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Till | 10/14/22 limited, 10/28 wide | UA/Orion

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It looks well done but this just happened on TV this year:

 

 

And maybe it's just social media but there's a segment of Black Twitter who'll give a knee jerk "trauma porn" reaction to any story that covers US slavery or the civil rights movement. Then they decide whether or not they like who is telling the story. Granted, everyone doesn't feel this way and the movie stil might be successful enough, at least critically.

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So I just saw a tv spot for this during msnbc. The behind the scenes people were bragging “there will be no violence against black people on screen”. She said. And I just cringed so hard. Is that where we are at? That showing the horror against black people is somehow bad? And that history has to be sanitized? What happened to Till was inhuman and shouldn’t he watered down at all.  

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On 10/5/2022 at 11:04 PM, eddyxx said:

So I just saw a tv spot for this during msnbc. The behind the scenes people were bragging “there will be no violence against black people on screen”. She said. And I just cringed so hard. Is that where we are at? That showing the horror against black people is somehow bad? And that history has to be sanitized? What happened to Till was inhuman and shouldn’t he watered down at all.  

I'm not saying it's totally true, but there are Black people who feel Hollywood only wants to fund serious Black dramas if they are about "the struggle":  slavery, Jim Crow era segregation, the Civil Rights movement, or more modern overt racism. These movies/shows can feature a lot of racially motivated violence/language/etc. that some may find extremely upsetting to watch. There's also concern about these projects being traumatic to film for the cast/crew, especially if they make multiple movies/shows of this nature in the course of a career--and most Black actors have.

 

Not that those stories aren't important, and they can be a gateway for people to learn more about racism. But if these are topics you already know or subjects you have seen before, the cumulative effect can be exhausting. Some of this is social media outrage, where people always like to complain. If there were a five-year moratorium on movies and shows about Black slavery/discrimination, there would probably be cries it's a conspiracy to sanitize the past. It's a tricky balance.

 

There's also suspicion that maybe Hollywood isn't entirely well-meaning, but drawn to Black trauma stories as an "acceptable" outlet to portray violence against Black people (you get the same sort of complaint about all the stories set hundreds of years ago that showcase graphic sexual assaults against women in the name of "historical accuracy"). I see why the Till producers wanted to make it clear about the kind of movie it is, and the kind of movie it's not.

 

Personally, I saw Fruitvale Station and The Butler in theaters, but by the time 12 Years a Slave rolled around later that year, I just couldn't do it. When you go to see one movie like that, you get trailers for all the upcoming movies that are also about racism. Sometimes, you just want to laugh? Or see an awards drama with Black people where it's not about racial torment/torture (or a famous singer/athlete, the other acceptable Oscar bait topic with Black protagonists). Even if they're well done, it can be limiting.

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On 10/7/2022 at 11:32 AM, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

I'm not saying it's totally true, but there are Black people who feel Hollywood only wants to fund serious Black dramas if they are about "the struggle":  slavery, Jim Crow era segregation, the Civil Rights movement, or more modern overt racism. These movies/shows can feature a lot of racially motivated violence/language/etc. that some may find extremely upsetting to watch. There's also concern about these projects being traumatic to film for the cast/crew, especially if they make multiple movies/shows of this nature in the course of a career--and most Black actors have.

 

Not that those stories aren't important, and they can be a gateway for people to learn more about racism. But if these are topics you already know or subjects you have seen before, the cumulative effect can be exhausting. Some of this is social media outrage, where people always like to complain. If there were a five-year moratorium on movies and shows about Black slavery/discrimination, there would probably be cries it's a conspiracy to sanitize the past. It's a tricky balance.

 

There's also suspicion that maybe Hollywood isn't entirely well-meaning, but drawn to Black trauma stories as an "acceptable" outlet to portray violence against Black people (you get the same sort of complaint about all the stories set hundreds of years ago that showcase graphic sexual assaults against women in the name of "historical accuracy"). I see why the Till producers wanted to make it clear about the kind of movie it is, and the kind of movie it's not.

 

Personally, I saw Fruitvale Station and The Butler in theaters, but by the time 12 Years a Slave rolled around later that year, I just couldn't do it. When you go to see one movie like that, you get trailers for all the upcoming movies that are also about racism. Sometimes, you just want to laugh? Or see an awards drama with Black people where it's not about racial torment/torture (or a famous singer/athlete, the other acceptable Oscar bait topic with Black protagonists). Even if they're well done, it can be limiting.

That’s why I like Jordan Peele so much. I used to think years ago that there aren’t many horror movies with a primarily black cast(I had a half brained idea once to make a zombie movie set in a ghetto. Maybe have it start off with the govt ignoring it cause it was a black community problem and only caring once the violence spread into more affluent neighborhoods but I digress .) and anyways Jordan Peele’s films are filling that niche for me.

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