Hey! I've recently recogized the wealth / influence of African-American cinema in the last fifty years. It seems that the African-American culture has had a great impact on the USA and the world abroad. In light of this, I've created an "African-American movie" poll at http://www.silkysoul.com/soulmovies to gauge the most significant Black movie to date.
A "black" movie in regards to this list refers to a story / plotline that is either a depiction (drama /action) or an exaggeration (comedy) of the African-American lifestyle. It's when one person can say "I lived (or I know somebody who lived) that experience" or "I know somebody like that".
Please choose your favorites (or the best), and post your results here!
"It seems that the African-American culture has had a great impact on the USA and the world abroad"
O man that is the funniest/worst thing I've heard in a while not because it isn't true but because it makes you sound like you just found out that african american people make a difference in the world. But to answer your question if you count Dead Presidents as black cinema I would have to say that was a pretty damned good movie.
Are Black Movies made by White Producers/Directors really "Black Movies"? Just because the primary actors/actresses are black, doesn't make it a "Black Movie".
What percentage of the cast and crew (and producers/financers/publicists/distrbutors) have to be black to make a movie fit that tidy category?
And since some folks (Halle Barry) are of mixed heritage, do they count for half? Would Tiger Woods count as a quarter? Ooh! Since Charlize Theron is technically an African-American, does she count too?
I'm Gonna Get You Sucka is still one of my favorites. The scene where Chris Rock is trying to buy chicken and a soda kills me. Got change for a hundred?
I think black movies can be directed, financed or whatever elsed by white people and still be a black movie. I think none of that matters as long as the story of the movie deals with some aspect of african american culture then i think it should be considered black... even if it's a parody of their culture. Plus the reading rainbow guy might as well be white I mean he was freakin Jordy on Star Trek and he starred in one of the biggest black movies of all time.... you know.... uhhh what was it called.... Tree feet?... Nutrient sucking wooden legs?... uhh... Roots there you go.
All in all, it's a retarded question with no real answer. The original post says something about movies depicting the "African-American lifestlye." Well, that paints a pretty broad stroke. What exactly is the African-American lifestyle, or for that matter, the Caucasian-American lifestyle?
I make light of all this because, in the end, movies are movies. I hate the label "Black movies" or anything of that ilk. Can you imagine me going out and trying to get a "white movie" financed, or is the supposition there that if it ain't black, then it must be white? They're all just movies, with people of various ethnicities in acting roles or on the crew, etc.
Now, if you just want to know what my favorite movie starring a black person (people) is, then that would be Do the Right Thing.
This message has been edited by fyi... on Aug 27, 2004 11:07 AM
Can you imagine Mel Gibson as Michael Corleone in "The Godfather"? How 'bout Jackie Chan as Rick Blaine in "Casablanca"? As much as we would LIKE to see the world as a color-blind place, there are SOME stories that need to be told with a certain cast. Most of the movies listed in the poll I recommended are plots which could have been told from other perspectives, but the fact that it's in America causes certain cultural behaviors to be displayed because of the ethnicity of the cast! It is NOT a "retarted" question, unless America is a "retarded" place! (That's a WHOLE nother discussion thread! :) )
Um...I spelled "retarded" correctly. Unless you are a "retart."
And yes, I can imagine those actors in the roles you mentioned, for the same reason whatshername can play Peter Pan, and young actors can put on makeup to play old people (or for that matter, how white people played asians, native americans, etc. decades ago). It's called suspension of disbelief.
I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it certainly has been done before, and probably will be again.
I love this film mainly because even though all of the main characters in the film are African-American, very little of the film is actually concerned with that. It's an African-American themed film without any African-American themed agenda. You could change any of the character's ethnicity and still have a film that works just as well. The only change would be the part where the Denzel Washington character explains to Antwone that the abuse he suffered as a child is a result of the psychological and physical damage that the slaves suffered at the hands of their masters which was internalized and then passed on to the next generation. This aspect of the plot could be easily substituted with alcoholism, drug addiction or some other dysfunction.
More to the point of your post, is it such a good idea to want to identify and label what is African-American themed and what is not? Seems kinda problematic to me. This is not to say that I don't think the idea has merit, but in wanting identify certain films as being African-American, you may exclude others that deal with similar issues even though the characters or plot are not specifically African-American?
Prince is (in my opinion) not a great actor. He is first and foremost a musician. I think, like Madonna, he should stick to making music.
I'd be hard pressed to call Purple Rain a great movie. It's OKish. I suppose if you are a big fan of Prince you might consider it a great movie.
I wonder though if his Purpleness will acknowledge this movie any more. I'd heard that he had a profound religious conversion, & no longer does music with sexual themes.
'Michael Jackson sang "I'm BAD", Prince though was always much badder than Mikey ever was.'
Speaking of which, I know it was a TV mini-series versus a real cinema goers movie, but how about ROOTS? It had so many African American actors in it:
LeVar Burton
Lou Gosset Jr.
Scatman Crothers
Ben Vereen
O.J. Simpson
Maya Angelou
Indiana Jones was the best black movie because it had that African-American ship captain that hid Indiana so the Nazi submarine guys wouldn't get him. Although it doesn't count because that black guy wasn't born in America or in Africa. So he gets no credit whatsoever. Also those guys in the movie snatch shouldn't get any credit either because they are not American. They are more like African-Brits. I wonder if British people think that the term African-American sounds as bad as African-Brit. What about African-Yugoslavian. You never hear African-Jamacian, and they have just as much African discent as African-Americans. Why not just American? Why use a phrase to distance yourself from the place that you were born in. How much time is between when your ancestors landed on a rock and the time you are fully considered from that rock. How many African-Americans do you know that are actually from Africa? In my whole life, I've only known one. And he considers himself African. Plain old African. Maybe one day people will consider themselves, "Plain old American".
It’s funny that this post-board exists when there are people in the world concerned so much that there is not enough “African-Americans” in movies. Maybe the person that originated this post-board is part of those people. I heard people were complaining that there was not a single black person in “Sky Captain”. And… so what?
I changed my vote, “Shark Tale” is the best “African-American” movie (It also appeals to those that are specifically fond of white mafia movies AND cartoons of diversity)
