Comments on Race Matters: Is Hollywood Truly Color Blind When It Comes To On-Screen Romance?

Mon Sep 29 2008 10:31:13 By: ethelene (

39)
I could care less whether the romance is black and white or latin or asian all I care about is that they stop jumping in and out of bed having sex on whim. "Basic human instinct"? Maybe. Unsafe and showing lack of self-control? Definitly. Immoral? without a doubt! Hollywood sends out bad messages about sexual encounters. That is all they are. They mean nothing. That is not what love and commitment are about. I am very frustrated that I cannot watch a movie withour seeing such trash. I don't get me started on the bad language that I and my friends don't use and don't want to hear.

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Mon Sep 29 2008 10:55:04 By: lovetheweasel (

2042)
i wouldnt mind an interracial relationship between my white foot and spike lee's racist black a$$

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Mon Sep 29 2008 11:04:25 By: Britneysucks (

26444)
They are not supposed to be the moral example for society, they're entertainers, people forget that. They jump beds no less than the average person in the USA, when one takes one single look at the ever-growing porn industry the USA has.
As for the color-blindness, a generalisation cannot be given as a reasonable title for a written piece since that's down to the person, has very little to do with any industry.

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Mon Sep 29 2008 11:27:31 By: BikerChick (

1277)
Interesting topic. I think yes, Hollywood is sometimes reluctant to feature interracial romances.

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Mon Sep 29 2008 14:46:54 By: 666_Steinbrener (

979)
ethelene - Stick to rated G Disney movies in your sheltered world.
.
Shannon, very good read. thx.

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Mon Sep 29 2008 18:47:25 By: rapsux (

472)
who really cares about acted out interacial relationships?

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Mon Sep 29 2008 23:40:26 By: sexi_nesha (

1)
i think it doesn't matter what race u are because whites aren't better than blacks and blacks aren't better than white.how would white people feel if black people didn't want them in the music industry because music originally came from a black nation,white people will think that's unfair.so if u guys want to be unfair well white people shouldn't be in the music or dance industry because they both came fom a black nation besides black people are the best at both dancing and singing and even acting.dont you think black people have been through enough? whites treated blacks like animals for years for no reason,what because their skin is lighter.thats bull X@@##!!so if black people want to act let them act because when the music and dance industry was introduced by black people and whites starting taking part in these industry no one said X@@##!. so now blacks are acting with white people you racial X@@##! needs to keel yall stupid X@@##! put tryin to cause confusion.but when that confusion starts again blacks won't be the ones treated like dogs whites will be the ones treated like dogs.it will be a reverse whites will be the slave so they can see how it feels.besides black people are the most gracious,kind hearted people in the world. you racial X@@##! make me sick

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Tue Sep 30 2008 03:10:02 By: Omzarah (

6)
holly woods not a place 4 Romance.

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Tue Sep 30 2008 06:44:35 By: jphylton (

160)
Lovetheweasel,right on dude. Spike lee is a race pimp. If i want to see people screw i have porno film s. another thing that pisses me off is buying a dvd and having half a dozen previews to get through before the movie.

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Tue Sep 30 2008 15:18:21 By: A-stherror (

1127)
I personally dont have a problem with on screen interracial romance,even though Hollywood is still reluctant to feature them.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 01:39:34 By: rod_21060 (

6)
Things are this black and white in hollywood. The first interracial kiss on television was between Michelle Nichols (Uhuru) and William Shatner (Cpt Kirk). It was kiss was coerced by an alien being, and seemed uncomfortable. Before that, when Uhura was paired with a "love" interests, he was the few Black characters that crossed the Enterprise's cockpit. Everyone was so shocked by that interracial kiss, but they got over it. It did not start a trend of mixed race dating they all feared.
I can remember many films in the early 40's and 50's that I watched (in reruns) with my mother, where the "Blacks" mixed into White culture because of the skin color. Movies like "Pinky" and "Imitation of Life" told the story of a mixed race child who had dominate White features would assume being White and marry a White person. It wasn't until a relative died that they admitted their "race".
Hollywood was not a groundbreaking industry. They accommodated racial fears in return for butts in the seats. They feared that they would "offend" the South's delicate feelings by keeping the races in their places.
It is not a shock to me that Hollywood still fears the wrath of White backlash. Every Black person of my generation, I'm close to 50, knows that there has always been a double standard when it comes to pairing Black with White in a romantic role. White men were always assumed to be the superior guy who "rescued" the Black maiden from her surroundings, thus elevating her status.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 01:58:34 By: riffbuster (

