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The State News discuss black culture, trending topics, issues in the black community, black clubs at MSU, and educate listeners about the black community.
Hey, y'all. It's your girl Jada Vasser, and this is all shade to chocolate where I'm bringing the sweetest, the hottest black culture to MSU. Hope you guys are well. It's nice to see you guys again. Nice to be in this room.
Jada:Hey, Taylor. All that. All that. So I have somebody I have been trying to bring on all Shades Chocolate since all Shades Chocolate started. Literally years in the making.
Jada:It's my sister. Y'all have heard this name many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times before. I probably showed a picture of you before, video. They know who you are. It's Janae, y'all.
Jada:Welcome. Been trying to get you on here you go. I told you don't act up. I told you.
Janae:I said one word.
Jada:I said don't act up. Now, like I said, I've been trying to get you on here for the longest time. How does it feel to be on Honesty Chocolate?
Janae:It feels good. It feels good.
Jada:Thank thank you for being here, bro. It feels good having you on here. Mhmm. I'm here to shout you out. This is about you.
Jada:This is about film. We're talking about being black in the film industry. Yes. You have a lot of We talked a little too much about it out there, and we basically wrote two pages of stuff we wanna get into. So before we get into I want to give you the floor, introduce yourself, because Janae is not a Michigan State student.
Jada:No, she is not. She goes to, Lansing Community College, which, 10 out of 10 school, I've been to her campus, I've met some of her classmates, professors. It's a really, really good school. If you go to LCC, shout out to you. But yeah, I want her to introduce herself.
Jada:What's your major? What do you like about the film industry? How did you get into it? How did you know this was something that you wanted to do? Because I have a little bit of the answer, but you know, this is your time to tell the people.
Janae:Okay. Okay. As you know, my name is Janae, like she said. A lot of people call me Nae. She called me Twin Thing, all that stuff.
Janae:Like she said, I go to Lansing Community College. It's an amazing school. I love that school a lot. I met a of good people through there. I met a lot of good, people who, like, done film and stuff like that.
Janae:I actually met somebody who was in one of my classes that actually won an Emmy for a documentary he did. Was very good. Was about, like, metro, like, stationary like stuff for people in like third world countries that don't have that stuff. It was really good. Watched it.
Janae:He did a good job. But, yeah. My major is digital media and cinema, which is basically film. It's just a fancy way of saying it. Hobbies, I would say I love listening to music.
Janae:I also write I'm writing the book right now. And I just got a gaming PC desktop. I love it. Love it. She been on she's been on it playing Sims.
Janae:It's mine. Literally bugs me about it. So Absolutely.
Jada:I have to.
Janae:And I would say what got me into film was just growing up, we went to the movies a lot and saw a lot of great stuff. Like, I think the I can't remember if it was a horror movie or was it the Avengers. But it was some movie my mom showed me and I really loved it and it was just about her explaining it to me, like explaining how they did it and like the plot and stuff like that that really interests me. So I always wanted to like, get into how, like, they write the script, like how they pick out their people to do the casting casting, and then how they do the sets design and stuff like that and the makeup. It just really interests me.
Jada:Yeah. So we're gonna talk about, like I said, we want to talk about a lot of different things with the film industry, a lot of things that they do good and a lot of things that they do bad. So getting into industry as big as film, how would you say you want to make your mark? Like, when you be out there as that director, what do you want to do differently than what everybody else is doing?
Janae:The type of movies that I loved watching was the ones that comfort me or relate to a problem I went through. Like, I feel like you can make a connection more with your audience if you give them something to relate to, whether it's a character, whether it's like a moment or experience or like a issue that somebody has had in their life. It makes you feel like, oh, they're talking to me, but through a screen and through, like, many different people, but everybody get, like, what's going on. And I just feel like if you do that, it makes people, like, stand like, not them stand out more, but you stand with them. Like, you're with them through it and basically
Jada:love that. I told you. She got some I told you. That's why I want her on here because, look, I know a little bit about film. Like I said, they know I'm a document production minor.
