I read this article, posted on CNN on April 27. 'Think Like A Man' and the legacy of 'Love Jones'
It talks about a movie that came out recently, “Think Like A
Man”, a love story in which the main characters are African-American. (Maybe I’ve been living in a hole, because I
haven’t heard of it. Or any recent
movies, now that I think about it. Oh
well. At least it’s a hole with internet
access.) And the article talks about
some other movies which centered around a love story with black characters, and
how there’s uncertainty over whether that type of movie would be successful.
I’ve heard it asked before, “Is the American public ready
for a movie where the majority of the cast, including the lead characters, is
black?” Seems like a dumb question. If you’re going to be racist and not give
black actors a chance, how can you blame that on “the audience”?
Haha, we would love to give all the actors a chance, judge
them on their skills and not their race, but it’s the public, you know how
racist people are, they won’t watch a movie with black actors. There’s nothing we can do about it.
Also, Americans can’t elect a woman to be president because
you know how sexist other nations are- no one would take the US seriously.
Also, interracial marriage is bad because then their
children would be biracial and get bullied- you know how mean middle-school
children are.
And Scar would totally give the kingdom over to Simba, but
the problem is the hyenas. You see, they
think I’m king.
Something just seems very wrong about this line of
reasoning- go ahead and be racist and blame it on some other group. So, it brings up these questions:
What if it’s true that movies where the lead actors are
black would be less successful than ones with white actors? Is that because the American public is
racist, or is it because we don’t have a large enough sample size yet to really
make a good comparison? What if it’s a
self-fulfilling prophecy: movie companies don’t want to put money into a movie
with black characters, because they think it won’t be successful, so the budget
is very low and a low-quality movie is made, so it’s not very successful?
If movie producers just want to make money, is that
bad? Everyone wants to make money. But do they also have a responsibility to
include minorities, for the sake of giving opportunities to the actors, and
because of how movies influence culture?
If so, who has that responsibility?
You can say “the media” or “Hollywood” is sending these messages, but it’s
not like “the media” or “Hollywood” is one united entity. Maybe it’s more of a problem with the culture
that those things exist in, not something you can blame specific people for.
Those are my questions; my goal is to give you (and me) a
lot to think about. Tell me what you
think in the comments.