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NOV 2016 TV DISCUSSION


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1 hour ago, supremebve said:

I've always left those interactions wondering where everything changed for them.  It is kind of like how Eddie Murphy got less and less funny as he got more and more successful.  When the amount of people you can relate to on a equal level gets too small, everything seems to get super weird.  It is kind of a catch-22, where you are black, you want to stay true to who you are, but you kind of live in a world where being black is even more rare than it is elsewhere.  Society dictates how we go through the world, how do you navigate through life when you are in a place where society hasn't really bothered to set any rules?

IMO I think money just reinforces the person you were planning to be. It's like when people use to pass around that idea that college produces nothing but liberals like people aren't able to have political ideas before they turn 17/18 or weren't brought up to believe something by their parents or guardians. College/secondary education just steers you to the place you were already heading. I think there is a clear difference between someone like Murphy and say like a black doctor, dentist, banker who started off with having money because they were raised by black doctors, dentists, bankers, etc. Murphy got to a stratosphere that black entertainers in Hollywood never reach or hardly reach. I think what happened is he saw that a good amount of criticism came from black people, and just went into a space where he knew he didn't have to be the guy everyone wanted him to be. It's kinda like Chappelle's headspace when the show was abruptly done. It gets to a certain point you feel you have achieved enough where you don't have to be magical comedy button that has to be switched on and off. That's why I get pissed when some random white personality like Bill Simmons wants to "help" Eddie Murphy come back. Fucker, you don't control whether some person comes back or not. You don't have ownership over someone's talent. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure it is people like you that help contribute to fact that entertainers like Dave Chappelle and Eddie Murphy chose to enjoy their privacy along with their wealth.

Another part of that is I never heard a story of Eddie treating any black people in a shitty manner. Every black entertainer I've heard always talks about him being down-to-earth and pretty humble. He has went to comedy clubs and supported black comedians by giving them advice. I think Eddie never wanted to be like Cosby who always told black people to do this and that, and that's what he railed against in his standup. He would be contradicting himself if he decided to do what Cosby did. On the other hand, you get someone like a Raven Symone, who was getting fat checks at a young age, who has went out of her way to say she isn't black and basically used her platform to denigrate black people. I mean someone like Michael Jackson, who was rich at a very young age, never did that and never chose to do that despite everything thrown his way in terms of criticism. Moreover, he was a very savvy businessman and did business moves that every current black musician/producer/mogul would never ever dream of making.

My point being is that no matter whether someone started with money or ended up with it, that person will find a way to be an asshole or repugnant piece of shit if he or she were already built to be that (whether it's via upbringing, friends, or other influences). I think the biggest problem with the black Boule (whether it's the black doctors, dentists, surgeons, bankers or celebs that identify with that) is that you cannot make it a class issue when white people (over multiple centuries mind you) have never recognized black people to be separated into classes. White people don't recognize this talented tenth and five percenter bullshit or black elitism UNLESS you want to buy into white supremacy exclusively. End of story. That's why this intersectional shit is so hilarious. Go ask a rabid Trump supporter or the "alt-right" about your personal experiences and problems. Let's see how that turns out.

