Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
Sadly, his casting of lighter actors works because of the time the film is set in. I remember New York in the 80s very well. We don't like to discuss this, but we were a pretty color struck society then. The popular actors and singers at the time were light. It's one of the reasons Spike Lee's School Daze worked. I have problems with the film but they are technical. I didn't like the way it was edited, for example. Also, some of the symbolism was a little heavy handed. But overall this movie's success is what indie film needed. Daryle Lockhart On Nov 23, 2009, at 2:41 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I'm bothered that the director didn't change his or her perception of fat people until he made the film. He's no spring chicken. I think that the light skinned vs dark skinned thing is still going on but it is a lot more subtle. Hollywood still prefers the light skinned blacks as the good guy character. On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me...When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. --Lee Daniels, director of Precious. *** I will drop a review of Precious in the next couple of days. Short answer: I loved the film, though it's difficult to watch at times ( i will say, due to all the hype, it's not as bad as I'd expected, since I was prepared for a lot more graphic abuse depicted). One thing that does bother me about the film, now that I've heard it mentioned, is that the good people in it are all light-skinned. Indeed, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey are all biracial. The bad people are all dark skinned. It's interesting that director Lee Daniels admits he's had some issues on the color line, as noted in the article below. Interesting discussion on skin colour, that's unfortunately still relevant today, and interesting that in a film meant to explore the issues we all have, some of the creative work behind it reveals some of the same problems. * http://racerelations.about.com/b/2009/11/08/what-precious-means-for-race-relations.htm What Precious Means for Race Relations Sunday November 8, 2009 The film Precious premiered in select cities Nov. 6, and reviews are pouring in about the movie with a Harlem teen whose life transforms through education. To say that the circumstances of Precious Jones' life are bleak would be an understatement. Precious is illiterate, living with HIV and has been victimized by her parents in numerous ways, including sexually. Her father has twice impregnated her, and one child she's borne by him suffers from Down syndrome. Precious tackles an array of issues. Because the protagonist is black, however, both the media and the public have raised questions about its effect on race relations. I've summed up two major questions about the film below: Why do white audiences eat up black films and novels that depict dysfunction, poverty and abuse? Why are the villains in Precious dark-skinned and the heroes light- skinned? Precious is based on the novel Push by Sapphire. Both the film and the book have been compared to Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye in that they, too, garnered praise from white critics and featured emotional and sexual abuse of black youth by family members. The fact that these works feature abuse isn't in and of itself a problem. The problem is how the mainstream receives these works. I have no problem if viewers and critics regard Precious et al. as representations of particular black families. On the other hand, I do object to viewers and critics who regard a film like Precious as the only authentic black experience and a television program such as The Cosby Show as inauthentic. The fact is both of these slices of black life are authentic. I do understand, though, why some members of the black community have criticized Precious. Positive images of blacks in the media remain few and far between. In comedies, blacks are portrayed as buffoonish, cartoonish and uncouth. Films such as Norbit, Doctor Dolittle and Big Momma's House, not to mention any Tyler Perry flick, mock black womanhood. And on the dramatic end, we've had stories of gang warfare, virulent racism and abusive or absentee parents. There's no doubt in my mind that media portrayals of people of color can lead to racial stereotyping. I'm reminded of a former classmate from a Mexican-American family from East L.A. Her roommate freshman year was a Midwesterner who, upon seeing the gang film Mi Vida Loca, said that she didn't realize my classmate had lived such a hard life. My friend laughed and told her
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
I think that some areas were a little more skin sensitive than others but I do remember some of the controversy back then. Especially when Prince, the Debarges were big. On a side topic, there was a post that I read a few months ago that asked the question should black women wear lipstick. The author of the post believed that dark skinned black women should never wear lipstick. There were some other weirdness mixed into it that sounded a lot like pseudo-religious mess, but I thought that it was interesting. On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 3:12 AM, Daryle Lockhart dar...@darylelockhart.comwrote: Sadly, his casting of lighter actors works because of the time the film is set in. I remember New York in the 80s very well. We don't like to discuss this, but we were a pretty color struck society then. The popular actors and singers at the time were light. It's one of the reasons Spike Lee's School Daze worked. I have problems with the film but they are technical. I didn't like the way it was edited, for example. Also, some of the symbolism was a little heavy handed. But overall this movie's success is what indie film needed. Daryle Lockhart On Nov 23, 2009, at 2:41 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I'm bothered that the director didn't change his or her perception of fat people until he made the film. He's no spring chicken. I think that the light skinned vs dark skinned thing is still going on but it is a lot more subtle. Hollywood still prefers the light skinned blacks as the good guy character. On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Keith Johnson KeithBJohnson@keithbjohn...