UPDATE: We will be postponing this theme week until February 2016. So please keep sending us your pitches and submissions!
Our theme week for December 2015 will be Interracial Relationships.
Representations of interracial relationships in film and on television have seen an increase over the years. It is ever more common to see, in particular, a Black female lead or love interest dating a person (usually a man) of another race (often white) (Scandal, The Bodyguard, Parenthood). Many such productions give little mention to the interracial nature of the romance. Colorism (the practice of favoring lighter skinned people of color over darker skinned people of color) is often at play in these scenarios, as the most successful women of color in Hollywood cast to play out romances with white characters frequently have lighter skin. Conversely, race is often a major issue in productions featuring Black male characters dating white women (Jungle Fever, Othello, Save the Last Dance).
Are depictions of interracial relationships on the rise due to a diminished stigma around interracial dating? How much is colorism still in play? Do the success of shows with racially diverse casts and the growing success of dark-skinned performers mitigate colorism? How do the very real and present ramifications of slavery and colonialism affect these interracial dynamics?
Feel free to use the examples below to inspire your writing on this subject, or choose your own source material.
We’d like to avoid as much overlap as possible for this theme, so get your proposals in early if you know which film you’d like to write about. We accept both original pieces and cross-posts, and we respond to queries within a week.
Most of our pieces are between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and include links and images. Please send your piece as a Microsoft Word document to btchflcks[at]gmail[dot]com, including links to all images, and include a 2- to 3-sentence bio.
If you have written for us before, please indicate that in your proposal, and if not, send a writing sample if possible.
Please be familiar with our publication and look over recent and popular posts to get an idea of Bitch Flicks’ style and purpose. We encourage writers to use our search function to see if your topic has been written about before, and link when appropriate (hyperlinks to sources are welcome, as well).
The final due date for these submissions is Friday, Dec. 18, by midnight Friday, February 19, 2016 by midnight Eastern Time.
Othello
The Bodyguard
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Jungle Fever
Scandal
Orange is the New Black
Jessica Jones
Devil in a Blue Dress
The L Word
Belle
Monster’s Ball
Dear White People
Pretty Little Liars
Save the Last Dance
The Flash
Grey’s Anatomy
Love Actually
The Feast of All Saints
Sense8
Made in America
Fools Rush In
How to Get Away With Murder
White Men Can’t Jump
The Fosters
Girl Fight
Mississippi Masala
Corrina, Corrina
Romeo Must Die
Jackie Brown
The Vampire Diaries
Parenthood
Wow! I guess because of the Thanksgiving holiday, only two entries for November week got turned in. But it’s really weird because the topic of Trans women is so important to discuss, you’d think more people would have turned posts in for that theme week. That was a little disappointing.
No mention of “As Told By Ginger”?