“Belle” (2013) is a British film about Dido Elizabeth Belle, a rich Black woman who lived in Britain in the late 1700s. Based on a true story, it stars the beautiful Gugu Mbatha-Raw and was written and directed by Black women, Amma Asante and Misan Sagay. It is like a Jane Austen story except that the main character is Black!
Dido Elizabeth Belle, as the film informs us, was born to a Black slave woman and a White sea captain of the British Navy. When she was a little girl, her mother died and her father took her to live with his uncle while he was at sea – where he died. Her great-uncle and aunt, who are childless, bring her up with their White niece, Bette, who is about the same age. They grow up as sisters.
Her great-uncle was not just anyone: he was Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, the highest judge in the land. As a lord he brings up Bette and Belle to be gentlewomen. As Lord Chief Justice he must make rulings on slavery…
Most of the film takes place in 1783 just when Belle and Bette are put on the marriage market and her great-uncle has to rule on:
The Zong Massacre: the captain of the slave ship Zong threw 132 slaves chained together into the sea to die. They were sick and dying. Because of insurance, they were worth more dead than alive. The insurance company called it murder and refused to pay. But “murder” would mean the slaves were human, not mere property, that they had rights…
It is not just slaves who are being valued by money. In the high-society marriage market that Belle and Bette enter, they find that the money they bring to a marriage matters far more than anything else. Belle’s father left her 2,000 pounds a year, making her a rich woman. Bette’s father left her nothing. So, even though Belle is Black, she has less trouble attracting men. But they are in love with her money.
Like in Jane Austen, people are hung up on following rules and on getting as much money as possible, even when they have more than enough. They forget about what truly matters in life. They forget about what makes them human, which makes them inhuman. Belle, as Black but rich, does not fit their well-oiled rules and laws, showing them up for what they are: heartless.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw was so beautiful I could have watched the film with the sound off, so the plot comes as an added feature. I loved the lines so much that I was constantly rewinding. But I was also rewinding because they spoke in a formal way where each word counts. It would have worked better as a book.
The film was inspired by a painting, the only British painting of the 1700s that shows Blacks and Whites as near equals: a painting of Belle and Bette from 1779:
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- Welcome to Black Women’s History Month 2016!
- films
- Book of Negroes – also set in the 1700s with a Black female hero.
- Skin
- The Feast of All Saints
- Where Hands Touch – also by Asante. A Black girl falls in love with a Nazi!
- British Empire
- English country houses – she lived in one
- Transatlantic slave trade
- sugar
- William Wilberforce – British abolitionist
Abagond 
I am a sucker for beautiful historical movies and this hit all the right buttons for me. Gugu is gorgous, eloquent and not above giving a few of the characters her true opinion of them.
I loved this movie.
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Is this on NetFlix now?
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Bit of useless trivia – Amma Asante used to be in a popular TV’s series set in a school called Grange Hill. Good to see that she is still doing good work.
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Oh no, another white savior movie, where a thoroughly marginal black figure is used to burnish the reputations of whites as great humanitarians. The Blindside in lace, sans Sandra Bullock. Is there no end to white narcissism?
The shame is that this atrocity was committed by a “sister”. Remote control white supremacy, I call it.
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@gro jo
Oddly enough when I first saw the movie I did not think of it as a white savior movie. Blinded solely by a beautiful black woman rising in the ranks of society. Desired by men and hated by her bitter pure white cousin.
Though looking at the deeper meaning it purely is just that. A white savior film. Belle herself is not making an impact. She is making a plea to white people, who soften themselves am make it right for those poor black people.
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Darling, we finally see eye to eye, how about that!?
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This was a beautiful film indeed.
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What I like about the story is that it was not simply ‘made up’ out of thin air so that Blacks could have their own romantic classical film. It was based on real people and real circumstances.
Would it have somehow been more ‘pure” if her fortune had instead come from her African Uncle’s ivory import business? Perhaps… but that simply did not (and would not) happen in that place and time period, so we simply take the facts were we find them.
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@ King Well said. Notwithstanding the bottom line of white supremacy, it seems easy enough to put all films in the same category because whites have a heroic role, including apparently when those films deal reasonably well with historical themes, based on books written by blacks, in films directed by blacks, and containing a quality of message that will not be found in the next thousand films.
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Nonsense, like 99.9999999% of all such films this one serves to tickle the vanity of whites.
How about a film on the African philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Wilhelm_Amo), the engineer Abraham Gannibal, the great grandfather of Pushkin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abram_Petrovich_Gannibal), the Chevalier de St-George, the black Mozart (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_de_Saint-Georges), General Alex Dumas, “the Schwarzer Teufel (“Black Devil,” Diable Noir in French).[5] The French – notably Napoleon – nicknamed him “the Horatius Cocles of the Tyrol”[6] (after a hero who had saved ancient Rome[7]) for single-handedly defeating a squadron of enemy troops at a bridge over the Eisack River in Clausen (today Klausen, or Chiusa, Italy).” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas-Alexandre_Dumas), or any number of blacks who did great things?
That’s not going to happen because nobody will finance such project, and Black audiences are perfectly happy watching fluff like Belle.
Don’t make me laugh, the historical basis for this film is flimsy.
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I loved that her dowry was worth more attracting more male suitors and it made her white cousin bitter. I sat in the theater and snickered.
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@ gro jo
I did not see it as a White Saviour film since I saw Belle as the main character. But I see what you mean.
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Indeed, the best critique of the creative process is to ask why the storyteller did not tell ANOTHER story entirely.
Why didn’t he paint ANOTHER picture of different subjects… Why didn’t she write ANOTHER book about… Why didn’t they sing ANOTHER song with THESE preferred and pre-approved lyrics??!!! Why did they waste their time telling the story that THEY wanted to tell???!
