This Is a Race-Themed “The Best Man Holiday” Post
Happy Negroes being Black in a movie.
Hoo boy. So, USA Today posted an article using the headline: “Holiday Nearly Beat Thor as Race-Themed Films Soar”. The article linked The Best Man Holiday (a holiday romantic comedy starring a mostly black cast) to Twelve Years a Slave and Fruitvale Station. Twelve Years a Slave was about the true story of a freed black man who was sold into slavery and was a slave for 12 years before being rescued. Fruitvale Station was about Oscar Grant, an Oakland, CA, native who was shot dead by a police officer execution style on New Year’s Day in 2009, presumably because the officer was afraid of black people. How those two “race-themed” movies relate to a black romantic comedy needs an explanation that was never offered in the article.
The First Lady of Cameroon, Chantal Biya, and I are not amused, USA Today!
Why is it that reports on the film industry cannot seem to let movies that feature anyone other than white people just be great? Hollywood already has trouble green lighting movies that feature anything other than white people, but it really doesn’t help to have people review movies that feature non-white casts and display an inability to see the film for just being what it is. If the themes of race are explored, that’s fine. If it’s a movie about friends getting together to just enjoy each other’s company (and they happen to be the same race), then it’s a movie about friends getting together to just enjoy each other’s company. USA Today changed the headline twice, but still called out race in the 2nd version, and finally settled on how shocking it was that Thor was almost overtaken by The Best Man Holiday. Can we just stop with the shock and awe? Good films are just good films, period.
These are race-themed movies.
This is not.
Black people enjoy movies, even if black people aren’t starring in them. Hollywood should know this already, especially with The Best Man movies. The first one stayed at the top for something like 3 weeks straight, which shocked the industry. The movie itself shocked me because it was honestly the first good black move I had seen since Boys in the Hood (and arguably, Friday, which was just funny and well-done.) When a good movie stars white people, it’s just called a good movie. Can Hollywood and movie reviewers, please start doing the same for good movies that just happen to not feature white people in leading roles?
