Has there ever been a movie for blacks that wasn't about blacks??

[Emperor Les]

Most Black people movies are about stereotypical Black themes (soul food, big fat Black ladies, slavery and/or prejudice, violence in the hood, basketball, church, etc...)

Has there ever been a movie made for Black people that didn't have anything to do with a "Black" theme? I can't think of ONE. The main ingredient for every Black movie is an exhibit/exaggeration of their race. I cannot ever imagine a day where audiences will see a totally neutral movie for Black people. Imagine a Black Office Space, or a Black The 6th Sense. I consider the Black cinema one of the ultimate FAILS of the past 40 years.

[djskillz]

Hey, there aint nothin wrong with soul food or fat black ladies. My family survived 6 generations from fat black ladies cooking soul food. Yes we have a history of heart problems but that aint the point!

[SMH]

you are right about that, it must be terrible for blacks to watch movies which are ALWAYS destined to blacks. but at the same time, you can say the same thing about all those bollywood indian movies, or the many martial arts movies. i think its mainly due to the fact that the "white" culture has a much wider range of "written history".

but yeah you are right: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Bad Boys 1 and 2, basically all the shitty martin lawrence movies, etc.

but how about for example " city of god" ? this movie doesnt have the stereotipical black theme
or some denzel washington movies?

[Emperor Les]

^Because City Of God is a movie based in Brazil. It has nothing to do with the United States, lolz!

[DUMBO]

Most Black people movies are about stereotypical Black themes (soul food, big fat Black ladies, slavery and/or prejudice, violence in the hood, basketball, church, etc...)

Has there ever been a movie made for Black people that didn't have anything to do with a "Black" theme? I can't think of ONE. The main ingredient for every Black movie is an exhibit/exaggeration of their race. I cannot ever imagine a day where audiences will see a totally neutral movie for Black people. Imagine a Black Office Space, or a Black The 6th Sense. I consider the Black cinema one of the ultimate FAILS of the past 40 years.

dumb thread. those movies are called movies. movies that ppl relate to regardless of their ethnicity. so, yes, there have been movies for blacks not about being black. dumb thread.

[CharlesJones]

This is a dumb topic. Like you said Dumbo, movies are movies. I watch white movies and i can't relate to them and i'm black. But some white people go through the same problems blacks go through. I don't understand why white people don't watch black movies. Some of them may watch black movies, the white people who try to be black LOL.

[brock]

characterizing movies in terms of color is just stupid. There are two types of movies, smart and dumb, and it's not hollywood's fault that blacks prefer the dumb ones and aren't interested or moved by the smart ones, simply because there are not enough black actors. Amistad was a great movie, but I seriously doubt more than a dozen black people saw it and actually appreciated it.

[check two]

Hey, there aint nothin wrong with soul food or fat black ladies. My family survived 6 generations from fat black ladies cooking soul food. Yes we have a history of heart problems but that aint the point!

Yeah, I wonder why the south has such a horrible obesity and diabetes problem, and fat ass people waddling around.

[CharlesJones]

Beautifulrock, what are you talking about there aren't enough black actors? There's a lot of black actors. I like serious movies like Amistad but the problem with movies like that is that they don't get enough support from blacks because they don't like to see movies like that which reminds them of their bad past. Slavery was a terrible time for blacks and they don't wanna see stuff like that and i don't blame them. I saw Rosewood movie with Ving Rhames and Don Cheadle and that was kinda upsetting to watch because of how blacks were treated back then by whites. I've also seen all the Roots movies and those movies pissed me off which i'm sure pissed off blacks. Some people take stuff too seriously. There's nothing wrong with doing ghetto and comedy movies about blacks. A lot of blacks got upset about Soul Plane when it came out but to me it's just a movie. I thought it was gonna be corny but i actually liked it.

[check two]

I thought the Roots movies won awards and was watched by a whole lot of people?

[CharlesJones]

Roots might've won some NAACP awards but i don't think it won any oscars. I could be wrong. A lot of blacks did watch the Roots movies but i'm sure they were upset watching them because they don't wanna see terrible shit like that because of the way whites treated blacks. Mississippi Burning is also a good movie with Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe. That movie was about a black guy and 2 white guys that were civil rights workers back in the day that were killed and their bodies were never found. Gene and Willem was investigating their murders. Gene was kicking white racist asses in that flick LOL. I like how he had that white guy scared to death in the barbershop when he was shaving his face with a razor and he cut him bad LOL. He was beating up that guy because he had beat up his wife and Gene was liking his wife. Darius McCrary who played on Family Matters tv show was also in that.

[check two]

If people are living in the projects, you would think they would want to see some positivity in movies sometimes, and not so many movies set in the slums with a lot of shootings, drug deals gone bad, and fat white girls waddling around.

