Heroic Skin

“Heroes are great,” say’s Lorraine Henry King, “but where are our Black heroes and how do they present? We are all primed to relate to white skin and bodies with the potential for heroism. Any white body is heroic regardless of how puny.”

New methodologies centring on rapid rebalancing and reframing of Black and skin

June 10th and the latest community talk is in progress to a silent room. In fact you can hear a pin drop as Henry King explains that her PhD research is moving past post-colonial methods of knowledge investigation. She is looking to create new methodologies centring on rapid rebalancing and reframing of Black and skin, through the agency of costume and surface adornment. 

Lorraine Henry King is a textile and multimedia artist, broadcaster and researcher.

She teaches cultural studies at London College of Fashion (UK) and leads institutional initiatives to support widening participation.  Her practice-based PhD research focuses on the representation of black heroic masculinities in Hollywood Action Films. 

“I began my research by looking at past constructions of Black masculinity. Of course I began with Birth of a Nation. I needed to dissect the shots, the sequencing and the narrative and I began looking at film archive in general to see the limited opportunities for Black identities. No matter how the roles may appear, there have been traditionally only 5 identities within casting and film portrayal.”

Toms are the faithful servants.

Coon is the workshy comedian.

Buck is the wild uncontrollable physical embodiment chasing after white women.

Mulattoe is usually a mixed race female who tries to pass.

Mammies are the overbearing maids: loud, screechy and comedic.

“At the beginning of my Phd I would not have mentioned racism. What I saw on screen I knew not to be true however because there were no heroic Black men. I began thinking about what makes us read an actor in costume as heroic?”

“As an audience we use context to make evaluations. Film makers rely on stereotypes for shortcuts to context. Take Reece Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. She’s pink and cute. Film makers want us to make the connection with her as intellectually immature, not clever enough. The film then challenges that stereotype.”

Lorraine has presented her research internationally through Critical Costume and the European Popular Culture Association. Her forthcoming publications include Heroic Skin: Superheroes, Excess and Black Skin as Costume in Superheroes and Excess: A Philosophical Inquiry (Routledge) and Black Skin as Costume in Black Panther in Film, Fashion and Consumption. 

Lorraine chairs the Black Identities Group for the Fashion Costume and Visuals Cultures (FCVC) Network.

“Race stereotypes are rife. The Black body exists within many settings such as slavery, gangs and hood culture and stereotyping means that Black torsos and Black men are absorbed within this contextual portrayal and are rarely challenged. There have always been limitations in the way Black masculinity is able to present, and his image, and behaviours are often crafted in association to white characters and by white script writers.”

There have always been limitations in the way Black masculinity is able to present, and his image and behaviours are often crafted in association to white characters and by white script writers.”

“For a Black man to be viewed as heroic he has to be better than every other Black male as well as being better than all of the white men in the narrative; and he has to ‘fit’ narrow white projections. Black Panther changed so much.”

“In Black Panther for the first time we had a Black hero AND a Black nemesis. We had a multiplicity of identities and possibilities in one film. There was a bigger story crossing continents; Black heroic characters are often restricted to a locality. And there was broader range of skin tones, which is quite unusual.”

And there was broader range of skin tones, which is quite unusual

“The brown paper bag test: a hangover from slavery, where lighter skins were awarded jobs inside the house and generally better treatment, is reflected in the Colourism of Hollywood casting. Will Smith presents a palatable skin tone and another necessary requirement - comedy. This is an oft used tool to reassure white viewers of the light-hearted, non threatening environment they have entered.

Every element of costume is up for interpretation; the wearing of a chain or leather for instance is read by the audience

There are many narrow parameters for Black presence in film observes Henry King. Heroic Black characters are hemmed in by white gaze and white fragility, making some occurrences very rare indeed.

The striking of a white character by a Black character for instance: Sidney Poitier’s In the Heat of the Night (1967) is an almost unseen counter-cultural occurrence. Fast forward to the depiction of Killmonger killing a white character off screen, so white audiences are protected. He has just however dispatched a female character of colour on screen. This is deemed palatable.

Fast forward to the depiction of Killmonger killing a white character off screen, so white audiences are protected

The Gentleman Spy is another a case in point. Discussed as a role a while back for Idris Elba, Lorraine’s research points to any spy film requiring much broader race representation in characters and contexts in order for the Black skin not to be hyper-visible in a white setting.

