Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 898 posts

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#141

Post by zo1 »

tag2103 wrote: post #56
lettergram wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes the country has lost its mind. They’re reconstituting segregation in the U.S. at the moment

Why does "Netflix for Black People" scarily remind me of "Water fountains for Black People". This is horrifying, OP please consider this in your approach.

It's not "Water Fountains for Black People". It's "Water Fountain - White People Not Welcome". That's the part that's missing here, we're straw-manning as if white-people are affronted to this catering to a black-culture niche, not at all. I'll stand 100% corrected if this new service hosts white-people, white-actors and white-content that black-people would enjoy watching, and is staffed by an inclusive mix of black and white employees.

Then again, we live in a society where discrimination against white people is 100% legal and promoted, so I won't have much hope for this being inclusive for all.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#142

Post by silicon2401 »

jandrese wrote: post #88
h3daz wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only problem with marketing "X for black people" is that marketing "X for white people" isn't socially acceptable.

You say this like the Hallmark channel or Lifetime don't exist.

What are you saying about non-white people who enjoy those channels?

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#144

Post by dragontamer »

bgroat wrote: post #47
afavour wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what country you're from but if you don't think there are subcultures in your country under-represented by the dominant media I'd assert you're almost definitely wrong. Perhaps it feels a little strange from the outside that such a subculture is definitively "black" but yeah, that's basically how things are in the US. The country has a deep history of racism and black people being literal slaves, in that…

I used to believe that media representation didn't matter. After all, fictional characters are fiction, why should I expect them to look like me? Then someone pointed out to me that my favourite super-hero was Spider-Man because Peter Parker is a 20-something loser, just like me.

Miles Morales is one of the most successful new Marvel characters too.

But there's something authentic about Miles when other characters feel like pandering.

----

Nick Fury Junior is technically a newer character. (The original Nick Fury Senior is white). They just handwaved the difference by sticking a junior in the name without elaboration though.

------

Black Panther from the 70s is definitely pandering lol. But the writers were good at it. (Blatant pandering isn't necessarily a bad thing in the right context)

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#145

Post by mrits »

ensignavenger wrote: post #138
mrits wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Black culture is unique in that it was created artificially by kidnapping millions of people from the African content and stripping them of their cultures, family ties, and names, prompting those people to construct a new culture." That certainly isn't unique.

I interpreted it as the culture was unique, not the way it evolved, but re-reading it, I can see how you interpreted it that way, too,

"in that" is an english phrase that when used means exactly how I interrupted it

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#146

Post by sokoloff »

knicholes wrote: post #109
sokoloff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BET wasn’t offensive me. Telemundo wasn’t offensive to me. Nickelodeon wasn’t offensive to me. Food Network wasn’t offensive to me. Serving targeted programming to an identifiable minority audience seems like a perfectly reasonable business (and social) proposition. I don’t know that “Netflix for Black People” will test well, but it seems perfectly fine to me. [white middle-aged male if context matters]. Edit to add:…

It kind of assumes that all black people will like these kinds of shows, like Nickelodeon assumed that all kids would like their shows. In a world where diversity is so celebrated, I find it odd to try to show black people only other black people. Kids like kids shows because the content is more suited for kids. I know the original poster said they felt good seeing the shows with black people in the 90s, but can't th…

Nickelodeon's success isn't predicated on all kids liking that programming, just some substantial/critical mass of them. Same for the other examples, including BlackOakTV.

Presumably black people who like to see shows with [non-black] diversity are already having their needs met. Addressing a market whose needs are not being met has business (and social) value.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#147

Post by selimthegrim »

jandrese wrote: post #80
throwaway2037 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wrote: >> Agree. I could imagine Netflix-for-Turks streaming in Europe for overseas Turks!

Or a Netflix for Gypsys. I've always found it amazing how many Europeans will berate Americans for their discrimination and then turn around and talk about how to best get rid of Gypsys that show up.

Or literally sterilize them.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#148

Post by Uzo0312 »

Semaphor wrote: post #71

When I read "Black" on HN or Reddit, it usually refers to African-American blacks, do you also have (or are looking for) content outside that region, more specifically Africa? A suggestion: have some description of your content somewhere. At least logged out, I can barely see more than the episode title, I have no idea what any of the shows are about. In any way, I (white) think this sounds like a great idea, congrat…

We do want this to be a global company. Obviously, we have to start somewhere, so the U.S., where we are, is a logical first step, but we already have content from outside of our region, and hope to expand that greatly in the months and years to come!

And yes, our site needs a lot of work in terms of the meta data. We're working on getting that filled in across the site as much as possible. Hopefully, the free episodes we made available have their descriptions in place!

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#149

Post by MattGaiser »

nix23 wrote: post #136
racl101 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Nobody complains about the Latino channels on TV. lol

Out of curiosity, do all black people in the US have the same cultural background? Or is it just the skin color?

Slavery crushed a lot of them into a cultural group with a shared history no matter where their ancestors originally came from or their cultural backgrounds.

There are of course those who immigrated later.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#150

Post by zentiggr »

josteink wrote: post #36
treis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And imagine the outrage if someone had made “X for white people”. There’d be riots in streets. The idea is that "X" is de facto "X for white people" in America. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that's the argument.

Thanks for the constructive reply. I wasn’t aware of such default assumptions. I still thinks it sounds like nonsense, but at least it explains the massive downvotes Im getting :D It must be hard to live in a country where everyone is so obsessed with race, yet supposedly also how it “is not important”. To me that seems like a massive contradiction.

It's not "IS not important"... it's "SHOULDN'T be important".

Bigotry, hatred, and violence, whether explicit or less obvious (voting rights, bias in many services etc) is the problem that some us unfortunately continue and the rest of us want to end.

Post reply on HN