Does skin tone matter?

Denzel Washington

Will Smith

Chris Tucker

Martin Lawrence

Don Cheadle

So today was the last day of class. We watched a documentary (I am not sure what the title was) about the future of Black America in Hollywood. There was an idea presented in it that I have never heard before- that when it comes to African American actors it is easier for those with light skin to get hired than those that have dark skin. I am not sure if this was surprising to anyone else in our class, but it sure was for me. As one actress explained, she is black, but has light skin so she is "less threatening". She said producers, directors, etc. think more people can identify with her because black people say "Hey. She is black like me." and white people say "Oh. She must have one white parent and one black parent." and feel they can relate to her because she is partially white. While this may be true in the case of this particular actress, I doubt it is true for every African American with light skin. I think this idea is just crazy. As if there aren't already enough problems with the representation of non-white people in the media...

I decided to check this out. The film mentioned some Hollywood A-listers that are black. I've posted their photos above to see how their skin tones compare. It seems like out of the 5 men featured 4 of them err on the light side. Don Cheadle is the only one who seems to me to have darker skin. Interesting. Very interesting. Is this common knowledge- the whole black people with light skin get more work thing? Because honestly, I am just baffled by it.

Images from: Denzel Washington- http://freshplays.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/denzel-washington-picture-5.jpg Will Smith- http://images.askmen.com/galleries/men/will-smith/pictures/will-smith-picture-4.jpg Chris Tucker- http://us.i1.yimg.com/img.movies.yahoo.com/ymv/us/img/flickr/19/80/000465291980.jpg Martin Lawrence- http://www.watshot.net/profiles/images/martinL.jpg Don Cheadle- http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2007/0705/a_br10qcheadle_0528.jpg