S
shrrshrr
Guest
I got this idea from watching Vh1's special on African-Americans in film - I've tried it before but no one posted on the thread, so we'll see what happens this time.
The portrayal of blacks in US films has a long and fascinating history, and I think it's more than worth discussing. So let's talk about our favorite films, the ones we hated, the ones that made the strongest impression on us.
Let's talk about black actors, black directors, black comedians - the works.
I'd like to start off by talking about Spike Lee - when I first saw She's Gotta Have It I couldn't stand it, but I saw it recently again and I finally have learned to appreciate it. I think my issue was that I wasn't an independent woman at the time so I couldn't understand the lead character, but now the opposite is true.
Also - I wasn't that interested in School Daze because that wasn't my college experience - as with my high school I attended an essentially all white (5 blacks out of a student body of 1,200) college, and had no idea what black culture really constituted.
But then came Do the Rigth Things and I was deeply, deeply disturbed. That, and the soundtrack became my anthem - I was waking up.
Now, I don't think you have to be black to appreciat black film, and it's important to talk about all perspectives, so I hope you'll post.
The portrayal of blacks in US films has a long and fascinating history, and I think it's more than worth discussing. So let's talk about our favorite films, the ones we hated, the ones that made the strongest impression on us.
Let's talk about black actors, black directors, black comedians - the works.
I'd like to start off by talking about Spike Lee - when I first saw She's Gotta Have It I couldn't stand it, but I saw it recently again and I finally have learned to appreciate it. I think my issue was that I wasn't an independent woman at the time so I couldn't understand the lead character, but now the opposite is true.
Also - I wasn't that interested in School Daze because that wasn't my college experience - as with my high school I attended an essentially all white (5 blacks out of a student body of 1,200) college, and had no idea what black culture really constituted.
But then came Do the Rigth Things and I was deeply, deeply disturbed. That, and the soundtrack became my anthem - I was waking up.
Now, I don't think you have to be black to appreciat black film, and it's important to talk about all perspectives, so I hope you'll post.