@comcast.net comcast.net wrote: *I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me...When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. --Lee Daniels, director of Precious.* *** I will drop a review of Precious in the next couple of days. Short answer: I loved the film, though it's difficult to watch at times ( i will say, due to all the hype, it's not as bad as I'd expected, since I was prepared for a lot more graphic abuse depicted). One thing that does bother me about the film, now that I've heard it mentioned, is that the good people in it are all light-skinned. Indeed, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey are all biracial. The bad people are all dark skinned. It's interesting that director Lee Daniels admits he's had some issues on the color line, as noted in the article below. Interesting discussion on skin colour, that's unfortunately still relevant today, and interesting that in a film meant to explore the issues we all have, some of the creative work behind it reveals some of the same problems. * http://racerelations.about.com/b/2009/11/08/what-precious-means-for-race-relations.htm http://racerelation s.about.com/b/2009/11/08/what-precious-means-for-race-relations.htm What Precious Means for Race Relations Sunday November 8, 2009 The film Precious http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929632/ premiered in select cities Nov. 6, and reviews are pouring in about the movie with a Harlem teen whose life transforms through education. To say that the circumstances of Precious Jones' life are bleak would be an understatement. Precious is illiterate, living with HIV and has been victimized by her parents in numerous ways, including sexually. Her father has twice impregnated her, and one child she's borne by him suffers from Down syndromehttp://downsyndrome.about.com/od/downsyndromebasics/a/downsynessen.htm. Precious tackles an array of issues. Because the protagonist is black, however, both the media and the public have raised questions about its effect on race relations. I've summed up two major questions about the film below: Why do white audiences eat up black films and novels that depict dysfunction, poverty and abuse? Why are the villains in Precious dark-skinned and the heroes light-skinned? Precious is based on the novel *Push*http://www.amazon.com/Push-Novel-Sapphire/dp/0679766758/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_topby Sapphire. Both the film and the book have been compared to Alice Walker's *The Color Purple*http://www.amazon.com/Color-Purple-Musical-Tie/dp/0156031825/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1257731466sr=1-1and Toni Morrison's *The Bluest Eye*http://www.amazon.com/Bluest-Eye-Vintage-International/dp/0307278441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1257731104sr=1-1in that they, too, garnered praise from white critics and featured emotional and sexual abuse of black youth by family members. The fact that these works feature abuse isn't in and of itself a problem. The problem is how the mainstream receives these works. I have no problem if viewers and critics regard Precious et al. as representations of particular black families. On the other hand, I do
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
Well, I at least give Daniels credit for acknowledging his own prejudices. We all have them: the problem is those who don't confront and try to change them. I try very consciously to ask myself why I feel certain ways and then analyze the root of those feelings. I'm always struck by the odd forms prejudice can take. For example, i'm well acquainted with our internal skin-color problems in playing favorites with each other. But I've never heard of it being a requirement for sitting up front at a church. Indeed, I always experienced that if the minister, for example, were really dark skinned, that didn't matter as long as he could deliver a great, sweat-producting, Bible-thumping, sermon! Perhaps I'm familiar with some people not being accepted into certain social circles 'cause of skin color, but sitting in pews? That's a new one. And then there is the issue of skin in relation to gender. a black man can be dark skinned and considered good looking, like a Tyrease or Denzel Washington. But by and large, dark-skinned Sisters are still not as quickly called beautiful as medium to lighter skinned sisters. I had long discussion with a very close relative of mine recently--a woman!--who told me that dark skinned women were automatically unattractive, no matter their facial features. Dark skinned men? She loves 'em! She heard all the arguments I put forth at how that was unfair, blatantly wrong, and a legacy of white indoctrination, but she held to. And add to *that* the idea sometimes that even dark skinned men can get the dubious compliment of being seen as more dangerous, more mysterious, a bit edgier and rougher than their lighter-skinned brothers. Jacked up, i tell you. Even if one gets over our self-hatred skin color problems, issues of weight still remain, and cut across ethnic lines. I have two good friends--both male--who are very dark skinned. Neither has a skin color problem with black women, but each has issues with overweight people, to the point I've had to confront them about it. One, for example, visited here in Atlanta, and then dropped a Facebook comment at how many fat women there were. Aside from the fact that he was referencing mostly Sisters, and also that he ignored everything else about atlanta to comment on that, I found the attack on the overweight disturbing. the other friend once casually commented on how he saw a fat guy at the grocery store, and thought he'll be dead or diabetic before he's 50. He ought not be allowed to have children if he's so irresponsible