I love going to the movies.
I will line up to see them all: classics, independents and blockbusters, too. I always find myself connecting to the characters: No matter how different from me they are I can see myself or my life in so many different movies.
But too rarely are women who look like me actually portrayed in film. Because of that, I have started to realize the importance of seeing some movies sooner than others – particularly movies starring people of color.
For them, not only does opening weekend make or break them, but also the future of other movies featuring blacks, Hispanics, Asians and diverse casts rests on their shoulders.
Opening weekend has become such a big deal, that the California-based Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center started a national organization, the FirstWeekend Club (firstweekendclub.org) to motivate people to fill theater seats when movies open.
“If we get out there that first weekend and the films do well, they will make more movies with black actors and actresses,” says John Forbes, executive director of the BHERC.
The FirstWeekend Club supports movies like “Pride” and “Are We Done Yet?,” starring mostly black casts, and movies with mixed casts like “Black Snake Moan” and “Perfect Stranger.”
“Black films are not just films for blacks,” Forbes says, “they are films for everyone. We come from myriad walks of life. We’re everywhere, from hip-hop to aerospace, so it’s important that Hollywood represent us that way. And in order for them to do that, we have to prove that it is a viable market.”
It’s also essential for people of color to not just see the movies that are marketed to them, but to look further than that.
In the 1960s there were only about two black films a year, Forbes says. Last year there were about 30. But how many people went to see them? Did they see “The Pursuit of Happyness,” depicting the real life bond between a father and his son, an image rarely portrayed by black men in Hollywood? Or “Children of Men,” in which the future of the world could be saved by a young black woman?
More recently, there was “Reign Over Me,” a movie that silenced the old cinematic stereotypes of the black people being poor, violent, uneducated buffoons.
These are positive images. They are important to the black community, and to all communities, because they give a more realistic vision of American life. Black life cannot be boxed into comedies, musicals and movies about life in the hood.
They can’t all just be documentaries or biographies. Those movies have their place, but Hollywood has to push further.
We have to support and demand more movies that aren’t built around race, but are built on strong characters who happen to be of color.
Isn’t that real diversity? Character before color? So stop downloading. Stop waiting for the movies to come to the dollar theaters or the shelves of your local video store. Get out there on opening weekend and see the movies that reflect your community in a positive light.
