Hypocritical Hollyweird: Rihanna's Upcoming Movie Projects

After reading that, my respect for Denzel just went down the drain.

 

Finally the frackin voice of reason ahs spoken in here :smt030

 

Hey the man knew where he had to make money at. i agree with you if this is true that its not cool he bowed out of certain scenes. But hey he knew his audience and what they want and dont want. Remember he is most blk women dream guy . Why because he knew the MATRIX of his popularity and took advantage of it.

Think aobut what happened to Wesley after Jungle fever. Or the guy in Save The Last Dance. I ahvent sceen much of them since. Taking those roles can kill some black guys careers because most black women go see films with black costars in it.

He knew the BM/WW is the ultimate taboo in the AAF community. He knew that would hurt his rep and earning potentional. Look at the latest victim Terrance Howard.. and even Tye Diggs..

There is a economic reason Denzel did what he did . Will is smart not to do the same. The image of them with WW is enough to kill their careers

 

Yo, Denzel is out for Denzel and is keeping his bills paid. There's a reason he's been around for 25 years as opposed to Snipes and others. Tom Cruise jumped on a couch and his career went in the toilet and he was TOM CRUISE. Show business is a fickle beast. Denzel is a smart man.

 

I'm not really blaming anyone. Honestly...I am not sure if I care all that much whether or not there are more WW/BM relationships in movies. I said what I said not to "blame" anyone but rather to show what it takes to make this IR pairing more commonplace in film.

You just made my point for me...BM are only "7-8 percent of the US population" (and probably just a tad less). We don't have the numbers or the solidarity on film selections to drive anything in Hollywood...if WW however had a strong desire to see themselves paired with black men in movies and openly expressed the desire...the likelihood of seeing a change would be far greater considering WW constitute a population that is roughly five times larger than the pop. for BM in the U.S.

And you are right...it has been faltering...videogames once a niche form of entertainment...have sales exceeding film. Movie studios pair the same people over and over again in mostly formulaic films and get the same results (sometimes good and often times not so good). Of course we all know that if a Kate Winslet and Morris Chestnut romantic film could garner mucho dinero...the execs would swallow their thoughts and feelings and put it into production.

Please...please...don't think I'm trying to attack anyone...I'm one of the last brothas on here (as pro-Negro,pro black as we all know that I am) to attack the women...since I love all of y'all in some form or fashion.

In other words...bm AND ww...have to work TOGETHER if they actually want to see IR in movies.

 

Sorry chosen, I am sleep deprived right now. Work is a killer. Please take into consideration about my post.

 

Denzel is like Will Smith in that he has a high Q rating with both genders of all races across the board. Translation: whites, Hispanics and Asians go see his films too and for most of his films actually make up the biggest part of his audience. While its true black women love them some Denzel it has never been proven that they represent the backbone of those that pay to see his films. So while they might act like they own him they don't. When Denzel is in mainstream movies (translation: those with a majority white cast surrounding him) the data that has been gathered is that more white women (and white men) will end up seeing his films than black women (and black men). Same thing with Will. There is also little proof that white people will reject him if he is wooing a white woman on screen. But we don't get a chance to see it because Denzel and some white executives/producers chose to not go that route because of their own fears and concerns.

Also, don’t you think that some white women have a feeling that they are the backbone of the support for certain white actors like Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Tom Cruise, etc). And yet that would not stop Hollywood from casting a non-white actress as their onscreen significant other.

Wesley Snipes’ career actually took off after Jungle Fever. He appeared in even bigger and successful films such as White Men Can’t Jump, Passenger 57 and that film with Sean Connery in Japan. Unfortunately like most actors Snipes got into a bad streak of films and he became less of a hot property in Hollywood (see Mickey Rourke as just one example). He would bounce back with Blade (the first and second films were both big hits) but then his erratic behavior on set and his troubles I real life derailed his career once again.

The other dude you mentioned in Save the Last Dance is a short, average looking dude whom no one was necessarily going nuts over. When I saw him I laughed at someone who suggested he would be the next Denzel. Like in what universe? His being in that film did not hurt his career. It made his career. If it was not for that one film no one would have ever known who he was. He popped up again in the Barbershop pictures which were just as successful as Save the Last Dance but again no one though enough of him to give him lead roles. If anything it’s the lack of opportunities for black actors overall that has likely led to his disappearance.

