For Colored Girls ONLY

    Tonight  my wife told me that we were going to see Tyler Perry's movie For Colored Girls. Immediately I thought to myself:: Geeez...why does she want to torture me in this way!? What could I have ever done to her to deserve this kind of mental abuse? I didn't just arrive at this deep seated dislike,..ok ok, hatred for Mr. Perry's movies, I've been conditioned through an onslaught of Madear goes from Havana to Hell movies playing endlessly in the background at my home, but I digress.

For Colored Girls

    We dined sumptuously on fried oysters, okra and sweet tea before we left for the 8pm show and unfortunately since I'd slept in today, I was well rested for the movie. After finding a spot in the crowded parking lot we observed a long line at the ticket window, and no one at the automatic kiosks near the door and I thought to myself:: that's strange, could it be that all those people lack debit or credit cards? In a desperate and last ditch effort, I asked my wife if she'd be interested in watching something else, and she quickly declined the offer pushing the For Colored Girls selection on the kiosk screen for me.
    Well now there was no turning back, my fate was sealed. As we made our way to the ticket taker and she directed us to theater # 5, I had the strangest feeling during that long walk to our seats, that sappy awkward feeling I get when buying flowers and candy in Walmart on Valentines Day. Everyone has a look of profound sympathy at the poor men standing in line with candy and flowers in hand.
   The previews were playing as we entered the theater, and as we sought out our choice of seats, I scanned the few people that were seated to count the heads of men present. I counted 5 men of maybe 20 to 25 souls and prepared myself to be swallowed in a deluge of women upon exiting after the show. We sat down and 2 women with three teenage girls sat down behind us. But one of  the girls kept kicking my wife's seat repeatedly so we moved down three seats as the crowd poured in.
   As the show got underway I watched intently for those same old stereotypes that have dogged Black men and women in films for ages. You know; the angry Black woman, Black men as oversexed predators, drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, criminality of all sorts, and the newest to the group, the Black man on the down-low. I wouldn't wait long when, alas, the film opens with Kerry Washington, a sympathetic social worker distracted with her own personal problem of fertility, investigating child abuse at the home of Kimberly Elise.
   My wife cuts her eyes at me as if my thoughts were displayed on my forehead: Don't say a word she says in a hushed voice as I chuckled. But I was still willing to give the film a chance as it was just the beginning and the tickets cost me a cool 20 bucks, plus wifey wasn't having any leaving. I'm not going to go into details about the film because I don't want to ruin it for some people who may be reading my blog that haven't seen the film yet, but suffice it to say that the film portrayed yet again the Black man as the rapist, murderer, on the down-low, and oh yeah the token "good guy" cop.
   After the film as we were leaving the theater, I told my wife that Oprah must have helped him do the film adaptation of the 1974 play of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.
  We discussed the traditional roles that have been reserved for Blacks who are either new to the film industry, or emerging as serious talent within the ranks of the well established actors and actresses. My wife's position was that the film helps young Black women whom have been raised without a father to identify the wrong men to date and marry, and the struggles of Black women within Black relationships. My position is that it does very little for young Black women and immense harm to us as a people. My solution is simple in theory but complex in changing the culture of Hollywood, insomuch that simply boycotting films that portrays blacks in stereotypical roles only hurt those who are budding actors/actresses trying to get a foot in the door.  To be sure, boycotting has its place in a concerted effort of bringing about that change, and we have to be insistent.

 The Cosby Show

  I believe that change as it relates to roles in Black films will only happen when those who are capable of financing Black film do so, and also demand a change that seeks out non-traditional scripts and roles for Blacks that add value to our culture and stop others from defining who we are as a people. We are more dynamic than the ominous, odious, marginalized characters that have been insidiously seared as a hot iron in the minds of folks whom knowledge of Blacks come directly from film. I know one might be thinking, it'll never work, and my answer to that would be, The Cosby Show was a hugely successful show that broke many of television's long held records all while adding value to the stature of Blacks in American society. Our people are much, much more than the booty -clapping women in the latest rap videos, or the pistol toting drug dealing thugs that adorn seemingly every movie spun out of Hollywood, and it's about time we take control of our identity in film and our place in American society.