean’.[9] However in Doghouse both these ethnicities could be seen as equal the film suggests that maybe token minority characters no longer exist. Two ethnic minorities are present Mikey who is black and Graham who is Asian. Both these characters appear to have more significance in the film than the token minority in Friday the 13th. Both Mikey and Graham survive until the end which is unlike horror films of the past. Graham and Mikey don’t have leading roles in the film however; they are not glaringly out of place in the text. Both these characters aren’t shown as very stereotypical.
Mikey is shown as a positive representation of black males as he doesn’t possess many negative stereotypes associated with black males for example even though they still have some stereotypical qualities. To some extent both these characters are also a positive representation of men in general as they don’t take part in the sexist behaviour with the other characters. In the majority of the film they seem to conform to the dominant race.
Overall, Doghouse is a horror film which reinforces the idea that token minorities are no longer prevalent in horror texts. This suggests that in order to gain and maintain status, one has to conform to societies norms. ‘As media institutions are dominated by stereotypical white, middle-aged men, and media production reflects this bias. Western society itself is dominated by politically, and economically, by white, middle-aged men so it is logical that the producers of cultural meanings should reflect this dominant group, and hence help create the conditions for hegemony.’[10] This gives of the idea that even though ethnic minority groups may have more importance in contemporary horror film, they will still remain subordinate to the dominant race and will not gain more status unless they behave like the dominant race.
The two main Historical texts that I studied as part of my research were, the Scream franchise (1992-2000), and ‘I still know what you did last summer‘(1998). All these texts feature a ‘Token Black Character in one form or another. The Scream franchise was almost like a parody of horror films in general. The scream franchise falls under the subgenre of ‘postmodern slasher’. With the most predictable events and quotes such as: ‘Never say "who's there?" Don't you watch scary movies? It's a death wish. You might as well come out to investigate a strange noise or something’[11], it parodies the horror genre. The franchise also pointed to common horror stereotypes such as the ‘token minority’. In the past the black leads in big-budget films were scarce, unless they were specifically using race to make a point.
However, as society progressed we began to see black characters introduced into these films as ‘token’ characters. This meant that they didn’t have much importance but were merely there to show that the film was ‘anti-racist’. In the sequel to scream two token characters where used. One of whom was a black woman (Maureen) who fit all the racial stereotypes. Maureen actually recognized the lack of ethnic characters in American cinema. This is made clear when she says ‘The horror genre is historical for excluding the African American element’[12]. Her boyfriend is also a stereotypical character in many ways. Both these characters are the first two to be killed off, showing them as the ‘token’ minority.
In I still know what you did last summer a ‘token’ black male called Phil has been casted. Unlike the token black character in Scream he isn’t the first to die but survives longer into the film which gives him more significance. This then shows the black minority may have more status in society at that time than they did it the past as black people were not very common in older films like Friday the 13th (1980) or Texas chainsaw massacre (1974).
Unlike scream Phil’s girlfriend Karla who is also black is given more significance. She doesn’t get killed off in the film but survives till the end. She is a positive representation of black people (especially) females as she is not stereotypical in anyway. This is probably because she has the characteristics of a white person. This is another example of ‘cultural hegemony’: ‘the power and domination of images of whiteness on screen are in the appearance of pervasive normality.’[13]This suggests a predominance of ‘Token’ black males rather than ‘Token’ Black females. In past horror film black males have been used more than females and the males are shown as more stereotypical. Compared to modern horror films this is still the case, with films such as Friday the 13th (2009), Dawn if the Dead which only feature token black males and not females, and promotes a negative idea of black males in society.
In Conclusion, it may seem that ethnic minorities have granted more status in society, (the fact the Barack Obama the president of the US is one of, if not the most power man in the world) and in horror films, with texts such as Doghouse showing ethnic minorities to be equal, the majority of evidence points to the idea that tokenism still remains in contemporary fiction. Having a token character in a film doesn’t show equality at all but emphasises their insignificance as they fail to be relatable for ethnic minority audiences. Modern horror texts such as Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street tend to either under-presented ethnic minorities or fail to represent them at all. Though the status of ethnic minorities has come a long way they are not yet equal as they only seem to dominate horror film where ethnicity is a main focus (e.g. Candyman 2).
Word Count: 2,161
Bibliography
Works Cited
Books
Lacey, N. (1998) Image and representation, MacMillan press LTD: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, and London.
Websites
Cultural Hegemony http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Cultural_hegemony
Gray, Sadie (2008-07-17). "Ethnic minorities accuse TV programmers of tokenism". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/ethnic-minorities-accuse-tv-programmers-of-tokenism-869817.html
Morris, K. (2009) The Pervasiveness of Racial Stereotypes in American Film, Associatedcontent.com http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2402358/the_pervasiveness_of_racial_stereotypes.html?cat=40,
Tokenism in Fiction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokenism#cite_note-0
Token minority TVtropes.org http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TokenMinority
Films
[1] Scream, 1996, Wes Craven
Works Consulted
Books
Curran ,J & Gurevitch, M (2005) Mass Media and Society, Hodder Education, London
Ferguson, R (1998) Representing Race, Oxford University Press Inc, New York
Jones, D (2002) Horror: A Thematic History in Fiction and Film, Oxford University Press Inc, New York
Lacey, N. (2000) Narrative and Genre, PALGRAVE: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York
Websites
Leins, J. Bay Defends the Racial Stereotypes in Transformers 2, newsinfilm.com
Hollywoodm Whiteness and stereotypes, Filmreference.com http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Race-and-Ethnicity-HOLLYWOOD-WHITENESS-AND-STEREOTYPES.html
Stereotypes of African Americans Wikipedia.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_African_Americans
Token minority hired to give illusion of diversity proz.com (2009) http://www.proz.com/kudoz/English/idioms_maxims_sayings/3566918-token.html
Films Dawn of the dead, (2004) Zack Snyder, US
I still know what you did last summer, (1998) Danny Cannon, US
Doghouse, (2009) Jack West, US
[1] -W.E.B. Du Bois (1903), The Souls Of Black Folk (p. 4)
[2] Tokenism in Fiction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokenism#cite_note-0
[3] Stereotypes http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/stereotypes.htm
[5] Gray, Sadie (2008-07-17). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/ethnic-minorities-accuse-tv-programmers-of-tokenism-869817.html
[6] Lacey, N. (1998) (pg 139)
[7] Hegemony http://www.answers.com/topic/hegemony
[10] Lacey, N. (1998) (pg 143)
[11] Scream, 1996, Wes Craven
[12] Scream, 1996, Wes Craven
[13]Hollywood Whiteness and Stereotypes http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Race-and-Ethnicity-HOLLYWOOD-WHITENESS-AND-STEREOTYPES.html
