African Americans In Film Essay

African American directors are not highly compensated for their work because some people consider some of their movies “too afrocentric”, which results in them not being able to get sponsors to help pay for their movies. Many Black directors are not highly sponsored by investors. According to The Washington Post, “Many sponsors are white and they are not interested in their movies or in the current black experience or the black culture” (Harwell). It isn't just the Academy that votes for who wins the awards are white, many of the sponsors and executives in the studios are as well. This is a problem because this means Hollywood is a predominantly White industry. White Hollywood will also continue on telling African Americans stories. In Merle
Critics argue that these roles that many African Americans play in films as servants, jezebels, unintelligent black men, and “mad black men” are mainly what is available because these are the roles that the film industries audiences want to see. They also think that this is what will sell. Woody Allen is a filmmaker and playwright and he says he only hires African Americans actors and actresses if he writes a story that requires them. Most of Woody Allen’s movies have been set in New York. New York is one of the most diverse cities in America and many minorities live there. Black people are non-existent in most of his films. Allen once said during an interview, “You don’t hire people based on race. You hire people based on who is correct for the part. The implication is that I’m deliberately not hiring black actors, which is stupid. I cast only what’s right for the part. Race, friendship means nothing to me except who is right for the part” (Sergio). Even though this was pretty common in the U.S. Film Industry’s past to exclude Black actors and actresses, diversity exist. Diversity is evolving in the country and subordinate audiences want to see roles that illustrate the world that we live