13)
Rod, you are right, I am 48 and I remember seeing that kiss on Star Trek. Our years have passed us by so quickly, however, it is amazing how things have changed. I am black, and I remember having to hold my moms hand and walk to the back of the bus. I remember going down south with her and when the bus made a stop, we had to still walk in the rear to pick up pimento sandwiches. Now my culture has lost their damn minds. I don't mind the interracial dating, but not remembering where you come from or pit falls that were encountered is deplorable.
I have white friends, we even attend church together, but the problem we are having is watching the young boys growing up with no respect for women. And where are those feelings coming from? T.V. and the Movies. All of these pop stars walking around with essentially nothing on. Simulating Sex movements on stage!
I was driving in Southeren Maryland and saw a bill board stating "Being a Virgin isn't a bad thing" and I said Thank God! I mean, with all the things out there to catch, and the party is still going on. Hollywood needs to slow down, the tease is over as far as showing all this damn sex. Can't they find somehting else to awe us with?

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Wed Oct 1 2008 01:58:41 By: rod_21060 (

6)
In Denzel Washington's first movie, "Carbon Copy", he played the illegitimate son of George Segal's character. [I recommend this movie if you can find it.] Denzel, now an adult, goes to find his father after his mother died. His father had abandoned his mother when she got pregnant. The story that George Segal tells the audience was that he was, first and foremost, in love with "Denzel's" mother. They had met when they were in college together. But he was on the fast track, and having a Black wife was a career killer. So he chose his career over his life. He explains that it would have been ok if he was a plumber or "service" type of guy, but being an executive had costs. The Denzel character runs him through some obstable courses, and Segal learns that he had to "save" his son. In the end, he realizes how much he had given up, and that his lover had raised a fine man. That movie showed us how White society thought of Black people at that time.
But it wasn't just on the screen that racism was prominent. If a star, who happened to be a Black man, married a White woman who was his peer, her career was dead in the water. She, in the eyes of the White world, was soiled and damaged property. But on the opposite end, when a Black starlet married or was seen with a powerful White man, she was treated as "moving up". Lena Horne comes to mind. Her star was elevated, and she could go places other Blacks weren't allowed.
Remember, Hollywood is a reflection on us.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 02:09:06 By: riffbuster (

13)
In my youth I remember having a crush on white boy, as he with me, but all we could do was stare at one another, sneak and hold hands (we were about 13). We understood the stigma with it. Now, this is what I see in the offices. I was fired because I refused to sleep with a white man. He actually told me "Who do you think you are to refuse me. You are black right?" I tried to legally fight, but when he fired me he told me that he was in a good ole boys network and there would be nothing I could do. When all was said and done, they made it look like I was chasing him! Not to mention, I was blacked out of getting a job. Now I work from home, making much more money. It was as if he thought he had claim to me simply because I was black. Well, not this damn woman!