with his own body. I get all the health issues involved, but there's care and concern, and then there's contempt. So a Precious, who's dark, overweight, under educated, and a woman? Hell, that is a lot of burdens to bear! - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 2:41:41 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting? I'm bothered that the director didn't change his or her perception of fat people until he made the film. He's no spring chicken. I think that the light skinned vs dark skinned thing is still going on but it is a lot more subtle. Hollywood still prefers the light skinned blacks as the good guy character. On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me...When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. --Lee Daniels, director of Precious. *** I will drop a review of Precious in the next couple of days. Short answer: I loved the film, though it's difficult to watch at times ( i will say, due to all the hype, it's not as bad as I'd expected, since I was prepared for a lot more graphic abuse depicted). One thing that does bother me about the film, now that I've heard it mentioned, is that the good people in it are all light-skinned. Indeed, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey are all biracial. The bad people are all dark skinned. It's interesting that director Lee Daniels admits he's had some issues on the color line, as noted in the article below. Interesting discussion on skin colour, that's unfortunately still relevant today, and interesting that in a film meant to explore the issues we all have, some of the creative work behind it reveals some of the same problems. * http://racerelations.about.com/b/2009/11/08/what-precious-means-for-race-relations.htm What Precious Means for Race Relations Sunday November 8, 2009 The film Precious premiered in select cities Nov. 6, and reviews are pouring in about the movie with a Harlem teen whose life transforms through education. To say
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
But the point is, the book's author specifically crafted a teacher who wasn't light skinned. i hear you about the times, but even in thh old days, there were darker skinned people who made a difference and deserve to be showcased. This really is about Daniels' prejudices, which will show up no matter the time period or reason one has for justifying them. For example, I'm convinced a lot of Brothers so quickly supported Halle Berry's career not just because she's not dark, but because they knew she was half white, and the thought of that was alluring. It's the same reason so many go nuts over the Kim Kardassian or Jennifer Lopez: they get some aspects of a Sister's traits (the butt in both cases), but get the mental titillation of it being a non-black woman. A few years ago I was talking to a large group of Brothers at my job about some women they were dating, and a club they frequented. Half a dozen guys, and the conversation started focusing on how many half-Asian, half Black women there were at this club. The response from all was as if they'd discoverd the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I was bothered by the understood thought that the woman being half Asian made her more desirable than a woman who was just black. But still and all, as you say, I liked the movie a great deal. I too thought the editing was a bit rough, especially in the first twenty minutes. But it settled down and became a powerful film. I actually like that even the director's prejudices have become a topic of discussion, as, like the story the movie tells, it's something that needs to be addressed. And I agree it's just what indie films needed. Speaking of powerful indie films, ever seen Sankofa? If not, make it a goal to find it and do so. Wonderful movie. - Original Message - From: Daryle Lockhart dar...@darylelockhart.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Cc: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 6:12:23 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting? Sadly, his casting of lighter actors works because of the time the film is set in. I remember New York in the 80s very well. We don't like to discuss this, but we were a pretty color struck society then. The popular actors and singers at the time were light. It's one of the reasons Spike Lee's School Daze worked. I have problems with the film but they are technical. I didn't like the way it was edited, for example. Also, some of the symbolism was a little heavy handed. But overall this movie's success is what indie film needed. Daryle Lockhart On Nov 23, 2009, at 2:41 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I'm bothered that the director didn't change his or her perception of fat people until he made the film. He's no spring chicken. I think that the light skinned vs dark skinned thing is still going on but it is a lot more subtle. Hollywood still prefers the light skinned blacks as the good guy character. On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Keith Johnson KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net wrote: I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me...When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. --Lee Daniels, director of Precious. *** I will drop a review of Precious in the next couple of days. Short answer: I loved the film, though it's difficult to watch at times ( i will say, due to all the hype, it's not as bad as I'd expected, since I was prepared for a lot more graphic abuse depicted). One thing that does bother me about the film, now that I've heard it mentioned, is that the good people in it are all light-skinned. Indeed, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey are all biracial. The bad people are all dark skinned. It's interesting that director Lee Daniels admits he's had some issues on the color line, as noted in the article below. Interesting discussion on skin colour, that's unfortunately still relevant today, and interesting that in a film meant to explore the issues we all have, some of the creative work behind it reveals some of the same problems. * http://racerelation s.about.com/b/2009/11/08/what-precious-means-for-race-relations.htm What Precious Means for Race Relations Sunday November 8, 2009 The film Precious premiered in select cities Nov. 6, and reviews are pouring in about the movie with a Harlem teen whose life transforms through education. To say that the circumstances of Precious Jones' life are bleak would be an understatement. Precious is illiterate, living with HIV and has been victimized by her parents in numerous ways, including sexually. Her father has twice impregnated her, and one child she's borne by him suffers from Down syndrome