Jada:So I do a little about film. I know a little bit about the camera, but that's not mainly what I want to do as a career. So I definitely know that some of the things that you want to do, I have done. And even some things you've done, we've done together. You know, a little bit of stuff will be intertwined, but you definitely creativity is all I am creative.
Jada:I'm working on it. Like, my creativity definitely comes out in writing, or if something comes to my head, I can put it into words. But if you ask me to make it a video, that is why I fall short. Janae can make anything into a video and then she can also draw really well. She didn't pick that up either.
Jada:She can draw beautifully. Like creativity, thinking outside the box, anything that comes to her head, she's like, I just thought of this idea. What if we have three people in this room and they get chased by this guy? And I'm like, Hold on. How did you think of this in ten minutes?
Jada:Definitely all heard, so film is definitely what you need to do. But yeah, so basically, to start off, again, last episode we talked about representation in literature. We wanted to get into representation with black characters, more specifically in a lot of animated movies or animated TV series. One that we definitely talked about out there that I kind of forgot, but I definitely want to highlight here. The Disney show for Tiana got canceled.
Jada:Princess Tiana was supposed to get a TV series with Disney, and it was all hyped up, and it was supposed to come out around the same time Mufasa came out, because remember those two promo Instagram reels and they promoted it at the same time.
Janae:Are we really shocked though?
Jada:Are we really shocked? I wouldn't say we're shocked. I'm disappointed. I mean, I'm always disappointed, but like, shocked? No.
Jada:But the fact that the promos for Mufasa and Princess Tiana were the same time
Janae:What promos did you see?
Jada:Because I You didn't see the Instagrams?
Janae:The Instagrams?
Jada:Yes. It wasn't a lot, but it was a lot of posters like, coming out August 2025 or summer twenty twenty five.
Janae:Because I didn't they wasn't promoting that enough. Oh, yeah.
Jada:It definitely wasn't reaching people.
Janae:That's for sure.
Jada:It wasn't reaching at all.
Janae:I probably saw one, but that was about it. Mufasa was everywhere. Yeah. That that was actually a good film, though.
Jada:Yeah. Right. No shade to Mufasa. That was actually a really, really good movie. But it's the fact that you have these characters, or even when we talk about out there cosplaying, and it's the fact that you have these characters that are meant to represent different people, but they're not accepted.
Jada:Or the fact that they could go beyond the reach and break those stereotypes and break the memes and be that TV show that other people need, it's not accepted. So as a filmmaker and someone who's writing, like I said, she's writing a book, so check that out, and, you know, in your head, you're creating these characters. What is your character development scheme? How do you sit down and make a character? Because when I had my episode with Rayelle, who's our environmental reporter for the state news, we talked a lot about how sometimes characters in literature fit the box.
Jada:Nobody reached out the box when they had make a character. You got the jock and you got the cheerleader, the blue eyed white girl with the blonde hair, and then you got the guy who's chasing after her or she's chasing after him, and, you know, they fall in love or somebody gets cheated on and, you know, how do you build your character's scheme and make your characters unique?
Janae:Oh, that's a very good question. Like I said, I want people to be able to relate to what I'm talking about, especially since I'm, like, writing for my people, like black women, black men, all that stuff. Even some people of color, I put that in there too. But I want you to I would say stuff that is in our culture, like what we grew up with. Like, for instance, I have this idea for, like, a short film about the corner store.
Janae:Now, you know, our uncle Ronald used to take us to the corner store every chance he'd get. That was like, we literally walked down from mama house to the corner store just to get candy. So I would love to do something like that. Like, you know, we grew up in, like, what people call the ghetto or the trenches, but, you know, we grew up on that side. But, and there was a lot of stuff that we did that doesn't get highlighted enough, like going to the corner store or being watched over your great grandmother house while your mom and grandma go hang out somewhere else or just like, what you call it, going to the park or something like that or hanging out with the next door neighbor kids and stuff.
Janae:I just really want to know that the black experience isn't always about trauma and struggle. And we had a lot of good times growing up. And yes, it's life. We are going to struggle and we are going to go through things that we don't want to go to do. But we had good times.
