Hollywood: Same As It Ever Was

Even with Oscar buzz and box office success, “Precious” isn’t likely to blow up the careers of its female stars. Black actresses still have a hard row to hoe. Just ask Angela Bassett—and Cicely Tyson.

With Precious, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are attempting to change both the Oscar game and what audiences have come to expect from black movies.

Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire, is extremely powerful, but I sincerely doubt it will change anything for black actresses in Hollywood. The film is strong, but not that strong.

Even if totally successful on every level—from box office receipts to a cultural shift away from the paralysis of self-pity—Hollywood will continue to go along as it has gone. Too many people are satisfied with the cardboard darkies that supposedly represent black women on film in the past.

When one looks at Byron Hurt’s Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes or his equally important Barack & Curtis, the problems with the media depictions of black women should become clear. Most people, black, white or whatever else, should be disturbed by the reduction of black women into beautiful but lascivious sperm buckets, overweight hams or abrasive bitches “deserving” of beat-downs. This caricature of black womanhood is as far removed from life and human dignity as molasses are from the taste of salt.
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