2014. Hero is one of important elements in popular culture. However, regarding racial issues, the representation of American heroes has been criticized as it is predominated by white male figures. Meanwhile, the representation of African-American men in American films has been mostly depicted in negative stereotypes and postmodernism is aware of this unequal representation between black and white people. This research is conducted to explain how the significance of the representation of a black man as heroic character is given emphasis in I Am Legend film and how the black heroic character in this film breaks the stereotypes of African-American.
This is a descriptive qualitative research. The source of data in this research is a film entitled I Am Legend (2007) which is directed by Francis Lawrence. This research has two kinds of data. The primary data encompass film’s mise en scene, cinematography elements, and intrinsic elements, such as character, film’s title, dialogues, scenes, and plot. The secondary data are acquired from books, journal, websites, and previous works from other researchers related to the research topic.
As the research is conducted under the framework of American Studies, it employs interdisciplinary approach to analyze the representation of black hero in the film. The research applies several theories and studies concerning postmodernism, the general concept of American hero, the stereotypes of African-American man, and semiotics film theory. Then, socio-cultural approach is also used in order to see the social condition underlying the representation of black hero in the film.
After the analysis is done, the research argues that I Am Legend film emphasizes the significance of the representation of a black man as hero. The research also suggests that through postmodern perspective, the black hero in the film breaks and deconstructs the stereotypes of African-American as narrative and conception of white people regarding the black people are declined. Further, postmodern celebration of pluralism and equality encourages the inclusiveness of the representation of American hero. Hence, the representation of American hero is no longer predominated by white male figures only, but it also includes a black male figure, as presented in the I Am Legend film. However, the construction of his heroic action is somehow still delicately fitted with white’s expectation toward black people.
Keywords: postmodern, stereotypes, representation, African-American, hero, film