I agree whole heartedly with your mention of Vimeo, youtube and other forms of online media sharing. Creating non-mainstream cinema, media outlets (there is a huge argument to what degree vimeo and youtube are or aren’t mainstream now…different topic) is crucial to getting work by African-American artists out to the public viewer. When a demographic or group of persons have the opportunity to tell a story, especial when it is about themselves, they are given an opportunity to emphasize the ideas, values and stories that are actually pertinent to them. Be it subverting the tropes perpetuated by culture by portraying drastically different characters or by emphasizing them in satire as we see here in this article or in cinema, see: “CSA: Confederate States of America” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389828/ My go to example for a cinema satire.

Thanks for your honest feed back Butch. As Sam Jackson said so eloquently in “Pulp Fiction,” allow me to retort. 🙂

First, you do understand this is a satirical piece and as such needs to be taken with that mindset. At it’s simplest level, the point of the article is the exact same point of the “Black Acting School” skit. There are certain stereotypes that fit “black filmmaker”. The goal of this post is to say “If you’re black and happen to be a filmmaker, but you DON’T fit into any of those stereotypes, it’s okay. You don’t have to feel guilty or feel like a “sell out” just because you happen to want to make a sequel to “The Wizard of Oz” or something.

Second, and this is something that has always frustrated me, where do I say that NOT doing these things means you’re “white.” That’s like when people say a black person who speaks correct grammar “talks white.” A black person who has conservative economic values “acts white.” Why is proper grammar, wealth, power, etc, automatically associated with being white. It’s like we keep ourselves down when we perpetuate that kind of nonsense.

Third, the game is radically changing in Hollywood and the media. The power of the internet, YouTube and Vimeo has radically changed what ANY filmmaker can do nowadays. Yes, a black filmmaker may encounter a different reaction from people he or she meets than a white filmmaker or an Asian filmmaker. But that has much less power nowadays than it did back in the day when you HAD to rely on Hollywood. Today any filmmaker can give the proverbial middle finger to Hollywood and make films on his/her own terms. There was a time if you were black and wanted to make a sci fi film, it would be hard b/c you would be put into the “black filmmaker” box, and all Hollywood would want would be a hood or hip-hop film from you. Today, a black filmmaker could make a feature length film about any topic he/she wants, and if it’s good, they can get an audience, even an audience that will pay them (via VOD, iTunes, YouTube, blip.tv, etc.). The whole point of my post is to (in a fun way) make it clear that if you’re a black filmmaker, don’t automatically put yourself into that old-school “black filmmaker box,” nor feel guilty if you don’t fit in that box.

Lastly, FWIW, 1) there are “black” stories of African-American culture I am telling and want to tell as a filmmaker and 2) I like KFC. 🙂

The reality is that being a Black filmmaker is radically different than being White filmmaker because most people that you will need to work with are going to make not the best assumptions about who you are and what you’re about. Acting “Boojy” regardless of how innate or not it is to you will fragment some of that behavior some of the time with some people…it would have been nice had you started there.

That sounds like a great read Steve. I’ll have to look into that. I’ll add it to my Wunderlist. 🙂

Oh my gosh. Thanks for this comment Ty. I had NO idea Steve McQueen was black. (And no, I’m not thinking of the other Steve McQueen). My favorite podcast is “Filmspotting” and they love McQueen’s films. I think “Shame” is one their top ten, and they loved “Hunger.” I’ve heard them speak of McQueen on many occasions and I assumed he was white. Fascinating.

Thanks for sharing.