\n<\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Truth Hurts, Lizzo's number 1 Billboard chart hit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFor Banks to label Lizzo \u201cmammy,\u201d a figure considered asexual and one that is often characterized as an overweight black woman, demonstrates Banks\u2019s discomfort with larger black women\u2019s bodies, her insistence that fat black women performers conform to a more rigid politics of respectability than their slimmer counterparts, but more importantly it demonstrates an inability to see fat black female bodies as able to exist outside of the iconography of mammy. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe deconstruction of stereotyped representations of blacks in the media by scholars such as<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" Donald Bogle (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Donald_Bogle\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" Donald Bogle (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Donald_Bogle\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Bogle<\/a> <\/strong>and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Patricia Hill Collins (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/globaldialogue.isa-sociology.org\/the-representation-of-african-american-women-an-interview-with-patricia-hill-collins\/\" target=\"_blank\">Patricia Hill Collins<\/a><\/strong> has been crucial in understanding the ways these stereotypes reinforce white supremacy. However, the canonization of a small set of black stereotypes sometimes stifles alternative or nuanced analyses of contemporary representations of blacks in mainstream media, particularly with regards to black women. I am interested in developing a wider visual vocabulary for interpreting representations of fat black women. To that aim, I offer an analysis of Octavia Spencer<\/strong>\u2019s presence in Tate Taylor<\/strong>\u2019s 2019 movie<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" Ma (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt7958736\/\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" Ma (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt7958736\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ma<\/a><\/strong> <\/em>that seeks to decolonize Mammy<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMa<\/strong> takes place in the suburbs of Ohio and centers on the lonely life of a black middle-aged woman, Sue Ann, who works as a rather ineffective veterinarian assistant at the town clinic. Things pick up for Sue Ann once she befriends a group of predominately white teens after agreeing to buy them alcohol and subsequently allowing them to party in her basement. It is important to note that Scott Landes<\/strong> scripted the part of Sue Ann to be played by a white actress. Perhaps as redress for casting Spencer as a maid in The Help <\/em><\/strong>(2011), Taylor revised the script for Spencer to assuage her reported concerns regarding the limited roles for black women in Hollywood. So in many ways what I read as the subversive potential of Ma is a fluke of colorblind casting. Yet despite the film\u2019s underlying mission to veer away from the mammy trope and even Spencer\u2019s own thirty-pound weight loss prior to filming, many reviewers were unable to disassociate Spencer\u2019s portrayal from the stereotype. For example, Armond White characterizes the film as a \u201cbizarre sequel to Precious\u201d and labels Spencer a \u201cpost-Obama Mammy,\u201d while C. C. Saunders calls her a \u201cnuanced mammy figure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?w=1280&ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?resize=610%2C343&ssl=1 610w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?resize=810%2C456&ssl=1 810w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Film-Ma-Taylor.jpg?resize=600%2C338&ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0818055\/\" target=\"_blank\">Octavia Spencer<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0853238\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tate Taylor<\/a>, and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm3650518\/\" target=\"_blank\">David Bush<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt7958736\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Ma (2019)<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nProvocatively, reviewer Ellen June points out \u201c\u2018Ma\u2019s\u2019 short for \u2018Mammy,\u2019 isn\u2019t it?\u201d However, in the movie, the term \u201cMa\u201d is bandied out as a flirtatious nickname (perhaps a derivative of \u201cMami\u201d) indicating Sue Ann\u2019s desirability and her newly found insider status among the group of popular, predominately white high schoolers. If Mammy is characterized by her nurturing of white children, Sue Ann emerges as quite the opposite. Sue Ann is the proverbial \u201cfun mom\u201d, sans children, who wants to appear cool and who relives her youth through inappropriately interacting with teenagers. She devolves from clich\u00e9 to would-be serial killer when being summarily rejected by the group triggers memories of earlier experiences as an outsider in high school, subsequently sexually assaulted by proxy when her white-boy crush tricks her into performing fellatio on another white male teenager from school. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAs a black woman who was raised in a white suburb, upon watching Ma<\/strong>, I was struck by the fact that I have never seen a filmic representation of the trauma many blacks (particularly women) carry as a result of growing up in predominately white suburban environs. Ma <\/strong>offers viewers a new archetype of black womanhood \u2013 the black female suburbanite. Unlike earlier representations of middle-class black women that can be readily subsumed under the archetype of the \u201cblack lady,\u201d instead of respectability politics being its primary thematic, this representation of black womanhood is underscored by the intersectional trauma black girls and women face in predominately white suburban settings that typically center around the politics of beauty, desirability, and popularity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"409\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?resize=680%2C409&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-618\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C616&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?resize=300%2C181&ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?resize=768%2C462&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?resize=610%2C367&ssl=1 610w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?resize=810%2C487&ssl=1 810w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?resize=600%2C361&ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/MA_1200px2-1.jpg?w=1145&ssl=1 1145w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nBecause Sue Ann\u2019s isolation resonated with me, I was initially tempted to read the film\u2019s black suburbanite revenge fantasy plot as subversive. And yet, despite Spence\u2019s prominence in the film, its subversive potential is thwarted because the white mainstream remains the film\u2019s intended audience. Throughout my childhood and the bulk of my formative years, I have watched Freddy Krueger, Jason, and Michael Myers reign as lovable slashers, and yet Sue Ann is not worthy of a franchise. Her modest spree of maiming and killing will remain an aberration for fear of what it means to make her example, the norm. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMaggie (Diana Silvers<\/strong>), the film\u2019s true protagonist, saves the townspeople and Sue Ann\u2019s own daughter from the monstrous black woman. In one fell swoop with Sue Ann\u2019s death, the black audience is denied any real catharsis. Her consequences mimic real-life consequences one would expect to ensue after her actions. The possibility of white empathy is abated and white guilt is assuaged. Maggie\u2019s final words to Sue Ann as she pushes her into the fire are that she \u201cis not [her] parents.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nMa<\/strong>, therefore, is ultimately a post-racial lament about whether white children should be held accountable for the racism perpetrated by their parents. One could very well extend this logic to whether or not contemporary whites should be held accountable for slavery and recent discussions about reparations. So, while I maintain that \u201cmammy\u201d is not the correct characterization of Spencer\u2019s portrayal of Sue Ann, I wholeheartedly agree with Max J. Gordon when he calls Ma<\/strong> \u201cThe Help, Part 2<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MA - Official Trailer\" width=\"680\" height=\"383\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eIvbEC8N3cA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMa<\/strong> demonstrates the consequences of refusing to be Mammy, of refusing to put your own desires as a black woman before that of whites.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKimberly Nichele Brown<\/strong>, Ph.D. is an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies. Her first book is titled, Writing the Black Revolutionary Diva: Black Women's Subjectivity <\/strong>(Indiana University Press, 2010). She is currently working on a book on ethical black feminist spectatorship. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: In this analysis of the Tate Taylor film Ma starring Octavia Spencer, the post contains spoilers. This September, Harlem rapper Azealia Banks took to Instagram to disparage plus-size singer Lizzo shortly after her single Truth Hurts hit number one on the Billboard charts. “Lmao the fact that the public…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bfmmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ma_3.jpg?fit=1368%2C781&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654,"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions\/654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfmmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}