Heroes propel the notion of human achievement together with ‘fantastic possibility’

“Heroes propel the notion of human achievement together with ‘fantastic possibility,’” say’s Henry King. The more nuanced, the more variety we see of Black heroism, the more educational for everyone.” Amen.

Text Caryn Franklin

Audience contributions below - taken from the Zoom chat box

JF: The condition and actions of colonialism sees the black body, mind & skin colour to be feared or objectified. Post George Floyd have you seen a change in film and TV addressing colourism? and Black masculinity?

CC I am surprised that the brown paper bag test is still in America. I am a black American, I attended an HBCU and hope that we would challenge such internal racism....that makes me sad …… given the color diversity of my family.

SL Clearly Black and White Superheroes are being held up t different standards. E.g White superheroes have evolved to represent the protagonist and the antagonist. What other societal norms and values do you anticipate black superheroes will begin to depict and communicate as they are evolving.

CF Would you talk about the complexities within Black Panther. It was hugely exciting film for me and of course I watched it against the back drop of there being nothing else and as a white viewer!

CB I think Blade would be classed as an Anti-hero

CB a bit like Deadpool

DH In Black panther you could argue that there were a lot of strong Black female hero / characters too.. but in different ways - what do you define as hero ?

DN We see that African Americans in movies being racially profiled just like in real life. What role does an African American superhero have play to not be racial profiled? What if T’Challa was viewed different by the white man that helped him?

EL Blade is genius, Morpheus - Matrix also a hero figure?

ND I think there’s a conversation to be had about how this effects the black males perceptions of themselves and how they’re perceived by others outside of film and in society in the sense of them seeing themselves aspiring to be a ‘hero’ in society..

KG There are 90’s film like Blank Man and The Meteor Man which were superhero comedies with Black Superhero leads. They were a bit cheesy. They may have been neighborhood hero’s as you call them. Have you examined those?

SL Black female superheroes need to be looked at by film production companies.

CB Yes they do 100%

SL Even the black male voice on radio presenters is threatening.

CC Fascinating complexed conversation. By the way at the 2019 Commencement speaker at NCCU (my HBCU) was Ruth Carter the designer of the Black Panther costume. She gave a wonderful speech that you may find on YouTube.

EM The disbelief that a black guy could be a hero… the reaction of Patrick Hutchinson from the BLM protests…

CB to Everyone : Did you watch The Falcon and The Winter Soldier because I think that the ending (without giving spoilers) was great and also on this same vain.

AI Black Captain America 👌🏽

SL The point of any good hero story in film is to comfort, heal and community build. It all promotes a strong sense of social identity - the potential of the Black hero is huge.

CF The white male is awarded superhero status in every situation. Really mediocre white men are paired with very attractive women in films. We are shown that just being a white man, however unevolved, is still high status

PM I think the first thing that should be said is that when viewing classical American cinema you are going to be inundated with re variations and reactions to the wider societal contexts. The superhero was created in the mid 1930…the Phantom, quickly followed by Superman…What they demonstrated that white male could be venerable but the hero was capable of more

SL The deficit model - yes. This idea that no little white boy will ever look at a screen and dream of being a powerful black man

PM So if you look at 1935 you had the rise of Nazism and the reaction to the 1936 games in Hitler’s Germany. Jesse Owens was a threat. The reaction? Reinforce a white male identity

CF Yes Thank you everyone. We are shaped by our media. White androcentric media is responsible delivering and perpetuating a limited understanding of ourselves

PM What you will always notice is that apt for m Black Panther you rarely see more than one Black actor in a American film. Unlike DeNiro, Pacino or Damon and Affleck

PM I remember Meteor Man…again the element of comedy was prevalent. Black men cannot be taken seriously

SL Skin always matters

CF Agreed Lorraine great point. A rare Black hero fully masked is a lost connection

SL That was the same complaint by the black guy who played Cyborg in Justice League

KG Ray Fisher is the actors name

CR Everyone : Slight tangent but Prince in Under The Cherry Moon takes on the role of Hollywood Casanova and goes against some of the Hollywood tropes of black masculinity you mention - through performance and costume - he even gets to die a heroes death against Mary’s white old-money family

PM What we also have to be mindful of is these Black characters are being directed to white males in stories written by white men usually.

PM Black Bourne??

SL And an opportunity to represent a multicultural world