I remember watching Boyz In Da Hood a number of times as a child and then one day I could not watch it anymore, it was just too depressing!
The same thing happened with other black films such as New Jack City and Sugar Hill, to the point were today whenever Boyz In Da Hood is showing or some other black film (Kidulthood) depicting a black man down/out; with gang and baby mother problems, it puts me off watching (I mean Notorious was on the other day and although I love BIG´s music I could not watch it again!)
Now it could be that despite growing up in Hackney and quite vividly remembering when Lower Clapton was called ´Murder Mile´; gang culture and down and outness was not and has never been my life experience so therefore I cannot relate to what I see on the TV screen or is it that TV is depicting the real black experience and the black experience is actually as depicted -depressing?!
The reason I ask is whilst watching a recent talk show hosted by a successful black women, someone I was watching it with commented: ´do you ever notice that these things (black shows/media) are always focused on the negative´ or words to that effect.
Now to be honest at that point I was just enjoying the show in terms of the lively party atmosphere, however the more I thought about it the more I felt inclined to agree.
There were moments where the show got emotional; particularly when it came to the guests. Some of which were so overcome at being on the show in the first place; and they were saying things like: ´You know when you work so hard and have so many knock backs etc etc´ and 'when I saw these poor kids etc etc´ and the host who appears to have a healthy dose of self esteemed ´understood´ her guests ´pain´, ´tears´ and ´heartache´. It was both happy because they made it, but sad because there was also struggle.
Now I know, what your thinking, Boyz In Da Hood and the films mentioned above are quite old so you could argue the black films of today do not deal with such depressing subject matter, and there are plenty of great comedic black films, however recent films such as Precious, For Coloured Girls and Why Did I Get Married (I know all Tyler Perry films) have quite depressing subject matter - ok Why Did I Get Married is not so much depressing however, the two films most definitely depicted some very dysfunctional characters.
Even in music... I see a hoodie and a council estate and I've lost all interest!
I hear lyrics like 'I had nothing, now I have something' (usually money, girls and cars) and it all leaves me feeling depressed!
Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking anyone in particular and I paid my money and watched Why Did I Get Married Too just like everybody else because lets face it, its nice to watch a film and see black people it in!
But how about an action/romantic/thriller comedy the likes of Knight and Day starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz but with a black leading male and female?
Or is it that black people are defined by struggle? and so that is what film, TV and music depict?
Black snob comes to mind, lighten up its not all that bad there are plenty of black films that are not "depressing" and sometimes the films are made like that to show the struggle black people went through and are still going through. Maybe you need to look at yourself as to why these films make you feel this way. Ever consider it's a reflection on you and your inner self?
ReplyDeleteI found this subject rather interesting, though the depiction of black people can be low and the saddest thing is that we call ourselves out by making movies and doing reality shows that show us in such a bad light as though that is what we represent, when if we clear the window there are a lot of stand up, educated, high flyer black people running things and I say that with much pride.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is an element of racism in Hollywood, I remember the Vogue issue talk about young up and coming actors and there was a lot of talk about this issues being racist because that year Saldana had been in Star Trek and Avatar was coming out and which was the biggest movie hitting the big screen yet Vogue missed her out while the said mentioned all young white actors, then we had same mag that had I think its Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen him depicting King Kong with a basket ball and her as Jane, lastly we had the film The Couples Retreat where there was a black couple removed from the movie poster when this couple was clearly a big part of the movie. This is just some of the things that Hollywood does and we know that giving an Oscar to us is very hard. Halle Berry had to take off her clothes and be nude to get an Oscar not that I think Halle Berry is our best black female actress and we have to wait some times decades before we are nominated for such big awards again, so much so that when Jamie Foxx was nominated black people where ready to make noise should he not have won, Denzel though a fantastic actor and had before Training day done many films worthy of a Oscar, however they choose to give to him for being a corrupt cop??? We never even saw films like, The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia, The Hurricane, up for nomination. Why didn’t Will Smith get an Oscar for Ali or for The Pursuit of Happyness, Why didn’t Denzel get a nom for The Book of Eli There is also great black directors out there Spike Lee notably F Gary Gray, Morgan Freeman, Douglas Bourne I could go on but we are out there not all doing stereotypical films, shows and music.
I know that Tyler Perry is a black director but he is adding to the drama that black people are full of drama and the misconception of who black people are and what we stand for. We mostly see movies showing us as loud, making so many baby daddies and mummies, living of the government and not finishing school, and into so much crime, why not make rolls for us that show us in the light that we really are, I mean we had Kofi Anan, Oprah, Robert L Johnson, Christopher Gardner, Tyra Banks, OBAMA for goodness sake etc. I like appreciate Tyler Perry in small doses his message by an large is that black people are loud, we fight, have affairs come from broken homes and let our circumstances dictate our lives, there are only a handful of films that he has done that don’t deal with putting us down before he builds us up as though that is how most black peoples lives are like. If he thinks this message does not affect young black people then he is WRONG! If he thinks that other races don’t see this and shy away from us then again he is WRONG!