Janae:Like, I can name you a bunch of good times I had throughout my childhood that I actually really, really miss. But it's like we don't always have to go on to bad. We can go on to good.
Jada:Yeah. It's definitely important you say that because there's definitely a trend you see with black films, black characters, or black story plot lines that people create that have that sense of struggle. I don't know when struggle and black people became so incoherently tied together, but I've never seen a characteror there's very few characters that are black, that don't come from the ghetto, or they didn't come from a time where they had to struggle, where they didn't have a lot. There's very few characters that get put in a realm of success or a realm of riches in literature and in film, so where they already started off good. You know, they didn't have to work for what they had.
Jada:They already had a lot. And that doesn't mean to say they didn't have to work for the next level, but there's not a lot where they start with something. A lot of people come from nothing and then make something. But, yeah, like you said, even coming from nothing, there's a lot of good times in the nothing. We don't have to talk about how, you know, paying bills was so hard.
Jada:We could talk about what we did in between time when we didn't have a lot. We could talk about the games that we made to pass the time and the way that that connected us closer together because we didn't have a lot. I feel like the connection portion definitely gets lost when talking about black films, and people are too comfortable assuming black people come from nothing.
Janae:Yes. Because, like, not every black person grew up in the hood or stuff like that. It's a lot of black people that grew up in the suburbs. It's a lot of black people that grew up being middle class or even higher class and stuff like that, depending on where they came from. Not to mention, I'm kind of I'm not tired of it, but I don't wanna keep seeing the awkward or weird black girl in film.
Janae:Oh, yes. Yeah. Like, I get I'm an awkward person. I'm not gonna lie.
Jada:I could
Janae:get awkward sometimes, but other times, like, why can't we have a black girl who's, like, dim headed? She's, like she want all this fancy stuff, like, legally blonde. Why can't we have a black person like that? Or why can't we have a black person that's, like, wanna be a doctor or something like that or that wants to be of course, we don't always have the black person. I'm Another thing I'm tired of of a black man being a jock.
Janae:Like, okay. Black men are good at sports. We get it.
Jada:But it's just kinda played out. Oh my god. Like,
Janae:why can't we have one that's, like like, some that are super nerdy or some that wants to be, like, dim headed or wants to be, like, popular popular or something like that. Like, why can't we have that too? Why do we always have to be in those two specific categories?
Jada:That, and can we please retire the black funny character?
Janae:Oh my god.
Jada:That's there to fill in.
Janae:Oh my god.
Jada:That you obviously can tell. They're the they're the first of all, the character that comes to my head a lot when I say this is Good Luck Charlie. What was her name on that show? I love her.
Janae:I love her as the
Jada:Yeah. It was Teddy's best friend or something like that. I it was it was one of the only black characters on that show, so everybody knew who I'm talking about. It was a black woman, but everything she said was funny. Every time she spoke, the laugh screen or, you know, the voices would start laughing.
Jada:And it's like the only thing she was there was for comedic relief.
Janae:Now that you said that, can we stop when the, black person is the comedic relief that they have to be aggressive? Like, they grab your shirt or something like that. Be like, I'll mess you up or something. Like, can we stop that? Like, no.
Janae:Not every black person is gonna come up to you and do that. Like, no.
Jada:And I think about it is I think a lot of it comes from some writers or even maybe some directors feel like they have to make a character that's out of the box for black people. Like, they think that when they hire a black actor or they get someone who wants to play this role, that the role that they created isn't enough for them, or maybe it doesn't represent black actors. I don't know how to put it, but something in my head makes me feel like these characters are written and the lines are written to represent them in this way. Like, black people can't be normal people. Like, the normal roles.
Jada:Like, flip the script if Teddy's best friend and Teddy switched. So the black girl was Teddy and then, you know, Teddy was the other girl. Like, you couldn't see that as comedic relief, or you couldn't see someone like that playing that huge, huge quote unquote of a role. So then they give it to the black person, but it's very dehumanizing and it's very detrimental because that's all they'll see you as. So, say that actor, which I feel like she said this in an interview or something, she wanted to go do a more serious role.
