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Melanie-Penny Harrison, Ph.D. is a 2025 graduate of the PhD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

Melanie-Penny Harrison at her Dissertation Defense.

From L-R: Dr. Stewart Burns, Committee Chair, Dr. Debby Flickinger, Committee Member, Dr. Diane Richard-Allerdyce Committee Member

Dissertation Committee

  • Stewart Burns, PhD, Committee Chair
  • Diane Richard-Allerdyce, PhD, Committee Member
  • Debby Flickinger, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

Black female representation, white supremacy, systemic racism, intersectionality, Hollywood cinema, content analysis, narrative methodology, cultural movements, character agency, critical reception

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

This study investigates whether white supremacy structures, embodied in Hollywood’s predominantly white leadership, drive negative portrayals of Black women in 31 mainstream American films from 2009 to 2024. Employing a mixed-methods approach—quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis (QCA), and narrative methodology—I code portrayals for racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, colorism, and internalized racism, classifying them as progressive (e.g., empowered roles), regressive (e.g., subservient stereotypes), or hybrid. Guided by Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, the analysis examines narrative structures, character agency, symbolism, and dialogue to uncover intersectional patterns (e.g., race, gender, class) across three periods: 2009–2013, 2014–2018, and 2019–2024. Across these periods, cultural movements—Second Wave Feminism (1960s–1980s), Third Wave Feminism (1990s–2000s), Fourth Wave Feminism (2010s–present), #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, #OscarsSoWhite, and George Floyd protests—shape depictions, challenging or reinforcing white supremacy’s grip. By comparing initial critical reception with evolving perspectives and quantifying progressive, regressive, and hybrid classifications, the study reveals temporal shifts in representation. Illuminating how cinematic portrayals reflect or resist systemic oppressions, this work exposes white supremacy’s role in shaping Black women’s identities, offering insights into Hollywood’s evolving narrative landscape and its impact on racial and gender equity. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

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Melanie-Penny Harrison

ORCID: #0009-0006-1964-721X

Dr. Melanie-Penny Harrison is a Los Angeles-based scholar, filmmaker, and creative artist whose interdisciplinary work bridges philosophy, cinema, and social justice. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Leadership & Change from Antioch University, where her dissertation, Mirrors of the Reel: Black Women's Identity in American Cinema (2009-2024), investigates how Hollywood's white-supremacist structures shape portrayals of Black women. Guided by Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, her original contribution, Melanie-Penny's Paradoxical Aporia Theory of Regressive Continuity (MPATRC), examines cycles of progress and regression in cinematic representation, revealing how films simultaneously empower and oppress through race, gender, and class narratives. Dr. Harrison also holds a Master of Fine Arts from Full Sail University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from California State University, San Bernardino. A proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated, she has presented at the National Women's Studies Association and the National Student Leadership Diversity Convention, advancing discourse on Black women's identity in media and professional spaces. An award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, she wrote, produced, and directed Ugly (2021), a short film confronting colorism in Hollywood that won eight festival awards, and The Disillusion of Pretty Butterflies (2022), a poetic exploration of social media's impact on self-perception and generational identity. The latter work extends her academic inquiry into mediated beauty standards and internalized narratives of worth. Through both scholarship and cinema, Dr. Harrison reimagines representation as an act of liberation, transforming mirrors of oppression into portals of becoming.

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