Alrighty here we go:)… And just a precaution, please don't get frustrated if you have to go back and reread a run-on sentence three times… and don't be a grammar snob. In order to write this with the heart with which it was intended, I really had to write it as if I was speaking… from the heart. So uhhh #sorrynotsorry. C'mon you know I love you all but every once in a while I can't adapt to the world; every once in a while the world has to adapt to me. I hope that this doesn't discourage you from reading on and that we can still be friends.
OK so a little while back now we saw Into the Woods. Overall I very much enjoyed it, I thought it was well done visually and conceptually, and coming from someone who has always strongly disliked Into the Woods I guess you could say I had gone in with many… uh… skepticisms. (a.k.a. part of me didn't want to waste ten dollars but most of me just couldn't wait to hate it even more hehehe. Oh don't act like you've never thought it.) Well boy was I pleasantly surprised. I think that's exactly why I really liked it though: it felt NOTHING like the stage show generally does. The look was rich and enticing and the sound was crisp and sweet and perfectly blended. That being said, I was highly disappointed in the casting, and not (as a whole) because of their talent or ability to play the roles.
Close to that same time another movie found its way to theaters. It is a remake of an old favorite, this time with a twist. Have you guessed it by now? That's right. Annie. So when I saw the first preview last Fall I was highly disappointed even just for the sole fact of the immense synthesization. So OK, now we're faced with a situation: two movie musicals out at the same time. One of which being a "black" version of a "white" musical. And no, of course not a remake of a classic musical with a black child playing the lead because of her talent, but instead a whole new hip hop "black" version with a child picked for her notoriety for playing black child roles. (Not to say she wasn't good in the movie but really). And the other being not only a musical, but a very VERY fantasy musical, (in other words one that could have easily been cast all across the rainbow), that just so happens to be cast with about three to five colorful people... as extras... shown for like .3 seconds or so. Starting to see the small problem here?
Now chances are neither of these films' executive producers, producers, casting directors, directors, assistant directors, etc. etc. were thinking along these lines at all. Maybe their focus on so many other aspects of their projects blinded them to the fact that hey umm one of you is basically telling people that "If anyone who's not white would like to play a typically white role the whole show needs to be "blackified" first sooo good luck," and the other is saying either "Yup you're 100% correct!" or "There just aren't any black or any other color actors talented enough or with enough star power or right enough for any of these parts." Not fantastic options if you ask me. Honestly I don't think it's on purpose, I really and truly don't, because if it had ever crossed their minds to cast Dule` Hill as the Baker no one would have opposed. No one. But that's just the problem. You have your few people who know EXACTLY what they're doing, and the rest are…ummm... well I was trying to be nice but I can't think of any good excuses, the rest are just stupid. And as a result America as a whole is inadvertently negatively pointing out all of our differences… and I think we all know when that mysteriously started 7 years ago.
When I was a kid our generation was on such a good track to becoming a society of people who would truly see people for their content of character. I loved Wally from Leave it to Beaver and Romeo from The Romeo Show and Dylan and Cole Sprouse from Zack and Cody and Benny from The Sandlot and Jet Jackson from Jet Jackson and never once thought about their different colors... only about how gorgeous they all were... and believe me I haven't changed a bit;) but race has been shoved in our faces so much lately that it's become the only thing people see. Especially young people. And although it is true that our differences make us beautiful and wonderful and special, there is a time and a place to point them out and being as overall they are being pretty much everything BUT celebrated, that time and place is most certainly not here and now. I know people think making jokes about race is just light hearted, usually no one truly gets hurt by them, but we need to realize that every time someone reposts the "white girl winter starter kit" with yoga pants, Uggs, a North Face, and a Starbucks, even though it is seemingly harmless and funny, we are simply dividing ourselves. Don't get me wrong if you hang out with my family and close friends you will quickly find out that race is the topic of many a joke, but like I said there is a time and a place, and that time and place is not on national television shows like Blackish where we are saying "This is how white upper middle class people live and act, not black people. Black people are supposed to live in the ghetto and speak Ebonics so obviously these people are not black but rather black-ish." I've never even seen this show but its actual content is of no consequence because by the commercials and even just by the title a clear message is being sent, and whether you are interested in seeing the show or not doesn't matter because you've already been affected, most likely subconsciously, by the advertisements you no doubt have seen. Or Fresh Off the Boat... no explanation necessary. Or even Dance Moms where Abby Lee continually gives any ethnic or animalistic- Yes I said animalistic- role to her only not white kid on the elite team.
You may think I'm overreacting to all this but I've seen what it's doing first hand. You know you're moving backwards when you're in a room full of little girls currently in a very healthy an diverse environment and some of them actually say "I wish I was white," or they cry because their hair is not straight, possibly prompted by the ones with straight hair who say things like "Will your hair ever look normal?", or "Your hair is crazy", (and no I'm not exaggerating, this is all word for word). Even girls telling me on two different occasions that I should straighten my hair because it would look prettier than my curls, and I should not wear my hair in the temporary dreads I had in (which were awesome btw) because dreads are ugly. No one has ever said anything like that to me ESPECIALLY WHEN I WAS 6! The only comparable thing was when I was 12 a girl told me I had a big nose, and it did make me self conscious, but not for the reason you probably think. It made me self conscious because just the year before I had gotten ten stitches right down the middle of it and the scar was still fresh-ish so I was afraid I wasn't going to get cast anymore. The fact that I have a "black nose" or a "flat nose" never crossed my mind. I have a feeling that situation probably wouldn't be the same had I grown up like the kids today. These girls are between the ages of 4 and 10. They can't be blamed for this. What they see everywhere they turn, what is being force fed to them from every direction is to blame.
So what do you think, are all these little things still so harmless?
Look here's the bottom line: This path we are on is dangerous and unhealthy and we ALL need to have a hand in turning it back around. We are beautiful. Every one of us is created in His image and we are beautiful. And we are human. WE ARE ALL HUMAN. That's what we should be pointing out. That's what we should be celebrating.
Have a colorful day:)
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