The Girl In Room 20. The Spook Who Sat By The Front Door. Sounder. The Learning Tree. Daughters of the Dust. Stomping At The Savoy. Miracle At St. Anna. Any of these films sound familiar? I remember about 20 years ago, when the new wave of filmmakers hit Hollywood. Director-writer Spike Lee, Charles Lane, the Hudlin Brothers, Julie Dash, the Hughes Brothers, Keenan Ivory Wayans and Robert Townsend. It was a reinvention of the Harlem Renaissance, so to speak. The one black film coming out of Hollywood era was fading fast.
These young artists were following (and continuing) in the footsteps of such ground breakers as Melvin Van Peeples, Ossie Davis, Gordon Parks, and the father of black cinema himself Oscar Micheaux.
I'm a fan of his because Micheaux, he was making films when black folk were really poor. He taught himself and made movies about us because he was tired of how "we were portrayed" and wanted the world to see that "we were good actors and could handle dramatic roles."
Flash forward almost a hundred years. More roles have slowly opened up to us in Hollywood. Cuba Gooding, Jr, Whoopi Goldberg, Halle Berry and Denzel have won major acting awards via the Oscars. A brother won an Oscar Award for original screenplay. A first! The new director on the scene: Tyler Perry. Add Lee Daniel, Denzel Washington, Bill Duke, and Forrest Whittaker to the mix. Precious was nominated for best film last year. We're making strides.
And because much of America sees our culture through film, we still have to fight the stereotypes. We don't all live in ghetto. We aren't all gang bangers, women aren't loose, we all don't do drugs, we all don't get welfare, and fathers do stick around to raise their children. If it ain't one thing, it's another.
I'm just happy we have more black filmmakers to tell our unique stories. I thank God for that every day. The days of waiting for the one black film from Hollywood are over.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Wednesday, August 18th 2010 at 7:19PM
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