Jada:If that's where you start off or if that's all people know you as is funny, it's gonna be really hard for if you want to play that villain or if you want to play that doctor. You know what I'm saying? If you want to play that detective, they're not gonna take you seriously because people have always been giving you the lesser roles.
Janae:Yes, because like Kevin Hart, this man never played a serious role. He's always the funny guy. I can never, even just to me, I can never see him doing a serious role because he's always the comedic relief. Him and The Rock, they're always doing something funny. So if they were, like, in a serious role or something like that, I feel like people would never take
Jada:them seriously. Yeah. And with that, though, we definitely have another point of these executive producers who are black and these directors who've definitely broken that and have definitely paved the way to show you that black people can be these superheroes, these mythical characters, these serious characters, these characters that give you the plotline, like the meat and potatoes of a movie, they can be those people. So shout out to few of those people, definitely Issa Rae. Issa Rae was an executive producer in one of them days, and she was, I think, a producer and the lead of Insecure, which I loved Insecure.
Jada:I've rewatched that show like four times, I think. And we just saw one of them days, I want to go see it again. Marseille Martin, definitely a very young executive producer. She won an award for being the youngest black executive producer, I believe.
Janae:She'd be doing she'd be doing shot
Jada:lots of campaigns.
Janae:She'd be doing a lot of stuff for herself, and I love her.
Jada:She does her thing. My girl, Keke Palmer, who was also an actor one of them days. If you remember Keke Palmer from back in the day, True Jackson VP was that show. It didn't deserve Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon, okay?
Jada:The audience it had. I was such a True Jackson VP stan. I didn't understand why people didn't like the show. Was like one of the only black shows on Nickelodeon at the time it was coming out, and it was so good. And then, of course, you gotta highlight Stormy Reid, her thing.
Jada:She really put black people on the map, especially for those mythical movies, I would say, because when she was in A Wrinkle in Time, like, the way she played her character and the breakthrough that created as far as, like, just seeing a black person in these different worlds and time traveling, like, she really did her thing. And, of course, Ryan Cooley. I mean, we have to give credit to the man who made Black Panther and literally brought us the black RIP Chadwick man, who brought us the black superhero. We cannot have a list like that without highlighting him for black person one and two because he did his thing with two as I
Janae:think he worked on that. It's a new it's a new black horror movie that's coming to theaters. Think it's actually out I think he's the executive producer on it.
Jada:Oh, that's why
Janae:looks so
Jada:Yeah. Because that I don't what is the name? It's like the woman on the stairwell. Woman in yard or something Yeah. Looks really good if you obviously in the advertisements.
Jada:But, yeah, these are the people that these movies that you're watching, it's made by black people for black people. Like, have you ever seen one of them days? The stuff that they're doing and the way that they're going so hard to get this rent money oh, sorry if you ain't seen it, but you should have seen it by now. So, you know, little spoilers, but not too But the way they're just going about trying to figure out solutions to these problems I literally talked to Janae, I was like, that could have that's literally what we would have did. If somebody came to us and said, you need to give my money by 6PM, there wouldn't be nothing stopping us from getting that man his money at six p.
Jada:M. Like, the things that they went through definitely was relatable, like you said. And it takes people like this to make these movies so relatable, because I wouldn't have got that same feeling watching a movie if it was two white actors doing it.
Janae:Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to get it, because somehow it would have gotten way easier.
Jada:It would have gotten way easier. And two, you also got to think of setting. If it was two white actors, that movie wouldn't have been set in, like, the hoodie, the ghetto world, which I don't like these words, but or the hooder parts of town. It would have been said in more suburban areas, houses look alike, you know, everybody got a full paying job, all the houses come, you know, with everything they need. And that's another thing, too.
Jada:When I say for black people by black people, it's relatable in the sense of the way that they were living, how they treat the black residents versus the white ones. Because when that white lady moved in and her house had everything, and Keke Palmer character was like, You got AC. We didn't have AC in some
Janae:books. Countertops. Yes. Marble countertops.
Jada:She was like, it looked just like the website. And they were like, oh. Right. You know?
