Black Relationships: The New Willie Lynch Model
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 12:39AM In case you missed it: I was on Tom Joyner again yesterday (Mon.) doing a Post V-Day wrap up: LISTEN HERE
And TONIGHT, I'm on the National Urban League's panel about Black Marriage. 7:20ish. CLICK HERE for the live stream.
*Be forewarned. I am going on a Craig-like conspiracy theory tangent today*
So over the weekend , I made time to do my bourgeoisie Black girl duty and pick up a copy of the new Uptown with Idris Elba on the cover. (Pause. I love Uptown with my whole heart. Hear that Uptown editors?) There’s a great piece inside by the lovely and talented Tomika Anderson (full confession: she’s a mentor and writer-friend) called “What Happened to the Black Love Story?”
About the importance of Black love films, specifically love jones, Anderson writes:
Darius and Nina are part of the same young, educated, upwardly mobile crew I belong to. They play pool instead of cee-lo, recite poetry instead of rap lyrics, and throw houseparties with live jazz. In short, they are cool— just a little on the bourgeoisie side… love jones is essentially the tale of two Black people falling in love — a universal concept that Black filmmakers say is not explored enough in mainstream movies.
[Read the article for Anderson’s breakdown of why Tyler Perry films don’t count.]
"The fact that Black people can love and be boring and normal— that’s an alien concept in Hollywood,” says Charles Stone III who directed the 2002 flick Drumline. “If you’re Black, it’s all about extremes— extreme [sex]ing, extreme violence, extreme action, extreme comedy, or extreme drama. It’s the mundane, ordinary stuff that makes our stories real."
Exactly. I get it. That’s 9/10 of the reason I started writing this blog or at least the early version of it, back in 2006. I wanted my story, or at least something similar told. Just a regular Black girl with semi-dramatic adventures that were pretty painless, but resulted in extraordinary growth over a long period of time. I was sitting around for years waiting for someone to tell it, then realized as a writer, I could just pick up my own laptop and start typing. I’m under no illusions that the popularity of this blog is partially due to the lack of stories about just regular life and thought that exist in the literary landscape.
But back to Anderson’s piece. The bottomline of why these stories aren’t getting told seems to be all about — if I can be a relic for a moment and quote Diddy (sorry, Notorious has been on repeat on HBO)— the Benjamins. Black romantic comedies just don’t make a massive return and we live in an era where Hollywood expects every film to be a Blockbuster.
Hmmm. The lack of Black romance films, is definitely about the money, but I also think there’s something larger at play. Allow me, if you can, to go all conspiracy theorist on you for a moment.
For awhile now, I've been pondering what there is to gain in making Black love look like an impossible undertaking. Between the lack of love depicted on the big screen, Nightline segments, CNN coverage, Oprah episodes, those random Russian newscasters discussing the Black woman’s dating dilemma last week, the Washington Post sob story, and hell, the non Black Prince in The Princess and the Frog, I think it’s safe to say without sounding paranoid that Black love is under media attack. (Cue What About Our Daughters? blog now.) Somehow, the difficulty of dating and the impending doom of never getting married has become a Black woman's problem. I know the stats; they’re skewed against us in a way they aren’t for Latinas, Asians, Whites, and everybody I’m leaving out. But where is the news segment on everyone else’s hardship finding a man? Can we ever talk about anybody else's man-woes? The closest I’ve come across is “The New Math on Campus,” a story in the New York Times where white women on college campuses talked about their dating dilemmas and all the quotes and scenarios sounded like they’d been lifted out of an early Terry McMillan novel.
(Please click the link. If for no other reason so I can say: See, I told you it wasn’t just us.)
Here's my theory on why Black love gets the short shift in the mainstream media AND why Black women are perpetually portrayed as single and lonely.
No, I don’t think every major media mogul— all White men, mind you— went and sat in a room and said, “this here is our agenda. We will make Black love disappear.” It’s much more institutionalized than that. See, America still has a problem with Black people, even in our “post racial” (giggle) society. America also likes its national fables. They’re familiar and quite comforting, hence why they keep being re-told. The current portrayal of Black relationships, or the lack thereof, plays into and plays up both of those ideas in a tri-fold way.
