Part Two
Getting back to the three examples of Will, Jamie and Usher. Will has obviously grown on a lot of women as the years has progressed and is a big star of course. He’s a good-looking guy who yes can even come across as sexy to women these days. But is he Sexiest Man Alive material? I mean I don’t know about that. Maybe I’m the wrong person to judge but I’m guessing he isn’t. Its like saying that if a younger Tom hanks built his body up like Will and was the king of the box office would he qualify as Sexiest Man Alive? Probably not.
Jamie Foxx? Lets get real. Jamie Foxx himself repeatedly talks about how he isn’t a pretty boy like co-stars Tom Cruise. Even with his ego he knows not to put himself on some pedestal concerning his looks. In the real world he would probably stand out a lot more but in terms of the pool of actors he has countless fellow thespians who are better looking than him. The thing that stand out the most in terms of his appeal to women was when he was cast in Miami Vice. The black women were pissed. They wanted someone who was hot like Philip Michael Thomas. They were throwing out names such as Blair, Shemar, Terrence Howard and even Will Smith. When large numbers of women don’t think of you as cute (especially those of your own race) its hard to be considered a legitimate Sexiest Man Alive type.
As for Usher I guess you could make a stronger argument. But he’s not a slam dunk either. We’re not talking about Ricky martin here who had all the ladies of all the races swooning. Even Chris Rock was raving about his looks back in the day. All the girls love Usher’s body but they tend to be split when it comes to his face. And that’s a good segue to bring up that its not just the lack of leading black men in movies, there’s also a lack of them in music too. There are no guys who can live up to a young Marvin Gaye or Sam Cooke in terms of the looks department. No it seems like black men who sing, especially if they are really good looking, is a threat to society as well so they have gone the way of the dodo bird. When Terrence Howard was asked about competing I the R&B game he said he didn’t think he would be able to compete with Justin Timberlake I terms of sex appeal (I’m sort of paraphrasing here). Terrence typically modest about his looks but the thing that stood out is that when reaching for a good-looking guy to compare himself in the R&B genre the guy he came up with was a white dude. A white dude who actually isn’t all that on R&B charts to boot. Ridiculous. Are the two pretty boys with close associations with R&B Timberlake and Robin Thicke? Could you see that happening in reverse for country music or even pop music? Maybe Chris Brown was the main sex symbol in the R&B genre up until last month but now his career is about to crash and burn.
Main point is you don’t have to be gay to understand what’s going on. Just as straight black women are always so worried about having beautiful black women represent them in music and in Hollywood, shouldn’t us straight black men want the same thing for the guys representing black men throughout the world? All races try to put their “best foot forward” when it comes to this type of representation. Sure there are average looking white male actors and musicians who are successful. But when the media conglomerates are trying to MAKE stars they tend to go after the white guy who can model in GQ. By doing so they are trying to sell the idea of white men as sex symbols. Same thing happens for white women and Latinos and Asian women, Same happens for black women too. Regina Hall isn’t beating out this latest crop of gorgeous black actresses for roles. And in the music department all the attention is put on Beyonce, Alicia and Rhianna. As superficial as it is at least the corporations and the media are aggressively selling the idea of black women as sex symbols. That is NOT happening for black men at all.
If you really want to know what’s going on don’t be worried about High Jackman for getting the Sexiest Man Alive title. Instead pay attention to his being cast as Wolverine in the first place. In the comic book Wolverine is a short, hairy, kinda ugly type of dude with an awful haircut. But who did they pick to play him in the X-Men films? No other than a guy who is good-looking enough to win the Sexiest Man Alive selection. You see what I’m talking about? You guys are getting the order wrong? What should have caught your attention in the first place was half a decade ago when a pretty boy like Jackman got chosen. That was the perfect example of how modern Hollywood isn’t going to have a white male lead in a franchise unless he has some pretty qualities to him. In this upcoming film called “Wolverine” all I’m hearing about the character of Gamble is that the actor playing him is a hunk. For God’s sakes are the studios trying draw us fanboys in or are they going for the women and the gays? Because I don’t give a fuck if the dude playing Gamble is a hunk. But Hollywood does. The sex appeal of white men must be shoved down everyone’s throats.
I know this post is already way too long but I have one more example of black male ineptitude. Chris Rock is doing another remake (lame) with a mostly black cast. This time it is of an English-language film that only came out a few years ago, “Death at A Funeral”. The plot of the original and this upcoming remake is that a funeral turns a family inside out when its discovered that the departed was actually gay. The family learns this when his male lover shows up to pay his respects. The film has signed up Chris Rock, martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan. I know a bunch of you guys are probably thinking “wow what a great lineup.” But I try to think of what I consider to be the bigger picture. You see also in the cast is another pretty white boy from the X-men franchise, James Marsden. Since he is the only white person cast in the film so far I’m guessing he is playing the gay lover (I could be wrong). My problem though is why not cast a young black leading man in that role? Also why is it that best looking guy in the mostly black cast going to be the white guy. Perhaps its picky but its that type of stuff that catches my attention and its they type of stuff that happens too much in Hollywood.
