In this paper we undertake a critical reading of the documentary Raising Bertie (2016). Directed by Margaret Byrne, the film tells the story of three poor, young Black American males living in Bertie County. In the paratextual material associated with the film, Byrne demonstrates reflexivity about stereotyping, revealing she engaged authentically with participants over a period of six years. Further, she begins the film by signalling the critical importance of situating the boys’ lives in a long history of discrimination and disadvantage. However, this focus on context soon disappears, and an observational mode of filmmaking is engaged. As a result, the type of negative images of Black masculinity that have had considerable currency in popular culture are reproduced and overstated in the film. Raising Bertie’s images of Black males as violent and criminal, and as absent and passive, are not effectively embedded in any broader narratives of disadvantage. Despite the director’s intentions, the film risks positioning rural Black males as responsible for their own plight. Poverty is racialised and individualised. The problem the film presents becomes one of troublesome Black masculinity, rather than one of a racialised, economically and geographically unjust world.

中文翻译：

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纪录片电影《升起的伯蒂》中令人讨厌的黑人男性化表现

在本文中，我们对纪录片《提高伯蒂》（Raising Bertie，2016）进行了批判性阅读。这部电影由玛格丽特·伯恩（Margaret Byrne）执导，讲述了三个住在伯蒂县的贫穷，年轻的美国黑人男性的故事。在与电影相关的超文本材料中，伯恩（Byrne）表现出对刻板印象的反思性，表明她在六年的时间里与参与者进行了真诚的接触。此外，她在影片开始时就预示着在长期的歧视和不利地位中定位男孩的生命至关重要。但是，这种对上下文的关注很快消失了，电影的观察模式也随之诞生。结果，在电影中复制并夸大了在大众文化中流行的黑人男性气质的负像类型。将柏蒂关于黑人男性的形象描述为暴力和犯罪，以及缺乏和被动的形象，并没有有效地嵌入到任何更不利的叙述中。尽管有导演的意图，这部电影还是冒着将农村黑人男性归咎于自己的困境的风险。贫穷是种族化和个性化的。电影提出的问题成为麻烦的黑人男子气概之一，而不是种族化，经济和地理上不公正的世界之一。