This film made me really sad. And it made me miss living in more urban areas where I had the opportunity to meet and be friends with men and women from a variety of cultures (I currently live in northern Idaho which is white-white-white). And it makes me question how race is IGNORED in schools. How can we be real friends with those from other cultures when we are not supposed to--for the sake of politeness--acknowledge difference except on specified “multicultural” days. Maybe things have changed since I was a child, but I think this film shows that they haven’t changed much.
Color is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselvesColor is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselves. More About A Girl Like Me from Director Kiri Davis For my high-school literature class I was constructing an anthology with a wide range of different stories that I believed reflected the black girl’s experience. For the different chapters, I conducted interviews with a variety of black girls in my high school, and a number of issues surfaced concerning the standards of beauty imposed on today’s black girls and how this affects their self-image. I thought this topic would make an interesting film and so when I was accepted into the Reel Works Teen Filmmaking program, I set out to explore these issues. I also decided to would reconduct the “doll test” initially conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark, which was used in the historic desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education. I thought that by including this experiment in my film, I would shed new light on how society affects black children today and how little has actually changed. With help from my mentor, Shola Lynch, and thanks to the honesty and openness of the girls I interviewed, I was able to complete my first documentary in the fall of 2005. I learned that giving the girls an opportunity to talk about these issues and their experiences helped us all to look deeper and examine the many things in society that affect us and shape who we are.  A Girl Like Me
Release Year: 2006 Duration: 7 min Availability: Worldwide Related: Campus, Life & Culture, Shorts, Women's Issues, Media that Matters Color is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselves. More About A Girl Like Me from Director Kiri Davis For my high-school literature class I was constructing an anthology with a wide range of different stories that I believed reflected the black girl’s experience. For the different chapters, I conducted interviews with a variety of black girls in my high school, and a number of issues surfaced concerning the standards of beauty imposed on today’s black girls and how this affects their self-image. I thought this topic would make an interesting film and so when I was accepted into the Reel Works Teen Filmmaking program, I set out to explore these issues. I also decided to would reconduct the “doll test” initially conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark, which was used in the historic desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education. I thought that by including this experiment in my film, I would shed new light on how society affects black children today and how little has actually changed. With help from my mentor, Shola Lynch, and thanks to the honesty and openness of the girls I interviewed, I was able to complete my first documentary in the fall of 2005. I learned that giving the girls an opportunity to talk about these issues and their experiences helped us all to look deeper and examine the many things in society that affect us and shape who we are. A Film by Kiri Davis Report a Technical Issue If you're having any difficulties viewing the film or have any playback-related technical questions, contact us using our general feedback page.
Comments Posted 08/27/09 by Suzanne
Posted 07/18/09 by Abby
This is a great documentary. This site is wonderful for giving an venue for films about issues that affect the US and the world. Posted 07/12/09 by Patrice
This was kind of sad to watch. I could relate to a lot (like the hair thing. I would love to wear my hair natural-kinky and all. we read a play where a girl wore her hair natural and it inspired me. i haven’t permed my hair since.). But what was a surprise to me was the part where white was “prettier”. Maybe I’m just ignorant but I love my skin. I am the darkest child my parents had and I’m proud of it. I had baby dolls white and black and my favorites were the black ones because they looked like me. I can’t believe that less than 25% of the children in the doll test saw it that way. Wow. I have a friend who’s mixed, her dad is black and her dad is white. We stayed up talking one night and I discovered that she can’t see herself marrying a black guy. I’d be bothered by this if it weren’t for the fact that I can’t see myself with a white one. It’s sad. |
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