The Hate U Give v A Star is Born

"The Hate U Give" is in theaters now. It is a story based on the book by Angie Thomas about a black high school student named Starr who witnesses her best friend Khalil get shot and killed by a police officer after he reaches for a hair brush when they get pulled over. It is directed by George Tilman, Jr.

There are two movies in theaters currently whose protagonist are a woman: "The Hate U Give" and "A Star is Born." Vox calls the female protagonist in "A Star is Born" "a sexy singing lamp" because the film is still essentially about the man's emotional troubles and how he helps her to succeed, even when she says no. The article says the film perpetuates the narrative that "a women's stardom is defined not by anything she does, but by the fact that a man recognized her." The film keeps getting made over and over again by Hollywood and continues to be another story of male dominance and power imbalance.

And yet everyone is talking and raving about "A Star is Born" while "The Hate U Give" is getting much less attention. "The Hate U Give" has a black queer female protagonist and brings to light real issues and real lived experiences. Amandla Stenberg, who plays the lead and was named Feminist Celebrity of 2015, is an activist and uses social media to discuss police brutality, racism, homophobia, gender fluidity, and social issues. These are the actors that should be receiving recognition and the characters we should be seeing. Hiring more people of color, directors and actors, means more true to life stories will be told with complex characters (not flat characters or stereotypes) and they are stories that need to be told. But people seem to care more about a hollywood romance.