February Movie Series

This February I will be doing a movie series on films that had a major impact on the African American community. Here's the list of films that I will be watching and links to their IMDB page.

1. Blade (1998) 
2. Hallelujah (1929) 
3. Cooley High (1975)
4. Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
5. Waiting to Exhale (1995)
6. A Raisin in the Sun (1961) 
7. Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)

#OscarsSoWhite: To watch or not to watch and why this is so important?

Last Thursday (January 14th) the nominations for the Oscars were announced and, once again, they were overwhelmingly white. (You can see the nominations here) Thus the hashtag "#OscarsSoWhite" resurfaced. The categories that have most folks upset are the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, as well as the Supporting Actor and Actress categories. 20 people are nominated and this year, again, they are all white.
You could argue and say there weren't any good POC films out this year or that none of the many POC actors were good enough for a nomination. Well, that's just not true. "Creed" and "Straight Out Of Compton" are two films that have African American leads as well as many African Americans in the cast that gave phenomenal performances, yet not a single person was nominated. I haven't seen "Beast of No Nation" but I've heard nothing but great things about the film and Idris Elba's performance. None of these films were nominated for Best Picture either!
It's frustrating that this is the norm. It's extremely frustrating that in 2016 we are still hoping for better representation. It's frustrating to see actors that have been in the industry for years, many for decades, not get acknowledged for all their hard work and amazing talent.

So why am I getting so worked over a show that gives awards to other people? Because of representation. Representation matters. Going to the movies and seeing films with casts full of white people can put in one's head that POCs aren't actors/can't be actors. It doesn't matter if you're a POC or not, one can still think this. Award shows like the Oscars draw attention to the behind the scenes work of films like editing and directing. And the same things applies here. When POCs see other POCs in these positions, we know that we can do it too.

So should we boycott? I think that if you want to boycott, do it. (In reality, if you aren't a Neilson house then your views won't get counted no matter what you do.) My hope is that while you're not watching you're doing something more than just changing the channel. Maybe you should tweet about all the wonderful POC actors and filmmakers that deserve to be nominated and add #Oscars to your tweets.
Personally, I will be watching mainly because I want to see how Chris Rock does as host. I'm even thinking about adding #OscarsSoWhite to my tweets.
On Oscar night, live your life. Watch or don't watch, it's your choice. If you're reading this and you're white, I want you to do something for me. I want you to recognize how many white people are in the room that night in comparison to the POCs in the room. I want you imagine what it must feel like to not see yourself represented in so many different fields, because we all know it's not just Hollywood that lacks POC representation.
If you're a POC I want you to keep fighting and speaking up for representation. I really hope we get it one day.

I want to end this with a portion of Viola Davis's speech from the past Emmy's.

" 'In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me, over that line. But I can't seem to get there no how. I can't seem to get over that line.' That was Harriet Tubman in the 1800s. And let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You can't win an Emmy for roles that aren't there." 

Are Sitcoms Dead?

I went out on a Friday night to an event with 20-30 year olds, proudly wearing my Hillman College sweatshirt. Naturally I found myself in conversations about how great the show was and how there will never be anything like it in the future. Then my cousin made this comment: “Sitcoms are dead.”

At first my heart hurt because I felt the statement was true. Then I thought, ‘are they really?’ Are they really dead or are they different from what we grew up on? That’s what inspired me to write this.

I grew up in the 90’s. I watched shows like “Sister, Sister”, “Boy Meets World”, “Family Matters”, and, even though they could be considered as before my time, “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World.” The thing that made these shows great was that they were funny but still able to have serious moments that taught the viewer something, even if we didn’t realize it at the time. And yes, there were corny moments in all these shows but we can’t deny the fact that we still enjoyed them.

As I grew up I started watching show like “Girlfriends”, “All of Us”, “One on One”, “Eve”, and “Half and Half.” But, after these shows ended there was nothing. The only show that I can think of that could be considered a sitcom that was recently on the air is “The Game”, which is a bit of a reach.

