Do white people watch black movies? - The Washington Post: White people like movies. Black people like movies. But do white people like black movies? Indiana University telecommunications professor Andrew J. Weaver investigated in “The Role of Actors’ Race in White Audiences’ Selective Exposure to Movies,” published recently in the Journal of Communication. The findings partly confirm what Hollywood insiders already know: The audiences for “Larry Crowne” and Tyler Perry’s “Madea’s Big Happy Family” may not overlap.
“It becomes a vicious cycle,” Weaver writes. “Producers are hesitant to cast minorities in race-neutral romantic roles because of a fear that the White audience will perceive the films as ‘not for them,’ but White audiences perceive romantic films with minorities as ‘not for them’ because they seldom see minorities in race-neutral romantic roles.”
