{"id":294,"date":"2022-11-17T12:41:01","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T17:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/?p=294"},"modified":"2022-11-17T12:41:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T17:41:03","slug":"visibility-and-invisibility-in-blanche-on-the-lam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/2022\/11\/17\/visibility-and-invisibility-in-blanche-on-the-lam\/","title":{"rendered":"Visibility and Invisibility in Blanche on the Lam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this section of the course, we have begun to explore the role of black women in the Noir genre, and in literature in general. Blanche on the Lam<\/em> is our first encounter with a black female protagonist. In the pieces of literature which focused on black male protagonists, one thing which was central was black men trying to understand their masculinity and assert their power. In Blanche on the Lam<\/em>, the protagonist, Blanche, is not focused on what it means to be a woman, but rather is focused on surviving and taking care of the people in her life. While Blanche is the protagonist of the story it is not in the same way that the black male protagonists are like Bob and Hugh. Blanche is still in the background, which could be seen as a reflection or commentary on the invisibility of black women in literature and in society.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When examining the role of black women in society, they have often been pushed to the background. The civil rights movement is an example of this. Although women did have somewhat of a role in the movement, they were often pushed to the background, and have now become forgotten in the story of this historical period. Rather, it is the men that are remembered. This is also reflected in literature. In the works we have read throughout the semester, black women are either not present, or play a supporting role to black men. In \u201cThe Oppositional Gaze \u2013 Black Female Spectators,\u201d the author explains that \u201cblack women have written little about black female spectatorship, about our moviegoing practices\u2026The prolonged silence of black women as spectators and critics was a response to the absence, to cinematic negation\u201d (118). Black women are invisible in the world of cinema, literature, and history. In a way, while the protagonist of Blanche on the Lam <\/em>is a black woman, the book still reflects this invisibility that black women experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While on the lam, Blanche tries hard to blend and attempts to lean into this invisibility which is thrust upon black woman: \u201cThe sheriff didn\u2019t bother to respond. He simply turned from her to Everett, dismissing her with his lack of interest\u201d (80). Simultaneously, it is interesting that Blanche has a lot of self-awareness, knowing that society picks and chooses when a black woman is visible. Blanche knows what would make her vulnerable to society: \u201cA running black person was still a target of suspicion in this town, even if the runner was a woman\u201d (6). This sense of self-awareness and knowing how to navigate this world shows that Blanche, in a similar way to the women who have developed the oppositional gaze, does not see herself as invisible. Although society has attempted to make Blanche feel invisible and push her to the background of the historical narrative, she doesn\u2019t really let that affect her sense of self in the same way the male protagonist let society affect their sense of masculinity. Blanche can be seen as choosing to oppose that narrative by going on the lam, reclaiming her agency, and choosing to stay with this family and solve this mystery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this section of the course, we have begun to explore the role of black women in the Noir genre, and in literature in general. Blanche on the Lam is our first encounter with a black female protagonist. In the pieces of literature which focused on black male protagonists, one thing which was central was … Continue reading “Visibility and Invisibility in Blanche on the Lam”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4364,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4364"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}