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
When I was growing up in Texas in the '60s and '70s, there was a lot of talk about colors applied to black women, be it lipstick, eye shadow, rouge, or even the color of clothing they wore . It was often felt that darker-skinned black women had no business wearing really red lipstick, for example. Now, if the sole objection were that many black people already have naturally pink or brown lips, that'd be one thing. My wife, for example, has a beautiful tone to her lips that is a mix of slight pink and soft brown. She doesn't need lipstick, just like many sisters. But she chooses to wear it, in shades from red to brown,a nd I'm cool with that. But the context was usually that the red lipstick looked bad against really dark skin. Of course, lighter skinned sister got more of a pass. Clothing was a big thing too. I remember some of my aunts and older cousins saying things such as I can't believe she's wearing that loud orange dress as black as she is!. It seemed that any bright colors--reds, oranges, yellows, etc--were verboten for dark skinned people. There were often comments about our kin from Africa who'd wear such loud clothing, and how it didn't look good on them. When I moved here to Atlanta, my wife and I attended a Caribbean parade. Talk about a breath of fresh air! I had never seen so many colors on so many people of so many hues, especially dark. Now, I had of course seen blacks dress in vivid colors all my life, such as high school bands, people in church, etc. But the number and variety in that parade was a whole new level. It helped me shake off the last vestiges of even entertaining that bright colors are only for bright people. - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 6:26:47 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting? I think that some areas were a little more skin sensitive than others but I do remember some of the controversy back then. Especially when Prince, the Debarges were big. On a side topic, there was a post that I read a few months ago that asked the question should black women wear lipstick. The author of the post believed that dark skinned black women should never wear lipstick. There were some other weirdness mixed into it that sounded a lot like pseudo-religious mess, but I thought that it was interesting. On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 3:12 AM, Daryle Lockhart dar...@darylelockhart.com wrote: Sadly, his casting of lighter actors works because of the time the film is set in. I remember New York in the 80s very well. We don't like to discuss this, but we were a pretty color struck society then. The popular actors and singers at the time were light. It's one of the reasons Spike Lee's School Daze worked. I have problems with the film but they are technical. I didn't like the way it was edited, for example. Also, some of the symbolism was a little heavy handed. But overall this movie's success is what indie film needed. Daryle Lockhart On Nov 23, 2009, at 2:41 AM, Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote: I'm bothered that the director didn't change his or her perception of fat people until he made the film. He's no spring chicken. I think that the light skinned vs dark skinned thing is still going on but it is a lot more subtle. Hollywood still prefers the light skinned blacks as the good guy character. On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Keith Johnson KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net wrote: I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me...When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. --Lee Daniels, director of Precious. *** I will drop a review of Precious in the next couple of days. Short answer: I loved the film, though it's difficult to watch at times ( i will say, due to all the hype, it's not as bad as I'd expected, since I was prepared for a lot more graphic abuse depicted). One thing that does bother me about the film, now that I've heard it mentioned, is that the good people in it are all light-skinned. Indeed, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey are all biracial. The bad people are all dark skinned. It's interesting that director Lee Daniels admits he's had some issues on the color line, as noted in the article below. Interesting discussion on skin colour, that's unfortunately still relevant today, and interesting that in a film meant to explore the issues we all have, some of the creative work behind it reveals some of the same problems. * http://racerelation s.about.com/b/2009/11/08/what-precious-means-for-race-relations.htm What Precious Means for Race Relations Sunday November 8, 2009
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
