It's a movie. They're people. Who cares if they're white, black, brown, purple, or aquamarine. Why even bring it up at all? Just sit back and relax. Don't stress out over the "darkness" of the actors. If it upsets you that much, stay at home.
Just enjoy it for what it is: entertainment.
Why even bring "race" into it? Because the idea of "race" has been alive in this country since the first english colonies; over two hundred years of thinking that "race" exists is not going to go away so easily. Our society cares if people are white, black, brown, purple or aquamarine, because those ideals have been replicated throughout history and continues to be replicated today. Sure, it might not exist through segregated schools or movie theaters, but it exists through other means, such as stereotypes or your realtor picking homes for you in neighborhoods that are dominantly your "race." "Race" exists in every aspect of our lives.
We might believe that we are watching movies just for mere entertainment, but we fail to realize that movies and all forms of entertainment are also a reflextion of our own society. What can Idlewild say about our society? Well, since the movie features a Black cast, it tells me that in our society, we are still allowing ourselves to be seperated into different categories by the amount of pigment our skin produces. The same can be said for many other movies, television shows, etc. (Example: Pleasantville)
I don't want to even get into the idea of "racism" in the media. The term "racist" has lost all meaning in today's society. If you really want to narrow it down to the true causes of why our society and its instituations are separated into different categories ("race," "class," and "gender") then the blame belongs to the ideology of White Supremacy/Patriarchy/Capitalism.
Besides all this, I'm really excited to see this movie. It looks really awesome and I think that Andre has the potential to be a phenomenal actor. :)
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Speaking on behalf of gays far and wide (as I am the self-appointed speaker) we are all very excited and pleased for this film. Singin, Dancing...sweat and heat, along with glamorous women in high heels, and lets not forget substance abuse! (even if its just alchol) And quite frankly, we love black culture.
shareDo you guys realize that this argument is stupid? People are gonna differ in their opinions and arguing isn't going to stop it...sheesh, its supposed to be a thread about this movie.
shareWhat we must distinguish, in regards to this film, is the difference between race being an integral part of the story because of the time period and race being an unimportant factor as far as viewership and entertainment goes. I think Glory is in fact a fine example of this. Glory was a great film, and it recieved many nominations for its exellence for that reason. While many were not inclined to see it because it brought to light subject matter that America is still healing from, most saw it as the great war movie that it was with it's epic themes of patriotism and great conflict. An integral part of Idlewild's story seems to be the struggle of the characters in the Jim Crowe South of the early 20th century. I think however, from the mood of the promos, that Idlewild is not supposed to be an accurate portrayal of the time period or a serious study of race from a social standpoint. For this reason, there is really no reason why eveyone shouldn't enjoy it, unless you dislike hip hop/classic American fusion, or have a problem with what most consider a violation of the sacred genres of Classic American Jazz and Blues. I for on think it's brilliant. Outkast is proving their worth as musical composers in the 21st century. I haven't seen Click, You, Me, and Dupree, or My super Ex- Girlfriend, but I planned to. I enjoy all movies. It takes an immersingly ignorant person to generalize and say what we all collectively as black people and white people like and dislike. I loved The Producers, Moulin Rouge, and Rent. I cried through most of the Latter two, but that's just me.
If you don't watch movies because of the prodominant race of the casts, then you are missing out. Movies like, The Wood, The Best Man, Boomerang, Something New, Love and Basketball, and The Brothers were quite good. They just aren't promoted in the same way as minstrel crap such as Little Man or Big Mamma's House 2. I don't know whether to blame it on my paranoia of "The Man's" conspiracy or just social irresponsibility on the part of some black entertainers, but there seems to be some sort of discrepency when it comes to the promotion of black films that are actually great.
this topic makes my brain hurt
look at all the typing
u guys have no life
go outside
quit worrying about ur pointless input becuz
someone will eventually come and disagree with u
causing a big dumbass arguement
I love Boomerang! That movie sits well even after 14 years - and I'm white! Plus, Lela Rochon is hot (even now at 42!)
Little Man, on the other hand, looks like a typical Wayans Brothers movie - a series of non-sequitors linked together by a flimsy plot.
