Eternal Beauty in Black Encouraging the strength, courage, and wisdom of black women empowering themselves everywhere |
|
|
|
Eternal Beauty in Black Encouraging the strength, courage, and wisdom of black women empowering themselves everywhere |
|
|
|
. : About Us : .
Recent Posts
Another Day in Paradise : A Commentary on Weekend ... Archives
~ Blogroll ~
Black Womanist
~ BWWM (or non bm) Couples in TV & Film ~
Television
Battlestar Galactica (new) - Lee and Dee Film
Mr. & Mrs. Loving
~ BWWM Themed Books We Recommend! ~
The Color of Love by Sandra Kitt
|
. : Subscribe to this Blog : .
. : BW in the Media : . Actresses we love to watch!
. : Articles of Interest: . Article Links Coming Soon . : Credits : .
Template By Caz . : Visitors : .
|
|
Friday, August 29, 2008Women in Film - The Women A lil birdie slipped me a note about an upcoming film The Women (a remake of George Cukor's 1939 film of the same name) and I snuck a peak at the behind the scenes documentary of the movie. I'm looking forward to seeing this because it not only showcases an all female cast and much of the crew, but such talents as Jada Pinkett-Smith, Debra Messing, Debi Mazar, Cloris Leachman and many others make appearances in the film. I'm a movie junkie and an advocate for women in film (especially seeing more creative talent behind the camera). The documentary gives a nice behind the scenes 'making of' for how the movie was put together. The last time I saw this many women behind and in front of the camera was in the Sanaa Hamri vehicle Something New which featured Stephanie Allain and Kris Turner as producer and wrier and Sanaa Lathan as the star. I used to have an article about women in Hollywood and I even did a presentation back in college about the lack of female directors. Some are discouraged from rising in Hollywood and others don't get the push as their male counterparts do. I think there was about 2 women during the overall course of the Oscars that were nominated in the Best Director category. With the amount of talented women at the camera helm that's pretty depressing. But Hollywood is still a man's game where sexism, racism and ageism still run rampant. It reminded me of a video I saw on youtube ages ago about Hollywood's idea of black female beauty featuring Nia Long. 
Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a nagging feeling. I had just seen Wide Sargasso Sea (1993 Karina Lombard version) and I couldn't get a particular scene out of my head. I had read the book when I was a teen but this was the first time I had actually seen the movie. I was inspired to write a story just based off said scene alone. I got up to write the story but I couldn't for some reason. Instead I did some research on a particular figure that was in my head: a former slave turned aristocrat named Isabeau...a woman who took France's breath away. I couldn't find a lick on her but I wanted to tell her story. I knew there had to be something out there about her, where she lived, why she left her home to go to Paris. For months I dug and dug and I finally hit pay dirt. Isabeau's story told from her own lips thanks to Madame du Barry's recordings. Suddenly this woman's story contained me. I know if I try to publish it, I'll have a heck of a time trying to convince publishers that Isabeau's story will resonate with readers. After all, here was a woman who's spirit extended no bounds. She lived in a world of poverty, possession, jealousy, admiration, more jealousy, privilege, regret, betrayal and love. Isabeau's story has to be told and I'm still consumed by the words I read that told of her life. After living in a world of oppression based a culture's idea of her people's inferiority and soon being admired for her quiet strength alongside her "exotic" beauty, Isabeau is the epitome of rags to riches. Still she is also seen as the other: a former slave woman who much of America may not believe had France on its knees whenever she was around. And don't even get me started on the reason she left her home. It may cause some controversy based on that alone. In any event, this woman is an inspiration because she decided to follow her heart despite the odds and she refused to be held down by anything. She wanted to go a world where men didn't look upon her color as something of an exoticism nor to be shunned. She wanted to love and be loved for who she was. In our current time where historical romance equals Regency ladies and lords, Scottish highlanders and ladies, untamed Native American heroes and pale, "dainty" white female heroines, it's difficult to find other cultures and pairings that have lived and loved throughout history. Part of it is a society which doesn't want to recognize anything other than the current majority. But such was not always the case. The opposite of the majority was once revered and admired as the standard of beauty. Perhaps as we look closer, such was the case throughout history and even to know. Stereotypes were put in place to deter interest to attraction of minority men and women. But the human spirit is an untamable spirit and there's only so much you can try to contain before the truth and strength of mind break through those chains.
