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Last Updated: Dec 24th, 2008 - 11:46:55 |
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| Edi Gathegi (left) appears as a vampire in "Twilight." |
There is a strange pattern in movies such as the new release “Twilight,” which is being referred to by news organizations as a “pop culture phenomenon” among teen-agers.
By “strange,” I am not referring to the presence and theme of vampires. Rather, I am referring to that strange world of movies—and even popular TV shows—that are hard pressed to show Black males and females in a relationship—or even existing in the same community. More often than not, Black males, if they are included in the gen-pop landscape, are existing in communities with no Black female to be found.
Adapted from the popular novel by Stephenie Meyer, “Twilight” is set in the small Northwest town of Forks and chronicles the awkward, budding relationship between a vampire boy named Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and a human girl named Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). The two meet in the local high school, where Edward is considered mysterious and freaky but also very hot. He is attracted to the new girl, who is very pale, awkward and drives a hoopty truck.
Bella’s crew at her new school includes two white students who might become a couple and two Asian students who might become a couple. And the poor singular black boy, who keeps playing pranks and causing mischief, is—of course—alone. In the wheel-of-fortune of casting, there could not even be a black girl somewhere prominent in the background.
There is a similar phenomenon in Edward’s freaky vampire world. Edward’s family is very disciplined and only feeds on wild animals but a trio of rogue vampires comes to the Forks area and starts attacking humans. This trio of outlaws is made up of a loving white couple—who smooch in between their feeding frenzies—and a third wheel, a brother (Edi Gathegi) who wears locs. At some point in the plot, there is a prom scene where a tall black boy, maybe a jock, dances slow with a girl who looks to be White.
I know I am not the only one who will notice this particular pattern of inclusion and exclusion, especially when it’s what we’ve come to expect in the majority of Hollywood and even independent fare. Hollywood’s preferred Black actress, Halle Berry, keeps bringing us movies such as “Perfect Stranger” and “Things We Lost in the Fire” where she is never in an on-screen relationship with a Black man. Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman also get paired with women who are Hispanic, white (or damn-near) in flicks such as “Hitch” and “Feast of Love.” Other recent movies featuring Black-men-with-no-Black-women-in-sight include “Never Back Down,” starring Djimon Hounsou and “Redbelt,” starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Actually, unless it is one of our “black” productions, such as Chris Rock’s underrated “I Think I Love My Wife” or Tyler Perry’s “Daddy’s Little Girls,” it seems that Hollywood is hard-pressed to show any normal interaction between black males and females. I know I am not stating anything new, nor am I pleading to filmmakers for anything. I just want to make it plain, one more time, that this exclusion is obvious and important, especially in a movie that is a “phenomenon” for teen-agers—like the “Harry Potter” series was a phenomenon for children, and like “Sex and the City” was a phenomenon for women. All these “phenomena” are powerful in their ability to code the realm of possibility and normality, and spread particular images and messages of inclusion—and exclusion.
This review also appeared on Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com,/i>
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