Waiting to Set It Off
"In their own class-based ways, these two films [Waiting to Exhale and Set It Off] move toward a redefinition of how African American women are portrayed, yet continue to uphold dominant stereotypes of them as prone to violence." "Waiting to Set It Off," by Kimberly Springer, pg. 173.
Set It Off is rife with stereotypes of the African American woman as prone to violence. Pinkett's character experiences it directly and indirectly. First, she must prostitute her body, submitting to a form of sexual violence, to earn money. Second, her brother is shot for being in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time, and Pinkett suffers emotionally from this loss.
Queen Latifah's character plays on the stereotype of both the "angry African American man" and the "butch" lesbian. She's the most agressive gun-toting robber in the bank scenes, threatens her friend by shoving a gun to her temple over a petty argument, and is the most comfortable as an agressive, violent character.
All four woman are seen as violent African Americans, though to varying degrees, in the scene where they practice firing weapons at a shooting range, and in the bank robbery scenes. Furthermore, all but one of the women is shot to death end, the ultimate reinforcement that low income African American women are likely to face violence.