You are a disparaging idiot. Did you comprehend anything I said? Trust me, no one wants anyone like you to go anywhere near this film or any other medium of FREE expression.
shareYeah but Click & The Break-Up DO suck and they're mainly cute-sy movies 4 girls. Idlewild looks f'n awesome!
shareDo ANY of you people know what this film is actually about??? Given its historical significance, it would be a travesty to have anything other than a black cast. Youre picking the wrong board to bring up race. Look up Idlewild, Michigan if you get a chance.
shareThank You, this is one of the few comments that make sense.
share[deleted]
This film was originally ment to only be released as a made-for-TV film on HBO. After the exects of HBO saw a rough cut of Idlewild, they decided to release this movie in theatres. If this flick is good enough to move from a TV release to a theatrical release, then who cares what the actors' skin color is?!
-Fire at will!
-Tell me... who is this "Will", and why is everyone always firing at him?
black film, white film why the heck cant the dang movie just be a movie for everybody????
shareI DONT LIKE WHITE PEOPLE...
-I NEED TO GO DRINK SOME MORE BEER BEFORE I GET DRUNK-
I get that means no-one will be getting an Oscar, ala. The Last Seduction...
shareNot all Rap is the same just how not all Rock is the same. Emo and Metal are both rock but they are extremely different. Conscious Rap and Gangster Rap are both rap but they are extremely different.
Listen to Dead Prez you cracker and learn something.
"Not all Rap is the same just how not all Rock is the same."
All of the Red Hot Chilli Pepper's songs are the same - man, if they do one more song about California...
It's very valid that race matters in a movie. Generally, white's can't relate to a black lifestyle movie. They may not approve of that lifestyle, either so, yes, it COULD matter. Doesn't make it "racist," just their PREFERENCE. Stop trying to make white people accept everything about another race or else you make them feel "racist." It's a PREFERENCE. BIG difference.
share[deleted]
You're missing the point of the term "relate." "LOL."
Show the message to someone with a brain and let them explain it to you. "LOL."
donjohnson2,
Methinks you are the one who needs to find someone with a brain. You are a very angry person, based on what you have posted thus far.
Go back to my previous reply to your "treatise" and follow the advice at the end.
I am sad that the mode of this forum has moved over to donjohnsons opinion. He thinks he is creative but that has been an argument that has been around for a long time. Who cares. I am a white male and think WET, would suck. But that's not the point. Arguing against segregation of entertainment with further segregation is something only an ignorant person, whether they be white, black, asian, whatever, would do. So I don't care about him. Your arguments are tired and redundant. But whocares. Stop giving him attention.
I think this movie having it's black perspective is extremely important as well as our recognition of that. This is movie about black people at a point in our history where they were dealing with prohibition, heavy racism, and segregation. It is their story. Keep in mind the closest analogy to this movie is, it's the black Moulin Rouge. A movie is inteded to tell a persons story, whether fact or fiction. You have to observe who a person is to full take in their story. These people are black and it takes place during a time period where being black determined your place and status in life. It does matter and I think you are doing Andre and Antoine a diservice but not acknowledging there ethnicity.
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THANK YOU!!
share"What about Wetbacks, Mics, and *beep* Who cares about skin color, it's all about where you're from!!!"
You see how stupid that last statement was? That's how stupid ALL OF YOU are being.
"Blacks suck, and so so Whites, but us greys, we got the right idea!"
Again, stupid comment, and again, thats how stupid the battle of the races is. You people are getting nowhere, and making no progress. Leave the racism to Carlos Mencia, why? Because that's what he gets paid to do, and damn well he does it.
I'm not well edcuated (go on make fun of me for it, and uh, grow up while you're at it too) and I have my own preferences of company. Skin color doesn't dictate those preferences though, it's the person in the skin that I'm hanging out with. (I mean I'm hanging out with a person, not a crayon, or some piece of skin!) You guys are as childish as little kids on MySpace.
Now, let's all just agree that we should move onto the next subject...
...WOMAN DO NOT DESERVE RIGHTS!!!! THEY CANNOT TO DO ANYTHING RIGHT!!!
Gotcha!
There are different reasons for white separatism and black separatism.
White separatism was to keep slaves/black people away from whites, for reasons of racism/classism.
