No, you're right, it's my belief as well. I went to see "Princess and the Frog" yesterday. I really liked it, but was upset--as I anticipated--at a bit of cowardice on Pixar's part. To wit: not making the male romantic lead a black man (he's some odd darker-skinned color with straight hair and an ambiguous accent, but obviously not black like the "princess). And, the fact that the vast bulk of the film has the two leads as animals, which is odd since I've never seen that in a Disney flick like this. Films with major animal sidekicks or stars outright? Sure, but not this. It showed that Pixar was simply nervous at making a "black" film, and played it safe.
The only way around that is for more people of color to be in charge of film production. Still, we can't do everything, and for every movie or cartoon black people can manage to raise the funds and talent to create, there will be more works where others interpretate us, and we have to at least address that. ----- Original Message ----- From: "C.W. Badie" <astromancer2...@yahoo.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, February 7, 2010 1:54:47 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Caprica/BSG -- Where the Brothers At? Not meaning to be harsh, guys, but like I siad when I first joined this group: If you want to see black folks in sci-fi and horror, write them! I've seen a lot of your work, guys, and from some of the intelligent threads I've been reading in the group, we have a lot of potential great storytellers...Before you ask, I have been published twice...and I suck, so you guys with the chops will make an impressive killing if you put your stuff in front of the right eyes...(Think Bill Duke!) "Such music flows on the Fringe, and no one can resist singing to Scarlet" >From "THE SIDE STREET CHRONICLES" by C.W. Badie --- On Sun, 2/7/10, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> wrote: From: Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Caprica/BSG -- Where the Brothers At? To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010, 12:01 PM Ah, but that's my point: none of them had pivotal roles or were memorable. You had to refresh my memory that one of the 12 was black, and I do remember that one that escaped too. But again, no black men have had major roles in either series. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr. Worf" <HelloMahogany@ gmail.com> To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Sent: Sunday, February 7, 2010 6:29:50 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Caprica/BSG -- Where the Brothers At? One of the 12 was black. He was an important character in the first 2 seasons, and the Plan. There was also a minor character that had been captured and escaped, but that didn't go anywhere. There were also several that were pilots on the transports. Also there were a couple on the other battlestar. On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 1:53 AM, Keith Johnson < KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net > wrote: Something odd strikes me about the BSG/Caprica worlds: no black men in significant positions. I missed the last couple years of BSG, but I remember noting the curious lack of black men in anything but background roles. I think there was one reporter on that ship were political events were held, but he wasn't even the main reporter. I see them in the background on the ship, but no high level officers, now that Boomer and Tigh from the original series were replaced by an Asian lady and a white man, respectively. Hell: I don't even remember any of the fighter pilots being black. Where I *did* see black man on BSG? On the ep dealing with the prison ship, the place was lousy with black men: big, black, bald black men. I also note a lot of brothers functioning as scowling muscle. When Admiral Cain (michelle Forbes) came to Galactica, her high level staff was all white men. But the bodyguards? All big, very black, very bald, scowling black men. Left a bad taste in my mouth, and frankly one reason i lost some interest in the show. Did it get better? Now on "Caprica" I'm seeing the same thing. Sure, I see black men in the background: in the street traffic, maybe a reporter in the background shouting questions. Back again, I see no high level scientists, politicians, police, or military men who are black. The one black I can remember in anything approaching a recurring role? The big, black, bald, scowling brother who functions as the bodyguard/drive for the Greystones. What's the deal? This reminds me of the old days when we were in the background but little else. I'd ask if it's because of the shooting locale, but if they can find brothers to walk up and down the street, surely they could put some in important roles. It's cool and all they have a Latino in a role that may or may not be "Latino", but my brothers are all but absent... -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mahogany_ pleasures_ of_darkness/