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Wed Oct 1 2008 02:16:32 By: rod_21060 (

6)
I understand, Riff. To me, it's about the romance more than the sex. Any animal can have sex, but only lovers know how to love. When a man looks into the eyes of a woman that he's attracted to, I seriously doubt if he sees color. I know that I don't. It's Hollywood's reluctance to humanize every American, no matter what color they are. Instead, they dip their toes into race romance, while continuingly diving into the sesspool of race hatred and fear of one another. The images that get the "air" are those of the stereotypical gangbanger with guns and dope. Those were the same images that were portrayed when I was a child. The only difference now, these "gangsters" are glorified instead of being shown to be the criminals that they are. I would never, ever buy the filth that comes from some of the "artists" that are featured in popular magazines, television shows and movies, regardless of their color. But somewhere btw the 70's and 90's, real music from musicians and true actors were tossed aside by the "powers that be" for the grit of the young men who didn't have role models. What happened to their role models is an entire different topic. But understand, nothing is created in a vacuum. I contend that America has been at "war" against Black men since "The Emancipation Proclamation", when Whites could no longer "officially" own Blacks anymore. There are, and there were very talented artists who were not welcomed in lieu of perpetuating the negative stereotypes.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 02:20:14 By: riffbuster (

13)
I remember Carbon Copy, we found out the Denzel character was in Med School in the end. I also remember Lena Horne as well. However, Dorothy Dandringe wasn't so lucky. In my black culture, we were taught that the white man she was seeing captured her youth, and kept her from Marrying a black prominent man. He refused to marry her (he was already married, wouldn't get a divorce).
Yes Rod, we as a race have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. I own my house in D.C., and as Whites are moving in I can see a change. Whenever I go shopping for groceries, a few whites look at me like I don't belong when the fact of the matter is I was born and raised here. And, I will never sell my home. I am not going anywhere. I am not racist, but I can feel myself changing, and not in a good way. I find myself staying to myself a lot more. However, maybe in the next 200 years things will be different, if we don't blow outselves up first.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 02:32:35 By: riffbuster (

13)
Rod, I agree with you. When you talk about role models, here it is. WELFARE....When this was invoked, it gave black men wheels to roll away and leave the raising to the government. I would have done this, which is totally unconstitutional, I would have said. Okay, 1 child first mistake, 2 children we tie your #$^(!) tubes! It wouild have made women think about their actions (I never had children, instead I helped my mom raised 9 of her grand boys). In fact, if I found out the guy had kids I did a role reversal. I ran for the hills (smile).
My friend is not black, and we have fun. We can be honest with one another, and speak on and about all levels of life. We are mature enough that we can disagree and it's alright.
I was once told... "I heard a black woman on the news last night, she had 5 kids and was saying she needed help. You have a degree, how come that didn't happen to you?" and I said "Well, I thank God somewhat that it happened to them, because that gave me the drive to make sure it didn't happen to me!" Smile

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Wed Oct 1 2008 02:33:06 By: rod_21060 (

6)
I'm glad that you persevered and didn't allow yourself to be anyone's property. I'm sorry that you had to go through that kind of hell. I have a daughter, and I teach her that she's in charge of her body. She has the choice of sharing it with whomever she chooses. I'm sure that you and I could write a best selling novel on our experiences. I was raised in the west, where things are a little more civilized. But I "dated" a few White women in my youth. Understand, I am a hopeless romantic and never saw their race until much later into the friendship. I didn't get a lot of backlash because of my manners, I suppose. In jr. high school, I hung around with White kids and they seemed supportive of my brief "relationship" with a White girl. I felt comfortable in their homes when I went to visit. The only exception was the father of my girlfriend, who refused to look at me. Her mother had the wisdom to let things take it's course and believe that what happened, happened. She trusted us, and we never betrayed that trust.
I believe that reason why I didn't feel a lot of the wrath of hatred from society was because I was discreet and didn't flaunt my relationships. But as I mentioned, I live in the west. It was not a big issue as it might have been in other parts of the country. I remember a mentor of mine telling me about a trip she took to S. Carolina. She overheard these White young men asking the Black skycap where they could find some Black *ussy.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 02:48:10 By: rod_21060 (

