Actors of color do not have love scenes in blockbuster films. Don't believe it? Check out IMDB.com—National Public Radio commentator Steven Barnes did.
Barnes found that of the films that have earned more than $100 million (nearly 350), approximately 50 have love scenes and all of them have white actors as leads. Meanwhile, check out the films with actors of color in leading roles that have reached the coveted sales mark and you will find that not a single one has a love scene. "I'm convinced that the problem is not just Hollywood executives. They're no better or worse than the rest of us," says Barnes. "They simply try to keep track of what the audience wants and rejects, as measured by box office receipts … And I don't believe there's something especially twisted or limited about the white majority. I think this little statistical blip has to do with human perception itself, and most specifically, male territorial behavior."
While looking for these statistics on films, Barnes did not include movies such as the successful 2005 Will Smith film "Hitch" because although it featured non-white actors, it did not have a love scene. Barnes says that the only Latino to break the $100-million mark was Antonio Banderas in the family film "Spy Kids 2."
"I suspect that it's the depiction of specific reproductive behavior, even at a genteel 'When Harry Met Sally' level, that triggers the most powerful negative response, especially in male alpha-warrior types," says Barnes. "Unless you're white, you're not doing the nasty. Not with a black woman; not with an Asian woman; not with anyone." While Hollywood does make films that have popular non-white actors in love scenes, they do not do as well in box-office sales. For the trailer to the Denzel Washington film "Mo Better Blues," Barnes recalls seeing something telling. "A slow sensual love scene began between Denzel and a black woman. Instead of watching the screen, I turned around and examined the audience. All of the other movie goers were white. All of the women leaned in toward the screen. All of the men pressed away, back in their seats as if totally repulsed."
But this is not the first time he has seen this kind of behavior.
"It is difficult for us to change our basic natures, or the social programming established in childhood, especially if one was born before the civil rights movements of the 1950s and '60s," says Barnes . "I can live with that. In fact, my guess is that this issue will have resolved itself by the time, say, 75 percent of the white males born before 1950 have gone to that great multiplex in the sky."
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