Hypocritical Hollyweird: Rihanna's Upcoming Movie Projects

You do realize what a small niche market BM/WW are dont you? BM are only 7-8 percent of the US population, and it is a minority of them who date/marry white women.

Movies are about money. And the movie business has been faltering for over a decade. They arent going to target 3-4 percent of the population (BM who date WW).

But we can keep blaming WW.....

 

I haven't been socially conditioned to not show appreciation for men of other ethnicities, I don't know any white women who feel like that. Where are you getting this from?!

?????

If I remember correctly Denzel refuses to do interracial whatever in his movies. You can't simply blame white women.
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The reason that most movies don't feature interracial relationships is because interracial relationships form a very small percentage of relationships. Most people are in a relationship with someone of their own ethnicity. So the movies show that accordingly. I don't know why people keep speaking about how white men are controlling it because secretly they are jealous and hate black men, what a load of bullshit. Perhaps some are but the whole conspiracy thing is a bit silly.

Unless half the population mix it up a bit I doubt you'll see more interracial relationships in movies. They are just representing the demographic.

I can't believe some people in here discourage Rihanna from dating white men/starring as their love interest in a movie. Isn't this site about unity of all ethnicities and races? Or did I miss something?

Dayum, it's like Malikom thinking every women SHOULD date a black man. Black women are only allowed to date black men and white women are only allowed to date black men (providing they're not obese, if they are the white guys can have her).

But yeah, like FlyGirl said, keep blaming us white women. But really, it's not our fault since we're socially conditioned to oppose interracial relations between black men and white women on the big screen. :smt017

 

Um, white women already spoke up. It's called Save the Last Dance, and it broke box office records the weekend it opened because of millions of screaming white teenaged girls.

Somebody mentioned black directors, and somebody actually mentioned Spike Lee. Maybe you all aren't old enough, but personally I'd rather no movies get made about IR couples, than any more made by Lee. IR couples got bashed after Jungle Fever, and I don't just mean verbally.

I don't for a minute think there is not a market for movies with black men and white women in them. IR couples are, let's face it, more attractive than monoracial couples. We look good together. People like it. Except for the people that hate us. If you cut out all the white men who are made uncomfortable, and the black women who take offense, I think you'd find a sizable market of people interested in movies featuring interracial couples.

 

Save the Last Dance brought all peeps to the theatres.

Co-sign on your second paragraph.

The Kid Rasta

 

Fair Enough but WM/BW couples are less of a population than ww/bm couples so your point is kind of moot. And no one is blaming ww but they are noticably absent from the area, especially when wm and bw are shouting off the top of the roof and making changes.

 

Yet its sequel was straight-to-DVD with none of the original stars in it.

 

That was a stupid move on the studio's (Paramount) part.

The Kid Rasta

 

We are getting a little off track here. First of all most here did not bash Rhianna for any white co-star she may be paired up with. Most of us bashed the fact that Hollywood is sooooo comfortable going that IR route with black female stars but not nearly as comfortable of doing so with white female stars. The numbers speak for themselves on this. I don't have a problem with IR, I have aproblem when the IR is one-sided. If black male-white female hookups were being produced or considered on an an equal or near equal basis by Hollywood there would not be a damn need for this thread. Period.

Secondly as someone already pointed out if the real life percentages of IR couples involving blacks and whites were the reason why so few get portrayed on the big screen then why is there like ten times more onscreen pairings of WM/BW than BM/WW when even still to this day there is a higher number of BM/WW couples in the USA? That's some shaky math there. Lets look at it from another angle. When it comes to Hollywood films the percentage of black female characters in big or leading roles involved with white men is likley higher than the actual pairing in real life. Meanwhile the percentage of black male characters in leading or substantial roles who are involved with white women on screen (film) is DEFINITELY smaller than the actual percentage of black men dating white women in the real world (again this is just USA I'm referring to). When there is such a one-sided represntation of IR between white and Asians (with the white guy coming out way on top) one could at least argue that it represents close to the actual disproportion in real life relationships between Asians and whites. But when its so one-sided between how they portray black-white relationships its simply bullshit.

To be fair the pairing of black men and Hispanic women on film is way out of proportion too. But of course it just hammers home the point that Hollywood, when trying to ensure a film doesn't come across as being a black film, will pair a Latina with a black man because its "safer" than pairing such a man with a white women.

But, folks, seriously lets not use the argument of numbers and reality when Hollywood has very little to do with such burdens. For example:

-White men make up around 40% of the USA's population but they make up around 80% of the lead characters in Hollywood films.

-There are likley no individual males who can take out armies by themselves. In Hollywood they produce such characters all the time.

-Most single parent households are run by women. In Hollywood most are run by men because apparently the majority male writers can't write from a woman's point of view.

-In the real world all men of all races are regularly involved in their own real life sex scenes. In Hollywood that's a honor reserved exclusively for white men. Seriously a dude wrote a book about the subject a couple years back and pointed out that sex scenes involving any man who isn't white is virtually unheard of.

