Amid the barrage of movies, television premieres and season finales, popular commercials, and streaming channels are the major Entertainment Studios, Record Labels, and their sponsors. In 2016, the major production houses of Hollywood racked in $11.17 Billion. The American Music industry racked in over $7.7 Billion, and the new, but powerfully stable internet streaming channels like Netflix made $8.8 Billion, alone. The Age of Hollywood, never looked better or so promising. Especially, when even the major Hollywood Sponsors like The Pentagon, Silicon Valley, the Beverage Companies Coca Cola & Pepsi, Big Tobacco, and the top American Breweries are also reaping record profits. Hollywood and the major studios are pushing so many images, ideas, and personalities on television and the internet, even your personal cell phone cannot escape the business advertisements and commercials. The agenda in Tinsel Town, the capital of Propaganda, is whatever sells, White Americanism, Youth-ism, violence & Blind American Imperial Militancy, Extreme liberalism, Gay Feminism, Average Humor, a sprinkle of color for diversity, and of course, no recourse, except for the occasional apology.
Photo Courtesy of Hulu
Move Over Bill Cosby. Bring In Empire
The saddest part about losing the image of Bill Cosby to the recent sex scandals is not only the fall of an American Icon, but the departure from original wholesome Black Entertainment with values to the re-emergence of American Black caricatures on television and cinema.
Image the excitement and utter disappointment for an African American film winning the Academy Award (Moonlight 2017), to witness two adolescent boys kissing, with my teenage son and elementary daughter. These are not values encouraged within my home or the African American community at large, so why would Hollywood propagate these ideas attempting to implant in the psyche of my children and the minds of others?
The quality of African American cinema and music has not only taken a nose dive, but the image of African Americans onscreen and on the radio has once again been hijacked by Foreign Idealists. These Idealists have no value nor class, but they expound themselves to be the very pillars of African American society, having merely existed on the fringes because of their loose morals. In this current Propaganda Hollywood atmosphere, these powerful Black Directors, producers, actors and recording artists are brilliant because they fit the exact role designed for them to play. They are the American Black Caricature, exactly what popular White American Entertainment wants and imagines Black America to be. For this reason, these individuals are most dangerous to the African plight in America.
The earliest attempts by African Americans to grace the silver screen and music recording industry carried not only genius and talent, but class and a sense of struggle. Remember Mahalia Jackson's gospel songs, Bessie Smith's Blues, and Josephine Baker's jazz, brought the best of the Negro to the stage and held everyone in awe? Remember Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge, or Sidney Poitier, Hattie McDaniels, and Claudia McNeil? How about Ruby and Ossie Davis, and the old geniuses, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and "the classy," Bill Cosby? These magnificent entertainers laid the foundation for African Americans in Entertainment by being the opposite of what Hollywood expected. Their avant garde performance was to be ordinary "negroes," and to show how average Black life really was and it was genius. It was from their respected work to have Black life portrayed on television, that Black Cinema and music, in the late 1960s and 1970s were allowed to flourish to the level where Hollywood exploited the Black American movie and record market for the lucrative sales and images. Many Black Actors and Artists not mentioned, but well respected were influenced by this same core and time period. Still, the lesson the community learned was that the image of African Americans must be created and maintained by talented African Americans. White America will always casts and perpetuate negative types for Blacks. This lesson, gave Black cinema Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg, Carl Weathers, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Townsend, and Spike Lee in the 1980s and Kenaan Ivory Wayans, John Singleton, Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Martin Lawerance in the 1990s. At the core of African American entertainment was the common struggle of bringing ordinary Black American life to the stage or radio. So, what has happened? Please excuse those celebrated performers who have not been listed in the article for the greater point.
From the Cosby Show to The Real Wives of Atlanta and from Roc & Family Matters to Empire, the fabric of African American Entertainment has lost its value. The image of African Americans has fallen back to the same Black caricatures from the original Birth of the Nation and early Hollywood films. Why? The answer is the focus has shifted from simply having a normal Black image on screen to the notion of what it takes to be award winning in Hollywood. It is no longer enough to be Black American famous, but to be this notion of "White" famous. Then, in comes the classification of being an A B or C list actor. No one wants to be a C list actor, so what do I need to do to be more famous? Forgetting that the African or Black image is most important, these brilliant actors, producers and Directors take on parts which are lucrative and questionable. Often, these questionable parts are the only parts available for African American actors, so, do you want a job or do you want to be out of work, out of sight, and soon out of Hollywood?
As Hollywood continues to flood television, the internet, and radio with whatever sells, White Americanism, Youth-ism, violence & Blind American Imperial Militancy, Gay Feminism, Average Humor, a sprinkle of color for diversity, and of course, no recourse, except for the occasional apology, the image of African Americans suffers from lack of originality and moral character. The dangerous contradiction to the traditional struggle of African Americans to create a positive image of themselves represents the current confusion of this Black Entertainer generation to understand their responsibility to our community rather than their ego and themselves. As long as Hollywood continues to encourage their intellectual madness and major sponsorship agendas, for the sake of entertainment, there is no message coming out of Hollywood in a movie, television show or song that represents true African American excellency and the struggle for something ordinary and better. With few exceptions of course. We thank the producers of Birth of a Nation, Power, The Carmichael Show, Steve Harvey, all of Tyler Perry's work, and other quality African American Productions/Broadway shows.
"Check your ingredients, before you overdose on the cool -Lupe Fiasco The Cool."
Written by Peter L. Commons
PeterLCommons@gmail.com
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