A REAL Top 10 Powerful Black (Male or Female) Characters in Film
Totally original writing by Brown Bear, and in no particular order.
Denzel Washington - John Q
In a world where "baby's daddies" run rampant, this Black man shows the limits he is willing to go for his son. (I could stop right there with that sentence, but I'll go on.) When his son is basically scheduled to die he says "no, HELL no!" Shows the Black man in a light that today's youth know nothing about. Facing life imprisonment or worse for the sake of one's own child, this man's struggle can tug tears out of the toughest person.
Keith David - Clockers
The Projects are a tough place to live, let alone raise a child. All while being a beat cop (not a 'respectable' job in tha' hood), Keith David shows that a father figure in a drug-filled neighborhood is hard to come by, but when it's there, it's there. When his son (or stepson, can't remember) is being talked to by the local drug dealers, he steps into action. No fear, no regrets, he whoops their asses when they come by messing with what's his.
Gina Torres - Firefly/Serenity series
Gotta give it to Joss Whedon (The creator of the TV show and movie counterpart), he usually always has a strong female in his writings. This just so happens to be Zoe, the Captain's 2nd in command and old war buddy. She portrays the more cognitive, logical side of the duo, and is rarely seen flying off the handle, so to speak. SPOILER ALERT:
When her husband is killed, she goes through a single moment of grievance before shrugging it all of and getting back to the task at hand. Fierce, loyal, courageous and strong, this is the "ride or die" chick that these fake ass rappers dream they had. Also, it just goes to show that there ARE Black people in the future!
Before "He who shall remain nameless" tolls in, I KNOW she has Cuban heritage, bitch. But since America calls them "Afro-Cuban," we'll welcome her with open arms.
Laurence Fishburne - Akeelah and the Bee/Higher Learning
(Gina Torres' husband, as a matter of fact)
I think I can honestly say that any character that Laurence plays could easily be a "powerful" one, but his trumps are when he plays an educator of some kind. While in Akeelah he helps to mold a young woman's mind into something more than she sees, and in Higher he teaches a college student about the Real World. Both were stunning works in his arsenal.
Angela Bassett - Strange Days
Now, Angela can act her ASS off, and this is no secret to Hollywood. For the sake of this list, I tried to stick with only fictional characters, but her performances in the Rosa Parks movie, What's Love, X, and Panther were all excellent true-life people performances. But this is about her role as Lornette "Mace" Mason in Strange Days. She plays a single mother that works as a limo driver/bodyguard in L.A., 1999. Her role as all three are seen throughout the film, though they could've given her more times to show her "motherly" side (but that would've broken the chain of the movie as a whole, so....). When bullets start flying her way, she doesn't run and hide behind some man to help her, she takes the gun from the guy and pistol whips him into submission (srsly). She even takes down TWO of L.A.'s finest with their own weapons and survives a beatdown by the S.W.A.T. team! THAT'S GANGSTA!!!
Samuel L. Jackson - 187
Again, a teacher role. This time with a bit more Oomph than Fishburne's roles. But justly so. Jackson plays a teacher in a tough public school filled with more future felons than Britney Spear's uterus. When he asks for assistance, his superiors give none. So he takes matters into his own hands. He enlightens some students, and when pushed by others, he pushes back. Harder. This is the type of teacher that is needed in every classroom in every "bad" school (private or public) nationwide.
Samuel L. Jackson - Black Snake Moan
Now, you all know that any other Black man living in the south with a white woman (that happens to be a nympho) chained up in his house would be dead before the 30 minute mark, or would've hit that before the 10 minute mark. This brother showed that he has STRONG faith in his God. He believed that he had the power to help "heal" this woman of her ailments and that he was doing "God's work." Just goes to show you, when a Black man says he's doing "God's Work," no one gets fucked around OR gets KILLED!
Srsly.
Morgan Freeman - Lean on Me
I know, Teaching again. So what? There are countless Black men & women out there that are trying to make a difference in schooling, but their stories aren't told. This one is an oldie but it's STILL good as hell to watch on any night. Joe Clark was the principal of (yet another) inner-city school on the brink of self-destruction. He steps in and layeth smacketh down...eth. He throws conventional rules out the window since they haven't worked thus far and issues his own code of ethics to those little fuckers. And he wasn't afraid to break the rules/laws either; chaining the doors locked to keep the kids in school? "You'll either learn, or you'll never leave" couldn't have been said better.
I got three more, but I gotta go fix somethin to eat, so... brb.
