Hollywood should invest more in black talent

In a recent interview with Power 105.1’s “The Breakfast Club,” Lena Waithe—creator of Showtime’s The Chi and the first Black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing—said that she wanted to be the “Kanye West of writing.” 

There was fire in her speech: “I want to surprise people,” she said. Audiences have already witnessed some of her raw talent with her work in “Master of None” and “Ready Player One,” where her characters and writing often embody the same refreshing panache that Waithe herself embodies in interviews and talk shows. She also happens to be a Chicago native and a crucial player in humanizing the forgotten parts of that city.

Despite tackling multiple issues, like workplace sexual harassment and lack of representation, Hollywood is lucky to have Waithe for all that she brings on and off screen. In her visit last month to the set of “The View”, Waithe encouraged Queer people of color to openly share and express their lived experiences, highlighting the need for authentic on-screen representation of marginalized groups. This kind of call to action can continue to happen organically if Hollywood invests more in strong writers, actors and film executives coming from the margins.

Tiffany Haddish, whose continued success on the big screen landed her in the good graces of virtually every comedy fan, breaks all conventions of memoir writing with her book “The Last Black Unicorn.” She takes us on wild twists and turns, stopping every so often to dismantle the walls built between the author and reader, and she introduces many of us to rites of passage unfamiliar to many. All in all, she is refreshing—especially for Hollywood. She shook up the Oscars alongside fellow actress comedian Maya Rudolph and loosened up the crowd, offering all the much needed change of pace and entertainment following past award  fiascos, like 2016’s #OscarsSoWhite.

The talent is there and demands to see more of it on television sets and silver screens grows with each major blockbuster. UCLA sociologist Darnell Hunt conducted his annual report on Hollywood diversity and found that greater representation in film and television could “pay off for the industry's bottom line.” This kind of success doesn’t have to stop at Black Panther, even with its monumental box office numbers, and Hollywood should take note of the returns from investing in diversity this way. Before Barry Jenkins, the idea of a film that explored the minutiae of Black masculinity was an afterthought—Hollywood can learn a thing or two with regard to intersectionality if they understand the implications of pursuing work from underrepresented voices. Those same underrepresented voices could use the investment, considering how Hollywood’s Golden Age, which spanned much of the early and mid 19th century, was teeming with racial divide. 

Hunt also shared in his report that people of color bought the majority of movie tickets for the five of the top 10 films in 2016, and television shows with diverse casts did well in both ratings and social media. The implications of these findings could very well provide us with a blueprint for success when it comes to being represented in the Arts. That kind of representation will pave the way for young writers working through our current racial divides to tell those same necessary stories moviegoers are flocking to. After 90 years of award ceremonies, Jordan Peele made history at this year’s Academy Awards for his best original screenplay win with Get Out. His wildly original film stands strong with a 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and managed to surprise at the box office earning $255 million. The film’s premise resonated with viewers across racial lines and challenged conventional storytelling, using satire and dark comedy to call our attention to tough conversations. If the current argument is that films should be judged based on their quality, regardless of the creator, then consideration should go toward making the underrepresented more competitive. Hollywood actively supporting richer writing and film programs in marginalized communities will create a more diverse and more competitive generation of filmmakers, and the move could wholly influence the Arts for audiences to come.   

Social discourse continues to be shaped and reformed by history, culture and politics. The storytellers of old always worked to reshape history as they saw fit, but if we can allow a platform for diverse groups of storytellers and creators in the 21st century, then change can follow. In 1915, national conversation about the dangers of Black men were almost entirely informed by Birth of a Nation, which still holds a score of 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The conversation still remains informed by such a heinous film and guides many of our implicit biases today. These works shape our views of the world, but if the stories of overlooked and marginalized spaces continue to be co-opted, then authentic and organic representation will fall to the wayside. Hollywood has the capacity to address #MeToo and its diversity ills simultaneously, and the best approach to this would be to invest in communities that create Tiffany Haddish and Lena Waithe, that build upon Barry Jenkins and Yance Ford. The world of storytelling can grow and expand to include all spaces if we choose to seek them out—especially the forgotten ones.  

Jamal Michel is an English teacher at Northern High School and a Duke grad. His column runs on alternate Wednesdays.