(ThyBlackMan.com) “Where’s the rest of it?” is a line of dialogue from my web-series I thought would work as a title for this blog because I am asking Hollywood the same question about the stories it produces about inner-city black youth.
My web-series, the Miseducation of a First Generation College Student, is a dramedy that navigates the struggles of an inner-city first generation college student through the fictional character Lavor, but is a semi-autobiographical retelling of my experience(s) in undergrad. I attended the historically black college Delaware State University in Dover where I met a variety of interesting characters who I will try to recreate in the series. Although more importantly I believe being the first in my immediate family to attend college introduced some unique and oftentimes laughable learning curves suitable for dramatic storytelling.
Whereas Hollywood will produce inner-city stories about black males the narrative is limited. And this is why I want to tell my story. From John Singleton’s ‘Boyz n the Hood’ (1991) to Rick Famuyiwa’s ‘Dope’ (2015) a single parent struggling to raise an incredibly gifted athlete or genius who gets caught in a drug war is only part of the inner-city reality. As there are many two-parent homes struggling to raise children who never interact with drugs or gangs but must still overcome the challenges of their impoverished communities. There are different options in the ‘hood’. There are different people. There are different stories, problems, fates, and solutions. The drug dealer lives next door to someone who is devoutly religious and, though economically deprived, they are refusing to live morally corrupt; and next door to this staunchly religious neighbor there is someone different. And so if there is variety in the ghetto it should be reflected in the stories we tell. Otherwise we continue to glorify one part of the ghetto and what message does that send?
Dope was an amazingly well-crafted film but there could have been another obstacle in the main character’s life besides a bag of drugs. He could have had a father in the house and still struggled to get out of his poverty stricken neighborhood. There are entire families in the ghetto. There are blended families in the ghetto. We have to look at this. We have to know why Hollywood continues to produce stories about our inner-city youth from broken homes that involve the selling of drugs. Film is a powerful medium that helps to shape the identity of today’s youth.
It is difficult to defy the stereotypes mainstream media adamantly continues to produce. My web-series is one story about an inner-city black male who comes from a struggling two-parent home. He is not an athlete. He represents the ‘other’ part of the inner-city that successfully avoids selling narcotics. We love John Singleton. We love Dope; but we need to tell the rest of our story. The drug dealer is NOT the main character in every ghetto and some of us lived in two-parent homes. All of these images are important because we want to see the truth, but when part of the truth escapes us we remain ignorant about our diversity and potential.
Tylie is a rising dramatist who will attend the MFA program for dramatic writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts in the fall. Follow his web-series @tylieshider on YouTube now!
Follow Tylie on Instagram; http://Instagram.com/theplaywright (——–
Staff Writer; Tylie Shider
Also connect with this brother over at; TylieShider.com.
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Inner city youth are portrayed as people who always are looking for a helping hand or someone to pull them from their struggling homes. The mainstream media influences popular culture by portraying the idea that every minority in a struggling home can only achieve greatness through illegal money or sports when in reality it's not. The images the media reveals doesn't represent my friends to any extent because most of us live in a two parent home and don't play sports and we are doing just fine. In the media I would like to see the black kids who don't fit in the generalization of facing a struggle everyday or face the problem of becoming a drug dealer or gang problems.
I believe that this article has stated the truth about the lives of black youth. This article somewhat explains how our lives are portrayed in the media. What I see in the media is that they portray or communities as being predominantly African American living in the ghetto with the crime rate high and employment rate low. But it does actually fairly some of my friends in the community because I had a lot of friends who are now living in poverty. Right now some of them are living the street life or living on welfare. But what I'd like to see is when they have a poor community like ours in the film with Nothing but people who refuse to work and take responsibility, but you see one person who has a goal to turn everybody's lives around.
: I feel that the mainstream industry negatively affects the younger generation because it only show the negative part of black lives and it don't show the positive side of how black people can become bigger and better than just a rapper or a ball player like a doctor or a lawyer. I wanna see more of that on a movie screen and this will cause the younger generation to strive for greater and be inspired to do more
tbh I like the article but I feel as though you need to talk more about relatable topics about blacks. I would like to see more positive stuff in the media.Its a lot of negative stuff on the media The mainstream media influence popular culture by making black believe they meet they standards.
what would you like to see in the media?
i would like to see more television shows and movies that express equality of all races and cultures because people deserve to be acknowledged and appreciated for their culture.
Inner-city youth are portrayed as rebellious teens. Mainstream media influence popculture by showing a lot of doing illegal substances, guns and violence. I don't think they fairly portray my friends and community because not everyone does that and follows everything they see.
Inner city youth are often portrayed in a way that makes it seem as though we're all carbon cokes of one another. The girls are always loud and ghetto and the boys wear their pants low and everyone listens to the same music. The only aspects of inner city life that are ever really explored in the media are the negative ones. You never hear about or see movies following the kids who work hard and don't get in trouble. It's like those inner city youth aren't exciting enough to make fils about.
Mainstream media influences popular culture by making people believe that they have to meet the standards set by the media, when half of the time the people in the media don't even meet those standards themselves. It makes people dress and act like what they see.
I like the article I just think it should be more relatable subjects and topic about colored people.
What would you like to see in the media?
I would like to see equality in the media. There should be people trying to spread equality through the media.