Terrance Howard and Bernie Mac in the upcoming film, Pride.
Look. I am happy as the next light-skinned brother to see Terrance Howard playing a role that can’t be summed up as “that shady, untrustworthy light-skinned negro”, and I’ll probably go see Pride for that reason alone. (Then again, I haven’t really felt like looking at Bernie Mac since Mr. 3000…) Still, I can’t help but be guarded about this film. Hollywood has let me down too many times before.
Do we have to go through this again? It’s almost at the point where every other month I’m back on my soapbox, saying the same thing I said last time about the cookie cutter black movie du jour. I said it about Stomp the Yard, Gridiron Gang and Coach Carter, and I have a bad feeling that I’ll be saying it after I see Pride this weekend.
Black people need to demand more from Hollywood than this repetitive mess that we keep getting. I could be wrong (I hope to God that I’m wrong), but from the looks of the trailer, Pride is just going to be Coach Carter in a pool!
What are we running out of sports that they picked competitive swimming?!? Are they just picking sports and black actors out of a hat and plugging them into the formula?!?
| Football | | | Gridiron Gang |
| Basketball | | | Coach Carter |
| Baseball | | | ? |
| Bobsledding | | | Cool Runnings |
| Swimming | | | Pride |
| Dancing | | | You Got Served |
| Stepping | | | Stomp the Yard |
| Rollerskating | | | Roll Bounce |
| Spades | | | *Re-Niggas |
| Curling | | | *Four Brothers on Ice |
| Ultimate Frisbee | | | *Slangin’ Discs |
| Academic Decathlon | | | Never Gonna Happen |
*speculated titles
How the hell did they skip baseball and jump straight into swimming? Have they not heard of the Negro Baseball Leagues? Those are some stories that need telling. The way Hollywood works, the next movie will be about a Spades Tournament. Either that or some obscure sport like Curling. Will we ever a film about black people excelling academically? Probably not… because Hollywood doesn’t believe we can or that we care about such a thing.
I suppose the situation could be worse. They could be remaking Dolemite for the next generation. At least it hasn’t gotten that bad, yet. Here’s an idea readers, post your random sport and title for a black film in the comments. It’ll be fun.
Dolemite. Dolemite. Dolemite…. Dolemite.
Maybe I’m dillusional, but I thought the fact that Stomp The Yard was a story about a collegiate-based culture did suggest the black people in that movie were academically successful. The fact that the main character was a reluctant college student is typical of a lot of young black men.
As for Pride, I’ve seen the movie already, and you know, you can say Hollywood is missing the boat because they have yet to tell the Jackie Robinson story, and I do agree. But keep in mind, Pride is not something Hollywood made up! It was a true story. The shit really happened. And when you see it, and you see the shit they went through, it’ll piss you off even more to know that shit hasn’t much changed. You can dismiss it all you want, but to do so demonstrates the kind of self-hate that brings us down.
Read this http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=alipour/070308 and then tell me you think Pride is a waste of space in Hollywood.
Thought I’d chime in on this for a second.
Never put any expectations on Hollywood, for black movies, or any at all really. I’m sure this summer there will be some two-bit movie taking place near a beachfront with some type of competition, and it’ll have “Blue” in the title somewhere.
Hollywood is actually a bit scared to try “different” things because they’re afraid of losing money. Hence, you’ll continue to see the inspirational-based-on-a-true-story sports related movies for black Americans. Well, we did get “Akeelah and the Bee,” which I will admit that I went to see–and that was about academics I guess.
There have been other movies, but Americans, being what we are–liek to be entertained and not really watching movies about learning so we skipped over movies like Spellbound (on which AaTB was loosely based).
Just saying not to expect anything to change. When do you think the next “White Person ‘Saves’ Kids in the ‘Hood while learning Hip-Hop” movie will be out?
I haven’t seen Pride yet. I’m not saying that it’s a waste of space. Huey, I don’t think you understand where I’m coming from. I hope to God that I go see Pride and that it is a good movie. I want to see good black cinema. I keep going to these movies because I want to support black media, but in the past I’ve been disappointed.
If what you said is true, then maybe I’ll leave the theatre believing that Pride is a step in the right direction. I really want that. I haven’t dismissed anything, because I haven’t seen it yet. I read the article you posted and that gives me hope that there’s more to this film, but not much.
As for Stomp the Yard. I have seen that garbage and I stand firm on my judgment. Just because the film takes place on a college campus doesn’t mean that it portrays black colleges and black academia in a positive light. There isn’t one scene in that movie that takes place in a classroom or at a graduation. There’s just dancing, stomping, glory and more dancing.
You got a point there about Stomp The Yard, but I still think it’s important for those stories to be told and at least that movie is making money as opposed to, like you said, another “Dolemite” (although I must admit, I’d see a remake in a second!).
My only warning about PRIDE is to just try and not to laugh too hard at Bernie Mac’s dramatic moments. You gotta make those white people think it’s really that deep.
Black Movies. Usually these are poorly done or very exploitive. The one that leaps to mind is drumline. It is all about a self absorbed dude fro m the hood who doesn’t think the rules apply to him. He doesn’t feel that he should be held to any standards of any sort and in the end is rewarded for acting like an ass.
Poignant, but well put Nikolai.
AJ