The Daily Black Blog

If you’re reading this post i’m pretty sure that you notice things that others might not exactly pay attention to. Everyone has heard the phrase “token Black” and I think that some people believe that’s exactly its purpose, to be a token, an item to obtain access to Black minds. 

In these movies they usually consist of an all white cast and a storyline that has little to do with African Americans but thats only because it’s written that way. We haave to remember that movies are nothing but a idea from someone’s head, and it can easily be and usually is bias. Some movies don’t even dare to include even one Black person or none with a speaking role unless its “Can I get that for you”. Why do they believe that they can keep limiting us to service roles? Or if a Black person has any success they are portrayed as uppitty and detached from other Blacks who might not share their fortune.

Why isn’t there ever a truly intergrated group of friends on tv? I’m interested in seeing a show with two white guys, three black guys and various other peoples. The catch you ask? The reasonable, wise friends are the Mexicans, The calm mannered intellectuals are the African Americans, and the White guys replace the others in their respective stereotypes with bad jobs, drinking/drug problems, living in a white ghetto. A different kind of movie indeed. 

As I said before we need to question what we watch. Ask ourselves what is it trying to teach me? What am I laughing at? Is the joke on me?

When you look at the astonishing career of Tyler Perry and how his burst on the scene took not only the theater world by storm but also Hollywood. With movies and plays featuring Perry in wig, make-up, a body suit, moo-moo and granny shoes as Madea the gun-toting granny. The plays began by talking about life issues that affect African Americans and others alike with a Christian tone, but then reality meets Hollywood and the characters begin to strecth into caritcatures with Mr. Brown the ashy, buffoon, uncle character and others. Drug addicts are part of real life, so I’m not against that, but the way that Madea handles situations are overly done. Some of the messages are positive, highlighting the right thing to do in that situation. Then comes the t.v show by Perry House of Payne where once again there is a drug addicted woman, who left her children and lived on the streets. All the characters live up to their low expectations, while sometimes adding a public service announcement before the song and dance. All this makes you wonder why did Perry explode so fast? Is it because he, like others in “entertainment” are paid well and careers are advanced when they display some of the most contraversal and stereotypic ideas.  

Read what Wikipedia says about “Madea”: 

“Mabel “Madea” Simmons is a fictional character created by writer/director Tyler Perry. Based on Perry’s mother and aunt, Madea is an aggressive, grey haired, bespectacled African American matriarch. She will argue with anyone, she also has the very frequent tendency to threaten people by pulling a gun out of her purse, and she has a penchant for her unique pronunciation and enunciation of words as reflected in her tag line, “I oughta punch chur in da face!” She is part of a large family, with many children and grandchildren. Her name is spelled variously as “Mabel” and “Mable,” probably in order to confuse government authorities and others when applying for jobs, getting credit cards, etc.[citation needed] She is portrayed by Tyler Perry himself in both the films and plays.”

Have you ever been scared after watching a movie? So scared you cut on all the lights in the house and put something heavy by your bed just in case. Ever did ninja moves after a karate flick or find yourself stating a fact that you heard in a movie without cross checking it? 

If you asked some people they would say that they have little or no impact on their life, but is this true? If you think about the movie quotes you remember or the whole scenes against your thoughts or behaviors you will see that you think like the movies generally do, let me prove it to you. 

If I asked you to close your eyes and think about a guy selling oranges on the side of the road, what would he look like? Mexican? Dirty?Moustache? the same thing when you hear immigrant. This isn’t limited to Mexicans, if I said gangsta what would they look like? Black guy between 5’4″ and 6′ tall, short hair or braids, black hoodie, jeans, boots probably standing on a corner somewhere with his peers. Say I asked you to think about a person who is in touch with their African American heritage. You would see some militant Black person always overly-conspiracy theory, and angry. They usually hate Whites but have one for a lover.

It’s funny how we may notice how movies act as a window to the world, but we forget that the window was built by someone. Every movie is a product of someone’s mind. Every word, moment and scene is created therefore it’s not reality but art; a painting or picture that presents things the way the artist wishes, not necessarily the way it is.

So the next time you see your stereotypical drunk Irishmen, Black servant, mammy, gangsta or gay guy just remember that they are characters, figments of someone’s imagination and if you live someone’s creation then you let that person create you. Why do we have so many copy cat gangstas, because people don’t realize that those people are actors. They use stage names because they are at work. The only responsible way to watch a movie is to always remember that movies are movies and reality is reality, if you keep that in mind you will keep from gaining bias and prejudices from movies. 

Now I have to contradict that last statement some, I do also believe that movies are like books, when they are well researched and carefully crafted to display an ideal in a light that only film can; it’s great. It’s a tool that can be used for good and evil to educate and decimate or both at the same time. My final word, watch movies carefully and figure out what each movie is trying to teach you, what message is it trying to convey through caricatures and you’ll discover the magic of movies.

Well we decided to treat ourselves to some movies this week. Some of them I had been wanting to see for a while, others I couldn’t wait to see it just because it looked ridiculous. First lets talk about Cadillac Records which let me say I thought was great. The movie told the story of Chess records and the music pioneers of that came out of that studio. The movie showed how Chuck Berry basically created and at the same time racially integrated rock and roll; and how many of his and other Black artist’s music was stolen by Whites at the time. It gave you an insight to the struggles of these artist and paid homage to a important part of American history.

Hancock

This movie was a piece of work from the beginning to the end. A typical blaxploitation movie full of stereotypes and negative images. Like for example hes an alcoholic and bum(not in the sense of homeless, but dirty). When in the history of superheroes have you seen a dirty, alcoholic, depressed superhero? Why now, when he is one of the main Black superheroes in existence? Then it turns into a buddy/savior movie when the guy Roy(White) persuades Hancock to clean-up his image and become likable by society. This superhuman Black guy is basically a child under the guidance of this normal White guy. In the end of the movie, they convey a message that racial mixing leads to the demise of both Blacks and Whites. Don’t waste your time, money, or energy.

Yes Man

Even though the critics said not to see this one, I did anyway and i’m glad I did. I have been wanting to see this movie for a while now, ever since I seen the commercial were Carrey was in a drunken fight saying “every girl deserves to goto a ball.” Now I usually don’t like Jim Carrey movies because of all the slap stick comedy, but this movie was finely balanced. You got to see more of the actor side of him, but the setup, execution and everything made the movie a must see if you’re looking to laugh for 90 mins.