I always wondered when i was younger why the black man had to die first. Is it a coincidence? Even in current movies you find the black man dies first except for the Dark Knight and the Matrix.
Apparently, it's some sort of universal law. Not even giant robots from space are immune. In the first Transformers film, the only Autobot who died was Jazz.
Pshh, havent you seen Deep Blue Sea? The black chef saves the day :Dlobodob
Funny you should mention that "The brother always gets it -Deep Blue Sea features two black characters, so if Hollywood's 'brother rule' is in effect, it won't be difficult to figure out who'll end up in the shark's belly, will it? asks John Patterson"
The Fog is another. There really is a lot, if you provoke me i'll probably make a big list. But i'll probably get my answers from google, so google it yourselves you lazy buggers.
the high amount of black guys dieing early on in movies is likely due to the roles that they often played (or the roles they didnt play, depending on how you want to look at it). theres not too many blacks in leading roles (especially in slasher films aimed at suburbanites). whether you want to blame racism or target marketing, black guys got cast in expendable roles. and in horror movies, expendable characters die.
I suppose because over time there weren't that many lead roles for minorities, or even roles for minorities. You don't often kill off main characters early on so the minor characters get the axe, or gun, or whatever.
Pshh, havent you seen Deep Blue Sea? The black chef saves the day :Dlobodob
That usually only works in movies with two black guys. That way they can have the black guy survive, and STILL kill off a black guy early in the movie. It's like having your cake and eating it too.
Why as why ? At least he made it to the movie, he got paid and was acting in the movie. That's a great thing. I know i won't ever make it to a movie and if i did and died then i'd still be happy i was in the movie.
The convention came about mainly due to an attempt to be inclusive to African Americans. They would throw them in minor roles in an attempt to have diverse casting but since typcially they weren't main characters they would fall by the wayside along with the rest of the cast. Unfortunately their deaths stood out more from the sea of dying whites as their presence wasn't as common.
The situation became more accidently cliched in the attempt to provide more meat to the roles of minorities. Instead of merely a backround role they would be the "best friend" or a close ally who's death was supposed to garner sympathy and at the same time throw a larger spotlight on the acting chops of the African American community. Unfortunately the device became all to common and soon it was a point of ridicule.
I don't think it's much of an issue these days as most of the examples cited in the article posted are rather inaccurate and misleading. With many very large leading role players such as Will Smith and Denzel Washington the brother rule just isn't particularly relevent anymore in my opinion.
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