There’s something sneaky going on in Hollywood, where Black actors have to play specific roles in order to get a real shot at breaking through that not-so-invisible color barrier.
We all know by now that the most popular depictions of Black people on the silver screen surround oppression, and maybe a romantic comedy ( luckily Think Like A Man opened that door). It’s becoming an unspoken rule that Black actors have to play down-and-out roles before they can be considered for other gigs in Tinsel Town.
The audience has a part in this pigeonholing because people tend to support what they can most widely connect to. This doesn’t mean that certain roles don’t matter, there’s just a severe lack of variety in the mainstream.
Is Hollywood sending a message by awarding and promoting movies that don’t show the best of the Black experience? Seems like it.
Hit the gallery for 9 roles for Black actors that won’t go away.
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Photo: WENN/YouTube
Anything With A Broken Family
Hollywood loves broken Black family movies. Preferably a bad or absentee father or mother like in Precious, or maybe Halle Berry’s single mom character in Monster’s Ball.
Yes, these stories are a reality among Black people, but it’s not the only reality.
Maid Flicks
In 1940, Hattie McDaniel made history as the first Black person to get an Academy Award. She won the Best Supporting Actress trophy for her role as Mammy (the maid) in Gone with the Wind. In 2012, Octavia Spencer won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Minny (the maid) in The Help.
Slavery Refreshers
Not that we want to, or could ever, erase slavery but exactly how many goddamn slave movies do major Hollywood studios need to be made at this point? Are there any other acting gigs out there for Black people? It seems like “the Academy” of voters who decided on Oscar, Golden Globes, and other big awards shows, love a good slavery flick.
Civil Rights Movies
Were it not for the Civil Rights Movement, the fight for equality would be much different in Black history. This content isn’t unimportant, just wondering why these movies always get to creep up around award season. Last year it was The Butler, this year it’s Selma.
The Sassy Black Friend/Assistant
There’s really nothing like a sassy black character who cracks jokes and tells it like it is. Similar to the mouthy Black maid, the sassy Black friend/assistant character probably won’t ever go out of stye.
Gangster Affiliations
As is the case with films about Italians, “gangster” roles for Black actors seems to get an automatic green light. It’s not a coincidence that the praise around Denzel Washington’s role in American Gangster or as the crooked cop in Training Day was more celebrated than when he played Malcolm X.
Singing & Dancing
You really can’t go wrong with Black people singing and dancing, right? Major movie studios have no problem distributing films with Black actors singing or busting a move, no matter how terrible (i.e. Black Nativity). In 2006, Eddie Murphy earned an Oscar nod for playing a drug-addicted womanizing singer Jimmy Early in Dreamgirls. He didn’t win, but his co-star Jennifer Hudson sure did. Hudson took home an Oscar for portraying Effie White a singer-turned-alcoholic that had a baby with her former manager (played by Jamie Foxx), who also happened to be physically abusing his wife (played by Beyonce).
photo: WENN
Black Men Dressed As Overweight Black Women
Before Madea locked down this category it was occupied by Martin Lawrence’s Big Mama’s House films. Madea is never (ever) going to win an Oscar, but White Hollywood started paying attention after Tyler Perry’s first films easily made $15-20 million opening weekend.
This is another case where one can only wonder how successful Perry would be had he not played a buffoon character first. He paved the way for tons of Black male actors to dress up as grandmothers for years to come.
Sweaty Black Struggle
Whenever a Black actor is sweating and struggling on screen, there’s a good chance that an Oscar nod is next. Beasts of the Southern Wild is a good example of the plight of the poor, sweaty Black Southerners trying to make a way out of no way.
This one made Quevenzhane Wallace into an Oscar-nominated star.
Rappers Playing A Version Themselves
Seeing rappers like T.I. or 50 Cent grapple with lines, to play characters that aren’t too far from their comfort zones (50 Cent played himself in a movie, so yeah) can be painful. Limited range is an issues if you’re trying to be an actor, and there’s certainly a long list of rappers who could stand to take some acting classes (not you though Ice Cube).
