Black women’s travel: Intersectionality and representation in American film

Despite being a key market segment, representations of Black individuals’ leisure travel in American film are lacking, particularly for women. The intersectional experiences of Black women travelers are frequently ignored, while limitations on Black movement and leisure travel persist today. Popular media frequently influences travel patterns; therefore, this paper analyzes two films: How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Girls Trip function as counter-narratives to the real and perceived restrictions to Black women’s mobility. We find that through the normalization of Black women’s success and power, freedom of movement, girlfriendship, and sexual scripting, these films counteract long standing assumptions about Black women and their leisure travel. We also find that through both idealized and authentic destination portrayals, the film locations are presented as safe spaces to Black women audiences. We, therefore, suggest that film can be used as a key strategy to promote destinations to Black travelers, particularly women, who face intersectional layers of bias and mobility constraints, to foster authenticity, freedom, joy, and pleasure.