Today Kira Davis has an interesting piece over at the Independent Journal Review. She writes:
I went to see [Best Man Holiday] this past weekend and three things struck me about the film. First, its always refreshing to see a story in which the main characters are not only black, but successful professionals. They’re not “ghetto”, there are no drug dealers and no “fat, black mammies” for comic relief. The second thing I noticed is that there were way more white people in the theater for this movie than I’d ever seen at a “black” movie in the past. The third thing and what stood out to me the most is how faith is treated in this Hollywood offering.
In this story, our main character Harper (Taye Diggs) is struggling to produce a sophomore hit after his best-seller novel based on his group of friends. Harper and his wife (Sanaa Lathan) are preparing for a new baby, he’s lost his teaching position at NYU and money is tight. We see Harper struggling to reach out to God for help but he is skeptical about faith. He tries prayer again and again but always gives up.
In contrast, Harper’s best frenemy is Lance – a pro-football player about to break the NFL rushing record. Lance has become a man of faith over the years after marrying his college sweetheart. In interviews he openly talks about his faith in God and prays on the field. God, family, football is Lance’s creed.
Around the dinner table the friends always pray and thank God before their meals. They go to church together and make frequent references not just to a generic “God” but also to Christ. Its not just treated as a routine tradition. The characters in this movie value their faith and take it seriously. They encourage the skeptical Harper to seek God to help him through this tough time in his life. Even with all that there is still plenty of raunch, romps and bad decisions to make things interesting – just like in real life.
As I left the theater I turned to my friend and said “I guess the only place you can see Christians who aren’t crazy in Hollywood is in a black movie!” We had a giggle about that, but it’s true.
The entire article is worth a read. This concluding paragraph is pretty important, though.
I find it interesting that the last safe place to be a Christian in America these days is in the Black community. Perhaps the trials of our race immunize us from the typical progressive judgmental attitudes toward faith. Perhaps that “white guilt” that is sickeningly pervasive in the progressive community also works to protect us from their disapproval of faith. Whatever the reason may be, you’ll never see a black person in Hollywood being disparaged for their faith. It just doesn’t happen. So if you long to see more movies that reflect your values and faith with respect and reverence, the best place to find them is in the form of black film.
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