-In Hollywood characters are mostly gorgeous people who are comfortably middle to upper middle class. In the real USA most people don't fit that description nor do they belong in that economic category.

-In Hollywood religion doesn't appear to play a role in people's lives. In the real world, like it or not, religion plays a very big role in the lives of Americans.

-Based upon what they show in Hollywood most Americans are portayed as living in the 7 to 10 largest major cities. In reality most Americans live outside those cities.

-Most crime investigators don't solve cases at nearly the rate they do as Hollywood characters.

-Hollywood gives the vast majority of its character a liberal, left-leaning bent. But the vast majority of Americans aren't like that. Maybe by a small margin the majority are, but not the vast majority.

-White street gangs and white criminals in urban areas are far less in real life than in la-la land. At the same time most crime victims in these settings are also far less white then they are portrayed. But since white writers are more interested in writing about themselves....

In Hollywood movies about America's past tend to put an emphasis on how good Americans were/have been. In reality there was a lot, lot more ugliness.

These may not be the best examples in the world, but I think the point I'm trying to make is clear. Hollywood gives the audience an idealized version of life, not the truth. So it feels no need to be constricted by facts or actual numbers when it puts out its products.

 

Come on. It was one teenie-bopper film.

I agree with this complaint about Spike. Someone also had a comment about Denzel that I wholeheartedly concur with as well.

 

I'm just saying, it's ridiculous for anyone to suggest that white women aren't interested in seeing IR couples in film, when they clearly are. That may be one teenie-bopper film, but those tennie boppers are big business in hollywood.

 

I always said if I was a Black actor in H'wood, I wouldn't do I/R films because it seems like a gimmick.
look at those t.v. shows centered around white women..soon or later they add an I/R romance with a black actor, than the next season its a baby, then the next its a lesbian fling..nothing but a ratings boost.

 

And who suggested that? I said we are a very small percentage of the population. Hollywood will not cater to us.

What is ridiculous is that the black men blame white women for not speaking up. What specificly have the black men done that we have not? How many letters have they written? How many independent films have they invested in? If the complainers can give out some sample letters they have written and some specific projects that we can support, it would be appreciated.

 

Hollywood won't cater to women in general and women make up the majority of this country. So it doesn't necessarily have to deal with numbers (as I already pointed out). It has to do with who is in power and conditioning.

Fine. One person brought up the issue of ww not being vocal and you objected it. Understandable. But you react as if that's what this whole thread has been about. Look, there is truth to the statement that ww aren't vocal about certain issues. But maybe they don't care. Its also true that bm are, as you pointed out, also very silent about these concerns. Maybe black men don't care either. That's what I'm afraid of. That both ww and bm know "their place" all too well and refuse to upset the celluloid balance. Maybe its that conditioning thing I was referring to.

By the way, flygirl, your avatar is spooking the shit out of me.

 

"Hollywood won't cater to women in general and women make up the majority of this country. So it doesn't necessarily have to deal with numbers (as I already pointed out). It has to do with who is in power and conditioning"
...H'wood caters to women when its profitable...check around st. Val's day for the romantic movies..that Julie Roberts movie made $14 million in its opening week.
H'wood is about $$$$$...loook at all the black feelgood movies that come out in Jan./Feb.
the kiddie movies that come out during the summer.

 

I apologize if I offended u. But as my profile indicates, I live here in America. And this is the perception of IR and how it's portrayed on TV. In my personal life, I've run across plenty of white girls here who have told me privately that they should not even try to bring a black dude home 'cause it's socially unacceptable. A couple have even outright admitted that their parents are bigots. This is just a part of America's racial history and social conditioning.

As for Denzel, yeah he's one of my favorite actors but he has had to bow to the quiet influence of Hollywood and his black female fanbase. You might be referring to his pairing with Julia Roberts from the early '90s "The Pelican Brief." Somebody may correct me, but I believe in the book or something the two main characters actually developed a relationship while working together. But for the screen adaptation, Denzel decided against it at the time citing the reaction which would come from black american females. America's poor treatment of certain blacks and our families have contributed to the reverse racism attitudes which resinate when IR couples get placed in front of them, particularly bm/ww.

I'm sorry, but I firmly disagree with your reasoning on why IR couples aren't prevalent on TV. With that logic, by numbers alone, a black man would not have been elected president. The point being people in general must approve it, NOT just black people. Whites and every other race and ethnicity as well. And it shouldn't be threatening if you are raised not to fear people who look differently than yourself.