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I feel where you're coming from, but that isn't necessarily exclusive to the upper crust of black America.  Here is a little background on the interactions I've had with this type of person.  My mom had my sister at 18 and me at 22, and was divorced by 26.  We were on welfare and living with my grandparents so my mom decided to go to college.  She came out of college and couldn't find work in our small Ohio town, so she left me and my sister with my grandparents and moved to Washington DC and slept on our cousin's couch.  This is late-80s right when having an advanced knowledge of how computers worked made you about as desirable of a job candidate as humanly possible.  She eventually was making really good money and that is when I moved to Northern Virginia.  So by the mid 90s my mom had a huge network of people in the tech industry and had some friends who started tech companies that they eventually sold for millions of dollars.  So from time to time we'd end up at a barbecue or party at one of these friend's homes, and for the most part they were pretty cool people.  There were some on the other hand who were delusional assholes.  For the most part everyone at these parties was black, they all seemed to be proud of the fact that they were black and they made it.  They were all in a place where they could seemingly help other black people, but were also in a place where there was a sense of, if we can make it why can't they.  These were people who legitimately made it based on nothing but their own hard work, but they were also on the inside of a bubble that skewed their vision of everything outside of it.  They all had a skill set that was in such high demand that they turned down higher paying jobs than the average black person wouldn't ever dream about accepting.  At this time, I'm about 15 or 16 years old, and I recognize that these people live in a world that doesn't really exist anywhere else...but they don't.  They live in a place and interact with a group of people that confirm their skewed beliefs.  They spent so much time getting to where they were that they have no idea how other black people live.  As a teenager who was fresh out of the hood, everything felt so inauthentic to me.  These people weren't bad people, they just lived in a world that separated them from almost every other black person in the country.  I know a few of these people lost everything when the tech bubble burst, and I wish I knew where some of them are now.  I know one of my mom's friends, who lived in a huge mansion, rents it out and works for FedEx.  She kept the house, but it's basically a secondary income stream so she can keep her bills paid. 

Another thing that struck me was how my mom was pretty much the only person at any of these parties with kids.  Occasionally there would be a niece, nephew, or little cousin I could hang out with, but for the most part I didn't see anyone who wasn't an adult.  The statistics on how few black people over a certain education level and/or wealth level who have children is breathtaking.  There could be generational wealth, except too often there is not a second generation.

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Well, of course it's not exclusive to the upper crust because you're going to get the bootstraps speech at any income level. The bougie black people in my family are just the folks I don't fuck with come Thanksgiving and Christmas. People will step over and on each other to get and keep that managerial position that some white person gave him or her. I think it's dangerous when it relates to the black Boule because white people (or people who identify as white) can use them as a surrogate to say shit they would be called racist for saying. Anytime the media trots out some person like Lil Wayne (I admit a bad person for this example since the Boule would shy away from someone like this) to say something mind numbingly stupid, we can't be surprised because the whole thing is based around, "See _____ said it so it must validate this message".

The best thing you can do is just not agree with that bullshit and counter with, "Instead of giving me and everyone else the bootstraps story again, why don't you create programs and jobs for black people from your particular background? In addition, why don't you try to alleviate their conditions by helping build homes and communities instead of waiting for gentrification that displaces your people?" You might shatter their brain.

Everyone can waste time with the talk and not with the walk.

 

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TNT has ordered a pilot from Tomorrow Studios and it will be based on the French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, which most of us know better as Snowpiercer.

No word on whether the series will be closer in concept to the comics or the movie.

 

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4 hours ago, J.T. said:

TNT has ordered a pilot from Tomorrow Studios and it will be based on the French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, which most of us know better as Snowpiercer.

No word on whether the series will be closer in concept to the comics or the movie.

 

Haven't read the comic, but while the movie was well made, its something I am NEVER going to watch again, and same goes for this series. . . 

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1 hour ago, _MJ_ said:

Didn't the Syfy channel already do the obligatory modern update version of The Wiz?  

SyFy has actually done two Wizard of Oz updates in the past 10 years.  "Tin Man" starred Zooey Deschanel (before she got her break), Kathleen Roberston (before she started getting much work post 90210), and Neal McDonough,  Pretty much a straightforward sci-fi reboot.  Oz was shorthand for "the Outer Zone".

There was also "Alice" which starred Caterina Scorsone from "Grey's Anatomy" and had people like Colm Meaney, Matt Frewer, and Kathy Bates filling the supporting roles.  "Alice" updated the story to 143 years in the future, but was more in keeping with the spirit of the books.

I remember "Tin Man" being kinda dreary.  I think I watched "Alice" but remember nothing about it except that I find Caterina Scorsone mind-numbingly attractive.
 

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