A friend asked me to check out an article in yesterday's Washington Post Express about indie film director Ava DuVernay. I'd never heard of the woman, but the gist of the article is that her movie, Middle of Nowhere, made her the first black woman to win the best director award at the Sundance Film Festival. It touched on the point that the movie was well received by white audiences in Utah despite having an all-black cast. My friend wanted to get my thoughts on it because I have been very outspoken against black movies in the last decade or so. All of this was too long for a text message, so here's your reply, buddy:
Yes, this is exactly the direction that I'd like to see black movies go. I feel bad, because I have been shouting to the heavens to give us a movie like this, yet I have no interest in watching it. The subject matter and plot just don't interest me. I'm all drama'd out right now. Still, it's a step in the right direction. For the record, I am not anti-black movies! I'm anti-shitty black movies. Every movie does not have to be about black people. And yes, there is a difference between having black actors and a movie about black people.
Take Samuel L Jackson for example. His character in Die Hard With a Vengeance was clearly written to express his blackness. On the other hand, his character in Pulp Fiction or The Long Kiss Goodnight could've been any race honestly. The same goes for Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop or 48 Hours versus Eddie Murphy in Harlem Nights or Boomerang. I'm not saying these were cinematic masterpieces. I'm just saying that it is possible to make a movie with black people and not have the crux of the movie be their race and culture.
Don't get me wrong. I like movies about black culture, but not every goddamn movie has to be like that. Most of them aren't executed properly and they perpetuate negative stereotypes while conveniently hiding behind the guise of entertainment. Yes, I'm talking about you Tyler Perry. "Why do you hate Tyler Perry so much? He's the only person hiring Black actors right now." That's the problem. When there is only one game in town it kills creativity and competition.
There are far too many instances where the main character is some woman whose life is fixed by finding a man. Most of the time the alternative archetype is the sassy ignorant overweight black woman. The problems are usually wrapped up in some deus ex machina that screams bad writing. All of that is fine sometimes, but when it's the only thing available it becomes the representation for our culture and that is the problem that I have with that man's work. I don't blame him. He's trying to do something positive, but I blame society for letting that be the only thing we get.
When we were growing up we had shows like In Living Color which received its share of criticism for seeming to strive towards being offensive for the sake of being offensive, but it was balanced against shows like Roc, which starred classically trained theatre actors. A show like Martin which, despite how much I love it, did rely heavily on buffoonery came on in the era of The Cosby Show and A Different World.
I give Will Smith a lot of credit because he was able to get himself in roles that could've been written for anybody. I don't look at Enemy of the State and say, Oh look a black guy is being chased by the government! He continued what Eddie Murphy started, but sadly it seems to have come at the expense of Eddie Murphy (Norbit anyone?). This film by DuVernay seems to be a step in the right direction. Truly achieving equality, at least in my opinion, isn't getting more black movies, but movies where the cast just happens to be black.
And stop remaking white movies with black casts just because you can!!! I'm talking to you Steel Magnolias and Death at a Funeral. If you don't have anything to add then just leave it alone. That's lazy. It's like a song. Unless you're gonna do what Whitney did with I Will Always Love You then stop!
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