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Stephgirl
Newbie Poster
Username: Stephgirl
Post Number: 18
Registered: 09-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 10:29 pm: | 
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YELLING AT THE SCREEN: Where Have All the Black Girls Gone?
[5 December 2005]
If a black woman ever needs reminding of the dearth of black female leads, she need only ask a white person what actress she most resembles. Chances are she'll hear "Whoopi Goldberg" at some point.
by Mark H. Harris
If I've learned anything about women from a lifetime of watching movies, it's that they're inextricably drawn to the sight of a penis. Maybe that's because I watch porn. What I do know for sure is that women don't like to be ignored — like when Dirk Wellhung is in a threesome, he makes sure no one feels left out. But I digress. Women hate to be ignored. Especially when they're my wife, and I'm ignoring her for porn.
But ignoring women — black women — is all that movies seem to do nowadays. Sweet, sweet porn aside, black women have become an endangered species in Hollywood. Not that they were all that prevalent to begin with, but now casting agents have discovered viable alternatives in the "other" — any minority other than black. Latin, Asian, Inuit, even white women with tans have scooped up roles that would traditionally be reserved for black women, leaving nary but the dreggiest of dregs.
Did Eva Mendes have to play Denzel Washington's dependable wife to Sanaa Lathan's philandering backstabber girlfriend in Out of Time? Did Roselyn Sanchez have to play the sexy vixen rescuing Cuba Gooding, Jr. from the shallow, catty Vivica A. Fox in Boat Trip? And what in the name of Al Jolson was Jessica Alba doing playing anyone black in Honey?
Hitch illustrated all too clearly the economics of hooking up black lead characters with "others". Studios don't want to piss off black people by putting the black lead with a white person, but if they have two black leads, then all of a sudden, it's a "black film" that can't open in more than 400 Magic Johnson theaters. So, as the reasoning goes, a nice, tan Latina won't seem like such a sellout to blacks, and whites won't feel like they'll get shot if they see it in the theater. It's Hollywood's "Two Drop Rule":
One black person = Equal opportunity, Affirmative Action, whatever; we need a black character!
Two black people = Niche film. Run ads on Soul Train and open in less than 1,000 theaters. Consider a tie-in with Kool Aid.
Two black people + a budget = Oscar-skewed biopic. Make sure Roger Ebert's wife sees it.
So, one black actor is ideal, and if there's a choice between the black lead being a man or a woman, in the immortal words of James Brown, it's a man's world...And hit her where she won't bruise. While things have "progressed" to the point where you can count on two hands the number of black men who are allowed to headline a non-black film — Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Sam Jackson, and maybe Bernie Mac, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, or Jamie Foxx — you can count the black female leads on two fingers: Halle Berry and maybe Queen Latifah. If a black woman ever needs reminding of the dearth of black female leads, she need only ask a white person what actress she most resembles. Chances are she'll hear "Whoopi Goldberg" at some point.
Things started out well enough for black actresses, with Hattie McDaniel winning an Oscar decades before Sidney Poitier got his, but over time, the black female stigma has proven too powerful. They get double-barreled social discrimination: race and gender. Sure, everyone secretly likes to feel a little oppressed now and then, but when you actually are oppressed, it's pretty annoying. While black men have been increasingly celebrated in cinema for being trendy, tough, sexually potent, athletic, and in the case of some rappers, borderline retarded, black women aren't allowed to expand beyond characterizations normally relegated to reality show divas. Do any positive black female stereotypes even exist? Even Arabs get to be "rich". This world would be a better place if we learned to reserve our stereotypes for those most deserving, like the poor and the Floridian.
Perhaps nowhere is the rigidity of black female roles more apparent than in on-screen romance. Films like Save the Last Dance, Jungle Fever, In the Mix, and even the House of Wax remake have paired black men with white women, but rarely do you see the reverse. It's as if black women are incapable of tenderness or amorous feelings. (Granted, the cold-fish climactic kiss in The Bodyguard didn't help matters, what with Whitney Houston's fear that smooching a white man would give her vaginal albinism.)
Halle Berry — who's been allowed to survive as Hollywood's token shining example of "See, we like black women!" — is one of the only real exceptions. Her tan Barbie doll looks have allowed her the freedom to have on-screen relations with every non-black man from James Bond to Billy Bob Thornton, but she's still largely relegated to sex pot roles devoid of genuine feeling; witness her Oscar for Best Interracial Butt-Screw.
The quality of black women's roles have reached dire proportions. There's something inherently wrong with the fact that there've been more movies this decade starring Nick Cannon than Angela Bassett. And as great as Kimberly Elise was in Diary of a Mad Black Woman, it doesn't make up for the fact that the main draw of the film was a dude in a dress. The way I see it, there are a few options that black actresses can pursue:
Solution #1:
Kick black actors' asses. The few who might actually have some say in casting haven't always shown much sympathy for the cause: Will Smith in Hitch, Ice Cube in Next Friday, Denzel in Out of Time and Training Day. Jada Pinkett needs to climb up on her husband's shoulders and box his ears. Does he not care that his wife can't get a job unless he gives it to her? Does he not care that the less work she gets as an actress, the more work she gets as a singer? I'm sure Denzel's wife must've told him that if he puts Eva Mendes in one more movie, she'd cut him off at the knees.