6)
I somewhat disagree with you about Welfare. Yes, I think that it's a necessary evil if it had limits. Sometimes, we do what's good for the child. You're right that it gave men, especially Black men, a free pass not to be the father that they had. But it also "empowered" women to want to go it alone instead of making a family with the man that got her knocked up. That was the way it was in the olden days. "You make it, you bought it." But it wasn't just Black women that were on Welfare. The majority of people at the height of Welfare (late 70's, early 80's) were White women. Somehow they were given the assistance needed to break free of the bondage of free money and got jobs. A whole social system was built around this demographic. The child care industry was one of them. Blacks were somewhat encouraged to stay at home. They didn't have the resources to get out of that rut for years. Even within their own families, they lacked help, if they got pregnant. They were told to rough it out, because their families weren't there for them.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 03:06:02 By: rod_21060 (

6)
The Michelle Nichols story was similiar to Dorothy Dandrigdge, somewhat. The woman who played Uhura on Star Trek, was in love with Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the series. He strung her along for years before she was ready to quit the show. She had been corresponding with Martin Luther King Jr. at the time, and he begged her to stay because she was really the only Black face on television. He reminded her of the good that she was doing being on the show. It gave Black girls (and boys) a face and something to aspire to. After that talk with MLK, she did decide to stay on. Gene never left his wife, even though he still wanted to "be with" Michelle. I have her book, "Beyond Uhura", on my bookshelf. Wrapping up here, because it's late in CA, and really early in DC. There have been a lot of changes, some real good. Our job is to keep doing what our African ancestors stayed alive, perserving their own pain, to allow us to be who we are. That's contributing members of our society. We have history scars to prove our worth here more than any other American, with maybe the exception of the indigenous people of North America. On your neighborhood story, I moved from a predominately mixed/but mostly Black community to a predominately White area about 16 years ago. We're only talking about 20 miles at the most. The words and deeds of the people that came before me, such as Martin Luther King, Jr, made me evaluate my own self imposed segregation.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 08:00:34 By: RASHARPE (

749)
With each generation this will become more accepted.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 13:20:10 By: mwalker (

13)
THAT X@@##! AIN'T GON NEVER BE ACCEPTED?

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Wed Oct 1 2008 13:40:48 By: janetkirk (

1085)
I remember "Lady Sings The Blues" with Diana Ross, and how she took the depression of the color thing inward...like most people do..
I remember Billy and Halle in that movie, somebody help me with what it was called...
Anyways, my point is men sometimes are cast in stereo typical roles that portray a mean, chauvanistic character...I never really thought of the woman being black...or that it was a race issue..I guess there are some out there who still do live in 1934, and don't read the newspaper and don't know that people are people...
Look at last night the speaker for Maryland in the 4th District is Black, she is a smart, talented, intelligent woman...when I look at her...I don't say to myself, "Oh she is black...maybe there are narrow minded whites who do.
I am not one of them, and take no part in THEIR RACISM.

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Wed Oct 1 2008 13:58:28 By: janetkirk (

1085)
Monster's Ball, was it?

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Thu Oct 2 2008 02:49:51 By: AJ1999 (

1)
Hate to burst your 'race bubble' but the reason there was no Romance is because Denzel Washington didn't want to include it. He felt that his black female fans would not appreciate it.
This has been documented in several earlier articles.

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Thu Oct 2 2008 15:34:43 By: citizenpeace (

6)
AJ1999 -
While I appreciate your reading my article and taking the time to comment, I am compelled to state that Denzel Washington has gone on record to various publications - Entertainment Weekly among them - in which he categorically denies cutting love scenes (most recently for the film "Man on Fire"). On the contrary, Washington claims that love scenes "are not offered" to him.
This rumored stance of Washington's against interracial romances on screen "documented" in several articles is in fact reported on several GOSSIP sites and asserted by Washington and his publicist to be conjecture and hearsay. When reported on in more reputable pubs, you won't find one quote by Washington himself to support this.
Denzel's appreciation for his black fan base is widely known yet isn't the ultimate factor in informing his cinematic choices. In response to a journalist's remark that his love scene with Milla Jovovich (He Got Game) illicited hisses from black women at a screening, Washington replied "They can be upset or happy or whatever they want to be at that time. That's a character I play in that movie. That's not me."
Regardless of whether you believe these now-debunked rumors about Washington or not, he is but one example out of dozens so the fact still remains: Hollywood has room for improvement when it comes interracial relationships on-screen.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