Fold one:
Remember that NYU panel about relationships that I sat on awhile back?? Well, I was in a silly mood, not ready to be all academic and quite honestly terrified of sounding like a ditz in the midst of all that academia. I was sitting there thinking of how to be deep when something kinda deep popped in my head.
At heart, I’m a die-hard feminist (hi, Craig). I’ve read the feminist literally cannon, including Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth. Sims premise is that women are One) consistently told that there is something wrong with them as a way to make money (booming relationship advice industry anyone?); and Two) as a political tool.
Sims writes:
The stronger women were becoming politically, the heavier the [impossible] ideals of beauty would bear down upon them, mostly in order to distract their industry and undermine their progress.
Now apply that theory to over achieving Black women and relationships. How many successful Black women do you know that are practically obsessed with having a man and have/are/ will play themselves to get and keep one? And nine-tenths of them are driven by the idea that they will not get one for themselves since we can all quote the reigning stats on the number of Black women who aren’t getting married because we’re bombarded with them. So these women invest an astounding amount of their energy into beating the odds that they’re constantly told are against them, energy, mind you, that could be better focused elsewhere and help them achieve greater success.
We’re like hamsters on a friggin wheel, so busy focusing on running in circles to get/keep/have a man that we’ve lost focus on how to get out of the metaphorical cage, or better, keep breaking corporate, education, professional, and political barriers.
Fold Two:
Years ago in undergrad, I had the fortune of having a very brilliant African-American professor, Dr. Francille Wilson, who pointed out to me that when it comes to Black people in white films, we’re essentially watching the same story over and over. And over. She pointed out that Whoopi in Ghost is the same as Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind as is Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance, and the big Black guy in The Green Mile. America, she said, loves nothing more than to recycle and re-package concepts.
That’s what’s going on with the current portrayal of Black relationships, or again, the lack thereof. The subtext of “hey, black women, you can’t get a man” is an updated version of Angry Black Woman stereotype. Instead of a neck-rolling, talk too loud, snap your fingers too much, buck-shot having bitch (like say, Pam from Martin), you’re now a polished, but pushy, over-demanding, over-educated, talk too damn much Black chick who doesn’t know how to let a man be a man, much less let him lead. And like your stereotype predecessor with a different name, you’re still single too.
Black men are getting the same updated fate. The inevitable flipside to the conversation about the successful Black women is about reconfiguring the shiftless negro archetype, you know, the dudes played by The Roots who sat on the porch in Bamboozled. The conversation of why Black women— always successful, accomplished and educated examples— are single goes back to these amazing women not having suitable marriage partners. The stats about how Black women are leaping tall buildings in a single, red bottom stiletto-heeled bound are always juxtaposed with the stats of Black men— jailed, addicted, on the predatory DL, underachieving, or whoring. Black men are portrayed as unable to be so bothered to do anything right, much less get their lazy bums up to step over anything, even more much less leap over it in even multiple bounds.
It’s the new millennium Sapphire and Sambo, folks. We’ve “evolved.”
Fold Three:
As much as everyone hates to admit it, America needs an “underclass.” Someone’s got to work in service to mow the lawns, serve the chicken at Popeyes, clean the houses and make the lives of the otherwise successful more leisurely so they can focus on whatever it is that’s important, that same whatever that Black women aren't focusing on because they're on the hamster wheel.
Keeping Black people unmarried and at war— partially a purpose in perpetuating updated stereotypes of Sapphire and Sambo— kinda guarantees they don’t get married (see reigning Black marriage stats for example), and more importantly, makes them unlikely to receive the benefits of marriage as outlined by a 2007 study called, well, “The Benefits of Marriage to the Nation:"
The economic advantages to both the persons involved and to the wider society when marriage is accepted as a desirable social norm are significant. Historically, poverty has been the result of a lack of employment and poor income. Today, it is increasingly the result of family structure. The consequence of parents failing to marry and to stay married is that more children are likely to experience poverty… Marriage seems to create wealth. This appears to be the result of factors beyond the simple effects of two incomes. Marriages stimulate the growth of partnership and mutuality and result in productive wealth accumulation through initiatives such as the purchasing of a home. Intergenerational transfer of wealth from grandparents is more likely to eventuate where couples are married compared with those who are cohabiting; single mothers rarely receive financial assistance from a father's family. Although we continue to live in a land of comparative opportunity, poverty in childhood still militates against educational achievement and in general terms, this limits adult socioeconomic achievement. As such, marriage has an important protective effect against intergenerational poverty.
