So I just got done watching 'For Coloured Girls' and as a man I can't help feeling a little ticked off. Talk about a white supremacist's dream! I don't know about you, but when I watch TV and see black men on TV, I am without thinking, more likely to watch...
I don't know, maybe because on a hollistic level I see myself in black guys and route for them from my side of the box. Especially given that in the UK, we hardly ever see examples of high profile black men who inspire.
So you had three men physically embody 'the ideal' in this movie. A stockbroker, an ex Army Veteran and the 'Gentleman'. One having unprotected sex outside marriage resulting in his wife contracting HIV, the other a wife beater and responsible for the death of his kids and finally the gentleman turned rapist toward the type of classy lady men dream of having. It made for an uncomfortable watch and I feel assasinated our character as men on screen.
It then had me asking why as a race in Hollywood do we have to effectively self-harm in order to get accolade? Halle getting explcitly dug out by Billy Bob in Monster's Ball to earn her oscar, Monique being an abusive molester with a heart of ash to earn hers.
It also begged the question of what the lasting impression is of black men this movie imprints in the minds of others. How awkward would you feel in environments where as black people in the minority; public school, OXBRIDGE or a global company, people were using the movie to slam black folk and you felt obligated to havego on the defensive?
Did I enjoy the strong performances from the cast? Yes. Was I a fan of the propaganda that the movie perpetuates as a result of the plot? Hell no.
Women, the majority of black men are decent people. Remember that. Men you already know. If Tyler Perry is the 21st century gatekeeper of the black image to the mass media via Hollywood, its safe to say that in my humble opinion our souls have been sold.
2/5
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