Hollywood, give us a break!

Happy New Year!

My wife, the beautiful Mrs. Diggity, asked me recently if I want to see Denzel Washington's latest film, "The Great Debaters." Ms. Diggity is an ardent supporter of Black cinema, however you define it, and we routinely rush to see most films with either a Black theme or starring Black actors. "No" I replied with a sigh. "Why not"? she inquired. Having been down this road before, I tried to be as succinct as possible, not wanting to get into an extended discourse with her regarding the subject. "It's just Hollywood on its latest uplifting, inspirational Black folks jag," I answered. She smiled and said no more. That's my girl.

For reasons unknown, other than that the film industry to a great degree is woefully lacking in creativity and original ideas, Hollywood revels in the making of the biopic and the "true" (or based on a true) story. Particularly, when making films concerning or depicting African Americans, the industry loves nothing more than an uplifting puff piece about Blacks challenging and overcoming the conventional and often racist obstacles imposed upon them by American society, past and present. Lamentably, when Hollywood enjoys success with a story that appeals to the Black community, it will try to milk the cow for as much as it can. Perhaps two objectives are achieved - 1) the industry taps into the consumer surplus of the Black community with a niche product, and 2) by presenting these "feel good" stories about the plight of Blacks, White America is given at least an opportunity to feel something positive about the Black socioeconomic existence, and can place its collective head another foot deeper into the sand. On both counts, it is an extremely manipulative course of action.

The latest round of this pap has come in four installments - "Akeelah And The Bee," (April, 2006) "The Pursuit of Happyness," (Dec. 2006) "Pride," (Mar. 2007) and now "The Great Debaters." (Dec. 2007). With the exception of 'Debaters,' I have seen all these films due to the persuasive talents of Mrs. Diggity. I'll take a flyer on 'Debaters' until it gets to cable. You could also include "Remember The Titans" and "Antwoine Fisher" in this genre," but those two belong to another point in time. All are variations on the Black "rags to riches" or '"overcoming all obstacles" themes, and represent the film industry at its most trivial (other than appealing to the prurient interests of post-pubescent males). The mantra: If it works (or even if it sometimes doesn't), let's make the same movie, over and over again. Especially for Black folks.

These films have enjoyed varying degrees of financial success. Lionsgate, the distributor of 'Pride' and 'Akeelah', must have figured it was on to a good thing when 'Akeelah' grossed $18.846 million, at a cost of only $8 million to make. However, their success was not repeated with the Terence Howard vehicle 'Pride', which grossed only $7.057 million. Lionsgate, incidentally, is the distributor of the latest installment in the repetitive "Rambo" series. Sony/Columbia garnered the box office powerhouse Will Smith to carry 'Happyness,' proving itself infinitely more savvy in marketing the genre, as it grossed a whopping $163.566 million versus a cost of $55 million. Not to be outdone, MGM collared megastar Washington (and Forrest Whitaker) to carry 'Debaters.' In its first week alone, the film grossed an eye-opening $5.674 million. All figures, Box Office Mojo .

Hollywood's insistence in making these films over and over again is personally irritating. The films are mediocre, the messages are trite, and the alleged morals of the stories misleading. I guess if Akeelah can win the Bee and Denzel can assemble a Black debating team that can beat "Harvard" (not historically accurate - it was USC), then we really don't have an educational crisis among the majority of Black children in the country today, do we? If Terence Howard can create a fine inner-city swim team out of whole cloth, then maybe resources and programs to divert urban Black youth from the perils of drugs and gangs aren't all that essential. Finally, if a homeless Black man can pull himself up from his bootstraps and become a millionaire who owned his own financial services firm, why can't other Blacks do the same?

Of course, there are some good reasons for making these films. The films provide jobs and work for Black (and white) actors. They tell stories, however fictionalized, of Black successes in White society. They can even provide a history lesson for the masses, no matter how dubious the source. And of course, they make MONEY. But these films are are simplistic in their fairy tale portrayals of Blacks. Blacks in America have a diversity and richness in their stories which takes on many shapes, forms, textures, and complexities, and Hollywood rarely times the time, expends the effort, or spends the money to tell these stories.

I'm also aware that Hollywood doesn't reserve this repetitive sledgehammer technique just for Black movies. How many iterations of Rambo, Die Hard, Halloween, etc., have we all become just damned tired? It's just that there's so little quality cinema either for or about Blacks (for example, there's the annoying and seemingly ubiquitous Tyler Perry) that I find it irritating that precious resources are being used on this mainstream pablum.

A few questions before I leave: 1) Why does the cable television industry seem to produce more quality features about Blacks than the film industry? I point out such notable examples as HBO Films "Lackawanna Blues," "A Lesson Before Dying," "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," "Something The Lord Made," and even "The Tuskegee Airmen," just to name a few; 2) Why is Denzel Washington involved in so many of these mediocre films, and 3) When is "Fridays 4" coming out? Love that Ice Cube.

No Diggity