You don’t build and spread wealth, the community stays impoverished. The community stays impoverished, its people do jobs that lead to filling prisons (cheapest labor) or they work in service (minimum wage). Sounds like a modern day slavery/sharecropping system, doesn’t it?
You think that’s coincidence?
Discuss.
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Reader Comments (158)
This article is amazing!
You hit the nail on the head and the thing is you could have kept going! (smh) ... Either way I appreciated this article because it reinforced the reason I got into the film and television industry. To tell our stories to an audience that doesn't know their full array of options when it comes to people of color, our stories, told by us! Thank you again for breaking it down, amazing!
I don't even really have a comment of "eloquence," more so one of being absolutely SICK to my stomach and unconscionably heart broken by the reality of this particular post. Allow me to make reference to the New York Times article, where one of the young women stated that she only now dated OLDER professional men...Which in and of itself creates its own problem (and yes I am speaking from experience.) The problem with this, or at least the one that I had, is that these "older" and supposedly more mature men are doing everything in their power to seem cool and debonaire, in all actuality they are doing exactly the same thing these young knuckleheads that young women (early twenties) are doing their damnedest to avoid and not get knocked up by (Of course there are always exceptions to the rule). Plain and simple older men try to play a "daddy" role and convince you to do everything that he feels is right, and uses the fact that he has lived longer and has experienced more as a means by which to circumnavigate the "I'm not beat for the b*****t" hurdles most women already have. Again, this was only my experience (and I thank God that I had and used the good sense that He gave me to avoid "The Nonsense.") But there are some women out there that won't see this coming because they are jaded by the fact that this older man is interested in them and he does all of these "glamorous" older things, and knows exactly what to say and when to say it to get around the "N***a please" shield,-- the horrible outcome will inevitably be an "Angry, Bitter, S**t-talkin', Game playin', Baby mama or, the mutually exclusive, Crazy Ex" (which, huh, I, for one, have seen enough to last me 10 lifetimes.)
Smh...I guess I'd better brush up on my Mandarin and head on over to China where the odds are stacked in my favor--C'mon be honest who don't want kids that look like Kimora Lee or Amerie?
I'm speechless... all I can do is say ditto in reference to the comment above. I'm forwarding this to all my friends now!
the first comment above, that is... :-)
Great Post. Third eye is open and aware. I co-sign this. I will comment later today.
Bond.
I don't think it's a coincidence at all. And, while I don't believe media moguls had a secret meeting to agree to do this, "divide and conquer" is something that is so deeply woven into the fabric of this country, that they probably don't even realize they're doing it. Whether it's dividing the light skin from the dark skin, our men from our women, our people from our culture, etc. I don't even think the majority of them are doing it with the idea that they have something to gain. They're just going through the motions to maintain the status quo.
As you said, Belle, there has to be an underclass. And, what easier way to keep people down, than to convince them that they're not doing well (or as well as you)? So, Black women can never just be "smart, resourceful, and self sufficient," we have to be "over-achievers," "angry," and miserable cat ladies. -Sidebar: it's frustrating that educated Black women get painted as over-achievers when we're not even 1% of the CEO's of Fortune 500 companies. The first Black woman to become a CEO of a Fortune 500 just happened in July 2009!- And, Black men? Pfft! It took Obama getting into office for the media to say something nice about Black men outside of Black History month and/or lauding over an entertainer (and let's face it, entertainers are not people ::insert snark::).
