Horray for Honkeywood?

It’s a green thing. You wouldn’t understand.

Spike Lee has been the subject of quite a few controversies over the years, most of them involving race. Recently, he has turned his gaze to possibly the most vile, bigoted, and just dag nasty evil place on Earth.

Hollywood.

I know. It shocked me, too.

Lee lamented the lack of African-Americans in executive positions at major studios in an interview in Complex magazine. In typical Spike Lee style, he said the following:

You go to any studio, the [only] black you are going to see is the guy at the gate. In Hollywood, there is not one African-American who is an executive that has gatekeeper position that could greenlight a picture. They’ll make a movie with Denzel [Washington] and Jamie [Foxx] and Eddie [Murphy], but only because they can make money off them.

Lee is onto something here. There aren’t any African-Americans who run major film studios, but it’s not because of racism. It’s because of a completely different -ism.

Capitalism.

Like it or not, everyone in Hollywood can be bought or sold, from the newest starlet to the biggest player at a studio. Even the homeless people have agents and spec scripts or ideas for one-act plays for you to review. In the business, they call it “paying your dues.” Denzel, Jamie, and Eddie have all done their fair share of celluloid stinkbombs. Especially Eddie. I’m still trying to get my money back for “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” and I didn’t even buy a ticket.

Hollywood, like any other marketplace, is bound by the law of supply and demand. If there is a demand for a particular type of film, television show, or actor, Hollywood will respond with that particular type of film, television show, or actor, often to an excess that would make Caligula look Amish. If there isn’t…Hollywood will still promote a particular type of film, television show, or actor. Hey, nobody said they were good at capitalism.

The point I’m trying to get at here is that there hasn’t been a demand for African-Americans to head up studios yet. Are there African-Americans who could? Absolutely. Are the rich white folks at the heads of studios now willing to give up their spots to give African-Americans a chance? Heck no! That would require them to actually do something that would ultimately cost them money. It’s not skin color they’re concerned with, Spike. It’s the color of money. (The actual color of money, not the Paul Newman-Tom Cruise movie where they play pool.)

Dennis Miller once talked about why there weren’t more women making major studio decisions and he said he would love for women to head up studios. Then, they would decide what gets made and what doesn’t, and they would put out crappy movies just like the men do. The same could be said of African-Americans if Lee gets what he wants. That’s because even Hollywood has to listen to the people. Then again, if they did, “The Dukes of Hazzard” would have never been made.

Regardless, even with African-Americans in high level studio positions, the market would dictate what would get made because the purpose of a studio is to make money. Lee might be making a mistake in assuming that with more African-Americans in place, more “African-American” movies would be made. Sorry, but just because you want to see “Undercover Brother 2” get made doesn’t mean people are going to flock to see it.

Of course, there is a way to fix the situation. If Spike Lee wants an African-American to head up a major studio, he can start one or help another African-American start one. That’s the beauty of the capitalist system. If you recognize a potential market, you can set up shop and test your fortunes. If you succeed, great. If you don’t, you learn something from the experience and either move on or wait until the market becomes more favorable. What’s more, Lee could easily use some of the influence he has in Hollywood to put a bug in the ears of those rich white folks to consider putting an African-American in charge of a studio or in the line of succession to run one. See, there are two great ideas right there, and I’m not African-American, but I do play one on TV. All it takes is someone to stop complaining and start doing.

Come on, Spike. Do the right thing. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

And that’s the Bottom Line.

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