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@ gro jo Of course it’s a white saviour movie. There wasn’t a way to avoid it, given the settings of the story. Almost all of the characters were white, as it should in 18 Century Britain, and all the heroes and villains were, consequently, white. Or did you suggest they shouldn’t make a movie based on this story at all?
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First things first: “Belle”, a “major” motion picture written and directed by 2 black women, made money at the box office. Belle, the film, used a historical series of events as a brilliant metaphor to illuminate the “still ongoing savagery” by the purported “pinnacle of western civilization”, England.
The film also succeeds in exposing the limitations of money and status when trying to overcome the double edged sword of sexism and racism that Belle, as a rich (black) woman, had to face in 16th century British society. And, as a brilliant metaphor to highlight the similarities of “intersectionality”, both then and now.
Critics who only see “Belle” as a “White Savior” movie have limited understanding of the subtle use of multiple metaphors intertwined throughout the film to tell a story.
In the end, Belle is about more than the personal struggles of a rich and beautiful mulatto, in 18th century England, being saved by whites. I can only hope that the critics will appreciate the “thematic depth” and brilliant storytelling, casting and direction of this film with a 2nd viewing.
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Belle is just as White as she is Black
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“Critics who only see “Belle” as a “White Savior” movie have limited understanding of the subtle use of multiple metaphors intertwined throughout the film to tell a story.”
Yeah, right. Still a white savior film like 99.99999% of such films that suggest that if only “decent white folks” only knew, the horrors of slavery wouldn’t have gone on for as long as it did. Some wit quipped that the British like to make it look like they enslaved millions of Africans only so they could do the ‘decent’ thing by setting them “free” without compensation. You do realize, don’t you, that when emancipation came, only the planters got any money from the government?
I want to see a film free of “subtle use of multiple metaphors” that take the protagonists out of the salons of London and place them in unsubtle places like the forts, ships, markets and plantations where metaphors wouldn’t be needed, and finally, back to the salons where all this misery is turned to hypocrisy and wealth. In other words, I want a Black Candide, where this world isn’t the best of all possible worlds. Belle made money? whoopee, so did a number of bad films. Two “sisters” were responsible for making it? Well I already spoke my peace on that fact above.
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“Belle is just as White as she is Black”
So are you Bobby M, so are you!
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She was not allowed to dine with the rest of the family this taught me of the racial and social class dynamic of that day.
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To all the “praise singers” for “Belle”, yes, I’m talking to you King, Lou, George and Black Sci-Fi, tell me why we keep getting the same kind of movie when it comes to depicting Blacks? Why Belle, what did she do to deserve to be remembered? Why not one of the more substantial individuals I mentioned above? Could it be that makers of films are allergic to Blacks with brains? A.W. Amo’s life is far more interesting and instructive than Belle’s. The same can be said for all the other individuals I offered above as fitter subjects for a bio-pic.
I dare any of you to challenge my claim. The only reason Belle got made, was because it wouldn’t give offense and being a chick flick, it could be sold as some kind of meaningful ‘feminist’ statement. Anna Kingsley, the African girl who rose from slave to slaveholder would have been more interesting
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Kingsley). Her descendants, such as Johnnetta Betsch Cole, are still prominent.
My beef with Belle is that she’s too decorative for my taste.
““Would it have somehow been more ‘pure” if her fortune had instead come from her African Uncle’s ivory import business? Perhaps… but that simply did not (and would not) happen in that place and time period, so we simply take the facts were we find them.””
King, I’m going to shock you to the very core of your being by revealing to you a nasty little secret, some blacks, such as the Dubuclets, Pendarvis, etc. were black slaveowners. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Dubuclet
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/pendarvis.html)
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To me Belle was a prop in a movie that was suppose to be about her. She was not a major player. You could easily mistake the movie for white man politics before it being a movie about her.
Save the grace of the loving uncle to help all the blacks.
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But aren’t all relationships unequal?
‘Magical Negro’ or ‘White Savior’, I cannot readily think of any film where the interactions between races were between equals.
The film was green-lighted because the story was interesting enough to those who are in power.
Personally, I’d love to see a well researched, well written and well produced film about St. George – but then again, I’m not a producer so I’ll wait…
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BWAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAHAHA. So fucking lame! You Black Americans will settle for anything? A Black Jane Austen? How pathetic! A female writer whose own female characters were stereotypes. Maybe m he should have had gone for George Eliot. Black people with agency? In Hollywood? Forget it! Black people Just want to look at black people behaving like white people, engaging in the same moral-neutral behaviour.
(https://satanforce.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/please-massa-pick-me/)
Just look at how bad you people want a black James Bond! To do what? Fuck all these white women , kill Arabs and act as mascots for British car companies? Lame!
This is media aimed at white people who want to see themselves as moral-upright, instead of immoral or amoral. People forget that one of the main ideas behind racism and people look lame is flatter whites, to make them feel more special than they actually are, and to give a false version of history. The idea of black people with agency in simply , unthinkable. That’s why they love Huckleberry Finn, but ignore Puddin’Head Wilson.
@Grojo Jojo
Do you…..love Sharlinar? I never imagined that you were a lesbian….
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@satanforce
“Do you…..love Sharlinar? I never imagined that you were a lesbian….”—-I doubt it. More online joking if anything.
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Shat on force er, satanforce,
Yes, I love Sharinalr and I’m a thespian like you.
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I loved this movie and was saddened it didn’t receive more attention in terms of award recognition or box office revenue. Gugu’s performance was amazing — subtle, yet intense and passionate. White women’s careers are made on performances like that. And had Belle been played by, I don’t know, Kate Winslet, you can best believe she would have received an Oscar nod, if not the actual award.
