[shrrshrr]

I got this idea from watching Vh1's special on African-Americans in film - I've tried it before but no one posted on the thread, so we'll see what happens this time.

The portrayal of blacks in US films has a long and fascinating history, and I think it's more than worth discussing. So let's talk about our favorite films, the ones we hated, the ones that made the strongest impression on us.

Let's talk about black actors, black directors, black comedians - the works.

I'd like to start off by talking about Spike Lee - when I first saw She's Gotta Have It I couldn't stand it, but I saw it recently again and I finally have learned to appreciate it. I think my issue was that I wasn't an independent woman at the time so I couldn't understand the lead character, but now the opposite is true.

Also - I wasn't that interested in School Daze because that wasn't my college experience - as with my high school I attended an essentially all white (5 blacks out of a student body of 1,200) college, and had no idea what black culture really constituted.

But then came Do the Rigth Things and I was deeply, deeply disturbed. That, and the soundtrack became my anthem - I was waking up.

Now, I don't think you have to be black to appreciat black film, and it's important to talk about all perspectives, so I hope you'll post.

[80sBabygirl]

Great thread. I wish people would post...

I've only seen School Daze of the movies you mentioned. I saw it once some years ago, so I don't remember all the details of it, but I didn't care much for it. It was strange to me. I understood the sort of division they were talking about with lighter skinned black people to darker skinned black people, manhood, etc, but I wasn't feelin' the movie that much.

Movies I hated that everyone seems to love:

The Best Man: HATED with a capital H. I thought the whole premise was ridiculous to begin with, a man writing a thinly veiled version of his friends, etc. He wanted to tell on himself. I REALLY hated the whole cheating storyline with the bride and fiance (characters' names I don't know; I've only seen this movie once) and the double standard that went with it. It was okay for him to cheat on her multiple numbers of times, but when she did it once, it was a federal offence. I don't like how it portrayed a woman staying with a cheating man who has given her no reason to expect him not to cheat again. A ring is not going to change that. If it had been a woman doing this, I believe more people would have hated it.

Baby Boy: Even worse. Can't STAND this movie. Horrible storyline with stereotyped characters. Once again, another woman staying with a no-good man, dreaming of a wedding ring that will probably never come. I was disappointed that Tyrese's character's job was accepted, even though it wasn't legit. And I hated how the girl didn't leave him at the end. She just stayed with him instead of being a stronger character and leaving him. Even if she'd gotten back together with him a few years down the road, I still think she should have left him alone to grow up.

Soul Food: Grew to like this movie, but hated it when it first came out. I thought it was too soap operish; it had too many plots going on at once.

Black movies I personally loved:
Boyz in the Hood
Bamboozled
Funny Valentines
The Wood
Poetic Justice (yes I really enjoyed this!)
A Raisin in the Sun
Beloved
The Nutty Professor
and many more...

[mukooh]

there's alot that i could post....but this is just a quick pass through the thread.....once again....i'll mention one of my favorite films featuring black actors.......that film is 'brown sugar'...........all of the main characters are portrayed in a positive light...not a pimp, whore, drug addict or drunk, in the whole film.....that is so often played by a person of color....just normal everyday people in this movie......

[shrrshrr]

80sBabygirl - so great to have you posting here!

Another one I can add to your list is Waiting to Exhale because of it's stereotypical vision of black women as desperate to hold on to a man - any man - and how that affects their relationships with each other. I don't care about the ending, the beginning so offended me that I absolutely despise it.

On the other hand, I thought How Stella Got Her Groove Back was absolutely fabulous and a terrific statement on women of color and freedom of choice.

mukooh - I know you'll be preaching to the converted here, but I'd love to hear/read what you have to say. I think your viewpoint will be well thought out and articulated.

And on a final note - I couldn't stand Love Jones, even though most of my friends loved it. Sure, we did spout this kind of crap when we were in grad school, but how the movie portrays the characters left me cold. I'm glad that middle-upper middle class, well educated blacks were shown, but I don't feel the portrayal was all that accurate.

