Talk:African American cinema

Images on page
Hey, I know it's a Wikipedia tradition/convention to put all the images on the far right, but from a readability POV, it's a huge mistake, which is why you never seen professionally designed pages done that way. The images are supposed to draw your eye to what you're supposed to be reading — not away from it, which is why when images aren't near the start of an article in professionally designed type, they usually use boldface or a drop cap instead. Also: Just in terms of making the page appealing to readers, pictures help, but not when they're all crammed on one side. My two cents. EditGirl99 (talk) 07:44, 11 January 2022 (UTC)

A note about the lede
"African American cinema, also known as Black film, is loosely classified as films made by, for, or about Black Americans. Historically, African American films have been made with African-American casts and marketed to African-American audiences. The production team and director were sometimes also African American. More recently, Black films featuring multicultural casts aimed at multicultural audiences have also included American Blackness as an essential aspect of the storyline."

My writing isn't sacred, but the lede is pretty carefully thought out. Whoever edited the first paragraph (above) to cut out all the qualifiers related to time (i.e. historically) and frequency (i.e. sometimes) was inadvertently editing out all the meaning. Although different individuals define African American cinema in different ways (e.g. some think everyone needs to be Black in front of the camera and behind; some don't), the only factual way to address it in a general-purpose article is to show there are different definitions that have shifted over time. To write about that, you need to qualify what you're saying.EditGirl99 (talk) 06:09, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

A note about the the inclusion of a picture of Birth of a Nation
I'll cede to whomever wanted to remove it, but it's worth pointing out that Micheaux created a film **in response** to Birth of a Nation, and some of film critic Lester Walton's most powerful writing both anticipated that film and then railed against it, beautifully, once it became a reality.EditGirl99 (talk) 06:09, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

Classification
Hi all: I think putting a classification section in is a fine idea, but it took me a long, long time to come up with text as accurate as this and by removing it from the lede, that whole section becomes nonsensical. So if you can think of another way of saying it, have at it. If not, using the same text so close together is probably just a waste of space. EditGirl99 (talk) 06:15, 19 April 2021 (UTC) "African American cinema is loosely classified as films made by, for, or about Black Americans."

Untitled section
Shouldn't this page be merged with the Black film page? EditGirl99 (talk) 08:10, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

African-American Hyphenation
Note that African-American as a hyphenized term prior to a noun dominates the African-American template series. This page should therefore probably hyphenate the term too.

Editing of the Lede?
Hi @User talk:FloridaArmy The latter chunk of the lede, which you moved to controversies was an attempt to indicate that although representation has long been a problem in Black film, there have also been successes and there are increasing numbers of Black auteurs. My earlier draft doesn't have to be the last word on the subject, and it's fine if you wanted to edit it, but I think it's problematic to end the lede with the issue of representation. In my view, you should either add on to the lede yourself or restore some of my earlier draft, and I can continue to edit it. Thoughts? EditGirl99 (talk) 00:38, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

Black film
I have reverted black film being redirected to this article because the scope of that classification is wider than just the United States (which reflects systemic bias). I've created a discussion at Black film. Editors are invited to comment. Erik (talk &#124; contrib) (ping me) 16:10, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

1914?
The article's chronology excludes 1914 and Bert Williams in Darktown Follies. FloridaArmy (talk) 16:39, 6 July 2024 (UTC)