haven't they learned? #3

Ok i know i've blogged about this topic a little already but the idea of how images can have such a huge and life changing effect baffles me. The images we saw of the black people in the past had a great effect on so many people. The images brainwashed people into believing blacks were dumb and monkeys and horrible degrading things. They even brainwashed blacks into believing they weren't worthy of white appreciation, that the way they looked wasn't acceptable, and that their culture wasn't proper. 

I watched a movie the other day called "The Secret Life of Bees." The movie is based off the book by Sue Monk Kidd which i also read. In the story, which is set in the 60s, there are three sisters who live together and make their living selling honey which they cultivate themselves. The image on the jars of honey they sell is of a colored Virgin Mary. This Black Madonna is a symbol for the three  sisters of their somewhat religion. They belong to the "Daughters of Mary", a group of women who worship the Black Madonna as a symbol of believing in something bigger than just ourselves. The people of the predominantly white  town were surprised by this image because it was not something they had seen before. They cast it off however saying it was just some crazy black women with her weird sisters. It's amazing to me though that they still bought and ate this honey, sold it in their stores and were grateful for it. But they were not grateful for the people who gave it to them. 

I never really thought to much into this part of the story before reading Malcolm X. Now i realize how pathetic and ignorant most of the whites were in that time. The vision of a Black Madonna was completely ridiculous because the whites did not approve of someone they worshiped being of color. They disliked this image and therefore made it seem humorous. However, they enjoyed the honey and because they liked it, it was acceptable to be made from three black sisters. It's amazing to see how people didn't even realize how wrong they were being. It was ok for black people to serve and make great food and give the whites happiness but it wasn't ok for the whites to give appreciation back or appreciation to anything of color including the Madonna. I have to give amazing credit to the sisters in this story. Although the story is fictional i'm sure many people in the US at the time followed this same religion. Their savior was not accepted because of the color of her skin even though the morals of their religion were the same as most. 

Images affect me in my everyday life also. SKinny girls in magazines and supermodels that are all a size 2. These images affect the way i see my own body. I don't believe i have the worst body but i'm also not completely satisfied. These images make many girls and guys believe that this is the way a women's body should be. These images set a high standard for young girls. If your not as good as model why should a guy want you? these are the thoughts put into our heads by simple images we see on TV and in magazine ads. These images can be life changing and detrimental to women's health when striving to look like these images.  This article describes in depth the effect of these model's images on women's psyche http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm. 

It's amazing how people have not learned from the past. The images of blacks changed people's thinking to degrading blacks yet they keep putting out images that degrade women. But i guess they always say history repeats itself.