Within Our Gates and Everybody Hates Chris (English 3381)

Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates shows prejudice during 1925 and the representation of African Americans in Film. Similarly enough, in 2005, Chris Rock starred in Everybody Hates Chris, a sitcom surrounding the everyday life of a boy named Chris. Like Within Our Gates, Everybody Hates Chris also shows an inaccurate and prejudiced view of African American representation in cinema. In the below video posted by CBS, Chris is shopping, where Chris faces prejudice. The show is very unsettling, to say the least because the lack of African American representation in film roots back to 1925 in films like Within Our Gates. Likewise, Within Our Gates shows a prejudiced justice system while showcasing the prejudices of the time. While studying both the short clip from Everybody Hates Chris and Within our Gates, I found that both were similar in various ways. Both films showcase prejudices African Americans had to face and their representation in film. Notice how in Everybody Hates Chris, Chris narrates the show by telling the audience that there are several things he faces with simple tasks as shopping for his mom’s Mother’s Day gift. Chris is then seen being wrongfully arrested. Similarly, Within Our Gates shows a young man who is simply existing and still is wrongfully accused and convicted of a crime he did not do. More so, Within Our Gates is the first film to ever represent bi-racial relationships and children. Notice how the man reveals a past birthmark indicating her family’s mixed race. This aspect of culture had never been brought up before in cinema representation, alongside being the stepping stone for many films to follow suit with the same plot line. Likewise, Everybody Hates Chris can be compared to Within Our Gates due to the fact that Within Our Gates sets the stage for how African Americans are represented in cinema and how culture follows suit from past origins rooted in history. More so, notice how in Everybody Hates Chris, the plot line of every show demonstrates the representation of how Chris is treated or the day-to-day aspects of life he endures. Likely, Chris sets the tone in each episode by being the narrator to always set things right at the end of the day despite his daily struggles. More specifically, I thought Everybody Hates Chris is comparable to Within Our Gates because both show not only the struggles that African Americans faced during that time but their representation in pop culture. I remember growing up and watching Everybody Hates Chris, and after watching Within Our Gates, I realized the two. However, both shows are different in various ways, but both are comparable and lack the representation that the U.S. so deeply needs in modern society. Furthermore, I found it interesting yet insightful to analyze a show from my childhood: Everybody Hates Chris, and compare it to Within Our Gates. More so, I think it would be interesting to compare more modern shows in contrast to the films we watch that date back to the 1920s, as a society, we have come far but not far enough.