Blog 3

The entertainers of the 1940s offered something relatively hard to forget, entertainment, to the screen compared to the new negroes and problem people. They still upheld a certain dignity and class that black audiences could respect and they managed to put on a great show. The film Stormy Weather was an all black cast, entertaining, sexy and it didn't portray blacks as coons. Lena Horne was the starlet of the film and she sort of became the first african american (she was mixed) hollywood star. She was definitely Redd Foxx's favorite gal. The New Negroes were a product of the white mans repeated cycle of feed the negro the crumb every now and then. More black characters were casts in films however the leads were sympathetic ones often aiding the white man. Then the problem people were the next product. They were in more serious films that really delved into the race issue and mostly had a happy ending. However, even those these blacks were dignified, they still weren't entertaining or provoke emotion into the character other than sympathy.
The problem people did not deal with the race problem adequately as blacks would have it. It was told from the white mans perspective. How if the negro remains patient, his pie in the sky will come. The most surprising thing of history is the fact that blacks did not rise up, fight and become violent with whites after so many years of hatred. These films were fairy tale peaceful dreams that would never come true because even though the whites in the audiences wanted to believe in it, it was the whites outside the theatre laughing and knowing it would never happen but let these fools be fooled into thinking it.