The Power of Anger

Abstract

This Senior Project is about the angry black women stereotype and how women of color engage with and resist this stereotype to their advantage. I want to explain to people why women of color are overwhelmingly portrayed in film and television as having an angry inner personality. Within this paper I will be focusing on two powerful black females in the media industry, Taraji P. Henson and Mary J. Blige, and how they have to sacrifice blood, sweat, and tears in order to get to where they are within their lifestyle. Both actresses have in recent years have selected roles playing assertive and vengeful characters not because they earn them the best wages or the most prestige, but because these characters are unapologetically black and know their worth. My main objective for this project is to show that women of color can identify in different ways with these characters, as they offer a way for black women's pain and sacrifice to be acknowledged. This paper will explain how for these characters, being strongly passionate about something can cause you to make tough decisions you may not want to make, just to protect your own community from trauma and harm. I will also examine what critics and actors have to say about how women of color think and more when pursuing this specific role.