Solution #2:
There's no quicker way to get a black man's attention than to not date a black man. Ask Garcelle Beauvais, Kerry Washington, Aisha Tyler, Thandie Newton, or Tyra Banks. The goal is twofold: one, you'll get noticed by the few black men who have some pull in the industry. Two, you'll infiltrate the non-black power structure; it's the Hollywood way (Near Vine way; take a right past the hooker.).
Solution #3:
Being black in America is like being gay in that you can't be "a little black" or "a little gay", so the solution is simple: try not to look black. Witness: Vin Diesel, The Rock, Jennifer Beals, Mariah Carey, and Rashida Jones. And if you can't pass for "other", at least try to be light-skinned enough to play the love interest in an Eddie Murphy film.
Solution #4:
Boycott. Who are they gonna get to play their attitudinal hookers, their attitudinal welfare mothers, and their attitudinal authoritarian cock blockers (loan officers, judges, DMV workers, et al.)?
Solution #5:
Try not to make movies like Woo, B*A*P*S, or Glitter.
Hopefully, my advice can help black actresses gain some leverage in the industry and put a positive black female face on Hollywood so that black women worldwide will take pride in these roles and feel more secure about their future in this world.
Then maybe my wife will have sex with me again.
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Roxie
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Roxie
Post Number: 389
Registered: 06-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 07:36 am: |
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"Other"-- It's the new blackface of our times.
Remember in the early days of movies when they corked up white people and octoroons just so they didn't have to hire genuine blackpeople?
Now it's the same thing. Only this time Hollywood is now trying a new tactic: convincing the world into believing that those women are black when they really aren't. This way they don't have to hire an actual black actress when the role calls for a black woman. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3102
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 10:39 am: |
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The article writer forgot the most obvious solution to the dilemma he describes, one which has as much a chance of coming about as the suggestions he offered: Approach billionaire Oprah Winfrey and tell her to stop pouring all of her money into Africa and help some sistas here in America to sat up their own production company.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1001
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 11:26 am: |
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***If a black woman ever needs reminding of the dearth of black female leads, she need only ask a white person what actress she most resembles. Chances are she'll hear "Whoopi Goldberg" at some point.***
Girl.. that was my favorite line of the Essay too.. I was truly feeling that one.
And where do you come up with these wonderful essays; I ALWAYS enjoy what you bring -- keep it coming!
Back to this one...
everything else he said is, of course, also true.. but I can't say that I'm feeling him and the rest of it a whole lot. Something tells me that if he had the power to have his choices of "black" female leads, they wouldn't be a heck of a lot different from Will Smith's, Denzel Washington's and Ice Cube's picks....
The fact that he feels so much sympathy for women like the bi-racial looking Jada Pinkett is a dead giveaway. So, yeah.. he speaks the truth.. but he'd have to admit some further thruths in order to reach my point of veiw.
I'm not feeling the Brotha.
Tonya
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1002
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 11:30 am: |
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LOL.. Cynnique.. you do have a point..
I haven't seen Oprah help a "sistah" out, except Halle Berry, of course.
Tonya |
Afroamerican
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Afroamerican
Post Number: 156
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 01:24 pm: |
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Well this kind of things happens when people don't have group STANDARDS and guidelines!
First, "African-Americans" allowed ANYONE of African descent to play the role of Black American women, but now you don't even need African blood. Now all you need is a tan (ie Jessica Alba)!
If we would have been steadfast in insisting ALL female roles be played by Afro-American women and NOT just women who 1.) had African blood or 2.) could pass as "Black" , we wouldn't have this problem. |
Renata
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 259
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 04:14 pm: |
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ROFLMAO. "What in the name of Al Jolson..."
This guy is HILARIOUS! And he's correct as well.
"Bi-racial looking Jada"? She's about as bi-racial looking as Whoopi Goldberg is. Tonya, girl, I don't know where you've been hanging out. |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 927
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 04:59 pm: |
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Renata,
That's not so funny, because I ALWAYS thought Jada Pinkett was biracial. I never saw her as just "black".
Now ghetto--yes.
From the black culture and the hood--yes.
But all black--no.
She doesn't even have African hair. Her hair is naturally straight and she's so light and aqueline looking.
I think it's because she ACTS so black, and because girls who are really really black are not allowed to be in movies and t.v., she looks all black to some people.
Standing next to Whoopi Goldberg and Loretta Devine in that movie they made about the father's funeral--she did look biracial. But standing next to Vivica Fox, she looks Black.
LOL
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Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 928
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 04:59 pm: |
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Denise Nicholas--remember her? She looks all black to me and she's lighter than Jada.
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Renata
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 261
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 05:30 pm: |
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I'm sorry, I wasn't laughing at TOnya.
I was laughing at the article and the words, "What in the name of Al Jolson..." |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1003
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 05:47 pm: |
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I thought the article was funny too, Reneta!
