Black Cinema - A Thing to Think About, Analyze

    Racial Perspectives

    To begin with, most of us Americans qualify and define ourselves as white, Black, Latino, Asian, and a good slew of other races and ethnic backgrounds. There are American Indians, or natives and/or indigenous; there are Arabs, Persians, Turks, and to be fair, all types of Europeans and Latinos and others. Polynesians. There are Africans, both white and Black, from the African continent.

    As Americans, we are that. We are Americans first, in many cases. We are of all colors and hues and accents and backgrounds, economic statuses and beliefs and lifestyles. We watch entertainment in differing ways and tastes. Some watch more movies, others more TV, which can be live, broadcast or streamed; there is social media and Internet entertainment and communications, plus the radio and literature.

    Race and ethnicity figures into the sway and influence and flavors, if you will, of who we are, how we talk to each other, and how we identify or see or perceive ourselves. Sometimes the racial aspects of who we are trump other factors, and we must respect that. Think about the differences and nuances, which can be good and healthy. Just not too much, right?

    Black people have felt oppressed and relegated as second-class citizens a lot of American history, which needs to change. We all need to be first tier people, first class, and no one should feel marginalized. Race and skin color should not determine our perceptions and fates.

    Black Movie Makers

    Some artists and film makers are Black, notably; the films and art that they create reflect on African-American views and influences. Spike Lee has been among Black filmmakers for a few generations now. Before there were other Black artists in cinema, much of which I am ignorant about. I do know that a famous and influential white film guru, Quentin Tarantino, was impacted by Black Cinema as a young man, and those people and visions and stories his way of portraying characters, dialog, and the visual arts. Not a small thing. He also like Chinese theatre, which was big into kung fu in his era and the neighborhood movie venues he attended in Southern California.

    Spike Lee has his place and has multiple films that I very much like, appreciate. Malcolm X is a must see for all. However, there can be better than him, especially when it comes to race.

    Now we have Jordan Peele; as I re-watched one of his films last night, with my college graduate daughter, who delves pretty strongly into the arts and psychology, I told her that I respect Peele as a director because from what I can see he approaches film and narrative from a smarter storyteller than from other Black directors and films that I have seen. Not all are puerile and immature, or infantile and insulting to a mature intelligence, but too much cinema in general is way too offensive and insulting to many of us.

    I pray that Peele continues to grow and mature as an artist. I have hopes that Black Cinema, as all movie makers, can become more sophisticated and less degrading and bottom-line crude and insulting. It is not a racial problem alone: it is a genre wide issue. Movies have to get better at portraying good and worthwhile narratives. Not just cheap pabulum. We need more intelligent and gracious stories on screen.

    I will submit this to Artistic Musings, for sure.