Janae:And Keke and SZA's apartment had holes in it Yeah. Falling and
Jada:stuff like that. And it's to show you that these things are real life. Yes, this is a movie, but these are real things that black people actually go through. Applying for an apartment, they're going to give youprobably, if you don't do your research and really push, they're going to give you lesser end apartments, not the way that it looks on the website. That's why they always say, or our mom always say, If you apply for an apartment or a house, go see it in person, because them pictures is not gonna be how it look in person.
Jada:They take all the nice pictures, but they're not gonna give you what they're advertisement. They want to get you to sign it first and then leave you with the rest. So a movie like that definitely showcased how you gotta take what you're dealing with. That's all you got. You gotta learn how to live with it, and you gotta keep it moving.
Jada:So, yes, definitely that. And then, like I put on here, figuring out solutions by any means necessary. Like, that movie highlighted that black people stop at nothing. There, we make everything out of nothing because we had no choice. So if you give us a problem, we're gonna make a solution.
Jada:It may be crazy, but we may have to do something drastic or extreme.
Janae:Like how
Jada:But we were gonna get you your some
Janae:of shoes. Out the, like, wire. She was trying to get the shoes.
Jada:Which, first of all, that's that scene itself was so funny because as a kid, I'm always like, why is people's shoes up there? Or, like, seeing the shoes on the wires, I'm like, Whose shoes is that? Who put them up there? But her going up there to get them shoes and getting electrocuted, I was like, Stop. Please, actually I was so furious.
Jada:But yeah, no. So yeah, definitely that. And then, like I said, we do want to talk about the good, but there also is still some really, really bad for black actors and producers in the film industry, specifically actors who are overworked and underpaid. And I know you wanted to talk a lot about, you know, the actors and the stuff they go through.
Janae:Oh, it's getting serious. Okay.
Jada:It's getting serious.
Janae:The number one person I wanna highlight is Taraji P. Henson. We know she was a big Taraji. Yes. She was a big star at Empire, and then she also had, did a couple other films.
Janae:I can't name them off the top of my head, but she's very well known throughout the industry. And it sucks to that to hear I think she went on a podcast or she did an interview saying that she's still underpaid for all the roles that she has done. And it really sucks because she's a really good actor and she really you can tell she really enjoys doing this. But to hear that the clothes that she wear for, like, award shows and stuff like that is borrowed and she has to give that back or that she's living paycheck to paycheck and stuff like that, it really sucks because you think that like how you say, we think that it's all life and glam because you're an an actor and stuff like that. But really, if you're not really, like, a white counterpart, you're not getting paid that much.
Jada:Yeah. Definitely brought up that. And it's I really like that, you know, the black actors or the producers are really coming out and being vulnerable with their pay gaps, because I think when you put celebrity behind anybody's name or you put actor or you put musician or you put director or writer and composer, average peopleI won't say normal people, because I feel like they're normal people, toobut average people would get the mindset of, oh, they're living in this big house in Hollywood, and they got two car, two door garages, and they have butlers. And, you know, every awards that they go to, it's custom made, and these are the gowns that they keep when it's like, no. These worlds and the way that they're living, like you said, a lot of people who go on the wet carpet, those dresses are rented.
Jada:So it's really they make sure that they don't mess up those dresses because they have to give it back to the designer, or they're paid out for a specific amount of time, and they have to give those garments right back. So those dresses aren't even theirs. You know what I'm saying? And it was so crazy to hear that. I'm like, that would make me feel like I still didn't make it.
Jada:Like, I can do 10 movies, but the fact that I have to put on this luxurious gown and really feel like, wow, I made it. And I gotta give it back. And I know it's a materialistic thing, but you gotta understand, these are the accolades that you deserve when you make it that far. A Taraji P. Henson having to give back her dress?
Jada:Like, a womanthiswe're talking about a woman who's in Empire, older black movies, baby boy, hidden figures. Like, she's done these top star roles and has acted her butt off ever since she's got in this industry, and she's still not reaping what she's sowing. And it's really mind boggling when you get people where it's like, Oh, that's not true. Or, you know, everybody is treated equally in this industry. It's movies.
