If you loiter on the interwebs as I tend to do, you’ll often come across articles that have you perplexed. This occurred to me yesterday, during the longest day EVER, when I read a piece over on the site Shadow and Act, titled The Gentrification of Black Film. In said article, author Tanya Steele delivers a bristling take down of Tate Taylor, Get On Up, and what she believes is the gentrification of Black films.
First of all, let me say I commend the writer for taking a stand against a movie that they didn’t/aren’t going to see. You’ll see me react in much a similar way come time for Exodus: Gods and Kings coming out. I also honestly think Tanya has some really strong convictions and a sense of self, which made her article if not engaging, than at least readable. However, what stopped me in my tracks was the writer’s lack of ability to move past their own biases and dig deep into the real issues. The majority of this piece feels more like a hit piece against Tate Taylor, rather than a discussion about Hollywood’s homogenization of everything. I mean when you spend multiple paragraphs talking about how you won’t see a movie directed by this guy, and how he was the wrong person to do this, etc. its hard for me to get through to the actual critique. I’d have loved for the writer to have seen the movie and THEN write this piece. Get On Up could be nothing more than a series of tropes, as she so eloquently put, but if all you are judging a project on is the trailer, there is a fundamental disconnect in your argument, unless you bring up other films. Which she didn’t. I mean I’d love to know what she thought of Ray, which was directed and co-written by Taylor Hackford, a white man.
Furthermore, the exploration into the concept of white washing is fragile at best because she can never decide whether she wants it to refer to white washing (racial tense) or a white washing (for easy consumption). This have your cake and eat it too method might have worked if her targets hadn’t been so pointed. You can’t start by equating a white director not having the soul or culture to understand a Black icon and then align that with Hollywood making bland cookie cutter movies. Now these two are certainly not mutually exclusive, but the way it’s written in that piece she makes a direct link between a white guy being chosen to direct a movie about a Black icon which has led to the sterilization of said tale. In doing so, she misses a crucial element about homogenization and gentrification, you don’t need to be white to do it. I mean being black has NEVER meant that you can make a good black movie. How many of the same folks who are cheering this article DRAGGED Lee Daniels by his eyebrows for his film The Butler despite its exploration of black themes like double consciousness? And how quickly we forget how dreadful Miracle at St. Anna was, despite having a great Black director named Spike Lee at the helm? Hell we can’t go a year without someone trying to read Tyler Perry for filth and all he does is make black movies white washed in Christianity. Let’s see how Selma does this year come Christmas time. Will everyone take the kind of time to get on Ava if say, MLK’s cheating doesn’t factor into the movie? Will that be white washing?
The concept of white washing extends far beyond purely who is chosen to handle a project lines. Hollywood is first and foremost a business, and as such seeks to appeal to the widest audience possible. In doing so they seek to find the kernels in the story the characters that they can sell and market. This certainly can hamper the creative process and for someone like James Brown, that can hinder the story. However, one only need to look at the trials and tribulations of that Aaliyah biopic to see that regardless of what culture/person’s hand is in the creation, everyone is still looking for a streamlined version of the truth. In the end, this is NOT a piece about the gentrification of black movies, but against Hollywood machinations, which she would have been wise to note up front and throughout her work.
Also, what really annoyed me was the inclusion of the note about Jane Campion passing on Beloved and all I could think of was “well good for Jane Campion, but last EYE (yes EYE) checked there have been plenty good movies about cultures that have not been directed by folks of that culture.” African Americans as a whole love The Color Purple and that’s directed by a pretty famous white guy. This line bothered me so much because as someone who wants to be a writer/director, I’ll be damned if I keep myself from an interesting project solely because I don’t know about a culture or am not of the race the race being depicted is. Sure, the best characters CERTAINLY come from your own life story, but that doesn’t mean one can’t empathize and learn about other characters while making a project. Yes, film as a medium, is more than images on screen, but if something about a project inspires you, why block your blessing?
Now I say all this to get to the final point which is buried waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay inside this article , black people need to be afforded the opportunity to make more films and people have to seek out Black cinema. There was a golden opportunity here to give a shout out to the indie crowd and films like Middle of Nowhere or Pariah or Dear White People. Black people are making some good cinema, but there is still much work to be done. Tanya definitely started an interesting debate and one I hope continues until things have improved.