When most people watch movies they tend to not look to deeply within the whole process of why this went that way and why that had just happened — they are mainly there to watch the movie and then analyze or critique it afterward if they choose to do so. I know for myself that I like to watch the trailer first then the movie and then go and say my thoughts about it after I have watched it. I think, we as the audience, forget how easy it is to get manipulated by the movie or in other words how easy it is to get a profound response either positive or negative from the film.

Mainly, we just want to watch the movie and have fun doing so and that is that. However, for filmmakers and I guess I could say Hollywood itself, I believe that it is trying to persuade the viewers to get a profound response and to have the audience to have a reaction to what they are watching. In Rick Groen’s, “Why Hollywood Hates Capitalism”, he mentions that Hollywood is a big business that portrays itself to hate big businesses on screen but is willing to do so in order for the audience watching to believe that big businesses in real life are actually good.

Groen points out that “Hollywood the big business is ready and willing to cast itself in the role of the corporate heavy” (335) if only they are making money off of it. I think that this strategy of Hollywood and filmmakers is creative, but it can also cause the movie to be more dramatic and entertaining which I believe is one of the main goals of the producers. I just hope that the whole business side of Hollywood does not corrupt the whole entertainment business because what will we do if entertainment just becomes a bunch of small, meaningless ways to promote big businesses.

What is Your Role?

I was watching the television show 30 Rock the other day and one of the characters, Tracy Morgan, is the only black main character on the show — other than a few other minor black characters. Not only that, but he is there to help the other white characters to make their own television show funny and to bring in more viewers, by making fun of himself in ways that stereotype black people.

I mentioned what I said above because when watching movies and television shows, it is hard not to notice the lack of diversity on the screen. I mean yeah there are more and more black actors making their debut on the camera, but what are their roles most comprised of — supporting characters. There are a few characters who are black and the main character, but there is not enough. In Rita Kempley’s, “Mystical Black Characters Play Complex Cinematic Role”, if a black character is a main character, they are basically there to help a white character. It is not that the black characters are not likeable, it is just that they are given roles that are in a way ‘godly’ or ‘holy roles’ that causes them to be the supporting characters in a sense and help “rescue the better-drawn white characters” (331).

I don’t think writers and producers who create the movie or television show do this on purpose, I just think that there is this subconscious reason to do so. I feel like they have an idea of their character and its attributes and sadly, it does not have a black character playing it. I am not sure what people can do about it, but it is a start that there is awareness of the lack of diversity.