You are correct that most people are with their own, IN REAL LIFE. But if you look closely enough, only whites in movies generally have a significant other. Asians are virtually non-existent unless they are dating someone white or their asian partner is conspicuously absent from the movie. Latinos, native am., others are again underrepresented for their communities and blacks, well...as was said, a black woman would have a better chance of being paired with a white male and a black man would be single or with an non-black ethnic female. Trust me, those pairings generally aren't consistent in real america. Which brings me to the control thing. No, I never implied conspiracy. Of course I can't know what goes on in some perverbial board room someplace in Hollywood, but I know black people AREN'T in charge. The general tv public has known for years that that town is run by white heterosexual males. Hell, even some of the producers and major producers are gay white men. So, these people make the final cuts and decisions regardless. They also run the casting agencies, which is where the ultimate racial pairings are done. I'm not a racist, I'm just saying they must know how the general white public would feel about ANYTHING IR. Thus, they manipulated the casts of tv and movies accordingly. But no, they aren't representing the demo-graphic. They are presenting their own "graphic" to the public how they feel it should be.

Again, I got love for the sistah. And she is...a SISTAH. A BLACK WOMAN. So the weight of the IR argument isn't lost on me. I know how powerful an image it is of her being presented on the screen with a white male. But I'm not threatened because I approve of IR dating. Otherwise, I like many others, would not be here. Once again, it just goes to a gross double standard of how relationships involving black women with non-black males is vastly different than the opposite. Black women can date whoever they wish. Kerry Washington and Sanaa Lathan, for example, have had onscreen romances with white men as well as black men and I have never complained. I would just be a hipocrit for that. But let's not pretend the same can be said for my black brothen.


In the end, I don't believe ALL ww are socially conditioned. But I don't see alot of picket signs in front of MGM to put on a Denzel Washington/Scarlett Johannsen Harlequinn novel either.

 

Hit the nail right on the head. What was that movie a few years ago with Bill Belamy and the other brothas??? Was it "The Wood?" Or something. Anyways, there was a scene where he was trying to hide is "girlfriend" from his family. Girl showed up and surprised him in public. It was a white girl, portrayed as a little crazy doing karate moves and embarrassing him in front of people. I imagine they had to show it as some type of vicious stereotype in order to take the seriousness out of the relationship.

 

that was the "Brothers"..yeah, you see that in "black" movies..they pretty much parody the I/R couples.

 

When its profitable? They are the majority of the country and you would think Hollywod would try to cater more to them all year long. But their strategy is to compress much of the films targeted towards women and release them around Valentine's Day? Does that make sense? By the way the most successful of those types of flicks in the past ten years was the so-so "Hitch" and even that film had a man as its primary star.

 

Actually hollywood churns out turns of chick flicks the only thing is they arent done very well so arent memorable. The good ones always stand out. I think hollywood caters enormously to women. Hitch Was not a normal chick flick it was a romantic comedy but it wasnt what I would term a chick flick. A girly movie is more Mean Girls, the devil wears prada or even sex and the city.

 

It was more than Pelican Brief. But sticking with Pelican Brief both Julia Roberts and the firector were all for the idea of Denzel and Julia's characters kissing and/or showing signs of a relationship. Cowardly Denzel was the one who sided with author John Grisham (who reportedly was not happy in the first place that a black male was cast in the role in the first place) and helped kill the idea. The only real reason why Denzel was hired in the first place was because Julia asked for him for the role and this dude can't even follow through by at least siding her on this issue.

But Denzel has always worried about his image but does so for all the wrong reasons. He has been almost scared of doing IR if the other woman is white. If she's Indian or Latino? No problem. White girl? He goes all slave plantation like. He dropped out of "Love Field" and essentially dissed Michelle Phifer. He said he did so because his character wasn't well defined and he had a point. But he must have known that when he first got the script. I tend to think the IR angle (as small as it was) played a part. Dennis Haysbert would end up getting the role instead.

My main issue with Denzel though was what happened with Virtuosity. The film, co-starring an unknown at the time Russell Crowe, was crap. But interestingly enough the people behind the film wanted there to be a romance between Kelly Lynch's character (a white woman) and Denzel's. It didn't happen and I would have never known that it was supposed to happen if it weren't for Kelly bringing it up in an interview. She said Denzel had the producers drop the relationship between the teo of them. And she said the reason Denzel gave was that he thought he would offend/alienate the white male ticket buyers if his character had a relationship with the woman. Now I mentioned this before years ago in threads which I criticized Denzel and as I wrote back then I believe that Kelly's recollection is absolutely true. It fits Denzel's MO (just check out his advice to Will Smith for Six Degrees). And if true it indicates a couple of things First of all it showed that Denzel wasn't just bowing to black females; he was bowing to his white masters as well with his plantation mentality about not offending white guys. Also this incident (and Pelican Brief) showed that white males producing and directing movies will from time to time offer a black male star (has to be a star) an opportunity for onscreen relationships between himself and white women. But if the black male star doesn't pony up and take that opportunity it all goes to waste. This is why I have a problem with Denzel (one of a few reasons actually). He had chances to open the door for more possibilities for black actors coming behind him but he was too invested in being a chicken shit.