How Black Creators Are Changing Hollywood

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the past few years, it seems a floodgate has opened, releasing a deluge of tremendously successful media that centers the Black experience. “Get Out,” “Black Panther,” and HBO’s “Watchmen” are just some of the big-budget prestige projects that have drawn huge audiences and dominated the cultural conversation. The New Yorker Radio Hour looks at this moment in Black entertainment and investigates the industry forces behind it in a special episode, produced by Ngofeen Mputubwele. A film scholar explains the complicated history between studios and Black audiences.

And Barry Jenkins, the director of “Moonlight,” tells David Remnick about the doors the Obama Presidency opened for Black creators in Hollywood.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNWC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:09.8	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnik.
0:12.4	And I'm GoFen Plutubele.
0:15.1	GoFen is one of the producers on our show and he's here to introduce things.
0:18.6	So GoFen, what's on deck here?
0:20.6	What are we up to?
0:22.7	So today we're talking about Black Film.
0:26.2	I noticed a few years ago around 2016 that it felt like every single year there was a big
0:33.4	black movie coming out that I was looking forward to.
0:36.6	Just the one?
0:37.6	Yeah, just the one.
0:38.6	Just the one.
0:39.6	Just the one.
0:40.6	2016 was Moonlight.
0:43.4	2017 was Get Out.
0:45.4	2018 was Black Panther.
0:48.3	Then TV2, 2019 was Watchmen.
0:52.7	And I was very curious at a certain point, like, oh, I wonder if something actually happening,
0:59.8	is there a renaissance or something happening?
1:03.0	Or did I just not pay attention to movies before now?
1:05.8	So how are we going to go about examining this and answering the questions that are central
1:09.8	to this?
	...

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