Activating the Negative Image

Abstract

In this article, I propose that scholars should strategically embrace the designation of “negative” that has long been assigned to disreputable images of blackness. I argue that these negative images engage in excess in a way that is inversely proportionate to the lack of any such contemplations of identity in respectable media texts. Activating the definition of “negative” as “expressing or containing negation or denial” reveals the ways that disreputable images such as those found in reality television disrupt hegemonic norms of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Viewed from this perspective, television shows like Love and Hip Hop exemplify the intersectional marginalization of black women. If the current post-racial, colorblind moment is really a color-mute one (to quote Linda Williams)—where identity is seen but cannot be uttered—then the negative image functions as the repository for those identities, experiences, and feelings that have been discarded by respectable media.