princeofnewyork, even in the scene, on Coming to America, when he was at the club and they showed clips of all different types of women, I think all the horrible ones were dark-skinned.
But I must say, growing up, it's unfortunate for me to say it, but I found dark-skinned girls to be meaner than light-skinned girls. And I know people will get upset at it, but I wish they would sit and listen before opening their mouths, listen to what I'm saying, I know you want to defend yourself or others, but I think we should use our TWO ears more than our ONE mouth.
But not all dark-skinned girls were mean, the girl in this movie and Vanessa Bell Calloway in CTA were more brown-skinned, some girls I grew up with that were very dark-skinned, seem to be meaner, especially those who had weight.
But it may be more with how society/their environment treats them versus how its treats light-skinned girls.
We (Males) are presented with light-skinned women everywhere, TV, Magazine Ads, Movies, etc. and they are shown to be better and much more desired, and suppose to be more attractive, but I've took the time to see dark-skinned women, and their beauty.
I have seen a lot of Beautiful Dark-skinned women, just being dark makes you beautiful (to me), but I think it's important that you take care of yourself, you know, being healthy, I wouldn't want an out of shape/or overweight woman whether black, white, or any race.
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C.S.Wood
16 years ago
But not all dark-skinned girls were mean, the girl in this movie and Vanessa Bell Calloway in CTA were more brown-skinned, some girls I grew up with that were very dark-skinned, seem to be meaner, especially those who had weight.
That has everything to do with self-image. Being very dark skinned and being overweight will not get you on the cover of magazines. Some women that see themselves as unattractive/undesirable tend to hate themselves and have a terrible self-image, and express that anger by being mean to others (men too).
And of course, the flip side of this is when people that know they are seen as highly attractive or desirable or more important than others tend to be dicks.
But back to "light vs dark", how many natural blondes dye their hair dark vs the reverse? The epitome of beauty in America is a young, blonde with straight hair, skinny, Aryan woman. The further away you get from that the less attractive a woman is thought to be. I even recall someone calling Halle Berry "a black woman in a white woman's body" because black women are usually thought of as being overweight. If you pay enough attention to movies and TV shows, the majority of dark skinned black women shown are over 30 and/or overweight. And the young attractive ones that are in shape are suspected of being mixed, because a black woman can't be attractive is she isn't mixed with something by America's standards.
"Action is how men express romance on film." -- Kurt Wimmer
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activista
9 years ago
@C.S. Wood
That has everything to do with self-image. Being very dark skinned and being overweight will not get you on the cover of magazines.
Black-owned magazines have bigger women on them half the time. And the bottom line is, black women are treated as less attractive by the media no matter what size they are. Also, being dark-skinned and overweight does not automatically mean "unattractive",that's just a stereotype----believe me, I've seen plenty of attractive dark-skinned and overweight (by society's standards) women. Being blue-eyed and blonde alone does not make you attractive,either, and that is only thought to be the epitome of beauty only because he media keep shoving it down people's faces since even before movies and TV were invented.
If you pay enough attention to movies and TV shows, the majority of dark skinned black women shown are over 30 and/or overweight.
That isn't as true as it used to be---there are far more black women and women of color shown more on regular TV, partially due to showrunner Shonda Rimes and her hit shows full of diverse casts. Also, what does "over 30" have to do with anything? You make it sound like being over 30 is over the hill or some mess like that. I also think that the bigger black sisters are cast so that they won't take away the attention from the white women on some shows. That being said, I think comedian/former talk show host/actress Sheri Shepard, Yvette Nicole Brown (from the cult TV fave COMMUNITY) and Octavia Spencer (THE HELP,FRUITVALE STATION) are all beautiful dark-skinned lagre women.
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C.S.Wood
9 years ago
Black-owned magazines have bigger women on them half the time. And the bottom line is, black women are treated as less attractive by the media no matter what size they are. Also, being dark-skinned and overweight does not automatically mean "unattractive",that's just a stereotype----believe me, I've seen plenty of attractive dark-skinned and overweight (by society's standards) women. Being blue-eyed and blonde alone does not make you attractive,either, and that is only thought to be the epitome of beauty only because he media keep shoving it down people's faces since even before movies and TV were invented.
Well sure black magazines are going to have black women on them, the black magazines aren't the ones that need convincing. And although overweight doesn't automatically translate into unattractive, it is believed to be for a lot of these people. If Kate Upton gained 50 pounds the magazines would probably think twice about putting her on the cover.
I think we can safely say the the media's definition of beauty isn't as exclusive to white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes and a thin waist as it used to be, but it's still their core definition. Just ignore the women who are famous and focus on the models who are chosen purely for their looks and I bet those women are going to be pretty close to the above description.
That isn't as true as it used to be---there are far more black women and women of color shown more on regular TV, partially due to showrunner Shonda Rimes and her hit shows full of diverse casts. Also, what does "over 30" have to do with anything? You make it sound like being over 30 is over the hill or some mess like that. I also think that the bigger black sisters are cast so that they won't take away the attention from the white women on some shows. That being said, I think comedian/former talk show host/actress Sheri Shepard, Yvette Nicole Brown (from the cult TV fave COMMUNITY) and Octavia Spencer (THE HELP,FRUITVALE STATION) are all beautiful dark-skinned lagre women.
Yes I agree that things are getting better, but it's still a pretty sloooooow process. I mentioned "over 30" because it was (and I think still us) an unwritten rule that once an actress passes 30 she will not be offer or be able to get as many roles as she used to since the majority of roles written for women under 30. Over 30 and it's mostly mother or wife roles.
Sure there are exceptions if you're a famous name, but very few movies feature a female protagonist over the age of 35. I think it's changing now that there are non-theater outlets like TV, Netflix and VOD but traditionally you will not see a movie in theaters with a woman over that age unless it's an Oscar contender or it features Jolie/Diane Lane/Meryl Streep (and more recently, Melissa McCarthy).
As for Octavia, I'm sure that Oscar helped her a lot. Just look at her filmography before The Help.
Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.
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