How is Diggs a victim? Diggs has a white following that would dwarf his black following. But is he good enough to be the lead of a film? Does he have the chops? And as for his TV series there hasn’t been a successful dramatic TV series with a black lead in decades. The only exception may be The Unit and its questionable if that show is even successful. As for T Howard he is sabotaging his own career by his repeated ridiculous public statements. And he has made some awful film choices as of late. But he still has such a large black female following that his appearance on Broadway last year was a hit. They credited him with bringing out the black ladies to that black interpretation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. By the way he has never had an onscreen pairing with a white woman which is what this topic is all about. So if you’re referring to his exwife who is white that did not stop him from getting on the cover of Essence magazine and drawing the attention of many black females.

Will had that same feeling a few years back which is why the idea was to never cast a white lady opposite him in Hancock (it was in development for a long time). But look what happened. They cast Charlize Theron and the film ended up being ne of his biggest hits. Sure some black women complained and the romance was watered down, but there was still a relationship between the two characters. And you know what? White audiences didn’t object. If anything people objected to the uneven script. Will was scared for no reason. Even if a large segment of black women would be turned off by him by having an onscreen relationship with a white woman he is such a big star that his film would still make hundreds of millions internationally as long as the film is solid.

If it is that’s a sad indictment of society but I don’t think that is the case. Audiences who saw the Pelican Brief wanted Denzel and Julia’s character to hook up. I’m sure there were plenty of folks who would have been uncomfortable with it but they would have been in the minority. The ridiculous stance though is to play scared and not try. Common sentiment would have suggested to Obama to not try to run for President either, right? No way he could be elected. But you see things don’t happen unless someone is willing to try. So I don’t buy the notion that a black actor’s career is over if he has onscreen relations with white females. Even if he does hurt his standing amongst black women perhaps he will pick up a big following amongst white women who are the majority by the way. TV may not be the best example but Blair Underwood’s career is thriving better than ever even though on TV and in one of his most recent motion pictures his love interests were white women. At one time Blair himself would have been against being paired with white women but a interview a few years back revealed he now saw how foolish that was/ He realized taking that stance put him in a box and limited his potential audience. He also saw the hypocrisy in how black women were more easily paired with white guys in films.

 

The numbers will say otherwise. Hollywood doesn't cater to women nearly enough based upon their percentage of the population. The amount of romantic comedies are small relatively speaking. But action flicks, special effects blockbusters, period films, dramatic movies, comedies and most children's movies are still mostly directed towards male. They are mostly written by men, mostly directed by men and mostly starring male protagonists as the lead character(s).

 

Ice Cube to star in 'Ride Along'

Mar 31, 2009, 08:28 AM | by Margeaux Watson

Ice Cube is onboard to star in New Line Cinema's action comedy Ride Along, reports. The rapper-actor will play a cop who seeks to ruin his engaged sister's relationship with an affluent white psychiatrist by inviting her fiancé on an ill-advised ride-along with him in his squad car. Cube will produce the movie with his colleague Matt Alvarez from Cube Vision. Production is set to begin this summer.

 

Again...Hollyweird cops out on IR by making it WM/BW, which is far less common in the real world than BM/WW relationships.

The Kid Rasta

 

Ice cube is producing the flick so he and not "hollywood" takes the flack for this one. Just like Jayz promotes rihanna to wm but wont let Ne-yo appear in a video with ww. Niggas with plantation mentality are so common its incredible.

 

this is real talk.

 

co-sign.

The only thing I would add is that Sean Patrick Thomas carried on a successful tv career appearing as a regular character on The District. Now, he's back on tv with a small role on The Reaper (which may turn into a larger role).

I remember when he was in Cruel Intentions, and it was about a week before it came out. Sarah Michelle Gellar was on Jay Leno, and she made Jay bring her friend Sean Patrick Thomas out of the audience to sit in her chair, because he was going to be big. It was very cool.

