So i saw the previews for yet another weekend getaway turned bad movie where once again there are sharks in some lake and once again some young people out there doing their thing when stuff turns bad very fast. It's called Shark Night - makes you wanna go see it innit?! Usually those movies don't have Black people in them since Black people don't do things like go out on lakes and water ski (*?!) - or do they?! Anywhooo...seeing this Black guy struck me as an interesting change to the mundane, overdone and straight up played out movie theme. But it was all ruined entirely too quickly with what seems to be the modus operandi of all these teeny bopper scary movies. The Black guy is the one who dies first. Like in the previews there wasn't even an attempt to hide the fact that the only Black cast member was killed off first. I'm sure there are other Black people in the movie, but going from the previews and the apparent predictability, who will be in the usual token roles of by standers dancing at some party, rapping, dressed in baggy clothes, having the hook up to something, excited about some chicken, athlete etc et cetera...
Don't get me wrong i'm not surprised nor am i even disappointed anymore. Disappointment follows high expectancy - which i have very low ones of Hollywood anyway. I don't expect this to shake Hollywood out of stagnancy and creative doldrums, or to become a spokesperson for race in the industry and how we are supposed to have come so far given the century we are in and the unveiling of the Martin Luther King monument down the street. I don't even care about the fact that there was only 1 Black person featured in the previews of that movie because there certainly are bigger issues of race that need to be addressed in this country. I'm just another blogger, of which there are too many, on a rant about racial inequality in the media. But then i think again that in this day and age ( i won't dare say Post-Racial America), things like this should not even be going on. Not only do we have to do better, we SHOULD be doing better. There is a certain intentionality that has to go into undoing the damage of too long a time of systematic racism. That intentionality is lacking because there is no pressure for it.
It has gotten entirely too easy to do nothing at all and continue with bad habits. Hollywood, you are what you repeatedly do. Stop it. It's not cute.
To be honest, I obviously haven't watched it because it's not out, but I really don't need to. My criticism is based of what I already know about those types of movies and the preview itself. Even if I do see it i'm pretty sure i will have the same criticism.
Bye
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