Hollywood’s Fraught History with Black Audiences

Hollywood’s Fraught History with Black Audiences

There has been an explosion of popular and acclaimed work from Black creators on film and television in recent years. This is no fluke—it’s the latest instance in a pattern that has repeated across film history. As the film scholar Aymar Jean Christian tells the Radio Hour’s Ngofeen Mputubwele, industry players “always use the Black audience to draw people back into theaters when they’ve lost the audience in some other way.” Christian points to Blaxploitation films, which in the nineteen-seventies pulled the industry out of a viewership slump, and to the so-called ghetto pictures, which brought audiences back into movie theaters, despite the growing appeal of television. So what accounts for the current surge of Black stories coming out of Hollywood? “I really think it was ‘Django Unchained,’ ” Christian says. After studio consolidation limited opportunities for Black creators in the early two-thousands, Christian believes, Tarantino’s film reminded Hollywood that “Black people like movies, that we deserve movies.” But, for as much progress as there has been, Christian argues that there is something missing in today’s film landscape: stories about the Black experience beyond trauma. “I think we also need stories about solidarity, about how to love each other, about how to heal,” Christian says. “And I just don’t think that this hyper-capitalist, hypercompetitive environment is really incentivizing that kind of storytelling.”

Episoder(150)

The Theologian Russell Moore on Christian Nationalism

The Theologian Russell Moore on Christian Nationalism

Until recently, the Reverend Russell Moore held a leading position—president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission—in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in t...

7 Nov 202218min

Judgment Day Appears Close for Affirmative Action

Judgment Day Appears Close for Affirmative Action

This week, the Supreme Court heard two cases—against Harvard and U.N.C.—that may very well bring about the end of affirmative action at American colleges and universities. The practice rests on the Fo...

3 Nov 202237min

Mayor Francis Suarez’s View from Miami

Mayor Francis Suarez’s View from Miami

Francis Suarez, the Republican mayor of Miami, is popular in the city he governs, and increasingly prominent beyond it. Conservative voices as disparate as Kanye West and George Will have floated him ...

31 Okt 202216min

Are the Midterms Still Anyone’s Game?

Are the Midterms Still Anyone’s Game?

We are two weeks from the midterms, and things aren’t looking good for the Democrats. It’s a difficult political environment to campaign in; inflation and gas prices are high, and President Biden’s ap...

27 Okt 202225min

The Vulnerabilities of our Voting Machines, and How to Secure Them

The Vulnerabilities of our Voting Machines, and How to Secure Them

The security of voting has become a huge topic of concern. That’s especially true after 2020, when it became an article of faith for Donald Trump supporters that the election was somehow stolen by Pre...

24 Okt 202216min

Can Kanye West Buy Free Speech?

Can Kanye West Buy Free Speech?

Earlier this month, the House G.O.P. account tweeted, “Kanye. Elon. Trump.”—a declaration of the Party’s new mascots. Since then, Kanye West has cemented this role, with a series of bizarre publicity ...

20 Okt 202233min

After Roe, a New Abortion Underground

After Roe, a New Abortion Underground

Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the contributor Stephania Taladrid has been following a network of women who are secretly distributing abortion pills across the United States. The group has its roo...

17 Okt 202224min

The Political Scene Live with Jamie Raskin: January 6th and Accountability for Donald Trump

The Political Scene Live with Jamie Raskin: January 6th and Accountability for Donald Trump

Tomorrow marks the last expected public hearing of the Congressional January 6th Committee. The eight previous hearings have already revealed extraordinary information about just how close American de...

12 Okt 202247min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
popradet
forklart
stopp-verden
fotballpodden-2
rss-gukild-johaug
dine-penger-pengeradet
det-store-bildet
rss-ness
nokon-ma-ga
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik
e24-podden
ta-dokumentar