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

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

#151
post #39
post #2

“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.

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…

It depends on where parent is from. There are a lot of relatively monolithic countries from an ethnic perspective.

To the broader point, I think what Uzo is talking about is "representation."

Which doesn't just mean "some type of person on the screen." It means the full diversity of experiences and aspirations of that type of person... on the screen.

Living Single isn't Friends with African Americans.

It's African Americans put in the situation of Friends, and then living their own similar-but-unique story in that situation, informed by cultural differences. (IMHO, it's also a helluva lot better of a show)

The 90s had a lot of shows about middle class, successful African American families.

That kind of... stopped. Once TV got homogenized and distributors realized that African American viewers would watch shows about white people, but white people weren't as happy watching shows about African Americans.

And the lack of aspirational and affirmational media that speaks to every person is absolutely a problem.

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

#152
This just makes me sad. We seem to be returning to a segregated society with separate services for every ethnic group. It’s not the “melting pot” idea of America that I was raised with, where everyone contributes their own unique culture to a unified American whole. That was the brilliance of American identity, which is now fracturing at an accelerated rate.

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

#153
post #136

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?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_culture

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

#154
The screenshots on the “Free episode” page give me the immediate impression the shows are low budget productions. It’s a combination of the locations/backgrounds, lighting, and the randomness of some of the frames…the out of focus hand in the first image.

For marketing, it might help to color grade the stills on the page similarly. The natural balance of the first still makes the green and magenta casts in others more obvious.

Good luck.

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

#156
This is a good idea; I had the same one, it seems like an underserved market. I too miss the era of '80s and '90s black American sitcoms.

I think some recognizable shows will be needed for this to take off though. "Original Content" is a hard sell; that's why Netflix started with a AAA show like "House of Cards" to establish credibility. It's only after that they started diluting the Netflix Originals brand by buying up every half baked show out there.

Here are some I thought of:

- Roc (rare sitcom where laugh track comedy is mixed with heavy drama)

- Everybody Hates Chris

- Martin

- Girlfriends (CW)

- My Wife & Kids

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

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That comes with the territory of being the dominant ethnic group in our society. Everything is essentialy for white people by default unless explicitly stated otherwise. Also, it’s not like this blackoakTV doesn’t allow white people to sign up. But I bet you won’t, because you have no interest in black stories. Which in turn kind of proves why it should exist.

What's a black story ?

A story involving Black people centered on Black culture and/or Black experiences, the same way Moone Boy is an "Irish" story.

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

#158
post #2

“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.

It's not a "cultural divide", it's a "representation divide", and it goes way beyond ethnicity and it's also way beyond the US.

Many institutions in the Western sphere either don't match the demographic/ethnic composition of the target market any more or never have. Parliaments, cabinets, newsdesks, movies, highest level management in big companies, even access to voting - all of this has been dominated by white, straight and often old men, with women, non-White people and LGBT not being represented at all.

Over time, many of the discriminatory policies fell - but the reality was, until maybe a decade ago, representation still lacked - and now, change is coming in ever faster and faster. You now have female-centered superhero movies, Black superhero movies, transgender people in parliaments, a Black US President... and the speed of that change was for many conservatives simply too high, so they framed the quest for equal representation across all parts of society as a "culture war" instead.

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

#159
post #84
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You’re essentially saying that black people need to erase their cultural identity and assimilate into the dominant culture and shut up and watch tv shows about white people like the rest of us and be happy about it. Black people live a different experience than other groups, and maybe they want different shows that resonate with them. BET has been successful for a long time and this service is BET for the internet.

What constitutes as the “black experience”? Are you speaking in terms of the modern day experience of black people? This is a genuine question, and I would really appreciate to hear a response from one who is black. Also, is “black” a culture? No really, aren’t there different cultures that make up the black population, just as there are for whites? Or is there also “white culture”? Or “brown culture”? These seem like dangerous over-generalizations that lack the nuance they deserve.

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

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

That they're boring? (But then, that's true of white people who enjoy those channels too)
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