 

:smt042

 

yeah, but that scene made me cringe..that mofo was hiding in a clothing chest..half-naked...it was supposed to be funny but.....

 

The most sad thing is that they think that they are the shit and the masters of their own universe even though in some respect they can't even break the chains of their own conditioning. But I've been sick of the hip-hop entrepreneurs for a long time just by what they do in the music biz. That’s for another thread.

Getting back to the topic it seems we are going to keep getting people in here who claim that we are making a big fuss about nothing. They are the “Don’t Worry Be Happy” types. I wish I could be like that and block everything out. But my sensitivity to my environment has been both a blessing and a curse. It has helped me in identifying problems and pitfalls and has been a real ally in some of my artistic endeavors. But it also makes me too aware to what’s going around me to the point I can get a little more frustrated than the average dude. People out there could dismiss that is paranoid nonsense but my counter is that those in denial or those out to deny tend to make that claim. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong. I just point out what I see.

I was taught how media works in school. I understand that whether its consciously or subconsciously the media tries to impose a way of thinking, and mentality. It tries to sell to consumers what is right, what is acceptable, what is acceptably mainstream. Here’s an example. For the next few months when you are watching TV or looking at newspaper ads take a look at the genders and the races of the people used as characters or models of an advertisement of a product. Don’t take out a notebook and do a tally or anything. But simply try to make a mental count whenever you can. Notice whenever a mother is on the screen or when she is in a print ad. If the mother is white and there is a single child with her in the frame/commercial its about split when the white child is a boy or a girl. Now take a mental picture when it’s a black mother involved. The majority of the time the single child is a girl. I’m serious. I noticed it for years. We were taught in class to notice trends in advertising, who they were using and who they seemed to be targeting, but seriously I picked up on that before I took such courses. I mentioned to a friend of mine before, a black lady, and she was doubtful. She hadn’t really noticed it al all. But on her own without any prodding from me she decided to take a tally of her own over the course of two weeks to see if I was way off track (and considering she watched a lot of daytime TV which was full of commercials with mothers and children she got to see more TV examples than most viewers who don’t watch soaps). She told me that with the black mothers the ratio was almost 4 to 1 of girls to boys. 4 to 1. Whether her sample of data happened to be too extreme from average I can’t say. But I know you are never going to find that type of discrepancy when it comes to white boys and girls.

So what does that type of unbalanced ratio suggest? Obviously some products try to sell to women specifically but the gender of their children should not matter unless the product being sold is, like, a Barbie Doll. So if I was to used what I was taught about interpreting images and ads it would suggest that the people behind the brand are more accepting of black females than they are of black males. The advertisers may be promoting this idea, enforcing a belief that they think mainstream society holds, or both. Now to dig deeper for more “sinister” motivations types of feelings promoted one could look at those ratio and surmise that white society is far more uncomfortable with the image of black men and therefore seeks to limit their presence in advertising. Little black boys are not excluded from this because they grow up to be black men (worst of all…young black men) who can be seen as a threat to mainstream society. The more warped, extreme interpretation of this is that to some white folks the perfect black society in their opinion is one in which black women give birth to black either because their was a white father around or the mother had some sort of immaculate conception.

You think that’s nonsense? Well perhaps you think its nonsense and unintentional as well when the black folks chosen for ads tend to be light skinned with somewhat Caucasian features. But of course promoting light skin over darker skin has been around for ages. As has the idea that black men are public enemy number one in America. Get real. Some of this stuff is conscious, some of it is not. But the subconscious part comes from the fact that white people too are conditioned and could just be as big of a victim to falling to such types of beliefs.

When it comes to black-white IR in films (I’m not talking about TV unless its daytime TV), the heavy slant in one direction is also a form of media advertising. It is telling us that one type of race mixing between black and whites is to be applauded; the other is to be shunned. One is to be promoted, the other is to be all but ignored or at least barely suggested. It tells us one is right and the other is wrong. This type of stuff becomes impressionable to viewers, especially the very young. I recall reading an article about a black man who recalled 25 to 30 years ago attempting to have a discussion with some young grade school kids about the contribution of black cowboys. But for many kinds, the black as well as the white, they didn’t even believe that black men could be cowboys. It didn’t matter that black cowboys may have made up about 20% of all cowboys in the old west. In the end it came down to what the kids had seen and it was rare for them to see any films or TV shows in which a black cowboy was shown. Today many Americans have a negative connotation of Arabs and Muslims not just because of the terrorism out there in the world, but because these groups are almost exclusively shown as being terrorists and enemies of America on TV and in films. Seriously are there some of you out there that dense about the power of media to shape our perceptions?

