The Skin Game

Another article about the lack of black men and white women as lovers on screen surrounding the movie "Inside Man" with Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/skingame.html

 

The only way that he is going to get the kind of parts that he wants is if he hooks up with an independent filmmaker that will more than likely go straight to DVD. He'd definitely would have to take a pay cut with no major royalties. He's also a director himself so all he would have to do is collab with a good screenwriter and get a producer and it's done.

 

It's simple Economics, the audience, is majority WHITE in patriarchate society. The question YOU should be asking is: "why do we get so upset of the obvious?" The media will ALWAYS portray BM/WW parings in repugnant mannerisms, e.g. black male lusting after the untouchable white women, untouchable white women looking down on the "token" black male, unstable white women falling for an even more unstable black male, etc. Never the stable black male business exc, with Psychology and Economics degrees and white women chasing after him. Social conditioning will prevent Denzel Washington(whom I believe is a gifted actor), from having any portrayal of a "normal romance" interest/connection with white women.

 

i think question that should be asked is should we care.
Black actors, writers and etc. should be the ones in the fore front exploring these possibilities. And there have been a number of independent films that have bm/ww couplings that viewed it with dignity and three dimension. I don't think thought that cause there is a black man in a movie and white woman in the movie they should automatically hook up.

In the inside man, the relationship was more aimed towards the cop and robber. an introduction of a relationship really wasn't key to the movie.

It is obvious how the Hollywood machine runs and that machine is dependent on dollars. People have shown Hollywood on a continual basis what they will and won't see. Hollywood has pandered so far to certain groups that they are now struggling to pull in enough people to see their films but that is another topic.

I think what it will take is those people who say they don't have problem with it actually putting their money where their mouth is in that regard. It can't be just black men buying and making noise about it.

Alot more white women should say hey these are options for us as well but that will likely not happen for as far as interracial relationships between and whites are still viewed with a bit of suspicion.

 

I think that if the movie is meant to be a romance film, or some film with 2 people in the lead (a black male and a white female) who are supposedly a couple, then they should be portrayed as a couple if that goes along with the movie's premise...

but, Hollyweird won't go for that, unless the couple is experiencing drama and disaster in their relationship. Notice how all the black male/white female couples you see on TV these days are always doomed to failure in their relationships because of some accident/mental illness/ disapproving family members,etc., and then some. Obviously the writers, directors, and producers of these shows are pulling punches to keep the segregated audiences happy and not protesting something that's 'controversial' or 'inappropriate.'

 

You and 7Seven put the final nail in the coffin. The white man controls everything we see and hear and you, i and the rest of us know the rest.

 

I'd say television is mainly dominated by descending order: Caucasian, Jewish, Latins, then Asian.

 

There are movies that are in the pipeline as I mentioned on here before
(Emma's war, Sammy Davis jr project, Charlize theron's film, Little Darlings, Richard pryor film, etc.) Only thing that needs waited on is someone to make a move on these films. We can discuss it but the bottom line is someone with a voice needs to shout it. And in hollywood BM unfortunately aint that strong to stand up against the man.

 

That's because they don't have enough support to back them up. Those willing to support are probably gonna sit back and post on site such as this one stating how they wish others would take the lead.(nothing against you kenny). And those BM in Hollywood want to keep their jobs and good reputations, so they try to minimize their conflict with their network of Hollywood people as much as possible. Not to mention, it's hard enough making it into Hollywood as it is, so once they get their foot in the door, they wanna keep it there.

Movies aren't necessarily expensive, but they also aren't cheap. It's a lot harder to do than say, as far as making more sensual IR films. Most major film companies (Universal, Paramount, Touchstone, etc) don't condone putting IR couples on the screen because it won't sell. Very few will go to see it, and it will immediately go to DVD and be forgotten ASAP. It's gonna take a miracle IR film to capture the audience of America today. I'm sure even if the WW was portrayed as a college graduate turned dentist, and the BM was a doctor, the film would still get little recognition, a profitable grosse or appreciation from American audiences. It's gonna take one hell of a plot and story to really make things happen as many of us would like to see.

 

Ir films have proven in the past to do good with audiences with save the last dance, guess whos' coming to dinner?, and O. So that statement was
untrue, they just want you to believe that to cover up their racist asses.

 

In all sincerity, i believe that people especially black men are hanging over this whole Hollywood-would-not-make-an-IR-film propaganda too much. Let's get real, do we really need a fucking movie director to show us things we clearly know happen in real life? Do we need the white man to dictate what happens in modern day American life? Do we need to wait for Hollywood and the rest of corporate America to accept black men/white women pairings? I do not think so. Whats my solution? Live in the real world and do whatever floats your boat. Stop waiting for the white man to show to the world things that already exist. It clearly displeases the white man to see his biggest adversary with his pearl but none of that is a freaking issue with me and it should not be a problem with any man, wait, any black man with common sense.

 

There is absolutely no way any man in here can play dumb about this post...

and, yea, Cris, I was also impressed by 7Seven's post on this subject. He spoketh the truth, did he not? :wink:

 

I think that this is a good solution to the problem.

 

I think if Robert DeNiro were playing the part instead of Washington, he wouldn't have had a romp with Foster's character either.

In fact, Foster, to my mind, might have had some inuendos perhaps but it was all about greasing the wheel to get her job done. I think her character got her highs from that power play and getting deals. Her character was a total pro at getting things her clients needed.

Like a female godfather kinda.

Just my 1.75 cents CA

 

It's been touched on before but the prevalent ww/bm relationship is the "doomed relationship."
Either his an ass or on drugs or self loathing. The woman is often much of the same thing with the distinction of being a prostitute, a junky or some one who is considered trash.

look at the relationship on the show "My Name is Earl." for example. this amalgamation of bm/ww is seen as an temporary extremely rare thing. Something that happens to someone else or in some far off metropolis.

We, Black men, according to the media portrayal are beings that are either sexual predators or sexual impotent. Its the shaft v. the friendly black man. Morgan Freeman, a talented actor, has made a pretty good career playing the neutral Black man. He is more the surrogate who is willing to help rather than anyone who may be remotely sexually appealing.

Compare comments between say Morgan Freeman and the top actors who are male, white and in his age bracket.

Sean Connery- Ranked one of sexiest men alive and is still offered lead romantic roles.
Micheal Douglas-Has yet to play the mentor or old teacher in any significant role he has thus far.
Harrison Ford- still the action Hero and still played as the male romantic lead.

 

Fantastic analysis!! You're quite right!

 

No one is questioning the fact that BM/WW relationships aren't well portrayed in the media. The money argument, while logical, falls short of showing the real agenda behind such portrayals. Money is just an indication of the collective actions of movie goers. What I am really interested in understanding is what really motivates that action (or lack of action (of not seeing IR movies when they happen to be good movies).

That being said, I wouldn't wait for movies to tell me what's right or what isn't. We ultimately determine our own destiny.

 

Narcissism. Buy Hollywood and you get to view your fantasies portrayed on screen. Think about it. How many WM/BW or WM/WW films for that matter would be made if BM owned Hollywood?

 

troll chocula or count chocula returns

 

God, your dumb! You can't even come up with your own insults. I can see the smoke coming out your ears from brain overload trying to remember that one.