If you want to go into conspiracy theories, I have another one for you. I think another desired outcome would be to convince Black women that they shouldn't go to school. I was reading an article in the NYT (I think I got it from here, but I'm not sure), and the closing sentence reads something like "you're smart, you have money, and you travel the world, why would a man want you?" After reading that, my best friend says (jokingly) "you should have never went to college." So, now young Black girls are going to feel like they have to choose between working on themselves and finding love? With educated Black women not being portrayed favorably (Tyler Perry doesn't help), is it a leap to think that soon our graduation numbers might start dropping? So, now that one Black woman, who made it to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company, will be the member and president of a pretty lonely club. White men don't have to worry about another Oprah giving their daytime shows a run for the money. And, they definitely don't have to worry about educated Black women helping Black men (who, according to the stats, can't help themselves).
Or, another theory, that they want Black people give up on each other and start marrying inter-racially at even higher rates.
This reminds me of an article I read YEARS ago, in which the author (who was from England) talked about the fact that it's rare to see a BW & BM couple in England. That interracial couples are the norm, and it's almost expected that Black couples cannot work (she started off talking about the shocked reactions of her co-workers when they found out her husband was actually Black, too). It's a different kind of racism, but racism nonetheless.
I have to stop now, before I start feeling like I might understand what Craig is saying. . .ever.
*Warning* *I'm jumpin out the window with this one. lol. Oh the irony.*
Whether it's dividing the light skin from the dark skin, our men from our women, our people from our culture, etc. I don't even think the majority of them are doing it with the idea that they have something to gain. They're just going through the motions to maintain the status quo.
So, now that one Black woman, who made it to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company, will be the member and president of a pretty lonely club. White men don't have to worry about another Oprah giving their daytime shows a run for the money. And, they definitely don't have to worry about educated Black women helping Black men (who, according to the stats, can't help themselves).
To add to MoreandAgain's points...
@ the bolded portion: The intelligent few of "them" are aware of what they have to gain and what they stand to lose if black love is allowed to grow.
There has never been a group of people that has been so successfully stripped of its culture as African Americans. This has been the design from the onset. When bringing slaves to the country it was common practice to ensure that those who spoke the same or similar languages were separated. Families were separated for the same reason. To create a divide is to ensure instability and thus easy oppression. In today's world the ability to divide has been escalated by capitalism. It is amazing how the commercialization of black culture has furthered the oppression black people. "Blackness" in today's world is such a commodity that it should be on the NYSE. Because some components of being black have been adapted by "the mainstream" blackness is no longer recognized by many in our community as a distinct and priceless part of their existence. Thus the argument against integration (which wasn't actually the goal of many activists at the onset) makes so much more sense seeing today's world. The frequent attempts to eradicate the black radical tradition by forcing it to conform to western (IE: white/ European) theories of existence have failed, but they have succeeded to disconnect too many blacks from recognizing the tradition. This same battle of mis education continues today. Mass media has been allowed for decades to dominate the information disseminated about us. The RTVF industry has been long held hostage by the opinion of a few white men. The only reprieve that black people have is that the oppression of black people is contingent upon profit remaining the direct result. Thus you'll see an "inspirational" film like T.Perry's showing "black love" because it is low cost high profit. The attacks on black love will diminish when it no longer is profitable to do so.
The problem is not only perpetuated by "the majority". The problem will persist as long as the "black elite" continue to assimilate and disassociate themselves with what we know to be the black radical tradition. Consider that we have more black millionaires then ever before in America but still have just as many if not more economic disparities. Aside from the efforts of others for this to remain this way the reason is that many of us have lost our consciousness. At some point along the line the "black dollar" ceased to exist and it became just "the dollar". Why is it that movies like Precious (its ills aside) was funded outside of our community? Bet's Lense on Talent (a competition introducing up and coming black directors) was backed by Johnson & Johnson not Bob Johnson who made his billion off of the black community. We have more economic power now as a people in this country than we've ever had, but we have almost no ability to effectively utilize it.
(Also to be noted is the fact that far too many successful black people make millions off of the oppression of other black people (rush card, predatory lending, etc.))
If we coupled the economic power we have as a community currently with our amazing ability to tell our own story we'd never have to see another Madea/Bringing down the house/[insert some other bull here] movie again. In today's instant technological world we have more capacity to tell our story than has ever existed. There should be ridiculous amounts of talented black people telling our story our way via new media. There are many, but not nearly enough. Black love, as a representation of the black radical tradition, continues even amid the attacks against it. It is of natural order for black love to occur. The only way that black love (on screen and off) can be diminished is by black people failing to acknowledge and recognize it. Unfortunately we're doing just that by buying into the bull instead of investing in ourselves.
