Sunday, November 10, 2013

Hollywood's Sympathetic Racism


Autumn arrives in America. 
           Green foliage bursts into an array of colors, 
                     While Hollywood is immune to seasons. 


Yes, Atop the walk of fame, 

the more things change, 
the more they stay the same.




October 4, 2013, the well anticipated film, Gravity was released, and weeks later, this negro right here, went to go see it. Why? Because I didn't feel like watching another depressing slave movie. I'd rather watch a White woman get hit upside the head by space debris. It starred academy award winner, Sandra Bullock. While a rich white woman got lost in space in a box office blockbuster, nameless Black faces picked even more cotton in another box office hit, 12 Years a Slave
Both films are surrounded by whispers of Oscars. These soft murmurings come to no surprise to those like me who keep an eye on the bullshit routine of tinsel town. 




In recent years, there has been an onslaught of films which depict depressed and oppressed Blacks. What is of more concern to me, is that all of these films were automatically deemed, "Oscar Worthy".


12 Years a Slave....
The nappy headed, sweaty, wailing negro in distress has always garnered violins and red carpet pity parties for a race of people who can never leave history. 

My people have been to Hell, But they are still on the rise as Maya Angelou suggests. The problem is not that Hollywood dares to tell realistic tragic stories in American history, but my eyebrow raises when it becomes painfully evident that we have to be niggers on film in order to dress up for the Oscars. 

Precious, The Help, 12 Years a Slave, Django, The Butler and Lincoln, are all films released in the last few years which saw Oscar nods, and all of them feature battered Black people. Of course this has been a long tradition in Hollywood and even television, Enter Roots. In my opinion, it seems that films like 12 Years a Slave are the torture porn which accompany the racial bullet points needed to garner Oscar nods. What's more, is that Black directors like Lee Daniels (Precious) and Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) can only advance in Hollywood by oppressing Black people on screen. The state of the film industry is simple; White actors get Oscars for acting, Black actors get Oscars for subject matter. What is that subject matter? It's either: 
A. Slavery/Oppression of Blacks
B. Gang violence 
C. The White Savior of the helpless nigger


Depressed Black Oppressed=OSCAR

Denzel rivals King Kong several decades after Hattie McDaniel cleaned White people's shit for an Oscar. The Help still dresses up for the momentous occasion of the White savior. The statue of the bald headed White man is what every good negro actor strives for.

White Victim + Scary Black Man=OSCAR
Tell me something, out of all of the strong performances of the great actor Denzel Washington over the years, why has only one given him an Oscar? One where he plays a role that almost any actor could, one of a street thug. Denzel was too great of a Black actor for Hollywood, they had to put him in his place by forcing him to be connected to that one role for the rest of his life. He may have been Malcolm X, he may have had a thing for a Devil in a Blue Dress, but at the end of the day, your entire career will be overshadowed by what they want you to represent. You will be the nigger in the street with guns blazing. You will be the slutty Carmen Jones type, riding cock and sexualized out of your talents. Halle, you will get that Oscar, and never be heard from again.

Well who is heard from again? People like George Clooney and Sandra Bullock.

THE WHITE SAVIOR. THE HELPLESS NEGRO=OSCAR
Sandra Bullock is an Oscars darling. The racist academy raised their glasses while she saved an uneducated Black football player from poverty in the film, The Blind Side. It was a heart warming tale of a rich white Christian woman, who showed a poor negro what it's like to be civilized. She saved him like no Black person could or was willing to do. The film is one of many that parade the idea that Blacks need saving. Dangerous Minds, Mississippi Burning, Cry Freedom, Cool Runnings, The Butler...The list goes on when it comes to Hollywood's obsession with the White savior. 

Blacks never boycott because after all, they've long been brainwashed to worship a White Jesus. Hell, Tyler Perry keeps this Jesus in a six foot tall, gun-totting, big breasted grandmother named Madea. So Black people are simply too preoccupied to give a damn about how they are depicted. 
The Whites tried to save the cursing negro in "A Time to Kill"

Black people are too busy waiting for Sandra Bullock and the other White people of the law to save a negro in A Time to Kill. While I love Sandra Bullock as an actresses and humanitarian, I can't help but be irritated at the number of White savior films she's been apart of. It seems that Miss Bullock was inspired by her golden statue, because not long after, she joined the bandwagon of White millionaire starlets who save African babies. Miss Bullock adopted her African baby in true Hollywood fashion. She not only plays the role, she lives the role. What would Africa do without Angelina Jolie, Madonna and Sandra? Quiet as it's kept, I was adopted at birth, but to Black parents. I fell in love with the film, Losing Isaiah at a young age, but come to think of it, that film implied that Black couples can't save Black babies. 

