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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

#441

Post by [deleted] »

shipmaster wrote: post #223
disneygibson wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it’s encouraging separatism. I would much rather have a startup that promotes black creators to the broader culture than one exclusionary by design. Looking at top musicians, artists, and other cultural figures, it seems to me like this is already largely the case. Hip hop sales come in large part from white people. I want more of this cultural sharing, not isolationism.

You seem to think there is a monolithic "culture" that needs to be augmented. This has never been the case. There are always a dominant culture that is not necessarily named and multiple subcultures per minority group. Why are folks more sensitive to black sub-culture manifestations in the US vs other minority groups?

[deleted]

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

#443

Post by neartheplain »

binaryorganic wrote: post #121

ITT: Whyt folx suggesting that curating media that targets a specific cultural audience is problematic without realizing that they already enjoy that same experience every day of their lives. But I love it. One thought that comes to me: If you’re successful at this, you probably get to repeat the story of the big record labels poaching black creators in the 1920s. That’d be good history to dive into and weave into th…

Demeaning racial labels and slurs have no place on HN.

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

#444

Post by tptacek »

brudgers wrote: post #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 mor…

It's an interesting time to be doing something like this, because Youtube and TikTok have created a permission structure for idiosyncratically "indie" content to break through to mass audiences. When Youtube launched (I am old) I thought it was pretty silly, like "America's Funniest Home Videos" but without Bob Saget. But if you told me today that far more content is consumed on Youtube than on all the cable networks combined, I'd believe you.

The extent to which these things appear to people outside their audience as "low budget" might not matter, and if it doesn't, that seems like a big new thing, an idea you can play around with.

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

#445

Post by randompwd »

I'm more annoyed that this is yet another bunch of Americans showing their ignorance of the world by claiming Black to just represent African-Americans. So many different non American black people in the world but of course American imperialism shines right through regardless of color or culture to claim the word black and limit it just to Americans. That's not even to mention the divisiveness at all costs so at to get a buck.

Any black American has less in common with any black person in Africa or Europe than they have with a white American.

Honestly so sick of US issues always being portrayed as a simplistic black/white issue.

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

#446

Post by lasfter »

bobmaxup wrote: post #219
poeron wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason for that, in the US at least, is that "for white people" is implied by default. Everything is always for white people. So when you go and spell it out explicitly, "X for white people" ends up having a connotation of "X for white people only ."

Does "X for kids" imply only for kids?

What poeron is getting at is there can be two meanings of "X for Y". While "X for kids" doesn't imply adults can't watch, "X for adults" implies kids can't watch.

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

#447

Post by disneygibson »

imbnwa wrote: post #406
disneygibson wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The concept of “white” is a consequence of the melting pot idea. I had hoped that eventually we could expand from White/European American to just American, a broad identity not based on race at all. This would have solved the injustices of the past and built a more cohesive American identity. Instead we seem to be going backwards. 2050 New York City might look more like 1900 than 2000.

FYI in 1900 it was illegal for Black folk to occupy the same commercial spaces as European Americans, and were relegated to designated areas in many public spaces, and that wasn't because Black folk wanted to, or imposed that law. Your "melting pot" interpretation concretely just means "they should not be different or receive different things than me".

Your "melting pot" interpretation concretely just means "they should not be different or receive different things than me"

No, it doesn’t, and that makes no sense. The melting pot idea means that everyone works toward a cohesive national identity and recognizes contributions from everyone. It doesn’t mean that every group should be separate and excluded from each other.

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

#448

Post by okwubodu »

rootusrootus wrote: post #362
cptaj wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, this is always such a spicy comment to make. Americans always get mad but its true. As a Venezuelan I always find the racism stuff coming from the US completely baffling. I think most of the world is just completely weirded out by how US culture tackles this issue.

Much of the rest of the world is more casually comfortable with racism, it does not cause the angst that it does in the US.

True. It’s very funny when people from countries that could be considered the forefathers of racism down the US for talking about it while refusing to acknowledge the cries of their own underclass.

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

#449

Post by dathinab »

yellowbanana wrote: post #162

There is a default opposition on anything that twitter activists have been protesting for in the past few years Netflix for Africans Netflix for Asians Netflix for Indians ... sounds normal. But Netflix for Black People Netflix for Women Netflix for LGBT Will definitely cause an outrage An other example on how we are tribal, even if the tribes are just activists vs non-activists.

I don't think any "" for " sound normal.

I mean if you need e.g. "Restrooms for Indians" implies that "other" Restrooms are somewhat not suited for Indians which normally hints to some major problem with discrimination.

Just to be clear I explicitly mean "" not "", e.g. black people often have a kind of hair which non-black people have rarely, as such a "Shampoo for Black People" (which is actually a "Shampoo for any kind of people with that kind of hair common with Black People") isn't that unreasonable. Similar a movie focused on living circumstances especially common with black people staring mostly black people is also likely mainly targeting black people as an audience.

But Netflix (HBO, Disney) are not specific products but very generic services.

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

#450

Post by dcow »

chemeng wrote: post #100
JacobDotVI wrote: post #33

>Hello Sunshine was founded by Witherspoon in 2016 to create content focused on female voices. ... "Kevin and Tom and our partners at Blackstone see what we see – women’s stories matter, and we have economic power as consumers, creators and business leaders. Their commitment enables us to double-down on our mission and our ambitious growth agenda,” Harden said in a release. Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine to be so…

Yes, it’s very interesting that “X for Women” seems non-controversial to most people, but “X for [underserved group]” brings out the trolls en masse.

I think it’s because gender plays an important roll in society whereas race ~~does~~ should not. Society doesn't benefit from segregating and victimizing. Society does benefit, generally, from a strong female population.
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