Kola who is Denise Nicholas -- what did she play on? The name sounds so familiar but I can't picture her. I hate when that happens.
Tonya |
Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 166
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 02:42 am: |
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If Black America jettisons the "African-American" crutch, then and only then will Hollywood's perspective on casting depth change. Again - the realization "is" that blacks by default are not African-American, and therein lies the dilemma. Right, white, or in-between. No left turn here folks. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3106
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 10:19 am: |
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The most interesting thing about this discussion is how much disparity there is about who looks black and who doesn't. So it all boils down to one's personal conception, and this varies from person to person, depending on what one individual calls light-skinned, and another doesn't, or what one person thinks of as white facial features and another doesn't. And I think people subconsciouly use their own looks as a gauge when judging who looks how. There are no standards here. I've also reached the conclusion that a distinction should be made between the words "black" and "blackness" One is an adjective and the other is a noun; one denotes a color, the other denotes a condition. Black is visible, blackness is a mystique, an emanation. So, if a mixed person exudes blackness, who is to deny them their birthright? Incidentally, Jada Pinkett doesn't have naturally sraight hair. When she wore it real short you could see how wavy it was. And if green-eyed, fair-shinned Denise Nichols doesn't look mixed, I don't know who does! And, of course, I am expressing an opinion which bring us back to my original contention. When it comes to the question of who is what, it just depends on how what is seen by who. |
Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 167
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 12:19 am: |
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It can be said that the rift regarding skin color almost always appears to emanate from dark/er-skinned blacks, regardless of looks, facial features and the like. Light/er-skinned blacks don't have a need to bring up skin color. If only darker-skinned blacks could modify their perspective, if only for a minute. |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 933
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 12:30 am: |
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The balm of prejudice falls against the darker skin.
Naturally, they are the ones to bring it up, because they are the target of the abuse.
It's amazing how much Lighter Skinned blacks sound like "White Folk", frustrated by these "color problems" that don't affect them.
NELS.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1035
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 12:49 am: |
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Another thing, Kola.. I say he's not qualified to make such a statement because he doesn't know what is discussed between light-skinned women when they're with their friends. My light-skinned girlfriends (and all the light-skinned women I've known throughout my life) talk about skin color ALL THE TIME. Light-skinned women are actually WAAAAAY MORE obsessed with skin color than dark-skinned ones. The only difference is, light-skinned women won't talk about it freely; they almost never talk about it unless they are with people the trust. It's similar to how white people won't talk about race & skin color unless they're amongst their own or with people they trust.
Tonya |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 936
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 12:54 am: |
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I agree Tonya.
You are so right.
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Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 168
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 01:45 am: |
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Kola_boof, Tonya --
Since both of your statements are quite presumptive, there's no need to delve into an area in which neither of you have any expertise or practical experience...and that's being kind. |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 949
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 02:09 am: |
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OK Nels, answer this.
Are your balls hairy or flat and scaley?
Which one is the biggest?
And do you have a brown dick with a pink head on it?
Or a deep brown Bean-pie colored head with a smooth ice coffee dick shaft?
Any moles around that pubic hair?
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Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 950
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 02:16 am: |
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We fitt'n to be kind, too, nigga.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1043
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 11:25 am: |
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...ROTFLMBAO!!!!! |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1044
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 11:53 am: |
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yall nasty! |
Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 169
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 04:46 pm: |
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Kola --
"OK Nels, answer this."
Well, I didn't know you thought so highly of yourself. Childish crap, to say the least. Next.
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Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 952
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 05:13 pm: |
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Of course I think highly of myself, Nels. I offered you that Butler's position, remember?
And perhaps if you'd be a little more childish sometimes--you'd have fun and wouldn't have to be so
staid.
And insufferable.
And there is no next in this building, darling. You've gotten off on the wrong floor.
Again.
Better get up on your tippy-toes and see what the numbers are on the buttons in Kola's elevator next time------daddy.
You how we Black bitches are.
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Ntfs_encryption
Regular Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 31
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 11:48 pm: |
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So I assume most of you believe black women are not give a fair shake in Hollywood..??? |
Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 173
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 12:57 am: |
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Ok Kola, so the world's stuck on stupid. Now what? |
Serenasailor
Regular Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 26
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 06, 2006 - 05:46 pm: |
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I agree with what someone said earlier that this is a modern-day form of blackface. In the early 1900 and 20's they would pay white actors to portray black ppl, because they didn't want to pay real black actors. In fact, it was illegal to put a black person on film. It is the same thing in 2005. They are paying lessor known white or non-black women to play roles that should go to black women. Now, they are very careful not to put black actresses with white leading men. I guess they are saying that a white man is to good to be with a Colored Whore! We as black ppl are so happy to see a black face on film that we don't even notice that we are being insulted. Halle Berry said it best when she said that Hollywood is very racist. |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 1074
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 06, 2006 - 05:55 pm: |
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Hell...they use Halle Berry to make BLACK women invisible as well.
Really.
And all through cinema...BLACK FILMMAKERS have cast the lightest skinned women, as if black women don't even exist.
Whites are racist and Blacks are colorstruck.
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