Part 1 The Shockingly Current Truth Last year, The British Blacklist’s 2014 ‘Optical Illusions of Black Characters on Film’ series [] examined the depiction of black movie characters and found that, at least in mainstream Western cinema, the character in the black character was often inadequate… under-developed, if you will.
Even in movies based on real people or historical figures, measures of mainstream popularity and excellence – the Academy Awards, for example – seemed to recognise black actors in stereotypical roles more often than in non-stereotypical roles, inferring that, in the eyes of mainstream consumers, there was an ‘acceptability’ or a ‘ring of truth’ to black stereotypes. READ MORE…
Part 2: Black Women in SFF Film Back in 2014, award-winning Nosa Igbinedion released a casting call for the 4 main characters in his short sci fi film project, ‘Oya: Rise of the Orishas’, required – Tanit, a cold assassin; Rebecca, rebellious young girl; The Leader, a manipulative cult leader; Mot, a muscle-bound destroyer. It is a superhero movie based on West African mythology and used the description Black/mixed race as acceptable for each [Read TBB’s interview with Nosa here]. The final cast, in the February 2015 release reflected much of the unique beauty of West African genetics in Ethosheia Hylton as Oya, Prince Shoyelu, Jayde Stedford, Quincy Okpokpor, Luiana Bonfim and Orwi Imanuel Ameh. In our opinion, this is an empowering start!
Generally, it is clear that African-American actresses do better than black British actresses in SFF film. Of our 40 actresses in largely kick-ass SFF characters featured here, 28 are African-American, 11 are black British and 1 is Jamaican. Since the 30th anniversary of the Bechdel-Wallace Test (BWT) [2] partially inspired this article, it is interesting that most of these movies fail in that regard. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, because a good story doesn’t necessarily need more than one woman in it. Plus, there is so much more up for discussion in SFF than arguing over a man… though we will concede that Princess Ardala did some pretty extreme things to lure Buck Rogers from Col. Wilma Deering, but it was the 70s… Female SFF characters generally do better in terms of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Sexy Lamp Test – SLT (2012) i.e. if the female character was replaced by a sexy lamp would the story still work? We really like this test, as it adds weight to her as a non-stereotypical protagonist – something that talented black actresses are crying out for! READ MORE…
Part 3: Black Women in SFF Television British actresses do slightly better in SFF TV, though, in terms of episode appearances, the Queens are still American. This is usually due to landing multiple single roles, multiple recurring roles or becoming a series regular in a long-running series. There is a huge difference depending on which side of the Atlantic you land on – one season can mean 12-22 episodes in the USA (usually the latter) vs 6-13 in Britain (usually the former). Again, interestingly, these roles do seem to pass the Sexy Lamp Test more often than not. SFF genre TV has had surges and resurges and is currently enjoying an exponential rate of production. Thanks to the casting of Nichelle Nichols as Uhura1 in 1966, black women in SFF television have a slightly longer history than in film at 51 years.
Excluding animated productions, we found 29 black British, 2 black World (Jamaican and Ethiopian-Irish) and 25 African-American actresses – a total of 56 women of colour in notable SFF TV roles. We also felt the need to highlight the contribution of one particular British sci fi TV series for, at least in its modern incarnation, taking unprecedented strides in regularly featuring black British female talent… for a while. READ MORE…
In all, we found 58 actresses with noteworthy roles and we discussed 36 of those with multiple character credits. Here, we continue with the remaining 22, plus a couple more we discovered along the way, and we share some thoughts. So, now TBB presents the concluding…
Part 4: Black Women in SFF Television – Single Character Credits. The Tomorrow People – 1973-79, 1992-95, 2013-14 – Elizabeth Adare, UK, as Elizabeth M’Bondo, was arguably the second black female character on UK SF TV after Carmen Munroe’s Fariah, but before Josette Simon’s Dayna Mellanby in Blake’s 7 (1980-81). Adare appeared in 50/68 episodes of the original series between 1974-79, from the second season. She was one of a group of young adults who ‘break out’ when they develop paranormal abilities, watched over by an alien organisation. She was a student teacher renowned for her compassion and strength of character who went on to become more involved in the affairs of the Galactic Trig, overseeing the well-being of all telepathic species. She was followed by Naomie Harris, UK, as Ami Jackson in 16/26 episodes of the first revival of the series between 1993-95 from the second season. She experienced visions and her mother repeatedly tried to stop her association with the others. It was considered ‘more cosmopolitan,’ since it featured American and Australian actors… The most recent reboot (2013-14) departed from the formula in that it did not feature any black female Tomorrow People. It did feature Madeleine Mantock, UK, as Normal, Astrid Finch, who nursed an unrequited love for main protagonist Stephen whilst also being his best friend in 22/28 episodes (2014). He had only sisterly feelings toward her and she ended up growing close to the first ‘break-out’ John…. when he loses his abilities. READ MORE…
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