To me, Belle is THE film that clearly exposes Hollywood’s race problem. Beautiful photography, lighting, costumes, and production design, well written, nicely directed, powerful performances. Any other movie of this sort would be highly lauded, and come awards season would be the odds-on favorite, receiving an appropriate release at the end of the year with complete studio backing and waves of publicity. But this one? Came and went without a whimper with a tepid March or April release when no one was paying attention. I wonder how this film would have done if black women weren’t the primary forces behind this movie?
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Kiwi, we could all use a laugh, so break it down for us, give us your definition of a coquette?
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“Personally, I’d love to see a well researched, well written and well produced film about St. George – but then again, I’m not a producer so I’ll wait…”
Claude Ribbe made such film: (http://www.chevalier-de-saint-george.com/)
If you understand French, you might want to buy it.
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The website indicated above isn’t for the “docudrama” shown on French tv in 2011 but for the soundtrack, sorry.
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“co·quette
kōˈket/
noun
noun: coquette; plural noun: coquettes
1.
a woman who flirts”
”
coquette play
noun co·quette \kō-ˈket\
Simple Definition of coquette
Popularity: Top 20% of words
: a woman who likes to win the attention or admiration of men but does not have serious feelings for them”
“la parfaite religieuse du début était, cinq ans auparavant, une parfaite coquette de Saint Germain des prés, multipliant poses et minauderies, tripotant ses gants et jouant de ses mains mobiles dans ses cheveux, autour de son cou.
Five years earlier, the butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth nun in the opening scene, was, in fact, a charming coquette in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, showing off her many poses and simpers, fiddling with her gloves and running her expressive hands through her hair and around her neck.”
Your turn kiwi.
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But, Kiwi , in JoJos case
Though Sharilnar might change this, despite what she thinks. Also, why do you refer to Jojo as “he?” Just because someone is a butch doesn’t mean they want to bhe referred to by masculine pronouns.
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I’m a LOOONG time lurker to this blog (like 6 or 7 years without ever commenting!). I feel like I know so many of you after reading so many of your comments but I have noticed that recently I have been becoming more and more disappointed and irritated by some of the totally off-base and overly paranoid comments that I’ve been avoiding the comments altogether. But I simply had to comment on this blog topic as it’s close to my heart.
Just wow. I think everyone hating on this movie are extremely shortsighted and ungrateful that such a unique and interesting story about a very unusual and significant historical circumstance (i.e., the judge that ruled slavery illegal in England happened to have this half-black slave niece who he raised as nobility) was actually told about a black person in a film with a wide theatrical release. It’s unprecedented that this film was ever made at all. Now I have to admit, I haven’t seen the film for reasons that I will get into, but I know the story (the actual history) of the main character very, very well.
First off, I have a very hard time accepting the judgment that this is yet another “white savior” film and that that is the reason why it was produced. It’s just not true. Sorry. Lord Mansfield was a real person as was Dido…are you offended by the fact that a white judge deemed slavery illegal in England? Or that aristocratic England was 99.9% white in the 1780s? Are you upset by basic historical facts? I just think claiming this film is another “white savior story” is so far-reaching and silly it’s beyond irritating. Again, I haven’t seen the film so I’m not totally sure how it may have been skewed, but I have serious doubts that it was even remotely like “The Blind Side”…if only because the main character is upper class…totally different circumstances than 99% of white savior flicks.
Secondly, as a young black woman working in the entertainment industry, I am so very happy this film was greenlit. I wrote a script about Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay years before this film ever came out. My agent and I shopped it around Hollywood and NO ONE wanted to buy it because no one in the U.S. thought that audiences would give two effs about some random rich black girl in the 1700s. My agent pitched the script to a few British producers and before we knew it, a far more established British production company began development on their own script about her, which eventually became the film “Belle.” (I am still bitter about all this, hence the reason I have not seen the film. However, I am glad that it was an English team that made the flick after all. It makes total sense)
I wanted to write a script about her because I am a black female who knew that so many fascinating black women’s stories have been completely untold, especially in film. I personally love watching period pieces and got so tired of not seeing people who look like me. I’m also an actress and I was thinking: “If I wrote a period piece that in my wildest dreams I could star in myself, would I have to write a slave girl story?? There HAS to be stories of rich black women throughout history.” Hollywood would have you believe there were never any black people in Europe and certainly none who weren’t slaves. Dido breaks almost every stereotype that whites have about historical blacks. So I researched “black nobility in England” and Dido came up. I researched her story ad nauseum and wrote a script about it. I am a BLACK WOMAN. I didn’t write the script as some “white savior” story. I wrote the script because it was a story about a woman I could relate to in a very intimate way that had a unique journey in history that I knew other black women would be interested to hear, all while other women who love period flicks could get a breath of fresh air in the genre. Dido’s was a story that deserved to be told and it is disrespectful to tarnish her significance by relegating her biography as just another white savior story.
I can go on for days, but to trash this movie being made and crying about OTHER stories not being told instead (and then naming ONLY MEN whose stories apparently are more deserving; yeah, I’m looking at you, GRO JO!) is not only rude, it’s ignorant as hell.
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“Also, why do you refer to Jojo as “he?” Just because someone is a butch doesn’t mean they want to bhe referred to by masculine pronouns.”
Is there something you wish to confess? Are you having trouble keeping up appearances? You know, it’s no longer a shameful thing to be gay, so you can come out of the closet.
What am I saying? If you’re planning to go back to Jamaica, the closet is probably a more viable and safe option for you.
