positive or negative representation

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I finished watching "Secrets and Lies" and I think Marianne Jean-Baptiste was wonderful! My heart went out to her character Hortense Cumberbatch. I was overwhelmed with the happy ending when the family beomes united. Excellent movie. I also recommend the British/Irish film "Breakfast in Pluto" which was released a couple of years ago, and starred another wonderful Black British actress, Ruth Negga who co-starred with actor Cillian Murphy. Yet another great film from across the pond!! From my point of view, black actors and actresses have a better chance of respectability and acknowledgement in the UK and Europe than in the U.S., where there is the glitter,fame and fortune (and ultimately, the hypocrisy) but never the fundamentally-true recognition and appreciation for the individual actor which exists "on the humanitarian and cultured side" of the Atlantic.

Hi,

Just saw your post so don't know if you're still working on this project.

I don't think Black women are represented positively in British films. Why do you think MJB left the UK? Because although she was the first Black British actress to be nominated for an Oscar and for her nomination at BAFTA, she wasn't invited. Her invitation apparently "got lost in the post". Saying that, all the rest of the cast were present so you have to wonder. MJB did many television interviews about this before she decided to turn her back to the UK.
Black actresses are still viewed as victims or prostitutes in the UK or coming from a poor background, from what I've seen on TV in the UK. Yet in the USA, you have MJB who portrays a fantastic character in Without a Trace: an intelligent woman who actually leads the team but who is also a mother. You have Whoopi Goldberg, a Black woman, who was the lead in a film Jumping Jack Flash. It's also very well known that one of the films she starred in, that the character was originally written for a man, but that she came in and impressed the producers so much that they re-wrote the script for her. You would never get that in the UK.
It is only recently that you have a strong black character on tv and that's the sidekick to Doctor Who, Freema Agyeman. Yet, look at her closely and you'll see that she doesn't "look" black. If it wasn't for her skin colour, she could pass for Caucasian because her features aren't what normal Black people have.
But the list doesn't stop at Black women as men aren't portrayed positively either. Which explains the mass emigration of fantastic actors like Eamonn Walker and Idris Elba, to name a few.
I could go on and on as this is a sore subject for me. I have been trying to break into the industry for over 10 years with no success. I've decided to also move to the States.
Good luck with your report.

But has Idris Elba consciously turned his back on the UK or did he just suddenly get "discovered" in America and is getting flooded with film and tv offers? He just starred in the British show Luther and got a Golden Globe for it.

I think it's sad if Black women can't get good roles in the U.K. I am not saying there is not an additional racial component, but it also seems like a lot of white British actors have also been coming over here (America) in the last few years. It's as if when Hugh Laurie became so huge in House it opened the floodgates. There are so many British actors in American movies and tv now who are all using American accents that I am constantly finding out someone I thought was American is actually British.

I agree on Freema Agyeman. She is stunning but she has more typically Caucasian features. She also looks like a supermodel and I thought she seemed out of place in Law & Order UK for that reason (I have the same problem with all the CSI series where it seems like 25 year old models are working in a forensic lab and solving crimes.)

I thought it was fantastic when Sophie Okonedo was cast as Nancy in the 2007 Oliver Twist.