One Fetish After Another: How the Oscars Reward Black Fetishization While Snubbing Black Women’s Stories

The film One Battle After Another has entered awards season discussions with significant attention. The Academy Awards often shape which films receive cultural prestige. When a film gains momentum within that system, it influences industry narratives about value and importance. Much of the conversation around One Battle After Another focuses on its depiction of racialized desire, especially through the character Perfidia, played by Teyana Taylor. Some critics describe the film as bold and self-aware. Others argue that it reproduces longstanding patterns of Black sexualization while presenting those patterns as critique.

This debate reflects a broader issue within Hollywood and awards culture. The industry frequently centers Black women visually while limiting their narrative autonomy. Black women appear in prominent roles, yet those roles often exist within frameworks shaped by desire, trauma, or spectacle. At the same time, films that center Black women’s interior lives without fetishization frequently receive less institutional recognition. This essay argues that the Academy Awards reinforce a long history of Black fetishization rooted in the Jezebel stereotype and that this pattern contributes to ongoing snubbing of Black women’s stories. The Oscars do not simply reward individual films. They help define which representations of Black womanhood are considered prestigious.

The Jezebel Stereotype as Historical Foundation

The Jezebel stereotype emerged during slavery in the United States. It portrayed Black women as inherently sexually aggressive and morally unrestrained. This image served a clear political function. It justified sexual exploitation. It removed accountability from perpetrators. It framed violence as natural rather than criminal. By labeling Black women as promiscuous, the stereotype denied their vulnerability and humanity. It reinforced systems of racial control while maintaining white moral authority.

After emancipation, the stereotype did not disappear. It evolved within new cultural platforms. Film became one of the most powerful tools for shaping public perception in the twentieth century. Early cinema frequently repeated tropes that cast Black women as hypersexual or secondary figures defined by desire. These portrayals contrasted sharply with dominant images of white femininity, which emphasized innocence, purity, and restraint. The contrast reinforced racial hierarchy. Black women were positioned as bodies before individuals. Their intellectual depth, emotional complexity, and interior lives received limited attention compared to their physical presentation.

Scholars have analyzed this pattern extensively. Patricia Hill Collins explains that controlling images function as mechanisms of social power. These images appear in media, education, and popular culture. They create narrow definitions of identity that sustain inequality. The Jezebel stereotype remains one of the most persistent controlling images in American visual culture. Research published in the Journal of Black Studies confirms that Black women continue to be disproportionately represented in sexualized roles compared to other groups in mainstream media. These findings demonstrate continuity between historical stereotypes and modern representation. The stereotype adapts to new aesthetics, yet its core logic remains intact.

Fetishization in Contemporary Cinema

Fetishization occurs when representation reduces a person to an object of desire. In film, fetishization operates through framing, camera movement, editing patterns, and narrative structure. Dialogue alone does not determine meaning. Visual language shapes interpretation. When the camera isolates the Black female body, lingers on it, or aligns the viewer with characters who desire it, the image can reproduce historical dynamics of consumption. Spectatorship becomes part of the structure. The viewer is positioned within a gaze that has deep cultural roots.

In One Battle After Another, critics debate whether the film meaningfully disrupts fetishization or merely depicts it. The presence of critique within the narrative does not automatically eliminate visual repetition. A film can reference stereotypes while still relying on similar framing techniques. Without clear structural disruption, the audience may remain inside the gaze rather than observing it from a distance. This distinction matters because repeated exposure to sexualized portrayals shapes perception. Research on media effects shows that repeated stereotypical imagery influences implicit bias and social assumptions. Representation therefore extends beyond aesthetics. It contributes to broader cultural understanding.

The performance by Teyana Taylor adds complexity to this conversation. Strong acting can introduce emotional nuance and resistance. However, performance operates within structural limits. The script defines context. The camera defines emphasis. Editing defines pacing and perspective. An actor cannot fully control how a character is framed. When awards institutions highlight performance without examining structure, they may celebrate individual excellence while leaving representational systems intact. Recognition of talent does not necessarily equal transformation of representation.

The Oscars as Institutional Gatekeeper

The Academy Awards function as a gatekeeping institution. Awards shape industry priorities by signaling prestige. Studios respond to prestige signals when allocating budgets and greenlighting projects. Recognition therefore influences future production trends. The Oscars do not only reflect culture. They actively shape it.

Data from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative demonstrates persistent disparities in representation within top films. Across multiple years of study, Black directors represent a small percentage of total directors in major releases. Black women directors represent an even smaller share. These disparities extend beyond directing into writing and major acting categories. The pattern reveals structural barriers in financing, hiring, and distribution. Recognition gaps align with these structural limitations.

