CentaurCinema

When I was in high school freshman year I was in the Journalism class. In this class was a Asian American guy and a Jewish guy. They used to crack jokes on each other. Racist jokes. I try to get in on this because everyday it was the same thing over and over again. But the Jewish guy flatly got at me and said I can’t do that. Why I wasn’t allowed to crack jokes when this is all they did and everybody hear it?

Last week African-Americans got upset when the Onion, a parody newspaper, called Wallis a cunt. Ebony Magazine, blogs, and pretty much anybody black called for Onion’s heads. We thought some evil white men who wanted to destroy Wallis’ moment in the spotlight sent out this tweet. We thought we could protect her from the onslaught of this situation and many more in the future.

But then Kevin Hart steps in. On Saturday Night Live Kevin Hart and the regulars of SNL did a skit revolving around the pope and the need for a new pope to be different. First it was supposed to be the black guy. Then out came Kevin Hart dress as Wallis in her Purple Dress and Puppy Purse from the Oscars. He was also sporting some fake weave and broken Latin. Kevin Hart was mimicking things she did in the movie, which was supposed to be cute. Watching this, thinking this was the worst thing that could happen for her and Kevin Hart. For one the majority of black people in America still hasn’t seen Beasts of the Southern Wild. My mom asked me what movie she played in. Even though she was a great actress it will be a long time before black people really appreciate black cinema. As for Kevin Hart he is on the cover of Ebony, a black women magazine. And SNL wasn’t his best performance, flubbing lines and not having funny skits. But the Wallis struck a cord with me. 

But the issue is bigger than Kevin Hart, Wallis, and The Onion. It’s the fact that when people make fun of African-Americans we take offense but when one of own does it we laugh at it. Our comedies get paid big bucks to make fun of our deplorable situations. I admit I laugh sometimes but I’m tired of these comedies talking about the same shit over and over: how we interact with each, how niggas be like, and how mess up weaves be. Its no surprise the only acting jobs we could get is comedies even though we need more dramatic films like Beasts of the Southern Wild. I’m not a fan of the Think Like A Man, Sparkle, Jumping The Broom fanfare. Our skills are way deeper than just a laugh. I have friends who are going to acting schools and I feel that the only jobs that will be available to them is a Tyler Perry Rom Com movie. 

Comedians are just as damaging as rappers. If we get mad at rappers for reflecting a certain reality we feel the majority of us don’t live, why we can’t get mad at comedians for making us laugh at certain things in our environment they we need to be fighting against? Cracking jokes about our messed up situations makes it seem we are smiling negros.  We are okay with living in ghettos that produce drugs, violence, and HIV.

So for BET, where is Larenz Tate’s new series about him being a cop? All we get is comedies all the time. I want to see something different. Unique. Push the envelope for black people. How about something from Octavia Bulter? Or Tananarive Due. Anything different. This is getting old.

Cracking jokes about the ghettos is getting the attention of the white community. They calling our bluff, saying we don’t need welfare and black history month. They think African Americans is taking money away from hard working citizens and they are just being lazy. Yes, some people are abusing the welfare system. But tech firms like FaceBook got a $250 Million tax break. Welfare people are not worth 250 Million or even 100 Million. Who is really getting welfare?

http://youtu.be/RHZb_qAx9WE (Newt Gingrich and African-Americans on Welfare)

Kevin Hart needs to get taken off of Ebony. Like right now. Show that they can take a strong stance against one of their own. Cause that is the problem. We have to show that we could fight for the little girl even if it won’t be a desirable situation for the magazine.  Cause if Wallis was related to me I would beat him like a dog in the street. There wouldn’t be any words. 

Quentin should have told a cue from David Ayers and Denzel Washington for Training Day. Though the ending sucked it was the first time it was where the black men was controlling the destiny of a white man. Help him understand  the nigga world. Jamie Foxx could have been that person to Christoph Waltz. He have show him the world of racism, brutality, and how walk that fine line between slavery and freedom. That slavery and freedom was a complex process and that could have played in the character of Django. 

When I think of spaghetti western I think of High Plains Drifter, where the hero wasn’t exactly a hero. Where he used extreme violence to prove a point, including painting the town red. Django could have been that person. Though that happen in the end that should have happen throughout the movie. He should have used many forms of violence to prove a point.

Jamie Foxx should have the ‘responsibility’ of being a freed black man. Much like a conscious black man in today’s time I wanted to see what was more important: saving his people and saving his wife. The best part of the movie to me is when Christoph Waltz wanted to save a slave after he ran. Jamie Foxx said couldn’t save the slave, for they break act they were doing so they could get his wife. I think their relationship should have been more interesting. They should have talk about how they seen slavery and what it means to each other. Christoph Waltz didn’t like slavery but wasn’t no John Brown. Jamie Foxx didn’t like slavery but wasn’t no Nat Turner, Desmond Vesey, and Harriet Tubman. I know people wanted this movie to be the slavery movie where he saved all the slaves but this is not it.

Leandro Diacarpo will get Supporting Best Actor because regardless of the bad writing the acting is superb. The Cinematography was great. The action was hot.

But the writing was lackluster. I wouldn’t expect this from Quentin but I remember something: black people are sensitive about their image on TV. Maybe because we haven’t recovered from Birth of the Nation, the sambos, and the Nannies. If Jamie Foxx was lynching black people in the movie it would have been a wrap. But I feel like this movie would have shown the complex issues revolving around slavery, about how there was some black overseers, black slave owners, and even some freedman who weren’t adamant about freeing their men down south.

Good movies have internal and external conflicts. And that is not cute. That is ugly. This is the plight of black people. We don’t want to see us in a negative light where we fucking each other over. But that is the point of a good movie. White people do it all the time. American Beauty. BraveHeart. GodFather. True Blood. People are not happy in those films. In fact everybody is pissed off and is going to take violence to make themselves feel better. That is what this film should been like. Black people have to get over the fact that the best films won’t see us in the best light. You will scream racism at the top of the lungs. But do you want Multi-Million Films or those inspiration films that are only on BET and Lifetime? It is time to wake up and not be scared of the future. Because you can complained about this film all you want but at the end of the day I will make films that will piss black people off.