Is it possible, in your opinion, for a white screenwriter or director to authentically capture a Black person’s experiences? Is it possible for a white audience to determine when a film is a realistic portrayal of a Black person’s life, or will bias always stand in the way?
As long as a White screenwriter has Black people as part of the team it is possible. This did not appear to be the case with Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner or Lady Sings the Blues, though I suspect the actors had some input into their lines for their roles.
I think it’s much harder for White audiences to know when a film is a realistic portrayal of a Black person’s life but I think it has less to do with bias and more to not being familiar with day-to-day Black life. I think the reverse is less true.
I’ve always been curious of how White people react to fictional books by Black authors about Black life. Past discussions on BookBrowse of Black authored books has been encouraging.
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I agree with your point about whether white audiences know whether portrayal of a Black person’s life is realistic or biased. Contemporary Black authors often provide more depth and perspective about Black lives.
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I think it would be rare for a white screenwriter to completely capture a Black person’s experience. A white director might have a better chance at capturing a Black person’s experience because the director brings the written word to life. The better option would be for a collaborative work with a. White and Black screenwriter/director.
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I would have to reply in the negative to both of these questions. I think this is key reason he wrote this book in the first place. He assumed, correctly, that a white person could not begin to capture the experiences or thoughts of a black person.
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I think it is possible for a white screenwriter to authentically capture a black person’s experiences as long as they are sincere in their pursuit. Also, not every white person grew up privileged and rich in America as the reverse stereotype often goes. To say that it is possible for any film not to have any bias, whether political, racial, religious, or otherwise, is an ignorant assumption regardless. Again, humans are flawed. The real question is the intent of the person attempting to capture the experience of the culture being represented.
I agree with Dan W. I think it is very unlikely that one can authentically capture something that they have not experienced. A white audience really has no idea if what they are watching in accurate. One can hope that they can relate, but not experiencing something for themselves leaves a huge hole. I do think (or hope) that screen writers do a much better job in todays industry in understanding and depicting accurate information.
agree. Unless the creative team is filled with black (and/or minority groups), one cannot recreate feelings that are not their own. Your personal view is filtered through your own experiences, the people around you, education, internet, news etc
I may be difficult for a non-Black screenwriter or director to write about a Black person’s experience or feelings, depending on their source material and how true to the story and feelings of the people they try to convey in the story or film. They may be more successful with a historical fiction as a collaborative work or based on a documentary like the films “Greenbrook” 2018 Film, or “Passing” 2021. And the film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” was based on FBI murders of Osage and relations. Here the director and screenwriter are both white. However, I think these movies even worked because there wasn’t a white person trying to play the non-white (person of color) story. The actors/actresses were Black, indigenous Indian people which it made the film more authentic and they did keep to the original facts and feelings.
I dont think it has anything to do with bias. It just shouldnt be done.
I don’t think it is possible in either case. We always think that we can be empathetic and understand others lives and we certainly can try to put ourselves in other peoples shoes but I don’t think we can ever be 100% successful, especially when we have grown up in a society that has structural racism.
I understand the issue, and I say “no” to both questions. That said, movies are not truth. I can’t think of a single film that I didn’t think at the beginning how the premise was flawed. Movies are art but they are also commercial operations.
Films have made a great deal of progress in representing real situations and ethnicities, largely due to the larger participation by a variety of voices. Fewer broad and obvious stereotypes are represented, but a more subtle but equally offensive representations still exist. The diversity of our nation in particular seems to have created more misunderstanding rather than less.