The Myth of Colorblindness

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Sarah E. Turner, Sarah Nilsen

   Pages 1-9

3. Colorblindness

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

      PDF

   2. Colorblindness: The Lens That Distorts

      • Ashley (“Woody”) Doane

      Pages 13-33

   3. Why Hollywood Remains “SoWhite” and a Note on How to Change It

      • Isabel Molina-Guzmán

      Pages 35-57

4. Colorblind Racism in Hollywood Films

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 59-59

      PDF

   2. Living in Zootopia: Tracking the Neoliberal Subject in a Colorblind World

      • Sarah Nilsen

      Pages 61-88

   3. The Paradox of Post-racialism: Black Hollywood’s Voice in Post-racial Discourse

      • Omotayo O. Banjo

      Pages 89-112

   4. Colorblind Racism, The Trump Effect, and The Blind Side

      • Charise Pimentel

      Pages 113-139

   5. Will Smith: A Global Brand of Blackness

      • Leah Aldridge

      Pages 141-171

   6. Tricks of the (Colorblind) Trade: Hollywood’s Preservation of White Supremacy in the Age of Obama

      • John D. Foster

      Pages 173-191

5. Intersections Between Race, Ethnicity, and Gender and Colorblind Racism in Hollywood

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 193-193

      PDF

   2. Zombies, Muslims, and Politics: Racism Without Race in Contemporary America

      • Tarik Ahmed Elseewi

      Pages 195-213

   3. Latinas/os in Hollywood: Contemporary Representations in Black and White

      • Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo

      Pages 215-236

   4. Tonto and The Lone Ranger: Nostalgic Kitsch or Post-racial Backlash?

      • Sarah E. Turner

      Pages 237-256

   5. Cyborg Woman: Ex Machina and Racial Otherness

      • Tony Magistrale

      Pages 257-281

   6. The End of the World, Hollywood, and the Endurance of Military Violence: Elysium and World War Z

      • Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo, Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo

      Pages 283-297

6. Back Matter

   Pages 299-304

   PDF

This book explores representations of race and ethnicity in contemporary cinema and the ways in which these depictions all too often promulgate an important racial ideology: the myth of colorblindness.  Colorblindness is a discursive framework employed by mainstream, neoliberal media to celebrate a multicultural society while simultaneously disregarding its systemic and institutionalized racism. This collection is unique in its examination of such films as Ex Machina, The Lone Ranger, The Blind Side, Zootopia, The Fast and the Furious franchise, and Dope, which celebrate the myth of colorblindness, yet perpetuate and entrench the racism and racial inequities that persist in contemporary society.  While the #OscarsSoWhite movement has been essential to bringing about structural changes to media industries and offers the opportunity for a wide diversity of voices to alter and transform the dominant, colorblind narratives continue to proliferate.  As this book demonstrates, Hollywood still has a long way to go.

• Colorblindness
• Hollywood Film
• Race and Ethnicity in Film
• Racialized Politics and Film
• Postracialism and Film

• Department of English, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA

  Sarah E. Turner

• Film and Television Studies, Department of English, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA

  Sarah Nilsen

Sarah E. Turner is a Senior Lecturer of English at the University of Vermont, USA. She is the co-editor of The Colorblind Screen: Television in Post-Racial America (2014). Her work has appeared in a variety of critical texts including MELUS, Diversity in Disney Films, The Films of Stephen King, and Networking Knowledge: Girls in Popular Culture.


Sarah Nilsen is an Associate Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Vermont, USA. She is the author of Projecting America: Film and Cultural Diplomacy at the Brussels World’s Fair of 1958 (2011) and co-editor of The Colorblind Screen: Television in Post-Racial America (2014). Other publications include essays on critical race theory, Disney studies, and Cold War culture. 

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