NY Times: "The death of the black male romantic lead"

It just goes to show that writers for tv find it easier to write love scenes with white couples(or white men with latina, black or Asian women). But, interracial love scenes between a black man and a white woman is almost non existant. Shows like Allie McBeal, Grey's Anatomy, Judging Amy and some daytime soap operas had more nerve.

 

I never noticed that Gorath and I did not see that show. A few tv shows have nerve but not many. Not only the NYT mentioned it but,also the current issue of Ebony magazine on the lack of Black leads in movies and TV. This is the 21st Century and brothers can't show affection to a WW. We and other must list the shows and movies where a brother can do his thing with a WW or any woman without holding back. On the movie Flight I wished Mr.Washington can win the Oscar again.

 

I hope Mr. Washington wins another Oscar, too. But, I honestly think it will be a tie between him and Daniel Day-Lewis. I have seen clips on youtube with a scene from Judging Amy where Amy and the black male court secretary share a passionate kiss. Lucy Liu's character and Taye Diggs' character share a passionate kiss because they had history while in law school. Sandra Oh and one of the black actors in Grey's Anatomy had a hot romance on that show. On the soaps, The Guiding Light had an interracial romance, but it did not last long to a wedding. All My Children had a young interracial married couple(bm/ww). The Young & The Restless had a couple of bm/ww romantic pairings. The Bold & The Beautiful had a couple also.

 

Sidney Poitier was in a film from either 1959 or 1960 where he played a poison control operator racing against time to find a woman on the telephone who had ingested poison in a suicide attempt. He tries to send her help but she refuses to tell him where she is located. The two people sort of develope a rapport, but she still will not tell him where she is. Any man could play that part. But Sidney played it very well. Again, the viewer sees a black man and they see his humanity.

 

I mentioned the Y&R pairings years back which I had comended. Nothing like that happened since on that soap.

 

Other than the marriage of Lily and Cane, it had been straight vanilla from then on. It will be a surprise if Y&R does have a positive bm/ww pairing that lasts. Another show is True Blood. There is an interracial pair on the show, but they are two gay men. Well, these were characters based on a series of books. The show Six Feet Under, there was another interracial gay pair. The Shield had a young gay black cop who was at war with himself. Forest Whitaker has a fling with Vic Mackey's wife. Why is it that black men in film or tv, either gay, ignorant, villainous or cowardly?

 

Hollywood can except a IR with a brother having a gay relationship or a White man going with a woman of various colors but,not a straight IR relationship where a brother can partake.

 

And that is the tragedy. Hollywood's fear of the romantic power of black men. This is one of the reasons why actors(like Wesley Snipes) and filmmakers(like the Hughes Brothers) go to make films in Europe because it is cheaper, open and you are treated like a man.

 

Speaking of the Hughes Brothers, I had heard some time agao that they were going to work on a live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA. I wonder if it will be made in Japan or the Czech Republic.