Not to hi-jack the topic, but I so have to co-sign @HowardGirl
I've often wondered why, with all the Black millionaires in the entertainment industry, there's no Black owned distribution company (fuck a record label), no Black owned Cable company (e.g.: Time Warner, Comcast, etc.), and we're just now getting a Black owned movie lot? (WHY? Oh, WHY?! does it have to be owned by Tyler Perry?) It seems like a lot of these entertainers made their millions and then were like "see ya!" You'd think (if for nothing else, simply to have the ability to say 'no one can shelve me' or 'I greenlight my own projects') they wouldn't just settle for the dough. It's just high paid slavery.
We’re like hamsters on a friggin wheel... (priceless!) LOL
This article AND the comments above speak of truth...no theories here! What a thought provoking piece...thanks for the feeding! HEAVILY FWD'ing NOW...
I can't wait to read the contributions that will surely follow throughout the day.
Yes indeed! I too am a conspiracy theorist and it's like you took my disorganized thoughts on this subject and put them into this post. I've been talking about the lack of images of just regular old black love in media for a while. I'm forwarding this post. Great job!
Wow...who needs coffee when you have this to open your eyes in the morning.
I have to completely agree with all the comments so far and of course the post. None of the issues mentioned are by coincidence, they are refurbished images that we keep falling for time after time. Why do we fall? Because we care more about what THEIR image of us is and not enough about what OUR image of US is...and they know it. We take their perception of who we are as God's word and disregard each others thoughts as negative and unworthy of even the slightest consideration. If THEY say X is beauty, we strive to look that way. If they say Y is the reason we're not getting married, we strive to do the opposite to prove them wrong. Even when it comes to our men (from a woman's point of view), because they say XYZ profession (usually something blue collar) isn't good enough for a "REAL" man, we go out to find lawyers, doctors, etc (not that it's wrong to want or achieve this status) and push our hard working blue collar men to the side and deem them "unfit" to lead or take care of a family because THEY say it's not enough. Mind you, more than a few of us were raised by blue collar workers and never wanted for a thing. My father started as the mail clerk in his company before moving up and took care of my mother and I just fine, so why is it no longer good enough simply because THEY say so?
This obvious weakness in our mental strength is exploited beyond belief. Whenever they feel we're getting a little too ahead of ourselves out there getting degrees, owning companies and becoming President, they switch up the packaging, slap on a new bow and regift this divide and conquer tactic again and again to put us 10 steps behind and back in "our place." It's no coincidence that we are being bombarded with these reports now...we have a BLACK FAMILY in the White House and not just any black family, an equally educated, intelligent, professionally successful black family in the White House. Black people are seeing an image everyday that they told us we could NEVER have, an image that historically we were not allowed to have due to slave trades, etc, and now that we know it exists (not that we didn't know before, but it wasn't as prevalent)....we want it! We want marriage, we want to be successful parents, wives and husbands. We want to build wealth and strengthen family...we want to be the real life, everyday Obamas and Huxtables. The Obamas have restarted that battery in our backs and they can't have that. Like Belle said, if we don't build and spread wealth we stay impoverished, we stay the underclass....and they get to keep feeding us the same bs for another 300 years. Until we start looking within ourselves and our own communities for answers, until we start supporting and lifting each other up, until we start taking control of our own images, this cycle will never end and our kids will be on Mini-Belle's blog discussing this same topic...just in a regifted package.
MoreAndAgain said... And, while I don't believe media moguls had a secret meeting to agree to do this, "divide and conquer" is something that is so deeply woven into the fabric of this country, that they probably don't even realize they're doing it.
THIS!
The crux of our problem is how unconsciously this mess happens. I scratch my head when I try to figure out how movies like "The Ugly Truth" or "He's Just Not That Into You" or "enter your favorite romantic comedy here" with so-so writing, often random actors and predictable plots will do pretty well at the box office when black romantic comedies can't get a green light. The only answer is nobody goes to see black romantic comedies which begs the question why?
