I'm very into Film Criticism and some of my very interesting friends showed me this....
I think this is a very interesting point and I liked this sooo much I decided not to be lazy and actually put it up here. I think this type of test could work for black people in films as well. However you may want to change the questions a little.
1.] Are there two or more black characters?
2.] Do they talk to each other? (You may want to add a stipulation that they not be related...but that may be too strict you're lucky if they pass the first one.)
3.] Do they have names?
4.] Do they talk about something other than how horribly they have treated each other? How badly other black people treated them? [ex. say they are related to each other. one probably will to talk about how the mother would beat the child etc ]
alternative number 4.] Do they say anything of importance in the film ? [Even if not to each other do they say anything at all worth listening to? Even if they are the only black characters.]
One. I respect this video. I'm glad someone said it. The comparison to black and queer rights bothers me a lot on the show...but there are many like it. On Supernatural [although it had a good season finale] in season two i think a black demon hunter is like super into his job and specifically targets vampires. A vampire turned his sister and he killed her (it). He is very anti-demons/undead things and he eventually tries to kill sam [a main character] who i thinks could become a demon and says "why would someone turn against their own race." Then he becomes a vampire. Kidnaps a white woman [who presumably he would eat...see anything there..anything Birth of a Nation-y] and they cut his head off.
Two. Once again glad someone said it. Liked how she talked about the female problems on the show. I agree twelve thousand percent. :)
Three. Tara. Totally disagree with this. The black side kick-ness is a problem and i think that it's a big problem to the point that on many shows there is a black side kick and noooo other black characters on television. It's like they need to prove that their character isn't a quote un quote racist without having that character treat "people' with respect they get to grace this black character with their presence without necessarily saying they trust them, that they like them, that if given the chance they would help them. I say quote un quote racist because usually shows with the black character have no other black person[s] on the show therefore there racial feelings are not shared with us. Feminist Analysis [check this book out] says and shows how women [mostly focused on white women] are objectified but black characters are often literal objects. Black characters are often shown as having nothing to talk about. See...any film really, but like see um... License to Wed [2007] [ie completely generic films]where the main characters black friend gives him horrible relationship advice all film and at the end the main character just has to tell him off. Or they do have something important to say but the main character doesn't listen and never apologizes for it. See Monster in law [2005] mother in law is about to do something stupid black side kick says don't do it. She does it anyway and magically realizes alone [as though no one has told her she was wrong] 'i shouldn't have done it.'
However the black side kick ness isn't my problem. My problem is all of the things that this video agrees with. It's the black mother aspect I have a problem with. The fact that Tara has an alcoholic mother and a father who isn't there. This is a perpetuation of one of the worst representations of black people on television. Black people in television and film are the worst parents EVER. Precious, [insert any film with a white teacher in a black neighborhood],etc. Don't get me wrong helping people is fine and would be fine if there were any other films ever that didn't show black families like this all the time. The only somewhat positive representation of this is in Hurricane. The black child here has white parents he lives with in Canada. but still is interested in racism and knows it exists...however you can infer from this film that he isn't
(4. I liked the not so subtle comment about how the woman eats a lot of organic food. Have you noticed how people who eat organic food [eat healthy] are evil and pretentious and "know it alls" ? However people who are overweight are mocked never really the main character. People on television aren't really shown exercising for fun either. Only exercising for violence or car chases or if they are angry about something. So .... um... there seems to be a paradox here....eat well and you suck, exercize only when something is wrong, or be overweight and be either non existent, or laughed at. Just watch tv you'll see it)
5. Lafayette. Well ...yeah..i really like him [and tara]. You know why? Because he fucking exists. Sadly I'm at a point in my movie/tv watching were I have to settle for black characters that exist. And black queer character are even scarcer. Or are shown horribly ... worse than this. However she's right. He's the only black male character for us...He does kick ass though....however there was one in this second season. Tara dated him he was this "slave boy" for the evil woman mentioned before. She sort of jedi mind tricked him into killing people and after everything is done with and she was killed...he can't take it and dies. Because they can't have more than two black males on the show. A black male who can't quite fit into the stereotypes that Lafayette does. He fits into different ones but the viewers can only see one type of black male.
6. Eric. ... She said everything eric = asshole and he is going to be with our main character Sookie and it bothers me..
She had some links to some things....
Racialicious . com I
Racialicious .com II
Racialicious.com III
The Daily Beast
i don't watch and have never watched Caprica I was once interested in scifi channel and then they sold out and became syfy channel and stopped focusing on science fiction they had mission impossible once..yeah it works...kinda....nooooott.
I just wanted to show this because of how film analysis works. This man basically double penetrations his victims. These things are always important in movies/tv you may think it contrived but like sex , sexuality is important on tv and representation of gay people [and as you saw earlier black [non white] people] is important.
Check the feminist frequency website ... links....----->
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