Political Correctness or Inaccuracy?
I have always loved watching Hollywood films. Here in India, we do not call them 'Hollywood' movies, we just call them 'English' movies. And, there is somethinhg in them that perplexes me.
Why do most Hollywood films(the blockbusters at least) HAVE to have an African American (read, black) character tagged along with the main caucasian(read, white) character? This can also happen the other way around with the main character being black and his friend/assistant being white. Eddie Murphy always has a white friend.
Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in MIB was fine though I am not sure how many African Americans are there yet in the top echelons of the US Secret Services. But that's ok, we have Colin Powell setting the standard there. What should get the cake was Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves where we had a Dark Skinned Moor(Morgan Freeman) teaming up with an English Knight (Kevin Costner) and that too in 12th Century England. Come on....
On seeing this from the eyes of someone (who is Asian and has never set foot in the US), the questions that come to my mind are:
1.) Is this because Hollywood wants to attract both the black and white sections of the audience at the cost of historical/cultural accuracy?
2.) Is this because Hollywood wants to show itself to be 'Politically Correct'- another American Euphemism?
3.) Is 1 and/or 2 are the case as logic may dictate, why then are American films not made where a white guy falls in love with a black girl or vice-versa. Why cannot Robin Hood be shown to have a Moorish lover or at least a mistress? Whay are the films not going the whole way? Is it because that may not be happening a lot actually or is it because such a scene may not be acceptable to a lot of the audience.
4.) If someone tells me that this is the reality of America today, I may not agree because I know that most Americans stick to members of their own kind there. And this is not wrong, I am from down South in India and I will prefer to stick around with another South Indian. Why? Our language(more than 50 languages are spoken in India) matches, we may know the same people, we eat the same food, et al.
I was just thinking....