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the wacktress,
Thank you for finally stepping on stage with the rest us 🙂
it’s good to have more voices, especially dissenting ones that drop realism and truth
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the wacktress
Sorry but the screen write up of this film tarnished dido. The focus of her is only in name. I know more about the white characters from this movie than I do about her. Her story could have been told without putting so much emphasis on them.
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the wacktress,
after having read your screed, I’m more convinced than ever that Belle was a total nonentity. So what she was Mansfield’s niece? What else did she do? Anna Kingsley was much more interesting than Belle.
If your idea of significant drama is the life of this lady, then I say perish writers of your caliber. I don’t care what color you are. I dare you to compare your Belle to any of the other people I mentioned and comeback and tell me that her story was more interesting than theirs.
Belle, the film, whether you like it or not, was a paean to the humanity of the British in the person of lord Mansfield. The film distorts history, if you can’t see that, that’s your problem.
“I can go on for days, but to trash this movie being made and crying about OTHER stories not being told instead (and then naming ONLY MEN whose stories apparently are more deserving; yeah, I’m looking at you, GRO JO!) is not only rude, it’s ignorant as hell.” Spare me your trite ‘feminist diatribe, I’m impervious to such arguments.
Since you got screwed out of the Belle film, and you are fixated on “…some random rich black girl…” you might try your hand at telling the story of Louis XIV’s black stepdaughter, he had locked away in some convent for the rest of her life. She was as insignificant as Belle, but more tragic. I’m going to play fortuneteller and predict that you’ll have no luck selling such project, because their won’t be a lord Mansfield like savior.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Marie_Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_%28The_Black_Nun_of_Moret%29)
Good luck.
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Kiwi, never mind shat on force, er satanforce. What was it about the definition of coquette and my description of the lovely Sharinalr as one that had you in stitches? Don’t be shy, expand.
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The financial success of “Belle”, a historical period piece film, enabled its female Afro-Anglo director, Amma Asante, the opportunity to make the upcoming film, “A United Kingdom”. While this film is billed as “The story of the romance between an African prince and a white woman, the undertones of this film, like “Belle”, illuminate the success story of the struggle of a black person of outward privilege overcoming racism and achieving freedom for the people of Botswana.
The interracial “romance” is used by Amma Asante to illuminate the broad swath of racism and imperialism surrounding the struggle by African countries for independence.
Clearly, Amma Asante feels at home with stories about her central character overcoming racist, classicist and sexist opposition within the context of British Imperialism. As the child of Ghanaian immigrant parents, Amma Asante has more direct cultural experience with the British and her films are expansive and illuminating within the Afro-Anglo diaspora.
As a man who embraces “Panafrican” values, I was pleasantly surprised that Amma Asante was, AGAIN, introducing me to another historical African character, “Seretse Khama”, and his story, the liberation of Botswana during the height of Apartheid and British Imperialism, that I wasn’t familiar with.
The financial success of “Belle” allowed Amma Asante to attract marquee star power actors David Oyelowo (lead actor and co-producer) and Rosamond Pike. Their participation will certainly add to the potential financial success of the film. The more successful the film, the more opportunities Amma Asante will have to continue making films that embrace the unique stories of both the Pan-African diaspora as well as the global fight against racism, sexism and imperialism. BRAVO, Amma….BRAVO…!!!
Spike Lee introduced “Mookie” to the world and that film’s success led to his introducing “Malcolm X” to the world.
Amma Asante introduced “Belle” to the world and that film’s success has led to her introduction of “Seretse Khama”, an African prince who lead the “successful” fight against imperialism and racism during the struggle for the independence of Botswana.
And now, “Nate Parker” will introduce “Nat Turner” to the world.
Buckle-Up…!!!
I have a feeling that both Amma Asante and Nate Parker will be awarded a boatload of 2017 film industry awards, including Oscars.
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@Kiwi
“verbal intercourses”—-please do not say that.
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“The financial success of “Belle”, a historical period piece film, enabled its female Afro-Anglo director, Amma Asante, the opportunity to make the upcoming film, “A United Kingdom”.” Blah,blah,blah.
In other words, outside of the film’s commercial value and the effect it had on the career of its maker, there’s nothing to recommend it as far a the life of its eponymous character is concerned. The real Belle was a rather pleasant woman who did a bit of secretarial work for Mansfield, lived as a beloved servant in his house and inherited money. Her last descendant died in South Africa as a white citizen of that nation. Still nothing extraordinary about this person.
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GroJo,
dam, you are such a Grinch! 🙂
there’s nothing wrong in being happy that black directors are pushing their way up the ladder
I’d rather watch a boring movie about a Belle, than to see another big screen movie where the black or mixed female lead is a slave, a maid, a hoe, or being the dopey or ghetto best friend.
Like you, I’m ready for movies that shows black people in “real life” than all these stereotypes that have pushed down our throats all these years.
I also want to see a historical movie that shows how African people kicked a’s in Haiti or Jamaica, and fought for freedom…. but that type of film won’t be coming out of Hollywood without black directors pushing the envelope
because right now, black/brown people aren’t running sh’t in Hollywood
and white people aren’t trying to spend money on movies that make white people look bad
as the clean version of the saying goes- “money talks and everything else walks”
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Linda, as ever, I respect your opinion, but I must disagree with you when you write that “…because right now, black/brown people aren’t running sh’t in Hollywood…” You’ve no doubt heard of Oprah Winfrey and her billions? How about Melody Hobson a/k/a Mrs. George Lucas, another billionaire. How Maggie Betts, the mixed race daughter of Roland Betts, the man who financed such pictures that you might have heard of such as Pretty Woman, The Rocketeer, and Three Men and a Baby?