[Chiqa]

shrrshrr, yes, you are in the minority about Love Jones. I positively loved that movie and I had no problem with the way the characters were portrayed. I don't know, it seemed very honest to me.

I like the romantic ones like Love and Basketball and of course, Love Jones but there are some pretty mediocre ones like Deliver us from Eva and the one about Jamie Foxx being a writer (whatever it's called.)

I think black movies shifted in the late 90s/early '00s from more of a ghetto/gangsta theme (Boyz in the Hood, New Jack City, Menace to Society even Jason's Lyric) to an upper middle class romance theme (L&B, The Wood, Brown Sugar, The Brothers etc etc) and nowadays all the movies have the same actors.

At least 70% of them have Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union (for her, make that 90%), Taye Diggs (before he got the T.V gig), Jenifer Lewis (as the mother), Sanaa Lathan etc etc

There was a time Nia Long was in all the movies but I guess that now she's on Third Watch she decided to stay away.

I think the recycling of actors and storylines (The Wood and The Bestman were practically the same movie) keeps the movies from seeming fresh and that's one of the biggest problems. Sure, we love to see Taye Diggs, Boris Kodjoe and whomever looking hot and sexy but I would much rather feel enthusiastic about the movie and not find it completely predictable. In fact, we know what's going to happen before we get to the theatre.

In my opinion, the worst movie I ever saw was Kingdom Come. If I hadn't sneaked into the theatre, I would have been pretty pissed.

[shrrshrr]

NaijaChiqa - great to have you posting on this thread! You've raised some fabulous (and accurate, in my opinion) points, most specifically the recycling of actors. I think I was watching...The Brothers? I don't remember, maybe it was Deliverous from Eva, but I kept thinking, "Didn't I just watch this film?"

I mean, don't get my wrong, I love looking at Taye Diggs, but I wholeheartedly agree with you on the freshness issues.

And I realized why my friends loved Love Jones and I didn't - I think it had more to do with the East Coast/West Coast differences in people like us. Perhaps the movie portrayed more East Coast sensibilities? Because my West Coast friends and I aren't like that, but my grad school friends (back in the day), who were mostly from the East Coast, did indeed resemble the characters (and those are the people whom I was referring to as loving the film).

I don't know, but that's what came to mind...

[sarzy]

Shrr, great thread idea!

One of my fave movies of this genre is Cry Freedom, originally I had to watch it for my Year 10 English class, but I loved it so much it has since become one of my favourites. Makes me angry every time I see it, but still a fave.

However, just to show how juvenile I can be, I was also a huge fan of the House Party movies when they came out. I loved Kid n Play. Sad, i know. My white Australian suburban friends and I used to quote House Party lines all thru high school. Tragic. Boyz in the Hood I also loved. Bawled like a baby first time I saw it. And Do the Right Thing is still my fave Spike Lee flick.

Movies I hated:
Jason's Lyric
Woo (Made me detest Jada Pinkett for years!)
Crooklyn (I loved Jungle Fever though)
Blackula

[shrrshrr]

Yeah, I've never been much of a Jada fan, but recently she's started to grow on me - and I loved the first House Party movie. Come on - it was funny!

You know what's interesting, so far we've only discussed recent films - from the last 2 decades. But the history of blacks in films really dates back as far as film, itself.

Hmm...I have to think about what I'm going to say so I'll come back...

[The Daywalker]

Originally Posted by NaijaChiqa shrrshrr, yes, you are in the minority about Love Jones. At least 70% of them have Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union (for her, make that 90%), Taye Diggs (before he got the T.V gig), Jenifer Lewis (as the mother), Sanaa Lathan etc etc.

That is the one unfortunate thing, but I'm hoping we see the growth of young stars like Derek Luke (Antwan Fisher, Friday Night Lights) Rob Brown (Finding Forrester, Coach Carter) ect than seeing Ice Cube and Omar Epps in every movie. I mean, i love all the guys you mentioned and Omar, but seeing the same 10 people does tend to make repeat movies.

