Back in the zine-loving 90s this was one of my favourites, crammed with tiny print reviews of movie after movie and stitched together with love by some dude not too far away in Oregon who refused to publish his picture but described himself as a cross between Billy Dee Williams and Ron Jeremey. I never did get this Jim Kelly premiere issue, but according to the Dear HNIC... letters, either #1 or #2 asked readers: "Why's the Brotha Always Gotta Die?" As reader Arthur C wrote in his letter to the editor in one of the subsequent issues, "Something must be done. I recently saw Alien Resurrection, Phantoms and Deep Rising. And wouldn't' you know it...they killed the brothas. With all that in mind, I'm starting the Keep the Brothas Alive Taskforce. We're gonna harass the shit outta Hollywood until they let us live." And true enough, Badazz Mofo was always asking WHY the brotha had to take a dirt nap, when the honky gets to save the day, get the girl, LIVE, etc.
Well, here it is almost fifteen years later (crap, look busy Jesus is coming!) and I have two questions to ask: 1) did Hollywood ever wise up to Arthur C, and 2) why the LADIES always gotta die? Are ladies the new brotha? There's a hell of a lot of big Hollywood action movies these days where the violent death of a woman (wife, mother) provides that special kind of psychological depth a leading man might need. I'd like to keep a tally because these flicks personally irritate the hell out of me! Let's see: the first three that come to mind are Star Trek (2009), Shutter Island (2010), Inception (2010)... I'll keep listing them as they come to me. Sure, some of these have the wife death worked into the plot pretty well, but how many movies do we need on this freaking topic!? Somehow a widower is the perfect male character to the contemporary screenwriter. I guess if you are a lazy ass whose thinking can't rise above cliche, it's easier to make your male lead more noble and sensitive (and, yes, available) yet at the same time not coming across as a pussy by killing off his woman. I choose to see this as a message to the audience that female characters are less interesting and disposable. The experience of white ladies like mysself don't mean I can claim to know anything about what brothas are thinking when they get theirs onscreen, but c'mon! Moratorium on the bereaved male lead!
If anyone wants to send me more flicks that fit this bill (major action film with male lead as widower) let me know and I'll compile them! The Fugitive (1993), The Crow (1994), Minority Report (2002)...
Well, here it is almost fifteen years later (crap, look busy Jesus is coming!) and I have two questions to ask: 1) did Hollywood ever wise up to Arthur C, and 2) why the LADIES always gotta die? Are ladies the new brotha? There's a hell of a lot of big Hollywood action movies these days where the violent death of a woman (wife, mother) provides that special kind of psychological depth a leading man might need. I'd like to keep a tally because these flicks personally irritate the hell out of me! Let's see: the first three that come to mind are Star Trek (2009), Shutter Island (2010), Inception (2010)... I'll keep listing them as they come to me. Sure, some of these have the wife death worked into the plot pretty well, but how many movies do we need on this freaking topic!? Somehow a widower is the perfect male character to the contemporary screenwriter. I guess if you are a lazy ass whose thinking can't rise above cliche, it's easier to make your male lead more noble and sensitive (and, yes, available) yet at the same time not coming across as a pussy by killing off his woman. I choose to see this as a message to the audience that female characters are less interesting and disposable. The experience of white ladies like mysself don't mean I can claim to know anything about what brothas are thinking when they get theirs onscreen, but c'mon! Moratorium on the bereaved male lead!
If anyone wants to send me more flicks that fit this bill (major action film with male lead as widower) let me know and I'll compile them! The Fugitive (1993), The Crow (1994), Minority Report (2002)...
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