You comment tells me you are behind the times. Plenty of “blacks” with money who could finance pictures if they thought it was worthwhile.
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“Mr. Betts is Founder and President of Silver Screen Management, Inc., which raised more than $1 billion in four limited partnerships from 140,000 investors to finance and produce over 75 films with the Walt Disney Company. Films include Beauty and the Beast, Pretty Woman, The Little Mermaid, and Three Men and a Baby. Additionally, Mr. Betts is the President of International Film Investors, Inc., which produced and financed numerous films including, Gandhi and The Killing Fields. Mr. Betts is responsible for the financing of approximately 100 feature films. For nine years, Mr. Betts was lead owner of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. The Texas Rangers were purchased in 1989 by a group of investors assembled by Mr. Betts and President George W. Bush.”
“On October 30th 2012, George Lucas announced that he signed a deal to sell his entire Lucasfilm company to Disney for a staggering $4 billion. Lucas owned 100% of the company which means the entire $4 billion went into his pockets. His net worth more than doubled from $3.3 billion to $7.3 billion, overnight!”
“Oprah Winfrey on Forbes. … Real Time Net Worth As of 2/24/16; $3.1 Billion; Actress, Director/Producer, Entrepreneur, Personality, Philanthropist. Age: 62.”
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gro jo @ You comment tells me you are behind the times. Plenty of “blacks” with money who could finance pictures if they thought it was worthwhile.
Linda says,
GroJo, come on, Maggie Betts and Melody Hobson … so what, I don’t consider that “black people running shi’t” – Mr. Betts and Mr. Lucas are white
that’s called black people married to white people or children of white people, who are “running sh’it”, who can influence other white people who are running shi’t
Oprah… when in doubt, drag Oprah out – great, we got 1 black person who is truly running her own thing in Hollywood.. yippeeee
Yeah, I might be up there in age, but I’m very much in tune with current reality
black people with money can finance movies if they want to, sure… but how is it going to be seen by the general masses in the movie theaters? straight to DVD or Netflix is not the goal
black directors and black producers still depend on White distribution for their films to see the light of day and make BIG money in the millions or billions.
http://madamenoire.com/107985/its-not-the-black-films-but-the-distribution/
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Sorry Linda, you really are behind the times. “GroJo, come on, Maggie Betts and Melody Hobson … so what, I don’t consider that “black people running shi’t” – Mr. Betts and Mr. Lucas are white
that’s called black people married to white people or children of white people, who are “running sh’it”, who can influence other white people who are running shi’t ”
You are wrong about Mellody Hobson. “Mellody Hobson (born April 3, 1969) is an American businesswoman who is the president of Ariel Investments and the current Chair of the Board of Directors of Dreamworks Animation…Soon after her graduation from Princeton, Hobson joined Ariel Investments as an intern and rose to become the firm’s senior vice president and director of marketing. In 2000, she ascended to become the president of Ariel, a Chicago investment firm that manages over $10 billion in assets.[2] It is also one of the largest African American-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the United States”
She’s no trophy wife, but,very likely, the business brain behind Lucas’s money. Tired of Oprah? You want another black billionaire? How about Mr. Robert F Smith of Vista Equity Partners, With a net worth of $2.5 billion, with $14 billion under his management? How about your fellow Jamaican Mr. Michael Lee-Chin? I’m sure there are others. My point is that it isn’t for want of money controlled by “black” people that black films don’t get financed.
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gro jo @ Sorry LindaMy point is that it isn’t for want of money controlled by “black” people that black films don’t get financed.
Linda says,
no, Gro Jo.. I’m right on time…you’re not going to shake me darling 🙂
I know good and well who Melody Hobson is.. I used to listen to her radio program… I love her… I see she talked her white husband into having a token black Jedi… finally, right
We’re not discussing rich black people… we’re talking about black Moguls of Hollywood… or rather, the lack of black Moguls in Hollywood.
I know you fully understand what I’m saying but you are choosing to pretend otherwise
That’s OK… let me know when you find the black CEO or black person with enough power to green-light Studio projects, who is also in control of mass distribution into theaters– because that’s where the money is at (besides Cable)
Movies can always get made, sure… but if the white man in the Hollywood studio doesn’t agree to release it for public consumption, to be distributed Nationally and globally
then a black person financing a movie, just wasted money
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Linda wrote: “let me know when you find the black CEO or black person with enough power to green-light Studio projects, who is also in control of mass distribution into theaters– because that’s where the money is at (besides Cable)”
My lady, your wish is my command. Will this man do for you?
“Richard Dean “Dick” Parsons (born April 4, 1948), an American business executive, is the former chairman of Citigroup and the former chairman and CEO of Time Warner. He stepped down as CEO of Time Warner on December 31, 2007.[2] He is currently the interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise…Parsons was born to an African-American family in Brooklyn, New York on April 4, 1948.[1] Parsons was one of five children and his maternal grandfather had been head groundskeeper at Kykuit… Parsons was accepted by Albany Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor in 1971, finishing at the top of his class… on the recommendation of Nelson’s brother Laurance Rockefeller to the then CEO Steven Ross, Parsons was invited to join Time Warner’s board; he subsequently became president of the company in 1995, recruited by Gerald Levin.[7] He helped negotiate the company’s merger with America Online in 2000, creating a $165-billion media conglomerate. In December 2001, it was announced that chief executive Gerald Levin would retire and Parsons was selected as his successor. The announcement surprised many media watchers who expected chief operating officer Robert Pittman to take the helm. In 2003, Parsons made the announcement of the name change from AOL Time Warner to simply Time Warner.[8]
Parsons became chairman of Citigroup on 23 February 2009.”