-Shannon Peace

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Fri Oct 3 2008 11:03:48 By: Dave stof (

230)
I'm an African man who was born in South Africa & I feel that we shouldnt dilute our blood as African men coz it's important that our nation/Continent expands more than any other in the world.No disrepect to Latinos since we're all in the same struggle,it's just that I dont want to engage in a sexual relationship/intercourse with any1 outside my race cuz white/European people have ancestors which oppressed my ancestors which resulted in some of my people being dismantled to the USA in the 16th century through slavery.And them being stripped away their names(African names) & being called slave names like Jones,Carter,Jackson,Johnson,W est etc.Here in SA white people think they are South African simply cuz they were born here,I can live with the fact that they share the same citezenship as me but i cant live with the fact they wanna be called South Africans cuz they're not.They were not placed here by God naturally but they relocated here & colonized my fore-fathers & took away some of my brothers & sisters to the USA with them to train them to fill basins.But 2day slavery still continues,only they use mordern methods of doing so.Whats sad is African-Americans cant see whats happening but here on the continent we can.And we feel that white people have deceived us & we believe that reparetion makes it even.Every white person living in Africa should go back to Europe & African-Americans should come back home.Africa houses Billions of my people(Arab&African)Roaring 4 war,I HATE YOU

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Fri Oct 3 2008 11:25:07 By: BikerChick (

1277)
"I dont want to engage in a sexual relationship/intercourse with any1 outside my race cuz white/European people have ancestors which oppressed my ancestors which resulted in some of my people being dismantled to the USA in the 16th century through slavery."
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Why blame people for what their ancestors did? They died with their sins, and their children shouldn't be held responsible.
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And as far as wanting to keep from "diluting" your race, you sound like a certain German dictator. Look what that turned into.
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"Every white person living in Africa should go back to Europe & African-Americans should come back home."
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So being born in one country means you should stay there? Should Canadians not "mix" with Americans? Should the French avoid marrying the Irish? Why separate races? Do you think one is better than the other?
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Obviously, you've had some tough times in South Africa. That kind of thing has happened all over the world - unfortunately it's human nature. But there is a lot of good out there too.

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Sat Oct 4 2008 06:56:21 By: jphylton (

160)
God put us on different continents for a reason but like everything else, man screwed it up.

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Sun Oct 5 2008 12:32:46 By: tombana (

1)
different folks have got different problems, while you guys are worrying about black or white, some of us are thinking water or no water,firewood or cow dung for fuel..don't you have better things to worry about? tombana-zimbabwe

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Wed Oct 22 2008 03:24:10 By: tankjoc (

3)
I totaly agree with your assesments of the past,however it,s getting more realistic as time goes by ,remember the white male usually are the ones that write and produce and finance these films

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Fri Nov 28 2008 09:02:47 By: juleslibra (

1)
colour has nothing to do with love. Are people really that blind that they can't see that there are many of thousands of mixed relationships in this world. Black women with white men, black men with white women etc. I have many friends from all different colours and cultures and some are with the same colour skin as themselves others are not but all of them fell for their partners for who they are not there colour. People are not going to scream in horror and stop watching films just because the love interests are of different colours. For god sake this is 2008 not 1908.

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Sat Sep 12 2009 18:45:27 By: Anonymous User
All i would add (way late I know) is this: imagine if the slightly depraved, vigorous sex scene between Berry and Thornton had've been Taye Diggs and Jennifer Aniston. I guarantee it wouldn't have been a "gritty yet necessary" scene then. Just look at the mainstream reaction to Jackson and Ricci in Black Snake Moan, and it wasn't even sexual!

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