"Because what we see about ourselves often influences what we do about ourselves, the role of images and the question of how they control our minds are more important now, in our media-saturated society, than ever before." Dr. John Henrik Clarke
Film is not produced for entertainment alone. Film is very powerful. Film transmits ideas to the world about people, politics, history, sex, ideals of beauty, relationships, culture and the list goes on. We do not control Hollywood, so we do not control what they transmit around the world about us. This is a serious problem.
For every movie that tells the story of a powerful European monarch, there are none that tell the story of a powerful African monarch. For every European centered epic such as 300, Alexander, Troy and Gladiator, there are no African centered epics. Characters that have superhuman and supernatural powers are almost always caucasian. This is done very deliberately. Europeans use every resource available to maintain and increase their power, the entertainment industry is no different. They use film to help shape their images and everyone else's as well.
Danny Glover's epic about Haitian independence hero Toussaint-Louverture might not get made because producers complained that there were no white heroes. "Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project...but where are the white heroes?" Mr. Glover has gotten 18 million dollars from Venezuela but needs a total of 30 million to make the film.
White producers were not willing to green-light this project because it does not provide an acceptable image of Europeans. Europeans being defeated by Africans who had less manpower and less resources is not in alignment with the types of ideas Hollywood wants to transmit to the world.
Why then are African-Americans not as shrewd in guarding and shaping our own images? A lot of us are just so happy to be invited to dinner that we will accept scraps in return. Halle Berry wanted an Oscar enough to perform a porno scene with Billy Bob Thornton. Why are black actors playing the Fairy God Negro, someone who helps to enrich the life of a white person with our good old negro wisdom. Why are black actresses not playing super-heroines, falling in love, sitting on a throne or having an outer-worldly adventure. The answer is a lot of black filmmakers are limited in their thinking when it comes to our experiences and they also know what white producers will green-light.
The fact is, it is not up to white Hollywood execs to tell our stories. We need to control our stories and how they are told. We need to use film to shape our own images. The cost of leaving this up to someone else is too high. As a filmmaker this is my goal. I want to tell the stories that will show the world that has chosen to forget, that as the oldest people on the planet our stories run long and deep into the root.