Jada:What do you expect? It's film. This is how film works. And this is how film works for you, because it's meant to benefit you. You know what I'm saying?
Jada:It was never meant to benefit these people, but that doesn't mean it's okay. And now we should be at an age where we're like, okay, let's make it benefit everybody. Let's make it benefit these people. They put into work, too. And sometimes they put into work more than you, and they still don't get what they deserve.
Jada:You get it just because you're white. And the pay gap in every industry is so drastic. Doesn't matter if it's film or what, but the film is so interesting because these writers can go on writer strikes, where that period where we didn't have no new TV shows coming out or no new And I was meant to show you that you can't succumb these people to these working situations. People aren't going to sit down and not get what they deserve. You have to treat people fair.
Jada:There's no other way around it. Exactly. Or we're not gonna get nothing. We didn't have no movie for what? A year and a half, two years?
Jada:Yeah. We were sitting around like a
Janae:They pushed back Stranger Things. They pushed back so
Jada:many shows. Everything.
Janae:Because a lot of people did not want it to come to the limits. They didn't want us to come to it.
Jada:And it's really unfortunate we have to go as far as striking because you would think that writers or anybody in those deans where they're not in front of the camera, they would still get the work. They make the show. They tell you what to say. So how are we gonna sit here and say, oh, they're not gonna get it paid equally, or they're not gonna get as much, when you wouldn't have a show without them? Exactly.
Jada:It's really confusing to me. I don't understand it. I mean, I wish another person would be here and be like, Yeah, this is why. It wouldn't make no sense. But at least be here and give, you know, that explanation because it doesn't make any sense.
Jada:Yeah, it's crazy. So yeah, and definitely Oh, and this is another thing. The actors that are like who they are, I talked about this a little bit, it's crazy like when everybody talks about, you know, what's your story? Oh, what's your story? How did you start in the industry?
Jada:Know, how did you get here? Some people were like, oh, I took acting classes. I went to acting school. You know, I got a little bit of help. That's not what happened for black folk.
Jada:You know? Do we we, you know, we don't give those resources.
Janae:Yeah. We don't have those resources. Like, where like, most of the black people grew up that are actors now, they probably didn't have, like, somebody say, oh, you should go to this school or you should go there. Should go there.
Jada:I'll help you get in here. I'll help you with the application. Yeah, yeah. There's none of that. It's definitely you saw a gift, you worked on it yourself, you practiced it yourself, you landed a spot somewhere at the bottom, or you landed a spot somewhere where you never thought you would get, and then you worked your way up from there.
Jada:It was never mentor, no. Most people find a mentor, like, on their way, another black person who's been there for so long who sees like a younger black actor starting out. They're like, Okay, I'll help you out, things like that. But as far as starting out, that's all
Janae:you. Exactly.
Jada:That's all you. So, I guess then the question I have for you, Janae, is when you because you want to be a director, you don't necessarily want to act.
Janae:Yeah, I want to be a director, a screenwriter, and an author.
Jada:So, when you have these come on, triple entendre. Okay. I like that. But when you have these things let's see. Let's talk about director.
Jada:And you have these sets, and you're about to start casting people. And you see, you know, the the differences in your people. You know, you have people who are more qualified just because they're experienced, and you have people that really want to make the shot to get out there, to put their foot in the industry. How would you handle that balance? And how would you make sure that everybody gets their, you know, equal and equitable, I should say, opportunities to land in your film?
Janae:That's a good question. Well, if I see somebody that is more qualified and they do fit the role, I would personally go with them. But if I see the person that is trying to make it work and that has some parts but not fully for the part that I'm looking for, I could try to see if they fit the other role that I have. Because just because you're not, qualified and you haven't been here a long time doesn't mean you're not good. It just means you need to work on it.
Janae:And basically, if I gave him, like, a role that could be with some lines and could be just doing it like a action or something like that, it could help them get to where they're at. And I feel like I could try to give everybody an opportunity that meets their needs.
Jada:Yeah, I like that. And this is a question that you said you definitely want to talk about. We were out there going back to representation, so I'm about to read it verbatim. Why does the film industry want black people to relate to whiteness so bad?
