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- What do "Coming to America," "Blacula,"

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"Waiting to Exhale," and "Boyz n the Hood"

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have in common besides
a whole lot of melanin?

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Believe it or not, these
movies feature black love

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in all of its forms.

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Today's baggage: Black love in film.

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Depictions of lack love in films

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like "If Beale Street Could Talk,"

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have taken our breath away.

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Aside from the brilliant
acting and cinematography,

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part of the reason why we
stan for "Beale Street"

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is because we rarely ever
get to see black love

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on the big screen.

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Black love in films has had its moments,

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but here's the thing: A
moment ain't cuttin' it.

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For the sake of this piece,
when I talk about "black love,"

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I'm referring to two black
people falling in love.

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Now that we've got that all taken care of,

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let's take it back to the
start of black love in film.

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We got our first representation

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of black love on screen back in 1898.

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- So this was a time in
American film history

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that was really hostile to

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the representation of African Americans.

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- Allyson Nadia Field is
an associate professor

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of cinema and media studies
at the University of Chicago.

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She, along with archivist
Dino Everett, are responsible

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for finding the silent film called,

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"Something Good-Negro Kiss."

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The silent film is just
over 20 seconds long

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and features vaudeville actors
Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown

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playfully flirting with each other.

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But when twitter user, Kyle
A.B., put the scene to music

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from Barry Jenkins "If
Beale Street Could Talk,"

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"Something Good" took on a new life.

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And black twitter went wild.

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- So in something
"Something Good Negro Kiss,"

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what makes it distinct from anything

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that was filmed at the time, was we see

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this expression of joy
and affection and intimacy

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between two African Americans.

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Not white actors in black face,

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not black actors in black face,

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and not caricature-type representation.

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They're having fun.

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It's almost as if we're privy
to the humor between them,

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but without the sense that
it's being manufactured for us.

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- Field says that during
that silent film era,

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films with black people
were full of racist tropes.

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And y'all know what I'm talking about.

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Watermelon eating contests,
black folks shucking and jiving

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And this is if there were any
black people on screen at all.

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Why is this film so impactful?

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- You have a series of films being shown

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in a vaudeville house

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that show these different
kinds of stereotypes

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and all this racist stuff
and then you get this.

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One commenter said something like,

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"We could of had this all along,

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and yet we get stuck with
'Birth of a Nation.'"

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I may have shed a tear
or two watching the film

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and wanted to see more.

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How else has black love been depicted

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in the mainstream throughout the years?

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I reached out to professor Racquel Gates

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for some more insight
on black love in film.

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Her work focuses on
African-American media,

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specifically race in
popular film and television.

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So she's pretty much got this
black film thing on lock.

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What is black love?

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- To me, black love are
those sort of moments

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that break through, that sort of resonate

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with us emotionally.
Whether it's romantic love

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or paternal love or even an
intense friendship type of love

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that we get in film.

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Throughout the history of cinema,

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most of time black characters
were cast in supporting roles

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or as comic relief.

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So you don't get a ton of examples,

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especially in early cinema,
of romantic interest

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or romantic love in film.

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But I would say starting
around, especially the 1970s

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and definitely in the 1990s,
when you get greater production

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of black cast films, then
we sort of see an explosion

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of romances and romantic comedies.

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From the blaxploitation era to an era

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that some would call a
heyday of black rom-coms,

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Gates says that black
love on films is bigger

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than just hugs and kisses.

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- If you think about something
like "Boyz n the Hood,"

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the scene when Ricky gets
shot and Trey and Doughboy

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are cradling his limp bloody
body, it's a type of love

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that's sort of like at throwback,

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almost a classic Greek literature.

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That sort of intense friendship

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that you get between male characters.

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Love between friends,
love between sisters,

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love between mother and child,

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there are so many iconic moments in cinema

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that show the fullness of black love.

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But since we're focusing
on people falling in love,

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let's turn the focus back to romance.

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Tell about some of the iconic
black love moments in film.

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- One of the first things
that comes to my mind

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is Vincente Minnelli's "Cabin in the Sky."

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And one of the reasons
that stands out to me,

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is that the relationship between

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Ethel Waters and Eddie
Anderson as a married couple-

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it's so incredibly sweet and lovely.

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Well, he's a cad and he's cheating on her

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and he has a gambling problem,

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but there's a real affection

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that comes through on screen,

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especially in musical numbers.

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It's a great example, I think,

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of some of the possibilities
of black love on screen.

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So if "Cabin in the Sky" is sweet,

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then we get "Carmen Jones," which is hot.

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There's so much chemistry
between the two actors.

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- Blow on 'em sugar.

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Make 'em dry faster.

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- He goes to kiss her leg.

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- Oh, it's amazing.

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(blowing)

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- The rest of the film
is a little problematic,

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he strangles her in the end,

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but, you know, up until then it's great.

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- Easy honey.

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- So "Blacula" I know is probably not

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what anybody is expecting

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when you talk about black love,

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it's a blaxploitation horror
film, but I think that within

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that genre there's a lot
of really interesting

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stuff happening in
terms of representation.

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The idea of this timeless love story.

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This man whose wife was murdered

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and he was condemned to this
sort of eternal damnation

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and comes back to find
his wife across time

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and across continents is powerful.

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And Gates says there are
tons of other iconic moments

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of black love in film.

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Like in the 1970s when
"Mahogany" came out.

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Folks were blown away when they
saw two black leads looking

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fly A.F. and fall in love.

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Come through Billy Dee!

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We see you.

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Or "Coming to America" from 1988.

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We remember Sexual Chocolate,
soul glo, and the barbershop,

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but it's a damn good rom-com too!

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And in 1997 so many folks fell
in love with "Love Jones."

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Heck, I still love the VHS

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and I don't even have a tape player.

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Y'all the movie has love poems,

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jazz music, lots of black folks.

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Nia Long and Larenz Tate,
meet, fall in-and-out of love,

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and even have a moment in the rain-

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pre "Notebook."

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And years later we got a
display of romantic love

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between two black men thanks
to Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight."

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- "Moonlight" to me is one of the most

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breathtakingly beautiful
films in recent history.

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And for me, "Moonlight" all
sort of comes to a climax

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with that amazing diner scene

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which is just about this tension

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and this angst and this longing.

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- What you'll notice is
that as more black people

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take on more roles of power
on both sides of the camera,

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our stories are coming to light.

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An array of films are being greenlit

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and directors like Ava
DuVernay, Ryan Coogler,

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and Malcolm D. Lee have
so beautifully shown

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the many ways that we love.

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There's still plenty of
work to do to normalize

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seeing black love on the big screen.

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Right now, it's still
pretty revolutionary.

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- The idea of black people being loved

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and loving each other and
being treated as whole

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and valuable human
beings, who are deserving

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of love and care and
affection is sadly still

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a fairly novel idea to many people.

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- Love in its purest form
makes all of our hearts smile.

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But there's something so
special about being seeing

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black people, my people, being
in love on the big screen.

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So put some respect on black
love 'cause it's long over due.