Denzel, Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes have always been in my pool of favorite actors, roles such as Malcolm X and Hurricane Carter (Denzel), Principal Joe Clark and Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins (Lean On Me, Glory for Freeman), Professor Phelps and Furious Styles (Higher Learning, Boys N The Hood, Fishburne) and Nino Brown and Monroe Hutchens (New Jack City, Undisputed for Snipes) helped make roles more than just "token black actor" parts in movies that is joked about in some of these spoof movies. Although many of them are real historical people, the shame is that the roles are being played by only a handful of actors. I mean, who could blame wanting Freeman in Amistad and Shawshank Redemption? A better Malcolm X than Denzel? Don't think you could find one. I just know the next story that comes out, The Mumia Abu Jamal story or a Marcus Garvey movie, it'll be Den and Morgan in it.

It's a shame that someone like Marcus Chong would only be remembered as being in The Matrix than his portrail of Dr Huey P Newton in Panther or that Countney Vance be remembered for being on Law & Order than his inspiring role with Fishburne in Tuskegee Airmen or with Chong in Panther as Bobby Seale.


Movie List to check out.
Tuskegee Airmen
Glory
Panther
Jason's Lyric (contrary to sarzy, i really enjoyed this movie. Allen Layne, Jada Pinkett)
Hurricane
South Central


NOTE:
I'm really, really happy for Jaime Foxx, seeing Coillateral and Ray has made me appreciate him alot more than just thinking of him as Willie Beamon.

[mukooh]

Originally Posted by shrrshrr mukooh - I know you'll be preaching to the converted here, but I'd love to hear/read what you have to say. I think your viewpoint will be well thought out and articulated.

i guess i am kind of preachy...and opinionated.....but i've finally come to terms with what i like and don't like.........and i'm not afraid to express it........the good news in film today is that are more oppurtunities and better roles for minorities...whether they be black, latino, latina, young women (and even older women) or gay.....that's the good news...we've come along way in this country to make that happen.....the bad news is that will still have along way to go make it really fair and equitable.....so that a person of color will have the same oppurtunities in film and the roles offered that most white adult male actors take for granted.....

[shrrshrr]

I wouldn't worry about sounding preachy - anyone who visits this thread is likely to be fairly sophisticated, film wise.

[Crystaline]

I'm liking this thread a lot. Very cool that it's dedicated to the cause of what this month represents and my culture! I have to say, there's a great array of black actors and films. Denzel, Samuel, Freeman, Bassett, Will, Halle...just to name a few. I hope we continue to make an impression on the industry in many more years to come!

[shrrshrr]

Hi, Jason's Lover4life! Great to have you on the thread.

Yep - I'm hoping it just gets better and better from here, and I think the recent Oscars for best actor and best actress are an indication of acceptance, and weren't just anomalies.

[sarzy]

If you wanna talk older, less recent black films, my fave of past eras are Blackboard Jungle, Guess who's coming to dinner? and In the Heat of the Night. Perhaps not always viewed as purely 'Black' films, they all included the fine work of Sidney Poitier, who I adore, and were made at a time when many black characters in films were either slaves, criminals or domestic help.

In the 70s we had the era of Blaxploitation, and I'm not sure how African Americans feel about these films, but I loved them. Cleopatra Jones, Supa Fly, Foxy Brown, I thought they were hilarious.


Daywalker, we may not agree on Jason's Lyric, but I loved Tuskegee Airmen! A very underrated film if you ask me.

[shrrshrr]

Black History Month is just around the corner - February - and someone just sent me a link to a high school girl's documentary project which fits right in (it's a Google film - I'm sure it's avaialable elsewhere since it's making the film festival rounds, but I don't have time to search it out right now): A Girl Like Me - Google Video

The beginning is pretty typical if you're a person of color, like me, but the last half is so distressing and eye-opening I HAD to share. Hope someone sees this post...