Janae:I'm so glad you asked
Jada:that, because I've been waiting
Janae:to answer this one specifically. Because recently, I forgot her username, but it's this TikTok influencer that I follow. And she was talking about this exact point. She was basically saying that the reason why it's not a lot of representation or something like that is because they didn't never wanted us to relate to us. They want us to relate to whiteness because that's all they promote is whiteness.
Janae:And it's just crazy to me because, like we were talking about earlier, if it was two white women in one of them days, I cannot relate to the movie because it's like like we said, they will easily find an easier way to get it. They probably would get it somehow, like, from their parents or something like that. And I just feel like when it comes to, like like how I said with Legally Blonde, like, why can't we have a black person that's dim headed and stuff like that. We had to like make those characters in our head ourselves because it's a lot of people that relates to like Legally Blonde and stuff like that or relates to being the main character of the popular person, but they won't get emphasized because they're black. They want us to feel like that whiteness is, like, the key goal in each, like, in the world, like, they're the beauty standard and stuff like that, which is not true because everybody, whether whatever color you are, is beautiful.
Janae:And I just feel like we just need to get more, especially black people and people of color, just more in that light of being, like, the standard in the industry.
Jada:Absolutely. And once you start that train, obviously, starting something like that, it's gonna be very uncomfortable. Because even the people that are breaking the barrier and, you know, doing it themselves, it's very uncomfortable. It's a comfortable thing having so many eyes on you because they think it's wrong. It's different if you have eyes on you and people are like, oh, I love that.
Jada:Like, that's so unique. I love that. I want to do that. But that's not necessarily the case for the people that's breaking through in these things, because people are looking like, I don't want to watch that. That's wrong.
Jada:This is not how my Little Mermaid looked. You know, there's so much discourse about the black Little Mermaid, and there was so much stuff with, you know, just that's not that's not the story of the Little Mermaid. That's not how this
Janae:Like, with Anthony Mack being Captain America, oh, that's not my America. This is not how I
Jada:see Captain America, though. He's just bad throughout. No, he just wrote Anthony, Get State Captain. Bro, they aren't men all day, you know, but you ain't hear that from me. But, yeah, it's the same thing, you know?
Jada:He's eating a lot of flack because people aren't used to seeing black people in rows of those high power superheroes like Captain America. And not to say when he was Falcon, he was any less, you know, underneath, but it was a background character. He came in, he did his little lines, and he did his fight scenes, whatever, but Captain America was on screen. So, when you step into roles like thatand I'm sure he understands it being in the industry, especially being in Marvel for so longhe understood that it would come with a price. It would come with people not willing to watch simply because he was black.
Jada:People running their mouths and saying, you know, I don't like this. Why did we have the changing thing? Or where's Chris Evans?
Janae:Why can't he just keep the comics. It really follows the comics that they're going off
Jada:If if you read the comics, you know, this Marvel is following a book. You know, there was a book that was made, and Marvel is following this book that was written. These aren't new most of these ideas aren't new. They're following the comics that were pre written and they're making movies out of it. Come on now, y'all.
Janae:It looks crazy as another black character that's in Marvel is, I hate saying this, but the black Iron Man. The dude that be see, you don't even know. See, the dude that's playing the singer know
Jada:what you're talking about. I was like, I know who you're talking about.
Janae:To call him the black iron man because he don't really have a name
Jada:on his character name? I don't know. Rodney. Rodney. That's his superhero Rodney.
Jada:That's what that is. Yeah. Rodney. Yeah.
Janae:But what's his superhero name, though?
Jada:That's a great that's so well, that's all I got for you. That's all I got. That's all I got.
Janae:Exactly.
Jada:Like But that's still that's still a good example, though, especially, like, we're putting black in front of these names where all we have to say is Like, you know, like putting the black Captain America, which I've been seeing going around, like, oh, have a black Captain America. Like, no, we have a Captain America. Like, yes, he's black. We understand that. But we Captain America.