After much thought, I don’t think sitcoms are dead. I think they are different and here’s why. The sitcoms we watched back in the 90’s and 00’s had a special feel to them. That’s why we considered them so great and that’s why they were hits. This feel these shows created is something that can never be recreated. There are and can be sitcoms in the 10’s and beyond. In order for them to work they have to create their own feel that makes them hits just like the ones before them. A couple examples of this is “black-ish”, “Fresh off the Boat” and “The Carmichael Show.” These shows work because they aren’t trying to be  carbon copies of the sitcoms that came before them. Yes, the basic blueprint is the same, but these shows are taking what worked in the past and altering it to make it work for this time. TV shows are constantly evolving. The sitcoms of the 00’s were different from the sitcoms of the 90’s. The evolution is necessary because the audience is always changing. I am glad this occurs because this is what keeps the genre alive. Instead of creators giving up because they can’t recreate the magic of the 90’s, they are adapting to create the magic of the 10’s, and soon the magic of the 20’s. They’re doing what they have to to make sure that this genre that we all love keeps kicking in the future.

So the 90’s sitcoms will always have a special place in my heart, but there’s always room for the sitcoms of the future.

Do you agree with me? Yes? No? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Opinion on Christian Film

In 2013 I wrote out my opinion on Christian Films and was posted to the blog Alternate Arts. (The direct link to my article here)
Here it is for all of you to read.

I think that most Christian films are a slap in the face especially to non-Christians. They slam Christianity on you and it can make you feel like you’re being attacked. They basically tell you that you area a bad person unless you read the Bible and go to church. I don’t think that reading the Bible and going to church is a bad thing, I just feel like the way they present the Christian faith isn’t done well. I think this is why many people are turned off from films like this. They don’t want to feel attacked they just want to be entertained and it’s nice if they learn something in the process. 

I also think that these films are very predictable and unrealistic. Most Christian films that I’ve seen follow the outline of someone's life that is not going to their plan. They get “right” with God or become a Christian and then all the good things they want to happen, happen. Now being a Christian I know that this doesn’t always happen. Yes, God does bless us but it doesn’t always happen right away or it’s not always what we expect it to be. The other outline that Christian films follow is the Prodigal Son story. This is where someone grows up in the church, then they stray from the church and that life isn’t what they expected it to be. Once they realize this they go back to the church and everything is good again. I’ve seen this happen in real life but it doesn’t happen in everyone’s life. This is what makes these films unrealistic as well. I have also noticed that most Christian films don’t touch on topics like drinking, drugs, sex, etc which does happen in the real world. Now, I guess this would depend on the person making the film and how they feel about these issues but these are important issues that aren’t really addressed in Christian films that often need to be. 

If I were to make a Christian film I would focus on the problems facing many people today. I wouldn’t follow the same guidelines previous films used. I would try to make it as realistic as possible by mimicking daily life as accurately as possible. I would focus them on many problems that people are facing today and include Biblical ways to overcome these problems. Basically, the only way to overcome any situation you are in is with God and I would make that very clear in my films. I would also make them in a way that both Christians and non-Christians can learn from them without feeling like they are being attacked. 

Some people who I feel have done this well are Tyler Perry with his many films like "Why Did I Get Married?", Deitrick Haddon with his film "Blessed and Cursed" and Brian Baugh with his film "To Save a Life."

A Change is Coming: Changes, Update and More!

First off I want to say happy 2016 everyone! I hope the new year started off great for you.

Now on to that title. I feel like I just changed things and here I am again. But change is good right? Well at least I think so. I need change in my life to survive, so here I am again changing things. This isn't a visual change, this is a content change. Don't freak out! I will still be writing TV show and movie reviews, I'm just going to be adding to this.
I've decided that I wanted to expand this blog into more of an entertainment blog. Along with my reviews you will also get opinion pieces on different topics about this industry. Some of these pieces will just be opinions and some will be reactions to comments and/or events that happen.

I follow many people that have blogs just like this and I know there are a lot of people out there doing this, too. So I had to think about the question: "What makes me different from them?" Simple answer: it's me, Kia. I am different from all of those other people out there. The longer answer requires me to describe some things about me. I am a person of color (POC) and more specifically, a woman of color (WOC). I am a part of the Blerd (Black nerd) community. I am a feminist. I fight for equal and accurate representations of ALL people in the media. The majority of my posts will be in these categories because this is who I am and this is my blog; a partial representation of me.

I will continue to post new content on Mondays, Wednesdays and/or Fridays.

So in summary, I will be expanding my blog to be more of an entertainment blog and will continue to follow the Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. Also, I plan to do a movie series in February on films that had a major impact on the African American community for Black History Month. Get excited for that.
I am still taking suggestions for movie reviews, TV show update reviews, and now topics for my opinion pieces.
2016 is the year I put myself out there more. Get excited because I am!