Ethnic Notions Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Ethnic Notions Blu-ray Movie Review

A must-see documentary by Marlon Riggs (Color Adjustment).

Ethnic Notions is one of the most important documentaries from producer/director Marlon Riggs (Color Adjustment). Narrated by Esther Rolle, Ethnic Notions explores the history of prejudice and racist propaganda seen in popular culture – tracing the roots of racist imagery against black America and the stereotypes portrayed in these films. Ethnic Notions is an essential view.

The Tom. The Coon. The Sambo. The Brute. The Mammy. The Minstrels. The Pickaninnies. Racist imagery discriminating against African Americans became ingrained in popular culture and helped perpetuate racist ideologies with common stereotypes which continued to exist throughout the Civil War, WWI, and WWII. Ethnic Notions explores these exaggerated images of black people: big lips, white eyes, large and unruly hair... even blackface on black people. Images that haunt us.

American culture created film after film showing images of happy black slaves: enjoying their lives of servitude to white slave owners. The images lied to Americans: re-enforcing false beliefs about black America and the racist institutions which caused horror-after-horror to occur. Jim Crow laws... and lynchings. (Maybe, perhaps, these racist images play a role in why the United States government still doesn't recognize lynchings as a hate crime against black people to this day – the votes are never quite enough to recognize lynchings for what they really are.)

An essential exploration of a history of racist imagery.

Barbara T. Christian, George Frederickson (of Stanford), Larry C. Levine (of UC Berkeley), Carlton Moss (of UC Irvine), and Pat Turner (UMass Boston) discuss examples of racist imagery and the cultural role these films and illustrations have played in American history. The discussions are all intelligent, heartfelt, and analytical. These professors and academics have a lot to say on the subject – and America continues to need to listen to these discussions. Even today, America has a long way to go.

Marlon Riggs (Color Adjustment, Anthem) made one of the most important films of his career with Ethnic Notions. Riggs showcases how ingrained racist images have become in American history. Exploring a difficult subject, Riggs masterful use of filmmaking helps us explore a topic that is important and relevant – even as progress has been made (we still aren't where we need to be).

Ethnic Notions Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection, Ethnic Notions is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The release comes from a brand new high-definition master but the film presentation has source limitations. The documentary appears to be in standard-definition and the primary benefit of the high-definition encoding is better compression. There are fewer artifacts. However, detail and color-depth appear limited and nothing is too sharp or robust looking during the presentation. Given the limitations of the original source footage, Ethnic Notions looks about as good as it can on home media.

Ethnic Notions Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ethnic Notions is presented in uncompressed PCM 2.0 stereo. The lossless, 24 bit audio is decent for a documentary production. The track never has a wide dynamic range and the audio has a limited sound-stage compared to modern feature-film productions. However, the audio track is easy to listen to and there are never any significant issues with the encoding. The track doesn't struggle with artifacts or compression woes. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand.

Ethnic Notions Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

To find out more regarding the supplemental features in The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs collection, please refer to the main review page for the release.

Ethnic Notions Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ethnic Notions is one of the most important and essential documentaries of Marlon Riggs. The film won an Emmy in 1988. A work so essential it should continue to be shown in classrooms across America for years to come, Ethnic Notions examines a history of racist images and the significant cultural ramifications of that imagery. A must-see documentary film. Highly recommended.