Annotative Bibliography #5

Black Girl Inference

Black Girl was a very subtle representation of the struggle that blacks faced during colonization. It featured a young black girl, Diouana, growing up in Dakar, Senegal. Throughout the flashbacks of her past in the movie, she is detailing her desperate search for employment in order to provide for herself during the difficult times she was facing. She eventually gets a job as a nanny for a wealthier white family, and ends up moving to France with them to become a full time employee. It is after this transition that Diouana realizes that her "employment" is much more like a domesticated form of slavery. While she is still being paid, the amount of disrespect of animalistic servitude that she is subjected to eventually causes her demise.

I noticed a large contrast between the way that Diouana and her employers feel about African culture and heritage within the film. It seems as though the white people in the movie are looking upon African culture as a form of entertainment and spectacle, rather than a legitimate way of life. They purchase and cherish African masks as decorations and savor African food with delight. During the dinner party at the beginning of the movie Diouana is told to make rice for everyone to eat. They seem to get incredibly excited exclaiming, "The real African cuisine, prepared by the maid." This sentence, to me, says a lot of their level of respect for her as a human being. They are excited about the idea of experiencing authentic African culture, but do not have the genuine respect for Diouana enough to acknowledge her as a human being by calling her by her name. Throughout the rest of the dinner she is also referred to as a "cook" and a "black woman." This shows a very evident level of hierarchy within this society.

The way that Diouana views her culture is vastly different. The struggles and tribulations that she undoubtedly faced throughout her young life have made her seemingly separate from her culture and become something more. She dresses in European clothes, including nice dresses, heels, and extravagant jewelry. During the first flashback it seems as though she is rushing out of her home to look for a job. She appears unhappy and eager to move on with her life.  She seems to have a loving family, and a boyfriend she is constantly wishing for more. She jumps at the opportunity to leave her home and move to France. Her European dress reminds me mostly of the work of Seydou Keita. In his studio photography his subjects were very often dressed in European style clothing and posed in such a way that they would create the very best picture of themselves. I believe that Diouana wanted to create an image for herself that would be pleasing in society, and in striving for this she found herself to be very depressed and eventually took her own life.