 

(continued)

And media not only shapes people’s opinions of others, it affects those that are being portrayed in a negative or limited fashion. The most important seeds of self-esteem are often planted when the mind is young and still forming. Black boys are said to go through some of the worst self-esteem hurdles once they reach a certain age. They don’t tend to fall in the category of teacher’s pets. They don’t see too many male role models of their race as teachers. And recent studies (in fact books) have documented how white female teachers are especially counterproductive to the esteem of black boys. Not all white female teachers mind you because obviously many are great. But a good percentage of them see even little black boys as dangerous, disruptive and worthy of mostly scorn. They become dismissive of them. After a certain age a child can tell when he and others like him become a target of teachers’ repeated rebukes. Kids can pick up on a lot of things we don’t give them credit for. And if they feel they are being singled out and lose their sense of worthiness they will often put up their defensive shield by lashing out and acting up. In other words if a teacher is going to expect the to be troublesome, they will go out and meet those expectations of being trouble. And this shit can carry on through grade school and eventually to high school. There are some black educational scholars who think that an argument can be made that young black male students should not be taught by white female teachers. I find that idea preposterous. Its painting everyone with too wide a brush. Nonetheless those opinions are out there. I will counter that many black males will develop these attitudes towards school even if the vast majority of their teachers are black. More research is needed to figure out why too many of them act this way in school.

Getting back to the media what impressions/beliefs will black males develop about themselves if they watch TV, see movies, listen to music and pay attention to advertisements. They will probably think that as African American males the sports they should be playing are exclusively football and basketball. No volleyball or hockey. No baseball unless they are black guys with Spanish surnames. They will come to think that their one vocal contribution to music is through rapping. Yes, sir. The black male has somehow lost the singing gene because the industry introduces like a dozen black female singers for every one black male (I may be fudging on the numbers but you get the point). And as for movies they will see themselves as being less than desirable.

Oh sure from time to time they will see a big name black male star get the girl. But they will also see that white male leads almost always get the girl. It doesn’t matter if the genre is action, drama or comedy. The white guy getting the girl is rule number one. Not only that but those white men have their choice of what women they can get (white, black, Latino, Asian, Native American, Arabic). The white male will be presented as the idealized male even more so than the white female will be presented as the idealized female. When James Cameron was casting for his technological breakthrough blockbuster-to-be Avatar his casting call for the female role said that the actresses auditioning could be of any race. But when he put out the same casting call for the male lead it was specific: they were looking for a white guy. You wouldn’t believe how many times this occurs in Hollywood. Even when a white actress gets a meaty role in a blockbuster you should know that often the casting was open to women of all races and the decision was made primarily on the one who auditioned the best. But when it’s the male lead for these huge tentpole pictures and there is romance written into the script, the casting is limited to white males. Anyone who doesn’t get how ridiculous that is, anyone who shrugs it off as no big deal, anyone here who brushes it off as simply a business decision and nothing else is a person who is all too happy to see non-white guys pushed almost into a role of second class citizens on the screen.

Feeling desirable is important to any group of individuals or people. For years I have come across discussions about the importance of raising black girls’ self-esteem. But the idea of raising black boys’ self esteem doesn’t get as much play though based on what’s actually happening in the real world they made need it more than anyone else. I love to use the example of black mothers searching up and down the aisles of a toy store for a black baby doll so their girls could have a doll that look like them only to go on and pick up a white action figure for their sons.


And by the way do you think white society, especially men, would even be comfortable with the idea of the majority of white female stars being paired with non-white actors in films? We know the answer to that. However that won’t stop Hollywood with pairing increasingly pairing most black, Hispanic and Asian actresses with white men at least a couple of times. It doesn’t even matter that as of yet the reluctance to put a black man with a white woman in a movie hasn’t put an end to such real life hookups. The point is it hasn’t been for a lack of trying. And that’s what grates me.

