Zendaya's Media Portrayal As A "Light Skin" Woman and Perception of African American In Showbiz

A young successful actress, singer, and high fashion icon that debuted around 2009, has played many roles in movies and shows. Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born September 1^st, 1996 Oakland California and began her career in Disney Channel’s sitcom Shake It Up.

Her timeline of popular roles is as follows:

-          Shake it Up! (2010-2013)

-          K.C. Undercover (2015-2018)

-          Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

-          The Greatest Showman (2017)

-          Malcom & Marie (2021)

-          Euphoria (2019-present)

Throughout her trajectory she released various singles and won awards as favorite actress.

Many of her projects were given to her by her talent, while others can argue that she fits into the “ideal look” regarding the idea of being biracial. She fits into media’s portrayal of the “acceptable version of a black girl”. Zendaya quoted “As a light-skinned black woman it’s important that I’m using my privilege, my platform, to show you how much beauty there is in the African-American community” at the Beautycon Festival.

Zendaya has addressed and acknowledge her privilege for being a light-skinned biracial woman while also mentioning that she faces discrimination for being part Black and the importance of how colorism is hidden within Hollywood and the media.

A specific controversial moment in time was when Giuliana Rancic made an offensive remark about Zendaya’s hairdo. Giuliana Rancic stated that Zendaya, “smells like patchouli oil or weed.” After major backlash Rancic faced, it was brought to the public’s attention views about hairdos surrounding the African American culture.

-          Zendaya made use of this moment to point out ignorance and stereotyping

Light skin representation in Black media:

Media portrayal of biracial women has built a dilemma around the idea that the ideal black women will have to be “light skin”.

Common themes in the media that have given predominantly to light skin biracial women have been love interest, hierarchy and education in comparison to darker skinned individuals.

A study conducted by Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Portrayals of Black Women in Hollywood showed that: "Nearly 80% of Black female characters have light or medium skin tones, which means that colorism is persistent in representation. 57% of Black leading ladies from popular firms in the past decade are depicted with hairstyles that conform to European standards of beauty as opposed to natural Black hairstyles."

Conformation of European styles has allowed for the media surrounding showcasing and movies to allow the continuation of stereotyping a culture. In this case, African Americans have been largely related to roles of violence such as aggressivity, drugs, and gangs.

A so called “groundbreaking” role Zendaya landed as Rue from Euphoria surrounds the concept of a young drug addict that happens to be Black. Although her character is significant in highlighting issues of drug abuse, her storyline lacks authenticity surrounding her race. Other Black characters, Rue’s mother and sister have little to no representation and screentime, which reminds us that the writer is a white man.

How can one of Zendaya’s biggest role reflect a negative stereotype?

Zendaya like many other artists before her have taken opportunities that are best to build up their career and later in life stive for a serious role. Unfortunately, Hollywood has continued to present horrible stereotypes/tropes about Black people, some examples being:

-          “The Black Best Friend” Dionne Davenport in Clueless

-          “The Magical Negro” Bagger Vance in The Legend of Bagger Vance

-          “The Thug” Ferris in Boyz n the Hood

-          “The Angry Black Woman” Helen in Diary of a Mad Black Women

-          “The Domestic” Mammy in Gone with the Wind

 

Tropes and Their Meaning:

The Magic Negro refers to a Black person with special powers and only appears as a side character to support the leading character that is a white person in crises.

The Black Best Friend, like the trope of Magic Negro has to help a white character with their issues to unravel the plot except they don’t possess magical powers.

The Thug is a character that plays a drug dealer, pimp, con artist, a criminal, or a gang member.

The Angry Black Woman refers to a woman with strong hostility, sassiness, overbearing, illogic, and continuous neck movement and exaggerated expressions.

The Domestic, originally from old films that were popular during the Jim Crow era and reflected submission to white people, and their only purpose serving white people in a household. 

It is important to keep in mind that the media and show business is largely controlled by white individuals and these stereotypes are and were created to entertain white audiences. It has become difficult for individuals to see people similar to them without feeling made fun of or embarrassed.   

Actors/Artist like Zendaya must work harder to break racial barriers and erase ignorance surrounding the idea of race and stereotypes.