My dear Linda, refresh my memory, isn’t Time Warner huge in the movie business? Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say: “Time Warner Inc. (TWI, at one former interval named AOL Time Warner, stylized as TimeWarner since 2003) is an American Multinational media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City.[7] It is currently the world’s third largest television networks and filmed TV & entertainment company in terms of revenue (after Comcast and The Walt Disney Company), and at one time was the world’s largest media conglomerate…Among its assets are New Line Cinema, HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, The CW Television Network, Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim, CNN, DC Comics, Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, Hanna-Barbera, Esporte Interativo, Castle Rock Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios.
In the past, other major divisions of Time Warner included Time Inc., AOL, Time Warner Cable, Warner Books, and Warner Music Group. All of these operations were either sold to other investors or spun off as independent companies between 2004 and 2014.””
Parsons, a black man with a “genius” IQ, was president from 1995, COO in 2001, CEO in 2002, and chairman in 2003. His company was behind such films as the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings series.
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GroJo,
thank you for bringing up Richard Parsons… there’s also Stan O’Neal, CEO of Merrill Lynch, Kenneth Chenault CEO of American Express, Michael Steele , Chairman of the GOP
it’s great for us to share information about prominent black/brown people who have or are running things in corporate America…
Forgive me but I need to get this conversation back on track.
Sometimes I can be one-track minded because I believe it’s important to actually focus on the topic at hand, which is:
Hollywood Studio Executives who control and Green light the movies that are made and will be seen by the global masses
These select few are in charge of making millions and billions of dollars for their parent Corporations, who only care about the Green bottom line
Maybe if the parent companies had more Richard Parsons, we might get lucky and get a black faces into the club
but until then, here are the faces of the people who are “running sh’t” in Hollywood– if they don’t say “yes”, then it ain’t happening.
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that 1% African ancestry might show in Jeffrey Katzenberg’s face but it doesn’t really count and black people can’t claim Kevin Tsujihara
those 9 faces right now control the blockbuster movies you and I see
for anyone who wants to know more about them:
http://www.thewrap.com/hollywood-greenlighting-power/
George Lucas was planning to build a Studio but he changed his mind and even sold his film production company to Disney Studios in 2012
so Mellody Hobson won’t be influencing her husband to “green light” any new movies anytime soon… but yes, they (Hobson/Lucas) have pull and power to produce any movie that they want made and if the Studio execs don’t want to release it for distribution
they can always go to the 1 person in Hollywood who can release and distribute a black movie that shows the reality of black lives– OWN/Harpo Films
Oprah’s OWN/ Harpo Studios is in Hollywood and she is planning another studio in Hawaii
Oprah was able to walk into Hollywood and set up shop because she had already attained power before she got there
The only other person who is even close to having Oprah’s independent production and distribution power is Tyler Perry.
What we are discussing is Power, not just money
I want black and brown people to march in, set up shop and TAKE a piece of pie, like Oprah and Tyler
but for now, I guess we just have to be happy and clap when a black/brown person is “given” the opportunity by the white power structure to advance and have a piece of the pie
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“… but yes, they (Hobson/Lucas) have pull and power to produce any movie that they want made and if the Studio execs don’t want to release it for distribution”
We are basically in agreement. Parsons was in a position to hire and fire the people who were ““running sh’t” in Hollywood”, when he headed TWI. How many “black” films did the studios his company owned make? No more than usual. Unlike you, I don’t subscribe to the “black face in high place” idea as a means for further advancement. When blacks get to green light projects, they will do what they believe the market dictates.
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No, we’re not.. because I’m talking about the here and now, not the past
Richard Parson’s is no longer CEO of Time Warner and neither is any other black face, so we’re back to square 1
and that’s why I said let’s stick to the black executives who are directly in the Film industry, who have the power to green light and release movies to the general public
and right now that’s Oprah and Tyler… 2 out of a 100 is not bad I guess, right
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“grojo @ Unlike you, I don’t subscribe to the “black face in high place” idea as a means for further advancement.”
Linda says,
I don’t subscribe to that philosophy either because that’s unrealistic in America
Richard Parson climbed the ladder to become CEO because white management promoted him
that’s the case for all of us who work in corporate America who make it into management… play the game, move on to next round
but for a major movie to be made about a Dessaline’s as the hero of the Haitian revolution with the French as the villians — it’s going to take a black face with executive power to get that released to the general public.
to date, Danny Glover has been trying to make a movie about Toussaint L’Ouverture that’s not going to go straight to DVD but it’s yet to see the light of day.
There has been 1 movie made about Toussaint for general consumption, but it was released by a French film studio and no distributor in the USA is willing to pick it up.
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correction: the other Toussaint “movie” was a on French television
Here is an excerpt from an interesting article about the Toussaint projects:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/danny-glovers-toussaint-louverture-film-that-never-was-but-could-still-be-other-films-on-the-haitian-revolutionary-20150731
Danny Glover’s Toussaint L’Ouverture Film That Never Was, But Could Still Be & Other Films on the Haitian Revolutionary
“When I spoke to Danny Glover about his long-in-development Toussaint L’Ouverture film in late 2011, this is what he had to say: “We’re still working on it; we’re in one of those periods where the idea is still alive and still resonates out there; we just have to get all the resources together to make it happen
And when I asked about the challenges he must have been facing in trying to get a film on this subject matter financed and produced, he laughed and added: “You don’t want to hear those stories man… the stories I could write a book on… just on the process of trying to make a film about the Haitian revolution; but the project is still alive.”
For more than 30 years, Glover has been trying to make a biopic about the leader of the Haitian revolution. True, the story of L’Ouverture has been told before, notably in a play by CLR James that was staged in London’s West End in 1936 starring Paul Robeson, and more recently in a French TV series starring Haitian actor Jimmy Jean-Louis. But Glover believes his treatment will be the first to “”.