I'm concerned a little with how much black people's inability to relate to black romantic comedies (why do I need to differentiate? ::sigh:: we could go on and on) fuels the problem. OBVIOUSLY if your core audience is black that's all you need (thank you Tyler Perry for proving that point) so why don't we show up in droves to see movies like "The Wood" and "Brown Sugar" so that MORE of them are greenlighted?
There's something floating in the air a la the whispering the cast of Lost kept hearing. I'm so serious...
Meanwhile, HowardGirl hints to this too...
I was watching the RockDoc on VH1 about Soul Train and there's a part where Don Cornelius talks about how surprised James Brown was with the show. So surprised that he asked over and over "who's backing you..." Don explained that at the time black people were often backed by white money so James couldn't believe that Don was calling all the shots.
Mr. Cornelius said "at the time..." (or some other phrase to indicate "long ago") but the truth is that's STILL how it goes. Black folks have record labels but they're just imprints of the larger labels and it's STILL the white folks calling the shots. WHEN will we get "off that"?
Eh, probably about the time we can convince our fellow black folks to support us, no?
I needed this article. I have spent the last 4 days wondering why me? Listening to others, reading articles, watching "Love Jones" on Sunday, and hearing on the TJMS an author say it's my fault. I felt overwhelmed a little depressed these last hours. At 37, in the last year I have convinced myself that it's alright to give up my desire for children and I was working on eliminating the desire for a strong, loving relationship. I didn't want to but it felt what I had to do to keep breathing.
What really moved me from your words was the notion that the breakdown, manipulation has endured for years and we, as African Americans, have accepted and internalized these notions and made them our way of life. It's sad. I not only wonder about myself but daily I'm reminded of Maya Angelou's words in the Tyler Perry Film "Madea's Family Reunion" when says that she fears so many young women today will never know true love. Those young women and little girls will go through what I'm going through. It's a pity. What can we do?
The timing of this is perfect. This past weekend, I decided to throw a little anti-valentine's day shindig [I'm thankful I'm single so I won't get diabetes from all the V-Day candy Party] with a friend, and we sent out mass text messages/emails. While we were all gathered, 20-something year olds (early-mid 20s) and just conversing, having riveting debates, laughing, music playing, and I realized, why does no one depict this aspect of young African American adulthood on TV, in the movies, etc. And my mind quickly went to the movie Love Jones as a point of reference. We were the 2010 version of the Love Jones crew, but no one knows that we exist!!!
I am SO linking this in my blog...LOL
"and hearing on the TJMS an author say it's my fault. "
Jimi Izreal. I won't comment on him or his book 1) because I "know him" (all writers know each other) and it's not worth the blog war my comments will start; and 2) I don't wish to promote his book which I intentionally will not name.
AHHHH, That's F*ked-Up. Conspiracies my Butt.
LOL.
Imma Read the rest later...
Belle, I'm not sure why you'd be afraid to come across as a ditz ( NYU panel) because your blogs are always smart,well thought out , refreshing, and thought provoking. I don't think you've overstepped your bounds or have gone conspiracy theory crazy here at all. In fact, everything you've said makes perfect sense.
I'm not going to write my usual essay as a comment. I'll just say everything you've said makes perfect sense. Many books other than " The Beauty Myth" supports this logic e.g. Born to Use Mics.
"I'm not sure why you'd be afraid to come across as a ditz ( NYU panel) "
everyone has their insecurities. my natural way of speaking is either intense (Pep clip) or really airhead.
Thank you for putting to words how I felt over the past couple of months. It seems that everytime I turn on the tv or radio (or twitter for that matter), someone is telling me what I won't, can't or shouldn't have as a Black woman. It's exhausting. At the point when I realized I was being exhausted and not uplifted or helped, I began to question the motives of the stories and propaganda being sold to me. I decided the next person who came to me with sad and disheartening statistics or related stories (without intention to have a real or useful discussion after) would be treated as a terrorist against Black women. It's code Orange and if you're not helping me, you might be hurting me.
