The Color Cinnamon: The Shade of Film & TV

Increasingly and always there has been a conversation in the media about representation and black and brown people. What is representation, what is the representation we deserve, and who says? There have of course been great strides in roles for black and brown people, the types of roles have shifted, the perceived ability to reach goals in entertainment have widened. There are ways to advance the scope further and ways that it seemingly has narrowed. How come it seems like with every stride it feels like we take steps backwards at the same time. This is a combination of history, misdirection, and as always politics. The barrier to entry for a show — from a network’s point of view — is, can the audience identify with this person, and is race going to be a roadblock? – Sam Esmail VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE

There is the constant conversation on colorism and the inequality in the industry from passing to the exotification of dark skin women. Recently this conversation has been revisited with the arrival of the show #blackAF. The idea that all of the actors within Kenya Barris’s shows and current black media at large can be compared to all the shades of a brown paper bag. This of course is alluding to the infamous brown paper bag test that inhibited black and brown people from entering many spaces or getting services based on how far in tone their skin was from a brown paper bag. So, it is no surprise that the world is yearning for more shades of black and brown in situations that re…