The acting awards record further illustrates imbalance. Only one Black woman, Halle Berry, has won the Academy Award for Best Actress. That win occurred in 2002. More than two decades have passed without another winner in that category. This gap highlights the limited frequency of top-tier recognition for Black women’s performances. The absence does not indicate lack of talent. It indicates selective institutional validation.

Snubbing remains central to this system. Snubbing occurs when films or performances receive critical attention yet fail to receive nominations or wins. Snubbing shapes public memory. When awards bypass certain narratives, those stories gain less visibility within mainstream cultural discourse. Films centered on Black women’s interior experiences frequently encounter this pattern. Their storytelling may emphasize community, identity, psychological depth, or everyday complexity. However, such films may struggle to receive awards recognition comparable to films that align with dominant expectations of racial drama or visual spectacle.

Complexity, Discomfort, and Awards Logic

A common defense of films that depict fetishization is that they portray reality honestly. Realism alone does not resolve representational concerns. The method of depiction determines impact. If a film presents sexualized imagery without clear disruption, it may reinforce stereotype rather than critique it. Controlling images persist when institutions reproduce them within serious contexts. The appearance of self-awareness does not automatically change the structure of representation.

Patricia Hill Collins explains that controlling images endure because they appear natural and inevitable. When stereotypes are embedded within narratives that receive awards recognition, prestige can convert repetition into legitimacy. Awards validation amplifies visibility. Visibility increases influence. Influence shapes industry norms. Therefore, institutional decisions about recognition carry long-term consequences for representation standards.

In the case of One Battle After Another, debate centers on whether the film disrupts the historical gaze or remains within it. Awards attention can complicate this issue. Recognition may signal cultural approval even when representation remains contested. The Academy’s endorsement influences public interpretation. Prestige can frame repetition as complexity. That framing reinforces the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable portrayals of Black women.

The Pattern of Conditional Representation

Across decades, Black women have appeared in award-winning films. However, their representation often follows patterns of trauma, desire, or secondary positioning within narratives centered on other perspectives. When Black women’s stories appear without fetishization or spectacle, institutional recognition tends to decrease. This pattern suggests conditional representation. Black women are visible, yet that visibility often depends on alignment with established aesthetic expectations.

Films that center Black women’s interiority without relying on sexual framing frequently face greater challenges in awards campaigns. These films may not fit traditional definitions of prestige storytelling. The awards system often privileges narratives that conform to established dramatic structures. As a result, innovation in representation does not always correspond with recognition. Snubbing reinforces this imbalance by limiting the visibility of alternative narrative models.

What the Oscars Reveal About Value

The success of One Battle After Another during awards season reflects broader institutional preferences. The Academy tends to reward films that engage with race in ways that appear serious and socially relevant. However, seriousness alone does not guarantee structural change in representation. When awards celebrate films that blur the line between critique and fetishization, they may reinforce narrow definitions of Black womanhood on screen.

Awards decisions shape cultural memory. They signal which stories deserve preservation. They influence which performances are archived as milestones. When recognition repeatedly bypasses films that center Black women’s autonomy without spectacle, the institution narrows the range of acceptable representation. That narrowing affects future production decisions. It shapes how writers, directors, and studios conceive of Black female characters.

Conclusion

The debate surrounding One Battle After Another extends beyond a single film. It connects to centuries of representation shaped by the Jezebel stereotype. It reflects research documenting ongoing sexualization of Black women in media. It aligns with industry data showing persistent disparities in directing and acting recognition. It reveals how awards culture influences narrative norms.

The Academy Awards continue to play a structural role in shaping cinematic value. By rewarding films that blur critique and fetishization while overlooking works that center Black women’s full subjectivity, the institution reinforces a narrow definition of prestige. Snubbing remains part of this pattern. Visibility does not guarantee agency. Performance recognition does not automatically transform structural framing. Meaningful progress requires sustained institutional commitment to representation across creative roles and narrative perspectives. Until awards systems consistently support films that challenge fetishization rather than reproduce it, the cycle will continue.

Works Cited

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Smith, Stacy L., et al. Inclusion in the Director’s Chair? Gender, Race & Age of Film Directors Across 1,300 Top Films from 2007 to 2019. USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, 2020.

Stephens, Dionne P., et al. “The Sexualization of Black Women and Girls: The Role of Media Images.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 48, no. 7, 2017, pp. 623–647.

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