But when will we see this directorial debut? In 2006, Glover assembled a cast including Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mos Def, and planned to shoot his film in South Africa and Venezuela, thanks to $18m (£11m) from one of Glover’s heroes, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.
Also worth noting, Euzhan Palcy told us in an interview in May of this year that she has also long been working on a Toussaint film. In fact, as she said, 2 months ago, she and Glover were actually working on the same Toussaint film together initially, but, due to some differences which she didn’t elaborate on, they split, and she went on to develop her own Toussaint project.
Here’s what she said specifically: “I’ve had that project for more than 20 years. It was very difficult to get people to finance it because it’s in Haiti and it’s about Toussaint Louverture, so people did not want to be a part of it. Same thing when I wanted to make my movie about South Africa, no one wanted to touch it and finally I was able to get it made with MGM”
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“No, we’re not.. because I’m talking about the here and now, not the past”
My apologies for misreading your stance on this matter. I was led astray by your claim that: “… but yes, they (Hobson/Lucas) have pull and power to produce any movie that they want made and if the Studio execs don’t want to release it for distribution”.
That statement seemed to echo my claim that they and a number of others mentioned above have the wherewithal to do as you indicated. I can’t see the difference between our points of view on this issue, so you’ll have to show me where I misinterpreted your statement.
I don’t doubt that Parsons was put in charge by whites, his main backers have been the Rockefellers, but he is black and he did wield power over the studio heads who worked for TWI, they may have been “running sh’t” in Hollywood” but they were the sh’t he was running. What happened during his tenure, didn’t a good part of it include the period Danny Glover was trying to make his movie?
Parsons commanded all the things you claimed were necessary, studios, cable, etc.
He wasn’t an empty suit because he was put in charge when the business needed to be fixed. I don’t think he can be accused of being hostile to other blacks, because he was busy cheating on his white wife with a young black woman from Liberia, and even had a kid with her.
Politically, he was tight with Giuliani and he did try to cut social security, so one can read a certain hostility to poor people in his political orientation. Danny Glover would never have convinced him to finance his Louverture movie.
I detested the French tv Louverture film because it perpetuates the lie that the falling out between Louverture and Napoleon was because of some misunderstanding or because he hurt Napoleon’s feelings by not being deferential enough towards him. An honest movie would have shown that they disagreed on the question of slavery, Napoleon wanting to restore it and Louverture being adamant that that institution was dead and would remain so as long as he had life in him. Being a French film, it couldn’t handle such truth.
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gro jo @ “but yes, they (Hobson/Lucas) have pull and power to produce any movie that they want made”. That statement seemed to echo my claim that they and a number of others mentioned above have the wherewithal to do as you indicated. I can’t see the difference between our points of view on this issue, so you’ll have to show me where I misinterpreted your statement.
Linda,
We are not disagreeing on the issue of black people with the money to make movies…I did not bring that particular subject up — you did.
and when you brought it up, I agreed with you that there are black people rich enough to finance a major movie, such as Mellody Hobson – That was not my point.
“Running sh’t” means that when a major million dollar movie gets made, the executive in charge has the power to see it released — because making a movie, doesn’t mean you are in charge and running things in Hollywood — movies can be made that sit on the shelf and never get released, go straight to DVD or are only viewed in film festivals.
my point was that black people are not running things in Hollywood, they are not in charge of releasing major movies for mass consumption and worldwide distribution through multiple platforms.
it doesn’t matter if black people are rich enough to finance a movie… they still would need to partner with a major movie studio, such as Disney or Universal, in order to get it released and distributed.
The fact that Richard Parson’s was the CEO of corporate Time Warner or what he did in the past, is irrelevant to my point — because he is no longer in charge now.
It makes no sense to talk about 1 black person from the past, who can no longer green-light a movie in the present.
If there were multiple black executives who worked for a major Studio, who were in charge of green-lighting movie projects in Hollywood, then you and I would be talking about the same issue and would be in agreement.
If the current group of white studio executives (and 1 Japanese) would find the balls to release movies about black historical figures like Toussaint L’Ouverture or Dessalines, then you and I would not be having this conversation.
As it stands, in the present day, white studio executives couldn’t even manage to have black or brown people play mythical Egyptian Gods
It would be great to see Hobson/Lucas use their money and influence to make a major movie showing black people/Africans defeating a white army, that would be viewed by the general public nationally/globally, but until they do
The only black people currently with the power to move a major movie like that for release and distribution, is Oprah and Tyler Perry.
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gro jo @ I detested the French tv Louverture film because it perpetuates the lie that the falling out between Louverture and Napoleon was because of some misunderstanding or because he hurt Napoleon’s feelings by not being deferential enough towards him. An honest movie would have shown that they disagreed on the question of slavery, Napoleon wanting to restore it and Louverture being adamant that that institution was dead and would remain so as long as he had life in him. Being a French film, it couldn’t handle such truth.
Linda says,
Exactly… because at the end of day, it’s important for studio executives to make sure that white people still feel good about themselves at the end of the movie
the only people who would be honest enough and passionate enough to show the Haitian revolution in all its glory would be a black/brown person, who doesn’t give a sh’t about protecting white people’s feelings…
that person does not yet exist yet or holds an executive management position in Hollywood
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@ SatanForce: Comment deleted for use of moderated language.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/comment-policy/
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^^^^^ Oh, alright.
Let me fix some of these posts
@Black SciFi
Ignoring the fact all these big shot African indendence leaders went to marry non-black women, the interracial romance is nothing more than a cynical move to attract white liberals to the cinem, as well as to make them feel likke they contribute to “Pan-African” struggle.
