Black Cinema Trifecta at the Oscars

Black Panther

This series will profile Black cinema representation at the 2019 Academy Awards.

This year, there are three Black films up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, and Green Book. I believe this is a first in the history of the Oscars. Each film stands at different ends of the spectrum of Black experience.

Black Panther takes place in a metropolis of Black Excellence, Wakanda, an African nation that has been untouched by colonization. A society where Black people can touch their fullest potential without the threat of racism, of any kind. We’ve seen instances of this throughout American history with Black Wall Streets scattered throughout the U.S. only to have their inhabitants murdered and attacked due to the “economic anxiety” and racism of surrounding White people.  In addition to this, it illustrates the conflict between Africans and African Americans through the relationship between T’Challa and Eric Killmonger. Killmonger, an African American whose father is a Wakandan, has dreams of using vibranium to help Blacks across the world rise up against the dominant group who continue to oppress them. Through his desire to free Black people, Killmonger doesn’t always feel like a true villain. However, he let his spite for Wakanda take him over the edge.

BlacKkKlansman

BlacKkKlansman a story of how a Black man got the best of the Ku Klux Klan, an American terrorist group. It’s based on the true story of a Colorado detective, Ron Stallworth, who manages to infiltrate the Colorado Springs Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan has terrorized African Americans since Reconstruction through intimidation and murder. And they have been allowed to do so in plain sight, although they hide their faces with white hoods. At the conclusion of the film, the bad guys die and are arrested. However, in reality, no one dies or is arrested. Oh, in addition to Stallworth infiltrating the Klan - he also infiltrated a Black radical organization on behalf of the police department. We know this as Cointelpro which primarily existed to infiltrate Black organizations considered to be radical. There were several Cointelpro operations by the FBI taking place all over the U.S. that ended in the assassinations of Black leaders.

Green Book

And then there’s Green Book, named for the actual Negro Motorist Green-Book, a guide that helped Blacks navigate the very racist terrain of Jim Crow America safely while traveling. The film, however, centers the White bodyguard of pianist Dr. Don Shirley aka “Doc Shirley.” Shirley hires Tony Lip to drive and protect him on tour in the deep South. During the tour, Lip teaches Shirley about fried chicken, rock-n-roll, and saves his life from unruly and hostile racists at a bar. He even asserts that he is more Black than Shirley, a wealthy, classically-trained pianist. Through his relationship with Shirley, Lip changes and is able to see Black people or at least Shirley as human and the two become friends. Shirley’s family were never consulted during the making of Green Book and dispute about every significant element of this film.

At past Oscars, Black films like Green Book tend to take center stage. Green Book is a part of a film canon in which White people save Black people. And although they are incredibly problematic themselves, they’re not nearly as bad as overt racist White people. It’s a type of a film about racism that makes people feel comfortable with themselves because they’ve never burned a cross in someone’s yard. Meanwhile, movies by and about Black people that center us without the White gaze tend not to win or even get nominated - except Moonlight.

However, this Oscar Awards could be different. If Black Panther wins - an Afro-Futurist film in the midst of Black History Month - that would be notable film history.