So I put up the recent information concerning the Ice Cube film. I did so as a reminder of business as usual. If you folks want we could use these threads to post u any new info about films which contain black-white IR. And we can tally up the numbers to see how much it slants towards WM/BW. Now if the trend changes soon and all of a sudden black dudes are hooking up with white girls in films then I’ll own up to the fact that I was wrong. I doubt that will happen.


Finally I’ll admit that I have been recently spending way too much time in this thread writing these long ass posts like I’m getting paid by the word. Its time for me to put the brakes on that and allow other folks to share their thoughts even if they disagree. So unless I come across something so ridiculous and insulting I’m gonna do my best to chill out and spare you guys from any more rants. At least for awhile that is.

 

Forgot to mention that Denzel's advice to Will in "Six Degrees" had nothing to do about white women. The movie was based upon a successful play in which a black gay man pretends to be the son of Sidney Poitier. In the movie script there was a scene in which Will's character seduces a man and kisses him. Will gave a now infamous quote a decade ago about how Denzel's advice to him was "you can't be kissing no man". It has never been confirmed that Denzel told him that but considering Denzel's religious views and his reluctance to take risks it would not surprise me. Will had the director compromise by having the camera at an angle as he moved closer towards his white male co-star's face. But there was never a clear view of them kissing. Now if Will had a problem kissing a mean on screen for personal or business reasons then who am I to tell him he was wrong. But I do have to ask why did he take the part in the first place if he knew that was what the character was about? Its like Jessica Alba in "Sin City". She knew based upon the comic book and script that her stripper character takes off her clothes. A lot. But after Jessica got the roll and filming had started she told the director she did not want to be seen naked. Bitch, please. Take off your damn clothes or turn down the damn roll.

 

I just thought about how ridiculous Fresh Prince of Bell Air was, that both young black men growing up in Beverly Hills and attending predominately white schools, each dating a different girl each week, would only date black women.

 

For Jamal, I'd like to throw out that I doubt many on here would appreciate it if you "cooled it" for a while. Your posts are very thought-provoking. They speak of an experience and intelligence which clearly comes from perception of the world around you. After reading the last post(s), many of your views, from the impact of advertising to movie portrayal of various characters, are what I've noticed over the last few years as well.

I personally think America and Hollywood is in a "transitionary period" when it comes to IR. They (Hollywood) don't quite know how far to go with it. Nor do they wish to be the ones which are on the forefront of social change, which will affect this society. Not like that matters. Black/white IR dating is becoming far more prevalent, regardless of what form it presents itself in. These movies, Rhianna's included, represent their attempt to "touch" on the topic in their own "weird" little way just to say they were on point during that time period. Now this Ice Cube flick I'm just hearing about. But remember he co-produced black/white on FX with Alvarez, wasn't it, a few years back. So one, he knows producing is where it is in that town. And two, it's probably presented in comedy form in order to take the seriousness out of the relationship itself. Plus, Hollywood is a copy-cat town anyway. No one ever wants to be the first to try something different or attempt an idea that's been on the shelf for years. But when it's done with any measure of success, other production companies try it. Just like with Something New or Lakeview Terrace, Hollywood is starting to do more wm/bf couples, like it or not. It's in right now and they're moving forward with it.

Personally, I would just assume learn about any new projects through word of mouth or by accident somehow. I used to be one of those movie junkies a few years back in college where I even had this website out of Hollywood which had all the upcoming projects that the general public didn't know about (even the Spiderman movie was on the list). But I learned my lesson after casting and production changes would kill the cast or the movies ultimate chance at success. Plus, I got too accustomed to believing that race should NEVER play a role in the casting or in that very success. Boy was I wrong. So again, I just read an advertisement these days on G4's ticker or through a thread or watch a tv commercial for the latest flick I may or may not want to see. Because regardless of the movie, the formula for how it's casted and made remains the same. Like Jamal said, I doubt these racial trends will change anytime soon.