DENZEL WASHINGTON’S LEGACY

There is no doubt that Denzel Washington is one of the finest actors of my generation. In fact, there is very little doubt he is probably the most accomplished black actor of the same era. From winning the Oscar to pretty much every award that can be bestowed on an actor, he has set a legacy that cannot be denied or erased. That is until the apocalypse or the total erasure of this small blue planet.

Yet, despite this, one of the reasons I have chosen to meditate on this actor’s career is the fact that I have noticed that Denzel’s roles are for the most part the same. I am sure more articulate and sophisticated critics have pointed this fact out. But, a glimpse at his roles on IMDB¹ would show that Mr. Denzel has consistently chosen roles of the servant of the state. His most common role is a Police officer or a Military man.

The only major films of his where he does not play this role are: John Q, He Got Game, the Hurricane, and Malcolm X. Yet in two of those roles, Malcolm X, and He Got Game, you could make the argument that he still playing a variation of the servant of the state. As Malcolm was a servant of not only the Nation of Islam, but a servant of the African American state as Black Nationalism was Malcolm’s major goal. In the case of He got Game, he plays a convict who is still a servant of the state, as he is commissioned by the governor to convince his superstar son to play for his alma mater. Furthermore, his character must work within the rules of athletic recruiting apparatus.

So my question to the greatest Black actor of my time is, Why these roles? And what does the legacy of the roles he has chosen, impart to our community. I think the other two movies answer these questions for us. In the Hurricane, Mr. Carter a Boxer who clearly has been wronged by the state, still chooses to use the same state law apparatus to right his wrong. In John Q, his character, though revolutionary, still chooses to change the rules of the donor policy of the state.

For most people, this would seem benign, but for a black man, this is very intriguing in that Hollywood for a long time has not only been the face of America to the world, but it is very effective is shaping the views of the young black man. As the landmark Brown VS, Board of Education argued as one of its points, was the fact that what was wrong with separate but equal was the fact that it created an unequal self image in the mind of the black student. Therefore, equality is important not only in the physical sense but in the mental sense.

Any black historian would tell you that there has long been a war between two camps in the black community, the separatists and the Inclusionists. The separatists have longed believed that Black freedom, and Black equality can only be achieved through a separated black state. The Inclusionists, have longed believed this same freedom and equality can only be achieved by changing the state in which we live in. While, it would seem that the Inclusionists have all but won the war, as they have been responsible for the most change in black equality, especially if you consider the case I referenced earlier was a Supreme Court case. It was black people changing the state in which they lived in to include them as equal citizens. This battle is still fought today, especially in Hollywood images of Black Americans. Most black Hollywood movies either focus on a separate Black America; either as a family unit or a culture, or they focus on a Black American within the context of the General America. Even Denzel’s career highlights this; there is a stark contrast between Mo better Blues, and his other roles. As Mo Better Blues focuses on the separatist idea of Black America and Black Americans, and his other roles show him as an agent of the state. The Black man in General America.

It is no surprise that by far most of his roles have dealt with the latter, and I think that Denzel represents the symbol of the Inclusionists. I do not know if this has been done purposely or it is because most major roles for Black actors are Inclusionists roles, an artifact of the fact that the Inclusionists have been winning the war. It would be interesting to see if Hollywood images and major roles for Black actors would change. If we are going to see a shift in Hollywood, Where major roles for Black Actors will be in the separatist mode, and feature exclusively Black societies, and Black states. Would the American audience embrace it? Though this same American audience has embraced the Rap and Hip Pop cultures, and has pretty much made them the driving force in mainstream culture. If this shift occurs there is no doubt you will only have to look at the roles Mr. Denzel Washington plays to show that this is in fact true.

1. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000243/