Monday, August 4, 2008My Black is...Labels: Beauty
  I'd like to take a moment to kudos Dove for their real woman movement and self esteem fund. They've posted a few viral videos to show how 'under pressure' girls are today with all the images of perfection they're bombarded with. Some facts:
This video in particular shows it: Within the theme of images in the media impacting women, it reminds me of the recent short film A Girl Like Me by 17 year old Kiri Davis who recreated the famous doll experiment of the 1940's by psychologist Dr. Kenneth Clark. Also check out this inspirational video response to A Girl Like Me. It's a tragedy what we're doing to the young girls of our generation with skewed media messages. Many men are buying into this image thus causing girls and even women to uproot their lives in order to catch their attention. Much to the sacrifice of their self esteem and well being. Dove is one company that has taken the initiative to start workshops in an effort to raise self esteem in young girls today in an effort to block the constant media distortions of perfection. They also posted this video to show what goes on in their workshops. Big kudos to Dove for aiming their efforts at young girls of all shades and ethnicities. Another campaign has been going on as well. EBB mentioned the My Black is Beautiful campaign last year and it has since gone into full effect. http://www.myblackisbeautiful.com features videos, a downloadable discussion guide and events for the tour. If you're on the east, they'll be hitting your area! For the entertainers out there, Pantene is offering an opportunity to be featured in a magazine ad. On a completely shallow note, I'm so happy to see Dove and Pantene focusing their efforts this way as they are my two favorite shampoo and conditioner products (fabulous for moisture renewal in one's hair ;-)). Plus one even has a line aimed at women of color! Stay tuned as I'll be offering more news and goodies to help the movement and spread the message of true eternal beauty in black. Labels: Beauty
Free your mind And the rest will follow Be colorblind Don't be so shallow En Vogue, From the album: The Best Of En Vogue If ever were a time to beg the masses to open their mind, it is now. From the media mudslinging against a man who may become the first black president to the racial injustices that black authors and romances face currently and even to the sad excuse for a look at what it's like to be black in America through the eyes of CNN (note to Soledad O'Brien: You are a reporter/interviewer. Your job is to interview experts and people who may share different experiences than you. You are not a debater and your job is not to debunk or degrade the experiences of said people just because what happened to them is different than what has happened to the majority. Sheesh. And they call US sensitive?) So in saying this I'm not just asking the masses to open their minds. In particular I am asking for the big giant romance industry publisher, Harlequin, to open their minds. What brought this on?   Well, during a recent visit to one of my fave forums, I came across a new goodie book called Sex and the Single Braddock. I was shocked (and who wouldn't be, that cover is HOTTT). The only other IR book (that actually had a bwwm cover) I had seen by Harlequin was Brenda Jackson's Taking Care of Business in the Silhouette Desire line. I know, I was shocked, too. This is another in a family series line which features different siblings and their romantic adventures. Why is a bwwm IR book always just regulated to an established family series line where one sibling is allowed to venture out of the norm? Hmm? And to that effect, would bwwm IR be a new thing that Harlequin is acquiring? Before I got my hopes up, I dashed on over to the forums to ask this question. Thankfully the question was already asked and answered. Is Harlequin open to IR romance? Nope, came the answer. Apparently they don't get many so they never really had to deal with it. May I be the first to say: bullocks. With the amount of many bwwm IR authors out there trying to get their work sold, I can't believe that. The genre is rising to be more than just a trend. BW like a lil other in their romance and sometimes even prefer it. And dangit we want it now. I applaud the ebook companies who are stepping out to fulfill this need for readers and writers of the genre. They are proving to be the trailblazers in this industry and since they're so up to date (and sometimes even ahead of their own time) they will prove to be long lasting. Ya hear that Harlequin? I offer a challenge to this big publishing giant. You ready? Harlequin, I double dog dare you to open up a request for submissions to your IR line. I know most of your readership consists of white females but black women need love, too and although you have your Kimani line...it's still not open to IRs. But being a premiere line for AA authors, that would be a fab place to open up a line since most black women write bwwm IR romances. Maybe Kimani Shades (for love in all shades), Kimani Spectrum (not to steal from Genesis Press or anything), or Kimani something. Maybe Harlequin Shades. The ball is in your court, Harlequin. You up for the challenge? ;-) P.S. All of this is said, of course, not to draw away from Jackson's, Byrd, et. al's current works. I wish the ladies much success and it's fab to have such a great group of AA female writers to look up to. :-) Labels: Harlequin, IR Romance, Open mind, Publishing
|