Black separatism is a reaction to that separatism and racism/classism. If the media and various institutions won't allow them representation, then they'll make their own institutions where they can get representation.
Though there are a few "black" TV shows now on non-cable channels, blacks are still underrepresented in a number of ways, not just in the media.
Before forced migration to the Americas, the Africans who would later be "blacks" had their own cultures, different from that of Europe's or what would later be America's. When Europeans bought slaves, they mixed them up so that family members and people who spoke the same language wouldn't be together. Through enslavement and such methods, African cultures were mostly lost to the new immigrants. Now, hundreds of years later, no one can really trace back to which culture/cultures they came from, and by now it's likely they came from several (because of taking apart family and putting people from different countries together). Even so, the cultures have changed a lot by now due to imperialism. Given a choice between the "white American" culture, created and perpetuated largely by whites, or creating their own, different from that which was forced upon them and inevitably different from what they lost, some blacks choose exclusively "black" media. Some don't. Some partake in both. But as it is the same country, inevitably everything mixes.
In regards to donjohnson's original comment, saying that you're not talking about all blacks, but most, and then making a generalization such as "why do blacks..." conflicts. It would be "some blacks" or "most black people i've encountered." if you don't want to be labelled as racist, you'd have to clarify your statement as from your experience, not an ignorant generalization (unless you've got some sort of national survey indicating "most blacks"), otherwise it's easy to be mistaken as racist.
I am not a nugget.
There are different reasons for white separatism and black separatism.
White separatism was to keep slaves/black people away from whites, for reasons of racism/classism.
Black separatism is a reaction to that separatism and racism/classism. If the media and various institutions won't allow them representation, then they'll make their own institutions where they can get representation.
Though there are a few "black" TV shows now on non-cable channels, blacks are still underrepresented in a number of ways, not just in the media.
Before forced migration to the Americas, the Africans who would later be "blacks" had their own cultures, different from that of Europe's or what would later be America's. When Europeans bought slaves, they mixed them up so that family members and people who spoke the same language wouldn't be together. Through enslavement and such methods, African cultures were mostly lost to the new immigrants. Now, hundreds of years later, no one can really trace back to which culture/cultures they came from, and by now it's likely they came from several (because of taking apart family and putting people from different countries together). Even so, the cultures have changed a lot by now due to imperialism. Given a choice between the "white American" culture, created and perpetuated largely by whites, or creating their own, different from that which was forced upon them and inevitably different from what they lost, some blacks choose exclusively "black" media. Some don't. Some partake in both. But as it is the same country, inevitably everything mixes.
In regards to donjohnson's original comment, saying that you're not talking about all blacks, but most, and then making a generalization such as "why do blacks..." conflicts. It would be "some blacks" or "most black people i've encountered." if you don't want to be labelled as racist, you'd have to clarify your statement as from your experience, not an ignorant generalization (unless you've got some sort of national survey indicating "most blacks"), otherwise it's easy to be mistaken as racist.
Could NOT have said it better. Racists and bigots don't like when you use reasoning and rationality. If these so-called "intellectuals" can't figure out why we have the BET's,Ebony's,Miss Black America,etc...by just studying recent history (the past 40-60)years,then they WANT to remain ignorant.
Stop trying to make white the "mainstream".....
share[deleted]
Stop trying to make white the "mainstream".....
It IS "mainstream". Why do so many people try to see this obviously racist world through rose colored glasses. I'm not trying to start an argument with you,but come on! Do you REALLY believe when you see or hear an ad that has the statement "urban" in it, that it's directed towards a demographic of people who are city dwellers? Urban="black people", Mainstream="white people". Simple as that.
I really didn't want to reply at all to you but here goes. All of us on this post are hoping that you can open your eyes to another side. It is very interesting that you put that whites may not approve of that lifestyle. You say it as if blacks do. I don't apporove of a middle aged man falling in love with a teenage girl the same age as his own daughter but I saw American Beauty. And I don't think that a lot people approve of that, or infidelity which is plastered through a lot of movies too, but I see them and so do a lot of other people. the other thing is that none of us are trying to make white people accept everything about another race. We learn from your mistakes. We have seen first hand what happens when people are forced into accepting things about other races. (i.e. Iraq, Isreal, Nazi Germany, and the Afriacn slave trade) Your people have done it most often in history, but yet we (all races) STILL don't expect you to accept us (how dare we ask for the same understanding in return). What we ask for is tolerance and understanding. You don't HAVE to agree with us, we just want you to understand where we are coming from. Just as we understand where you are coming from, we don't have to accept anything you say, but we are being tolerant by understanding. If you feel that that's what were are doing then ignore us, you have the right to critisize another great movie with white people in it, and I am sure people will disagree and agree with you there too.
