So O.K. his I Frankenstein film, which opened this
weekend, won’t break any box office records. They all can’t be winners. But considering the film is now out and that we
have previously written about actor/ screenwriter/producer Kevin Grevioux several
times on this site, including just a few days ago in a recent interview with him by Michael Dennis
(HERE), I thought maybe it’s time to take a second look at a piece I wrote about him
back last fall.
There’s no need to tell you that there are many
African Americans involved in the comic book field as writers, illustrators and
just avid readers, but not enough in his point of view. Especially when it
comes to black filmmakers of sci-fi films; and Grevioux said that believed he
knew the reason why.
According to an interview he did with The Grio, Grevioux said that the lack of
black people creating sci-fi projects, comes from “a pragmatism facing the
dreams of black youth… and depends on what fits within a frame of
reference.“
As he went on to elaborate: “When you’re white, your
dreams go far and a lot of times that is because there are no encumbrances. The
world is wide open to them in a way that isn’t open for us. So when their
reality is taken care of, it’s like, ‘Okay well we can dream about this. We can
do this. We can do that.’ For us, it’s a little different.“
He went on to say: “It’s like how can you think
about traveling to another solar system or alien life if you have a problem
getting a job or eating on Earth. African-American dreams are more
reality-based, and that’s why I think our films have to do with our daily
environment more so than alien or science fiction environments.“
He also added that: “A lot of science fiction is
based upon your experience in terms of looking at the world differently.
Thinking about it in more abstract ways, a lot of times that takes
education.“
O.K. I can see what he’s saying and definitely agree with
him, but I think there’s a lot more to it than that, which goes back to that
“box” I referred to which black filmmakers are put in.
I think peer pressure is also a huge burden to overcome.
I don’t need to tell you that, way too often, we allow our so-called friends,
colleagues and even family members to tell us what we should or should not be
doing, for fear of being shunned, ridiculed or, the greatest fear of all,
accused of “not being black enough.” Hell, I’ve been assured of that by
commenters on this site.
The fact is that you can’t let people with closed-off
minds dictate your life. They want you to live in their own closed-off, hermetically-sealed
little world, and be strangled creatively and spiritually. Why should you limit what you want to do, for them, and be miserable the rest of your life?
Follow your own path. If you love sci-fi or want to become a classical
musician, or whatever, just do it and be happy.
Do you agree, or is what Grevioux said ridiculous in your
opinion? Do you have anything to add?
