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The Hollywood
Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry
by Maryann Erigha
c.2019, New York University Press
$25.00 / higher in Canada
224 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
The movie you’ve been waiting for is finally available.
Sure, you saw it in the theatre, but you’re happy to watch
it again. It has adventure, a little romance, and plenty of
action – plus, it features your favorite actor, so what’s
not to love? Better question, asks author Maryann Erigha
in her book The Hollywood Jim Crow:
what color is the cast?
The movie industry’s awards will be given out soon, and
there’s something about it that you may notice again: the
faces you’ll see at the awards show could be predominately
white. This issue is old but it came to a head in 2015 with
the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, and it still hasn’t changed
much.
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Racism in Hollywood started when Hollywood itself began:
from the outset, black directors were “barred” from
directing studio films. That led to a twofold issue:
so-called “race movies” had to be made without studio money;
and because there was no one to advocate for them, few
African Americans landed roles in major movies. In those
early years, producers did manage to make limited-run films
with black casts and crew, and audiences saw the occasional
black performer here or there, but it wasn’t until the late
1960s that a black director landed a job in a mainstream
film.
As many actors, actresses, directors, and movie-goers have
seen, today’s black movie-makers still struggle to land
jobs. Like their predecessors, they fight Jim Crow laws
within the industry, and the same old reasons have a few
twists: the assumption that white audiences won’t pay to see
a movie with a black cast means that fewer “black” films are
given big budgets or green lights. Fewer “black” films mean
fewer jobs are offered to African Americans, from
behind-the-camera crew to the director’s chair to the cast.
Hollywood insiders further believe that all-black casts will
not make any money in overseas theatres, which limits
African-American moviemakers even more. This leads black
films and directors to receive the label of “unbankable,”
despite that there are obvious exceptions to that dubious
belief.
And it’s all happening through “completely legal
practices….”
Movies make us happy. They put us in another mood, another
country, or another planet. After reading The Hollywood
Jim Crow, they may make you angry.
Though there’s a good bit of repetition inside here, even
occasional movie-goers will be clear on (and shocked by) how
deep the racism goes in Hollywood and how it affects what we
see at the cinema. That makes for a meaningful and
solution-driven read in this book. Still, there are times
when it’s about as easy to follow as a foreign-language film
without subtitles: author Maryann Erigha presents some
information in ways that could fluster fans who go to the
movies to be entertained, not to keep records.
Still, like most movies, the book is better. This
book, specifically, especially if you’ve noticed #OscarsSoWhite
and it bugs you. For cinema fans who want to see what
they want to see, The Hollywood Jim Crow is a
reel good read.
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