A potential producer/writer read my adoption script and notes he gave me were that I should write out the black character as being 'more urban'. Not that the character was a bad character; It was that the character wasn't 'black enough' and I shouldn't write a main character without some urban influence.
Background on the character I wrote: His name sounds urban-ish and his uncle lives in Oakland. That's it. That's about as far as he goes as being a stereotypical young black man. My black character I wrote is reasonably intelligent, a normal individual tossed into extraordinary situations. He's not white or black or yellow or brown in a box. He's a human being, a character in a story that has potential to be better if they make the right choices - and let's hope he does. I wrote the character to be like that, because that's the kind of people I write for. I want people to be better for watching my movies or be able to escape... or even learn to accept others for who they are.
I am not homophobic, racist, sexist, or hateful towards any types of people. The joke is that I hate everybody equally. People (currently) die eventually, one way or another. The next generation must succeed the previous. The producer/writer that read my script had some notes and I appreciate where he was coming from. But the fact that he is not understanding of today's nuances does make a difference. If this were a story set 10, 20, 30 years ago - then yes those notes would be much better to make a lot of impressions.
My black characters are black. They happen to have skin tone, but that is it. People come from a different range of backgrounds and cultures. This character is a modern man of the times. In fact, every one of the characters knows urban speak. They just don't need to use that type of language in private. Think about slang in your life. You might use it as a way of showing understanding but do most of you use it every minute? No. You are professionals, or working as professionals or you live with your parents who would slap the shit out of you if you talked to them like that. It's not a mindset that others think with on a consistent basis. That is important. There are kids growing up with knowledge of the world on screens all over. Ghettos will still be here for a while, but they are not going to be the same ghetto. The black characters I write for grow up knowing black culture, but are more interested in learning about the entire world's culture, and communicating with others in EVERY culture they can access.
So these black characters are not typical of media idealism. They can still be tough, they can still get respect. They just fight with words more than fists or guns. It's reality becoming art and art becoming reality. As a writer myself, I control that ideal.
I write for characters of emotional and comprehensive intelligence in tough situations. That is the drama which I want to see. And correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but everyone wants to feel that.