Speaking of Halle Berry, do you remember who made her, "FEEL GOOD"???


A racist white man. Do you remember how uneducated she was, how Latisha Musgrove needed a White man to save her from the problems of her dark skinned bad boy baby's daddy on death row? He needed to fuck the tears out of her and make her forget about the death of her fat greedy Black son.
Black Whore=OSCAR
Look at her name, "Latisha Musgrove..." It implies a mixed woman like Halle is, her Black mother would name her Latisha and Musgrove is clearly a European name from her father. The stereotypes of that film deterred the actress Angela Bassett from playing the starring role, but we all saw how Halle Berry gradually distanced herself from Black directors. This was her chance to completely sell out. To get that check and be invited to the eyes wide shut parties. This was her chance to win the Oscar. She was well aware that her exposed breasts and a White dick would get her a golden Mr. Clean statue. Sorry Spike Lee, the Black folk you've made famous don't give a damn about you now.
I digress, well actually, I am right on topic.

Successful Blacks with universal issues=Magic Theaters + No Oscar
You see, films like The Best Man, Malcolm X and Eve's Bayou don't interest The Academy or mainstream Hollywood. Why is it that Black people go to the movies to see a bunch of privileged White women humiliate Black women in The Help, while a bunch of educated Black people in a series like The Best Man doesn't get the same excitement? Because Black people insist on being depicted as victims. They insist on feeling sorry for something they've never experienced and believe that our stories of triumph or even modern day romances aren't worthy of the same glory as "mainstream" films like The Proposal.

We all know that mainstream is code for, "WHITE"
Successful Whites with Universal Issues=$327 Million worldwide

Yes, Sandra Bullock falling in love on screen will always book more interviews on more major talk shows than Nia Long in a warm embrace with Eddie Cibrian, even if he's White.
Let's face it, Hollywood is segregated. If Black directors want to get "mainstream" recognition then they need to NIGGER IT UP. They need to bring on the stories of Black struggle where Whites or mixed people save the day. Enter Precious.

I am not that old, so it is a shame that I have witnessed so many slave ships get the green light and first class flights to Access Hollywood. I've seen a lot of wholesome films like Soul Food and Love Jones but I never got to see these actors on the talk shows I would watch. I never got to really know these stars, how they really were outside of films. Keep in mind, this was in the nineties, it was worse then, but now, it's not so much better. Anyone who matters in Black Hollywood is too afraid of Wendy Williams and Oprah threw in the towel. David Letterman doesn't know who Sanaa Lathan is and probably would assume she was an intern while groping her in the dressing room.
"Love Jones" a Black Hollywood classic 

With so much diversity in the leaves this November, it's just an unfortunate shame that STILL we don't rise.
Still, White people get to fly in space while Black people continue to support the only formula that gets us noticed. Still we are unaware that we are separate but equal when it comes to casting.

The powerful inspirational image of Sanda Bullock falling from space, in a burning capsule and finally standing tall on a beach is something the Regina Halls of Hollywood will never reach. Their capsules would simply burn up in earth's atmosphere, no close up shots of their brown hands in the sand. Miss Bullock experienced cinematic triumph in a way no Black actor ever could to such a wide audience. It was a telling moment when that movie concluded with the crescendo of music blasting in my ear. In the next theater, slaves picked cotton and I was glad that Sandra's character didn't die, but I wondered why Black characters do nothing but cry.                                                                       The Oscars lie.




1 comment:

  1. Hmmmm. I can't say I disagree with you. Your writing style is combative, but you make pretty solid points. However, giving Black characters a college education and an elevated socioeconomic status does not make for a solid film. Tyler Perry utilizes this practice for the "Why Did I Get Married" series.

    Also, I'd like you to further expound on what he means when says, 'universal issues.' Those are the two areas that give me pause although I agree with you for the most part.

    Also, why do we(Black individuals) elevate the Oscars and give them so much credence?

    The bias is obvious.

    Why do we continue to become upset when issues of racism arise in the film industry? It's like getting upset at water for being wet.

    It's something I've come to expect.

    As I always say, at the end of the day it's a business. Directors and producers want a return on their monetary investments. What are proven money makers that receive critical acclaim when it comes to Black thespians on film? Stories of Black suffrage!!! They'll always be made. And Black actors will take the roles.

    As an artist, I see no problem with taking the roles, long as you give a credible performance. It's the burden of being a Black artist.

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