Post-colonialism Theory by Paul Gilroy

Colonialism - taking over another country to run and exploit it 

Post-colonialism - Gilroy argued that, most media is based on euro-centric world view. It explores the differences between the representation of white, British people and ethnic minorities in the media after the colonization, intended to make europeans look superior and stay in power against the others. 

Representations - White, British people are represented as heroic, clean, polite, strong, while the others are represented as exotic and barbaric.

Hegemonic group - Media production is dominated by white people which pushes the ideology is white supremacy (white saviour).

Keywords

Eurocentric - The belief that the European culture is superior to all others

Double consciousness - the internal conflict experienced by subordinated or colonized groups in an oppressive society.

Othering - the practice of representing and defining the colonized natives as inferior to their European counterparts.

Case Study: 

The Woman King (2022)

The colonization of African countries by the Europeans created the idea that Africans were uncivilized and savage in their way of life, and in need of saving.

Confroms: Black characters in the movie are shown with exotic and minimal clothings while the White colonizers are shown wearing expensive clothes with intricate designs (includes gold and other accessories). The plot includes black women sold to the Europeans as slaves and living in a poor condition. During the fight, Europeans are armed with guns while the local Dahomey warriors are only equipped with traditional weapons (swords and knifes).

Subverts: The Woman King depicts a population of powerful people who have traditions and culture that matter just as much as those of the rest of the world. It challenges the stereotype and perspective of the pre-colonial Africans who were impoverished, incapable and uncivilized without the Europeans, as if needing them for survival. It takes a detour from the typical Eurocentric trappings of Hollywood to focus on a real community from West African history. Includes the representation and portrayal of a Black women superheroes and Black excellence. Black women casts leading the movie and was directed by a black female director.

Controversy: The Woman King‘s historically inaccurate depiction of the kingdom of Dahomey Tribe’s attitude towards slavery. In the film, Dahomey are opposed to slavery while in reality the tribe partook in a massive scale of human sacrifices to become rich and powerful. They sacrifices hundreds of thousands of slaves annually in the slave trade with the British.

[ This movie also subverts Laura Mulvey's idea of Male Gaze as the movie is dominated by strong, female characters that plays an important role in the plot of the movie. ]

Ms Marvel (2022)

Conforms: In one of the scene of the show Ms Marvel went back to past, during World War II. Pakistan is shown with a negative stereotypes. The color palette of the whole scene is mainly brown and yellow which made Pakistan and their people look poor and dirty.

Subverts: Overall, the series subverts the idea of post colonialism as it shows mainly positive stereotypes of Pakistan. The main character and the superhero is the show is a Pakistani girl which is shown a strong and powerful character throughout the show.

Black Panther (2018)

Essay (Case Study)

The media control how we understand the world through white vs minority representation in western film. According to the postcolonialism theory by Paul Gilroy, white british people are show with positive stereotypes while the 'others' (previously colonized countries) are shown with bad connotations. An example of a media text that conforms the idea of postcolonialism is the Netflix series, The crown. In the series, the british royals are shown as sophisticated, rich and educated through their fancy clothings and formal speech. They're also shown to always be around strong military which gives the impression that the UK is a strong country. These representations are shown to show european imperialism, which implies thet european culture are better than other cultures. because the series is owned by hegemonic groups of white people. In the other hand, the 'others' are shown with negative stereotypes such as poor and uncivilized, this is shown through the mise-en-scene. They're shown living in bad conditions and wearing cheap, dirty clothes. 

An example that subverts the postcolonialism theory is Marvel's Black Panther (2018). In the movie good representations of black people is shown. Wakanda (a fictional representation of Africa), which is a previously colonized country is described as rich and strong. This stereotype is shown through the advanced technology the have. Marvel went to reach out to Africans for references and clothes designs in order to potray a more accurate representations of Africans. These conflicting representations may be confusing to the audience from a colonized background. This is referred to as double consciousness, when an audience member is not sure whether to believe the media's representation or their own lived experience which may conflict. Because Black Panther and the crown is distributed globally through global streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, they are able to reach more audience.