Stop Trying to Put a Cap on Black Girl Magic
Lately I’ve noticed a trend that I am not trying to read, nor hear about, and that’s the sudden disappearances of Black girls and women as the lead role/ protagonist on prime time TV shows, and movies.
This hit me hard when I read that the Fox network canceled the sci-fi vampire thriller, ‘The Passage,’ https://deadline.com/2019/05/the-passage-canceled-fox-after-one-season-1202611661/, that starred Saniyya Sidney, a beautiful,12 year old Black actress who held her own with a cast of adult veteran actors. I tuned in to ‘The Passage’ weekly, and, tweeted throughout each episode with fellow fans. When I found out that the show was based on a novel of the same name, by author Justin Cronin, I made a mental note to buy a copy or check out a copy from the local library.
I don’t know what the deal is with Fox and their one-season tease. “Here’s a TV show with great casting, great writing and, a Black girl leading the way!” After baiting us with 12 episodes, only to announce that they’re dropping it, has me feeling like the woman attempting to snatch a dollar off a bait hook. Fox did the same thing in 2017 with the baseball-themed drama, ‘Pitch,’ starring African-American actress Kylie Bunbury as baseball player phenomenon Ginny Baker. I am holding out on hope that Disney might revive ‘Pitch’ for a second season. https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/pitch-season-two-disney-may-revive-foxs-cancelled-baseball-drama/.
I’m not going to go there with the irony that two Fox dramas starring a Black, female actress opposite actor Mark-Paul Gosselear (‘Saved By the Bell’) got canned after one season. Not going there because this has nothing to do with him. I think it has more to do with people not wanting to see a Black woman, or, girl, take the helm as the leader/heroine of the story line. Another perfect example of this occurred with yet another Fox series I enjoyed immensely, ‘Sleepy Hollow.’ Nicole Beharie’s beloved character, Abbie Mills was killed off in season three, which ticked me off to no end, thus, killing the show off of my viewing schedule.
Let’s get back to, ‘The Passage,’ and it’s demise. At a time when Black actresses, particularly those under the age of 21, are stepping outside of their boxes to make bold moves, like, ‘Black*ish’ stars Marsai Martin, and Yara Shahidi, Hollywood seems to want to pull the rising stars back in the industry house of limited visions. Like, for every 10 steps forward, they need to fall back nine. Saniyya has the chops when it comes to acting. Each episode of ‘The Passage’ showcased her skills when it came to emotions. Playing Amy Bellafonte, Saniyya went beyond the often stereotyped, ‘sassy, talking back Black girl’ and showed a frightened girl who got herself together, fight evil, and remain a vulnerable child. Her previous roles in the FX network’s ‘American Horror Story’ and, motion pictures, including, ‘Hidden Figures,’ ‘Fences,’ and, recently, ‘Fast Color,’ proves that she is more than ready for her time in Hollywood.
Another example of Hollywood attempting to cap and not properly capitalize on Black Girl Magic, is the new motion picture, ‘Fast Color’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tySUZIiXObc. Saniyya costars with two adult, powerhouse Black actresses, Lorraine Toussaint (NBC’s ‘The Village,’ ‘Orange is the New Black’) and, Gugu Mbatha-Raw (‘Belle,’ ‘Beyond the Lights,’ ‘A Wrinkle in Time’). ‘Fast Color’ is a story of three generations of Black women with superpowers beyond imagination. I’ve seen the trailers online, but no TV commercials promoting it. I blinked a few times before realizing the movie was in theaters, but none of the theaters near me has it playing. In fact, the number of theaters that ‘Fast Color’ is screening, is below the norm. https://balleralert.com/profiles/blogs/filmmakers-claim-hollywood-failed-to-properly-market-film-fast-colors/. Where were the press junkets? The mass appearances on talk shows on TV and online to promote ‘Fast Color?’ Is this movie filled with too much Black Girl Magic? That three Black females were finding themselves and, all of their glorious strengths without a hint of voodoo? That in the words of Queen Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox, sisters were doing it for themselves throughout the film and others can’t handle it? My answers to these questions are, yes, yes, and YES.
I guess the industry figured ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ with Storm Reid as Meg Murray, was enough magic for the big screen, even if the magic was her strength and confidence.
However, for every push back, Black actresses continue to push on. Despite how Hollywood seems to scale back on their ‘goals’ to push diversity, the days of Black actresses being the maid, sidepiece, loud-mouth, hard-headed, girls and women are fading. The days of Black actresses waiting for the next big TV/movie role is vanishing, thanks to the growth of Black women in the entertainment industry. You have Black women independent filmmakers, directors and show runners rising up to the challenge of bringing quality TV and movies to the big screen, cable and streaming networks. Like Marsai Martin, you have ‘Little’ Black girls doing big things.
Black Girl Magic isn’t going away with the snap of Hollywood’s fingers. These sisters are not only doing it for themselves, they’re doing it for us.
