Vignette 2 -- Are there Black Women in the Future?
Science Fiction is supposed to be the artist’s depiction of the future; a telling of what mankind will amount to in the next couple of centuries. From science fiction we get a lot of a leaps and bounds in the sciences: the thought of teleportation, the interests in singularities and time travel, the want and need for intergalactic space travel. There is a manifest destiny unlike one mankind has seen since possibly the search for the New World during the time of Columbus. And yet, as we’re traveling through space searching for alien life, or searching with alien life, we are missing a critical element… the Black woman.
Where did she go? Did she disappear? Was there some tragic plague that eradicated most of her kind? Because if you were to ask the writer’s of the future where they see Black women, most of them by the looks of things would obviously say that she is absent. I went to go see the Book of Eli a couple of night’s ago, it was an amazing movie, set in a post-apocalyptic world. Denzel Washington plays Eli an obvious black man, and there are a number of other black extras in the background, but no black women (and Jennifer Beals doesn’t count). This can also be said for GI Joe and a number of other Science Fiction movies and shows (a list way to long to list) that are noticeably absent of black women. Now Book of Eli and GI Joe are unique, as I didn’t notice one black female (not even extra) in the movies. It’s kind of alienating to think that in the future my beautiful, ebony brown won’t be around.
Think about it, even in the quintessential Science Ficiton show, Star Trek, based upon equality and harmony and peace-keeping, there are only two notable black female characters, Lt. Uhura and Guinan. There is Cheryl Masters, who is in the original series, and a few guest stars such as Jordy’s mother, but that’s it; two Black women over 5 different incarnations of the show and over 40 years of it being on air. What does that say about the future if the IT show only has two… we’re doomed aren’t we sisters?
I have a theory, maybe it’s because Hollywood doesn’t see Science Fiction as a genre that black women are interested in, therefore completely ignore us. But when you talk about a future and how you want to represent the future, surely you wouldn’t want it to be less of the Negress.
So, let’s do a test. Go check out your favorite Science Fiction movie or TV series, and tell me if there is a Black Woman prominently featured.
Here is a list of prominent Black Actors (male and female) in Science Fiction TV and Film.