A lot of that is self imposed racial thinking. We were keeping ourselves down by then after years of social programming to hate ourselves. That is the true danger of racism. On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: When I was growing up in Texas in the '60s and '70s, there was a lot of talk about colors applied to black women, be it lipstick, eye shadow, rouge, or even the color of clothing they wore. It was often felt that darker-skinned black women had no business wearing really red lipstick, for example. Now, if the sole objection were that many black people already have naturally pink or brown lips, that'd be one thing. My wife, for example, has a beautiful tone to her lips that is a mix of slight pink and soft brown. She doesn't need lipstick, just like many sisters. But she chooses to wear it, in shades from red to brown,a nd I'm cool with that. But the context was usually that the red lipstick looked bad against really dark skin. Of course, lighter skinned sister got more of a pass. Clothing was a big thing too. I remember some of my aunts and older cousins saying things such as I can't believe she's wearing that loud orange dress as black as she is!. It seemed that any bright colors--reds, oranges, yellows, etc--were verboten for dark skinned people. There were often comments about our kin from Africa who'd wear such loud clothing, and how it didn't look good on them. When I moved here to Atlanta, my wife and I attended a Caribbean parade. Talk about a breath of fresh air! I had never seen so many colors on so many people of so many hues, especially dark. Now, I had of course seen blacks dress in vivid colors all my life, such as high school bands, people in church, etc. But the number and variety in that parade was a whole new level. It helped me shake off the last vestiges of even entertaining that bright colors are only for bright people. ess/
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
Yep, you can remove the bars, but the prison cell remains - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 8:52:56 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting? A lot of that is self imposed racial thinking. We were keeping ourselves down by then after years of social programming to hate ourselves. That is the true danger of racism. On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote: When I was growing up in Texas in the '60s and '70s, there was a lot of talk about colors applied to black women, be it lipstick, eye shadow, rouge, or even the color of clothing they wore. It was often felt that darker-skinned black women had no business wearing really red lipstick, for example. Now, if the sole objection were that many black people already have naturally pink or brown lips, that'd be one thing. My wife, for example, has a beautiful tone to her lips that is a mix of slight pink and soft brown. She doesn't need lipstick, just like many sisters. But she chooses to wear it, in shades from red to brown,a nd I'm cool with that. But the context was usually that the red lipstick looked bad against really dark skin. Of course, lighter skinned sister got more of a pass. Clothing was a big thing too. I remember some of my aunts and older cousins saying things such as I can't believe she's wearing that loud orange dress as black as she is!. It seemed that any bright colors--reds, oranges, yellows, etc--were verboten for dark skinned people. There were often comments about our kin from Africa who'd wear such loud clothing, and how it didn't look good on them. When I moved here to Atlanta, my wife and I attended a Caribbean parade. Talk about a breath of fresh air! I had never seen so many colors on so many people of so many hues, especially dark. Now, I had of course seen blacks dress in vivid colors all my life, such as high school bands, people in church, etc. But the number and variety in that parade was a whole new level. It helped me shake off the last vestiges of even entertaining that bright colors are only for bright people. ess/
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
It reminds me of the story about how they train elephants. When they are young they chain them with big oversize chains. When they become adult elephants they can easily snap the chains, but they never do. On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:37 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: Yep, you can remove the bars, but the prison cell remains - Original Message - From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 8:52:56 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting? A lot of that is self imposed racial thinking. We were keeping ourselves down by then after years of social programming to hate ourselves. That is the true danger of racism. On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: When I was growing up in Texas in the '60s and '70s, there was a lot of talk about colors applied to black women, be it lipstick, eye shadow, rouge, or even the color of clothing they wore. It was often felt that darker-skinned black women had no business wearing really red lipstick, for example. Now, if the sole objection were that many black people already have naturally pink or brown lips, that'd be one thing. My wife, for example, has a beautiful tone to her lips that is a mix of slight pink and soft brown. She doesn't need lipstick, just like many sisters. But she chooses to wear it, in shades from red to brown,a nd I'm cool with that. But the context was usually that the red lipstick looked bad against really dark skin. Of course, lighter skinned sister got more of a pass. Clothing was a big thing too. I remember some of my aunts and older cousins saying things such as I can't believe she's wearing that loud orange dress as black as she is!. It seemed that any bright colors--reds, oranges, yellows, etc--were verboten for dark skinned people. There were often comments about our kin from Africa who'd wear such loud clothing, and how it didn't look good on them. When I moved here to Atlanta, my wife and I attended a Caribbean parade. Talk about a breath of fresh air! I had never seen so many colors on so many people of so many hues, especially dark. Now, I had of course seen blacks dress in vivid colors all my life, such as high school bands, people in church, etc. But the number and variety in that parade was a whole new level. It helped me shake off the last vestiges of even entertaining that bright colors are only for bright people. ess/ -- Bringing diversity to perversity for over 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
Re: [scifinoir2] Skin Color Prejudice in Precious Casting?
