Image: Yelling at the Screen

Yelling at the Screen

By Mark H. Harris

Agenda of a Broadcasting Company

[26.Jun.06] :. Think ABC has a hidden agenda against the positive depiction of African Americans in its hit shows? According to this purported communiqué from network brass, it sure seems like it.
 

Black Like You

[17.May.06] :. When is trading 'races' not as entertaining -- or insightful -- as trading spaces? When it's all part of FX's highly implausible 'social experiment', an idea fated to fail from the first smudge of groan-inducing greasepaint.
 

An Open Letter From Dave Chappelle to His White Fans

[11.Apr.06] :. Hey, white folks! Think the current king of racially reactive comedy enjoys your fawning fandom? Not according to this little heartbreaker.
 

Wigger: The Strange Case of a Troublesome Word

[13.Mar.06] :. In these days of blurred ethnic barriers, our resident cultural critic looks at the current state of race relations, and how one troublesome word came to define -- and defame -- an entire social stereotype.
 

The Green Pile

[7.Feb.06] :. Black Christ Figures? Magical Mice? Tom Hank's infected urinary tract? It's no wonder this so-called classic has our resident ethnic ethicist up in arms.
 

The 2005 YATS Image Awards

[3.Jan.06] :. Sick and tired of the same old faces getting the same lame accolades from the media? In his ongoing attempts to keep it 'real', Harris presents his personal picks and pans from the previous entertainment year.
 

Where Have All the Black Girls Gone?

[5.Dec.05] :. If a black woman ever needs reminding of the dearth of black female leads, she need only ask a white person what actress she most resembles. Chances are she'll hear 'Whoopi Goldberg' at some point.
 

Black After These Messages

[31.Oct.05] :. Harris wants to clean up TV advertising. So he's offering some advice to Madison Avenue on how it can make its current fixation with African American culture more 'real' for its intended 'peeps'.
 

The Coiffure Connection

[6.Oct.05] :. Ever wonder why Samuel L. Jackson seems so overly concerned with his fade? Follicle scholar Harris uncovers this 'very special episode' of a certain Bravo interview show which explains why, for this amazing actor, its hair, not the play, that's the thing.
 

The Black Die Young

[6.Sep.05] :. Black genocide in the horror genre has reached hilarious proportions -- and Harris can't get enough of it.
 

Hollywood Pimpin’

[19.Aug.05] :. In 10 simple steps, Harris shows how you, too, can undermine an entire ethnicity, Tinsel Town style.
 

Keepin’ It Real(ity)

[22.Jul.05] :. Without an acknowledgment of race, reality TV can never be 'real'; it can only be '-ity'.
 

Gray Like Me

[21.Jun.05] :. We grays won't overcome until that one special gray actor or actress steps forward to show us as living, breathing entities with more to offer than a healthy head of hair and corporate hireability.
 

Everything I Need to Know About Being Black I Learned From Kenny Rogers

[27.May.05] :. For PopMatters TV/Film Columnist Mark Harris, being a minority in a majority world created an ironic, lifelong battle against being force-fed at the teat of popular culture.