I myself like to look and admire strong black people that may have come from hardship but have worked their way to the top and not let ones prejudice stop them, off course I admire those that had no hardship and where smart enough to so something that has made them millions. I mean why did I get married and too are films that possibly help other races form such bad opinions of black people, even our comedians make fun of us and yes I’m the first to laugh at what we as a race get up to but when I look at the bigger picture I quickly stop laughing because frankly I’m laughing at myself and it’s not so funny after all. Some may say its our reality, we are only talking about things that we go through, however I beg to differ because films like notebook, Meet the Fockers, Date Night etc are neither white people’s reality.
Its an interesting post with some passionate opinions!
ReplyDeleteI just think that their is a wealth of black entertainment to be enjoyed out there, be it literature, film, theatre, music etc, which if you seek it out is very enjoyable.
When I analyse films and I've been trying to think of all the films I've seen over the years and I've watched old films like carmen jones (with dorothy dandrige), I've watched a raisin' in the sun the old version not the piddy version lol, city of god, colour purple, totsi, nollywood film's, the harder they come, I'm trying to illustrate that I do try and make my black film viewing eclectic and varied. But I imagine there are a lot of films I haven't seen. But I've tried to think them up to deal with this post.
When I've thought about it I must admit there are quite a few films out that, that if they are a true depiction of what's happening in the world, then they without a doubt do depict quite depressing subject matters. I enjoyed kidulthood and adulthood, because of who created the films but watching the films as much as I enjoyed them as I could relate to it as being about a specific uk culture, it did make for uncomfortable viewing personally. As for other films I think they do often depict struggles and a sense of overcoming or indeed succumbing to the struggles, as the reality has been and continues to be hard.
Madeformakeup mentions the fact that we have Barrack Obama but it doesn't mean that people aren't struggling.
I think that art and entertainment of any culture will reflect the current circumstances in which they've been created, or they are created to convey a message at times. The same goes for black films.
Would I like to see, more positive depictions of black characters on screen, I definitely would. But at the same time I do understand that films do depict and reflect real life. Do I want to often be reminded of the struggle, definitely not! Which is why I'd rather watch house party than kidulthood. Two can play that game rather than Juice lol!
reality is often manifested through thought....which means real life or depiction, negativity begets negativity...which is exactly the state of being where we are wanted by some....hence all the negative emphasis, and omissions of positivity, concerning black folks in all areas of life. im not gonna start on obama and other so called successful blacks. ill just say sometimes you cannot believe your five senses because they can be lied to (we are talking about hollywood within this subject, not to mention the game HE is in). i believe the struggles depicted nowadays do not reflect the whole picture or the true struggle going on, but rather the small part some people want us to focus on, stay within and keep manifesting for ourselves. my inner self says we are, and have been, throughought history, misrepresented, lied to and lied about. if thats a problem then maybe black people are crazy..... but my intuition dont buy that.
ReplyDeleteHey girl I hear you on this one, just the other day I had to turn off MTV Base because I was just getting pissed off with what I saw, which was mostly to do with the exploitation of women and the fact that yet again I hadn't even finished my breakfast before I was seeting t*ts and a**. Anyway like I sad I totally understand what you mean, I watched Kidulthood for the first time the other day and yea it can be viewed has portraying a stereotypical negative life of Black teenagers. but at the same time I do feel that such stories need to be told has they are a reality for some people. There are more positive stories out there for example The pursuit of Happiness etc but these generally are not has sucessful has the more negative tales around Black culture. Like madeformakeup said this has a lot to do with Hollywood and what they will believe will sell, and it's a sad fact that the Black strands of reality do not sell as well as the very dramatic alternatives therefore they mostly have to fit the perception of the majority of people that are going to be purchasing tickets...which are non black people.
ReplyDeleteA few years back I was recalling a theatre production that I saw in 07 called Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame and it was so uplifting to see Black Heroes through past until present in all the glory, go and see it if it comes back around! Anyway I do believe that there are positive Black films out there but they are just catergorised has being niche so you won't just see them on the flicks unfortunately. Once I up very late and I couldn't believe I was watching a black action film with a Black man in a lead role look it up: Critical Asignment. I was so shocked I called my friend lol.
I've recently gotten into Nollywood films and even though they are often far fetched, they do show Black people in a positive light in the fact that the charcters are generally well off professionals etc the dramatic elements are very human raceless emotions such has love, hate, jealously, envy, and greed! A basis of most films.
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