I'm bothered that the director didn't change his or her perception of fat people until he made the film. He's no spring chicken. I think that the light skinned vs dark skinned thing is still going on but it is a lot more subtle. Hollywood still prefers the light skinned blacks as the good guy character. On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.netwrote: *I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me...When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. --Lee Daniels, director of Precious.* *** I will drop a review of Precious in the next couple of days. Short answer: I loved the film, though it's difficult to watch at times ( i will say, due to all the hype, it's not as bad as I'd expected, since I was prepared for a lot more graphic abuse depicted). One thing that does bother me about the film, now that I've heard it mentioned, is that the good people in it are all light-skinned. Indeed, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey are all biracial. The bad people are all dark skinned. It's interesting that director Lee Daniels admits he's had some issues on the color line, as noted in the article below. Interesting discussion on skin colour, that's unfortunately still relevant today, and interesting that in a film meant to explore the issues we all have, some of the creative work behind it reveals some of the same problems. * http://racerelations.about.com/b/2009/11/08/what-precious-means-for-race-relations.htm What Precious Means for Race Relations Sunday November 8, 2009 The film Precious http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929632/ premiered in select cities Nov. 6, and reviews are pouring in about the movie with a Harlem teen whose life transforms through education. To say that the circumstances of Precious Jones' life are bleak would be an understatement. Precious is illiterate, living with HIV and has been victimized by her parents in numerous ways, including sexually. Her father has twice impregnated her, and one child she's borne by him suffers from Down syndromehttp://downsyndrome.about.com/od/downsyndromebasics/a/downsynessen.htm. Precious tackles an array of issues. Because the protagonist is black, however, both the media and the public have raised questions about its effect on race relations. I've summed up two major questions about the film below: Why do white audiences eat up black films and novels that depict dysfunction, poverty and abuse? Why are the villains in Precious dark-skinned and the heroes light-skinned? Precious is based on the novel *Push*http://www.amazon.com/Push-Novel-Sapphire/dp/0679766758/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_topby Sapphire. Both the film and the book have been compared to Alice Walker's *The Color Purple*http://www.amazon.com/Color-Purple-Musical-Tie/dp/0156031825/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1257731466sr=1-1and Toni Morrison's *The Bluest Eye*http://www.amazon.com/Bluest-Eye-Vintage-International/dp/0307278441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1257731104sr=1-1in that they, too, garnered praise from white critics and featured emotional and sexual abuse of black youth by family members. The fact that these works feature abuse isn't in and of itself a problem. The problem is how the mainstream receives these works. I have no problem if viewers and critics regard Precious et al. as representations of particular black families. On the other hand, I do object to viewers and critics who regard a film like Precious as the only authentic black experience and a television program such as The Cosby Show http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086687/ as inauthentic. The fact is both of these slices of black life are authentic. I do understand, though, why some members of the black community have criticized Precious. Positive images of blacks in the media remain few and far between. In comedies, blacks are portrayed as buffoonish, cartoonish and uncouth. Films such as Norbit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477051/, Doctor Dolittle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118998/ and Big Momma's Househttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208003/, not to mention any Tyler Perry http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1347153/flick, mock black womanhood. And on the dramatic end, we've had stories of gang warfare, virulent racism and abusive or absentee parents. There's no doubt in my mind that media portrayals of people of color can lead to racial stereotyping. I'm reminded of a former classmate from a Mexican-American family from East L.A. Her roommate freshman year was a Midwesterner who, upon seeing the gang film Mi Vida Locahttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107566/, said that she didn't realize my classmate had lived such a hard life. My friend laughed and told her that she had little in common with the Mi Vida
