Wow. Wow! Ok a lot of things have been said here. And even though I've been a member for 9 years, and look up something almost every day, I rarely feel compelled to enter a discussion since usually somebody will say what I was gonna say and I don’t need to jump in and repeat it. But in this instance I couldn't let some of these comments remain without some badly needed countering. I do NOT think anybody has posted anything with the intent to be negative, so I’m not here to come down on anybody. If anything I’m just bringing Wikipedia data to IMDB. OK, for better or worse here we go.
If people just have to do it, then I guess you could say Lenny Kravitz and Paula Patton are people who fit the bill of "half black." Although finding a "pure African" and "pure European" in American that have produced children is pretty rare-most people who are biracial have additional admixture from one or both parents. A perfect example is Mariah, her father is an African American/Venezuelan mix so she’s not even “half black.” In fact back in the 90’s I couldn’t convince my girlfriend she was black at ALL. And co-mingling continues; Paula married Alan Thicke’s son, so like Jennifer Beals who also is biracial and married white, her kids will be additionally multi-racial. So I think It’s very difficult to pin down “half black” these days.
As for BET, I don’t know if you can really say “Black people have there own network” (and I’m sure you meant their). Although it was FOUNDED by a black guy as a variant to MTV’s very white platform it is now OWNED by Viacom (that’s the MTV parent company by the way). Ironic right? That buy-out was waaaaay back in 2003, so it hasn’t been even black directed in almost 10 years. Another bit of irony; MTV hasn’t been “very white” in a super long time. They use BET the same way they use their other properties for targeting specific demographics. They have that Country station for people who like Country music and VH1 for people who like dumb TV. (insert smiley face here)
Next; while it’s true that Amazon does have a (very hard to find) genre entitled "African American Cinema" you DO know that is not something controlled by the US black population right? Again, it’s corporate marketing. There are black film directors, screen writers, camera operators, editors etc., but there isn’t really an overall unifying governing body like the Directors Guild of America or the Screen Actors Guild. There’s not even anything like the Congressional Black Caucus. So I don’t think people should have the impression that black people A) have any substantial exclusionary body in Hollywood or B) even have that kind of power. I mean, you did see all the effort that went into getting Red Tails made and distributed.
Next; THE MAIN TOPIC OF THIS THREAD. The thread starter stated “Everybody involved in the making of the movie” and listed a bunch of key people. Yes, those people you listed are black. But they are far from everybody needed to actually make this movie. And the idea of a some kind of black-only “rule?” Come on. Seriously, come on. I know in print this might come off as snarky-but I’m speaking to you in a friendly way. Trust me; there are no rules like that. And Lionsgate Entertainment as “black?” Well, they have done some Tyler Perry films, but they also did those Saw movies. So you be the judge. I won’t belabor the point.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lionsgate_films
Now, sometimes, in super rare cases, there is a black shot caller; and they might try to hire a few extra black cast and crew members. Oprah and Tyler have a lot of pull and they were the shot callers on this movie. But, and this is a big but, there are about 200 movies a year that come out of the Hollywood and Sundance-level Indy system (not to mention TV and cable) and the number of non-black cast and crew hired is staggering in comparison.
Spike Lee used to hire a few extra black cast/crew too back in the 80’s and some of the 90’s. But he has stated, his goal was to help non-white people break INTO the industry not , I dunno, something weird like take a job AWAY from a white person.
NEXT; So now let's do the Woody Allen thing. And I’m bringing him up now to tie into the Spike Lee thing. This idea of Woody not using a lot of black people in his films really got its’ start with Spike. Waaaay back in the day he made this statement hat ''Woody Allen, he can do a film about Manhattan . . . and he doesn't have a single black person in the film.'' (link below)
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/13/magazine/l-spike-lee-s-stereotypes-165487.html
At the time I was a big Woody fan, had also recently seen Spike’s She’s Gotta Have it. I had also just moved to NYC as a struggling actor, so got to hear all the ins and outs of this debate. And it hit me; he’s right! I did NOT really see black people in Woody’s movies. Remember this was the late 80’s. And yes, an OCCASIONAL black face might flash across the screen in one of Woody’s movies but certainly no actual full characters. Woody’s response was that he was reflecting “his” NY. Hmmm ok. I COULD see what he was saying, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. I mean a racist could say the same thing about not giving jobs to black people, renting apartments, or selling homes, “I enjoy wearing my blinders and you can’t make me take them off and acknowledge people who don’t look like me.” But should film be federally regulated like housing or employment. No. I had to go on the side of “artistic choice” and just say well, I guess that’s his choice and the way it’s gonna be.
Then Woody “got involved“ with Soon-Yi Previn, and almost on cue you started seeing “minorities” in his movies (in a substantive way). He made Celebrity right after his involvement with her, and at one point a group of minorities literally go parading across the screen in one scene. It was as if all of a sudden Woody could see color. “His” NY had changed. Next, he put Hazelle Goodman in Deconstructing Harry. Playing a whore, of course. But hey! Progress is progress. Plus, Julia Roberts got her big break with the same kind of role…
Lastly, this idea of that “As a Liberal Jew, Allen is also considered a ‘minority.’" I don’t think is accurate given the field in which he works-the film industry. I’m sure you’re aware of who built and operate to this day the major Hollywood studios so I won’t hold that up in your face. If we were talking Montana horse ranching or Kansas farming maybe that case would fly.
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