shareOk, lets get real here. If someone did launch a WET channel, i will bet you that no black person (besides those that are BLACK EXTREMEISTS - THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE COMMENTS ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT EXCLUDES THEM) will give a flying *beep* I mean there is this notion in this country that ALL Black people give a rats ass what other people do. I mean it's crazy. The fact that some idiot actually said that movies with black casts and black directors arent up to par with those with primarly white casts and directors, is on cloud nine. I've watch them released remake after awful remake, crappy film after crappy film with all races involved. It is not the black director and cast problem that some narrow-minded mook doesnt want to see the film. It is their preference. And if everytime they see a film with a predominately black cast they have idiotic comments to make, then maybe they should stay inside the little bubble they come from and spare us.
"Listen, strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for system of government." - Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Real Brother here.
Actually there is a WET its called ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox TV (MTV,BET,CNN,Fox Family etc.) The truth is there are NO BLACK Networks or Channels they are ALL WHITE OWNED simply because they aren't ALL CALLED WHITE ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION (as if all of them would have the same name anyway) does not mean that they aren't what they are.
This movie is not Racist its only STUPID because White Supremacist will only greenlight and make STUPID films staring and about Blacks because they want to hog all the money and success for White films. Hollywood is laughing and Black people when they fund nonsense like this Idlewild crap (ATL, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Soul Plane,Waist Deep, Something New etc.) they know nobody wants to see that crap.
I can't wait until some Real Brothers get in there so that we can actually have some entertaining intelligent Black movies.
No Sellout.
TKCAL
You forgot Little Man....that was excutiatingly painful to watch...shame on you Wayans brothers....shame on you.
Real Brother here.
Actually there is a WET its called ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox TV (MTV,BET,CNN,Fox Family etc.) The truth is there are NO BLACK Networks or Channels they are ALL WHITE OWNED simply because they aren't ALL CALLED WHITE ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION (as if all of them would have the same name anyway) does not mean that they aren't what they are.
This movie is not Racist its only STUPID because White Supremacist will only greenlight and make STUPID films staring and about Blacks because they want to hog all the money and success for White films. Hollywood is laughing and Black people when they fund nonsense like this Idlewild crap (ATL, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Soul Plane,Waist Deep, Something New etc.) they know nobody wants to see that crap.
I can't wait until some Real Brothers get in there so that we can actually have some entertaining intelligent Black movies.
No Sellout.
TKCAL
Finally a soldier!! Lol! I haven't seen Idlewild so I can't say if it's good or not, but I do agree with you about intelligent Black films. So far it seems all we can do in movies is hold guns sideways,have multiple sex partners,and call each other foul names for 90 minutes. When Boyz N The Hood came out it was groundbreaking. But since then "hood movies" have become a parody of them-
selves. They were a parody 10 years ago when the Wayans released "Don't Be A Menace...". If they were a parody then,now they are just a rotting corpse that's been out in the sun. Now every rapper with a platinum CD wants to live out his fantasy about killing other men that look like him. (can we say self-hatred)Can't blame it all on "The Man". Can't blame it all on "St.Ides". I'm Black and I'm from Queens, but I didn't grow up dodging bullets. Granted there have been times that there was violent crime,but NOT every damn day.We need to start making films about every facet of Black life. I know it's hard to get movies like that green lighted, but damn at least try. We need to get rid of "coonfests" (Flavor Of Love,damn Flav what must go through Chuck's mind)and have something that can show us in a more positive light. I know not everything has to be stone cold serious, but remember we are without a doubt the MOST watched and villainised people in America. Whenever there is a crime in the national news, you can bet somewhere on a messageboard somebody is using a racist blanket statement. Meanwhile,the racists wink,nod and look the other way when the criminal is of European decent.
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