Why is that a good thing? Both Lee and X are embarrasments to black people.
Because social examination, education or entertainment are not as important as getting a pat on the head from white people. And yes, making a good movie and getting an Oscar is iin most cases, mutually exclusive.
@the wacktress
What would be the point of doing a movie about a (half) black woman in a time period where she would have no other black people to interact with? After all, what is the point of a black noblewoman, if there is no black nobility? The person may have the black phenotype, but without the culture, she may as well be white.
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Hollywood will not make the kinds of movies that would tell the truth about the history of Blacks in the modern world, or antiquity. As the Parsons interlude showed, even when these studios report to a black man, they will continue to make the stuff they always made, and he would demand nothing else of them.
Is the situation hopeless, what about Nollywood? Big budget films are out of the question, for now, and the sensibilities are not entirely in accordance with those of westernized Blacks like us, but distribution channels are currently being built.
(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17896461)
(http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/17/afrostream-is-netflix-for-african-and-african-american-movies/)
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Three years ago, Nigerian filmmaker Jeta Amata went to Haiti to make a film on Louverture, titled “Emperor: The Story of Toussaint l’Ouverture”, with a $15 million budget, like all previous efforts, nothing seems to have come of this scheme.
His theme is: “In an unprecedented war of wills, the film follows the clash between Catholicism and Voodoo(sic), inspired warfare, international politics, the eternal love triangle and the conflict between every shade of color in the small Caribbean nation.”
I’m not crazy about his religious point of view, but it sounds interesting.
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“What would be the point of doing a movie about a (half) black woman in a time period where she would have no other black people to interact with? After all, what is the point of a black noblewoman, if there is no black nobility? The person may have the black phenotype, but without the culture, she may as well be white.”
The point would be to tell a story. That is the point of filmmaking. And she did have other black people to interact with, but the producers of Belle decided not to portray them and apparently completely whitewashed the story (as again, I have not seen it).
As an aside, all films with black or half black leads do not have to have an entire cast of blacks. That is not every single black persons’ experience. For what it’s worth, my script was entirely different than “Belle” and involved several other leading black characters.
And I resent your assertion that “without the culture she may as well be white.” What is black culture again? Is someone not black if they do not subscribe to what YOU define as “black culture?” SILLINESS. Please stop perpetuating this idea that one’s race is directly correlated with a particular culture or that one is only “really black” if they behave a certain way, value certain things, or are of a certain socioeconomic background. It is a lie.
@ grojo
Your comments to Linda about Hobson and Parsons to prove any sort of real “black power” in Hollywood are laughable. White people RUN Hollywood. Period. Naming a few tokens does not change that fact. Any blacks who have any money/power in Hollywood were in fact awarded that power by the white powers that be. There are 100 white versions of Tyler Perry and they are richer, more respected by their peers, and better connected. Their power combined absolutely crushes that of Oprah or Perry or Mrs. George Lucas. To even debate that fact is ludicrous. That is why the state of minorities in Hollywood is so pitiful and will continue to be until we start thinking more innovatively with each other and respecting and supporting each others’ visions and goals instead of constantly tearing each other down (we meaning minority filmmakers and creative artists).
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@gro jo
Oh wait, I forgot about this little nugget of goodwill:
“Spare me your trite ‘feminist diatribe, I’m impervious to such arguments.”
GROSS. Spare me your unabashed sexism. I cannot respect someone who does not respect that black womens’ stories desperately need to be told more in film, no matter how insignificant he may deem the particular subject. Grow up.
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Dido’s parents did not die as the movie states. They moved to what is now Pensacola,Florida in 1772. The mother, Maria, stayed with the father until 1774, well after he did the respectable thing and married a white woman. He and Maria would move back and forth between Florida and England. Eventually, they parted ways. He freed her and deeded her the property in Pensacola where she lived out the rest of her days. Who knows, she may have had more children.
Dido’s last direct ancestor died in South Africa.
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Wacky, you’re confused. Here you are, defending a film you didn’t see. I clearly stated my objection to the film and the character it was based on. You claim to have researched Belle in depth, why don’t you share some of that work here by showing how important she was? If you can’t, because she was the nonentity I say she was, why are you wasting my time? Spare me your trite ‘feminist’ diatribe, I’m impervious to such arguments.
“Your comments to Linda about Hobson and Parsons to prove any sort of real “black power” in Hollywood are laughable. White people RUN Hollywood. Period.”
How can you call yourself a writer when you can’t read? Where have I mentioned “black power”? I pointed out to Linda that Parsons was the boss of the white people you worship from 2003 to 2007. He decided what businesses would be kept or sold to keep TWI afloat, if you know different please let me know, just because you’re a flunky, doesn’t mean all blacks are flunkies, some are decision makers. I like the way you sneer at Hobson, does that mean that you manage more than $10 billion, you and your mate are worth over $5.1 billion and that you hold a position higher than Chair of the Board of Directors of Dreamworks Animation? If you are so high up on the food chain, why were you unable to get your film made?
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I just watched the film – it’s only $7.50 @ Wal-Mart.
Not terrible, not great but it’s nice to see someone Black in an old portrait who cannot be written off as a servant.
Besides Russell Simmons in the 90’s, has there ever been a Black studio head with the ability to greenlight a film? And even in his former position, would he ever be able to make a film unlike ”How to Be a Player” ?
I think I’ve watched OWN maybe twice, it’s not really my thing. And as EVERYTHING Black cannot be put upon Oprah; maybe a series of original mini-series could be produced one night a week (kind of how PBS used to have historical dramas which would run for a few weeks at a time).
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