Journal Article

Boys in the Hood and Vampires in the Woods: Racialized Fatalism in Film

Polzer, Katherine, Levan, Kristine, Downing, Steven

2018

Overview

Studies of street crime and street culture often emphasize the concept of fatalism, particularly among urban minority males. Cinematic representations of fatalistic attitudes in White characters (particularly males) are often individually pathologized and presented through narratives of romance and desirability (e.g., the brooding vampire or detective in the crime noire genre). Some criminologists have operationalized fatalism in relation to delinquency and criminality with respect to control maintenance, which can serve as a starting point for developing a more nuanced understanding of fatalistic deviance represented in entertainment media. However, very little scholarly attention has called into question the distinctive portrayals and pathologies of fatalism between racialized versus White groups in such accounts. Through content analysis of film, the current study examines entertainment media portrayals of fatalism in White and non-White characters. This examination yields results that suggest both race and class play a role in the differential pathologization of fatalism (i.e., individual versus social and cultural) of these groups. By integrating these findings with a review of the extant literature on fatalism, this inquiry suggests that some similar stereotypes and pathologizations may exist in scholarly work that purports a link between fatalism and street culture and crime.

• Publisher: Western Criminology Review
• Subject: Attitudes / Characters / Content analysis / Crime / Criminality / Criminologists / Criminology / Cultural groups / Culture / Deviance / Disorders / Entertainment / Ethnography / Fatalism / Juvenile delinquency / Juvenile offenders / Literature reviews / Males / Mass media images / Media coverage / Minority & ethnic groups / Motion pictures / Perceptions / Race / Racialization / Society / Stereotypes / Street crime / Vampires