[brock]

characterizing movies in terms of color is just stupid. There are two types of movies, smart and dumb, and it's not hollywood's fault that blacks prefer the dumb ones and aren't interested or moved by the smart ones, simply because there are not enough black actors in them. Amistad was a great movie, but I seriously doubt more than a dozen black people saw it and actually appreciated it.

Beautifulrock, what are you talking about there aren't enough black actors? There's a lot of black actors. I like serious movies like Amistad but the problem with movies like that is that they don't get enough support from blacks because they don't like to see movies like that which reminds them of their bad past. Slavery was a terrible time for blacks and they don't wanna see stuff like that and i don't blame them. I saw Rosewood movie with Ving Rhames and Don Cheadle and that was kinda upsetting to watch because of how blacks were treated back then by whites. I've also seen all the Roots movies and those movies pissed me off which i'm sure pissed off blacks. Some people take stuff too seriously. There's nothing wrong with doing ghetto and comedy movies about blacks. A lot of blacks got upset about Soul Plane when it came out but to me it's just a movie. I thought it was gonna be corny but i actually liked it.

Sorry, I clarified my statement.

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

roots was a tv movie so it would not have been eligble for oscars.

i weary of reading the racial musings of white people with agendas, so i just kind of skimmed the thread...movies are art, art should be the statement of an auteur, and not something contrived to appeal to a certain audience.

i love how racial threads are always filled with stupid generalizations..."black people prefer dumb movies"..."maybe a dozen black people watched amistad"...and so on.

maybe if people stopped treating different ethnic groups as monolithic mass organisms that all think the same and enjoy the same shit, we would have more diversity in the types of films that are out there.

[DirtMcgehrk]

Yeah I think it's kind of weird calling something a "Black Person Movie". Granted there are films that are most definitely directed towards an African American audience, but I don't really think that they have a strictly African American audience. Take a look at Tyler Perry's films. I'm not saying that they're great movies, but they consistently do well in the box office and compete with major Hollywood films that don't have an all black cast or contain the stereotypes that Butterfly Breaststroke was talking about.

Here's what I'm trying to say: Tyler Perry films ect. couldn't be as financially successful as they are if only black people watched them. Wouldn't this indicate that "Black Films" appeal to much more wider range of races than JUST black people? I'm white and have a ton of friends that think movies like Friday and How High are hilarious (and I'd have to agree). I'm not gonna defend some of Eddie Murphy's latest movies, or Martin Lawrence's work, but these movies aren't FOR blacks, just as a movie like Gomhorra isn't FOR Italians, or Boondock Saints isn't FOR Irish people. All of these films can give us some insight into cultural aspects of different races that others may be interested in or previously unaware of while not boring audiences to death and managing to appeal to a large audience. It may be kind of sad, but it's true that people nowadays generally aren't going to even attempt to absorb any type of cultural educating if it doesn't contain something (violence, sex, fat suits, stereotypes) to keep their short attention spans. Maybe though it's better to have some understanding of a culture, no matter how vague, rather than no understanding at all.

So how is a recurring feature of a man playing an overweight African American woman a cultural indicator? I'm not saying it is. I think what it boils down to is bad film making, which anyone can do regardless of race. Unfortunately these failures and stereotypes are given a lot of attention because of their vulgarity and shock value. What is an audience going to pay more attention to? A subtle and moving performance by an African American actor or a half-naked, cross-dressing Martin Lawrence taking an enormous dump in a disgustingly wrinkled fat suit?

Surprise Surprise! There are in fact great movies made by African American directors featuring African American actors that don't blatantly play on stereotypes and prejudice, as well as the other things mentioned, and even ones that do that make very good points about racial issues and stereotypes. Spike Lee has directed films that address black culture and racial issues (most do) with movies like Bamboozled and Do The Right Thing. He also has directed films that aren't really Afro-centric at all, such as films like Inside Man. Lee is probably one of the most influential film makers of the past 50 years. Then you've got films like Menace II Society, American Pimp, From Hell and The Book of Eli. All of these movies were directed by the Hughes Brothers, both black, both who dealt with race issues in their first two films in very different ways, and also directed more mainstream racially unfocused movies (From Hell, The Book of Eli) later on. James Toback isn't black, but he is a director who has successfully put the spotlight on racial issues in American culture, as well as one of the greatest African American athletes of our time. He directed Black & White, which was a criticism of whites, infatuated with African Americans, attempting to insert themselves unsuccessfully into the culture. He also directed the documentary Tyson, which humanized what many people stereotyped as a typical, angry, violent, unintelligent black man who happened to be an iconic sports figure. The film revealed him to be very smart and emotional.

All in all I can see where some people may think that "movies for blacks" are a certain type of thing for a certain group of people, but I believe that it's just an unfortunate surface coating that obscures the legacy and work of African American film makers. Just dig a little deeper before you decide to pigeonhole something because of what is immediately visible.......

Whew!!!