@MoreandAgain..I've often wondered this as well.The Smiths(Will and Jada) and the Washingtons ( Pauletta and Denzel) alone could be a powerful force to be reckoned with if they pooled their resources. I think perhaps this was the original goal in the forming of BET, which we all know is owned by Viacom now, but somehow the real reason for forming the channel got lost in the the owner's desire to acquire more wealth. I think Ms Cathy Hughes envisoned a mature television network to cater to a mature AA audience with TV One, but as most new cable companies the funds are just not there to do all that she may want to do. Again this is where our "Talendted Tenth" should come in to fund the channel. Bob Johnson also started a film company with Tracy Edmonds called, "Our Stories" films or something like that, but I"m not sure how much traction they've had with it. At the end of the day we don't own anything so really we have very little say so in how we're depicted in the media. Hell Bill Cosby himself even tried to buy the NBC network and was NOT ALLOWED..which is no coincidence. I applaud Tyler Perry for creating the first black owned sound stage and he has given ALOT of black people jobs who may not have otherwise had the chance. While Madea may get on our nerves at times ( well not mine) there's usually something that almost all black people can relate to in one of his movies...if not all.
I am also so ready to see regular black people in regular romantic comedies like Harry Met Sally or Sleepless in Seatttle....but it seems like in order for our romance stories to be heard it has to be extra black or to the extremee like one of the authors posted above. Maybe one day our time will come..until then we're just going to have to continue to make and distribute our own films.....
Wow! Things that made me go hmmmmm....I have felt for a long time now that the media is conspiring against black love and I refuse to give in to the so-called statistics, feel depressed and give-up on black men. And dang Denzel and his principle - the problem is not blue collar vs. white collar with a lot of these men. The problem is sometimes character, incompatibility and a slew of other factors that can make a good man a bad match. Black women being more accepting of Jim, James, Paul and Tyrone is not going to solve our singlehood woes.
Cosgin at Copysista
We're so quick to tell black women to date "outside the race"
At the end of the day men are MEN
They all have the potential to have ish with them be they black white or blue
It's really hard to make a profit and make a positive impact... I know we want to believe otherwise, but the "extreme" culture is what gathers eyeballs, and thats what marketers pay for. Regarding Hollywood's loose relationship with Black films of substance, honestly, it comes down to a numbers game. Although we in the talented tenth may feel we are the majority because all our friends went to colleges, many have advanced degrees and work in uber-professional fields, but the reality is we are still the minority, less really than 10% now... The time and expsense to create movies, many of which fail to make a return (white or otherwise) makes the decision of whichs ones to green light more a business decision than a moral one. There are plenty of good Black Films waiting to be made, but who's goiing to fund them. What screen writer wants to take 2 years out of there life to write a movie which may never be made, so they have no way of being paid. There are so many screens, owned by a small set of film distribution companies, who are in bed with a smaller set of studios. There are really only two games in town for Black Film makers.. Rain Forest (Trios, Stomp the Yard, This Christmas) & Tyler Perry... The rest of the industry is content to star in White funded/supported films (Denzel, Will Smith) for of course a handsome payout. It's business, and business is all about being in control, and influencing what other enterants/risks/compeitors are able to do in your marketplace. When your talking Billions on the way to Trillions of dollars at stake, its a serious game, and everyone is killing for turf.
I do believe there is hope. I believe, much the way the renassaince period came to light as a rebellion to all of the negativity displayed during that time, I feel our generation has that turn in us, a digital revolution of sorts. I can sense a grassroots uprising against the images and attitudes that plague much of he youth culture. Soon enough were going to rebel against reality TV, and look for more Nikki Giovanni's rather than Nikki Menages.. In time, there will be a wave of artists, who make it cool (in the mainstream) to be accountable, mature and socially conscious. I believe it takes time, but we also cant compromise. If the ratings say were watching Boondocks, Real housewives, and Ray J, then we must vote with what we consume. If the profits fall, change will occur. As in any gurella campaign, you must use the enemies tools against them... So if we live in a consumer based, capitalistic culture, we need to direct our resources to areas that reflect positively on our community. Corporations are trained to follow the money, all we need to do leave the breadcrumbs leading in the right direction...
Great post That Guy