Jada:It shouldn't have to be so drawing to where so for the next four years, you're gonna reference Captain America as the black Captain America. Like, we're not just gonna say Captain America. That's kinda crazy to me, to where we have to shift our language or shift how we refer to these things just because a black person is withholding that position. That he's still Captain America, regardless if he's black or not. But now people are gonna always see that he's a black one, so they're gonna say the black Captain America.
Jada:Well, it's crazy how society changes their language to think that they're being inclusive and think that they're bringing people in when they're actually not, they're actually separating more than they're helping, because that's separating him from all the other Captain Americas. That's separating him from the recent Captain America, Chris Evans, who's white, to whether or not both Captain America, one's a white one, one's a black one. So, it's doing more harm than good, honestly. But, no, those are definitely good points. And another thing, especially with talking about that, is how would you describe woke culture in the film industry?
Jada:So wanting to come in and make movies with how many people are saying, oh, I hate being woke and all the kids are woke these days and, you know, back in my day and all that stuff. How would you describe what being woke is?
Janae:First off, I hate that word. I see it. Every little thing when it's talked about a person of color or a black person being in type some type of film. But if I have to talk about the person that says, like, oh, everything is woke, I would assume that it means, like, oh, why is everybody turning black now? Why is everybody being a person of color now?
Janae:Like, basically saying like, why are you making white characters into black characters? Which I agree we shouldn't be doing that. I feel like if you're going to have a black character, make it original, like, have an original story with it. But also, I had saw a comment, I think it was either on threads or Twitter or even Instagram. They were saying that, oh, just check out Disney.
Janae:Everybody's black now. I said, what? Everybody is not black. It's only one black princess. Every other princess is white.
Janae:Or Mulan, who's Asian. And then we have we just had got, like, a Hispanic family, El Canto. And then we had got, like,
Jada:what else? We're just now getting there. Right.
Janae:So these different things. We're just now getting here. And it's just like, no. Everybody is not black.
Jada:And first of all, with that connotation, I think when a lot of people say, especially with Disney, Oh, look at Disney, they're all black, I think that also further ties into how miseducated people are with race and ethnicity, and how people cannot tell the difference between different ethnicities and races because everybody not black. Look, they may be darker skinned, but everybody's not black. There are brown people in this world that they're trying to represent to, but you can't label everybody as black because you're boxing all these different people in that have different life stories, that have different life struggles. Yeah, they may relate in a bad way with racism and discrimination, but these cultures are different, and you can't label everybody as black because we're not all black. All these princes, they not black.
Janae:Look, no, only have one black princess.
Jada:They're not black. These stories, they don't even relate to the black community, because we don't experience them. This is a whole different community of people here and culture. Like Encanto, beautiful movie. I don't relate to nothing about that.
Jada:But when that movie came out, I saw so many people calling them black, and so many people like, oh, we finally have more representation for the black people. Yay. I said, what?
Janae:Yeah. Representation for in for black, but it's also representation for people who are mixed as well. Like, if you come from a a Afro Latino family or you're Afro Latina, it's they it shows you. It shows you what you grew up with. Like, I was so surprised when they showed, like, them actually speaking their language and stuff like that and showing their heritage.
Janae:But it's like, that's not fully black. Like, if we're talking about black, we're talking about African American black, like, in America. Okay. Don't see That is
Jada:not the same thing. But that goes to show that, you know, first of all, schools don't teach each other, and they also don't teach it the right way, because that's kinda how, like, elementary, middle, and high schools even try to teach it, that they try to teach it, they're like, Oh, there's white, and then there's everybody else. Like, if ever filled out a document where it say, Black or African American, and it's had the parentheses Hispanic or non Hispanic, yeah, that's the way of just, you know, pretty much trying to lump everybody together and not having all those boxes that represent everybody. And it's really good you popped up biracial people, because I'm in a communication diversity class and we speak a lot about how do we label or where do these people fit in. Because, for example, if you're black and white mixed, you're either too black or you're not white enough.
Jada:So, the black community is not going to take you because they think you're too white, but the white community is not gonna take you because you are black. So, where do you go? And it sucks to see that there are these people. And it really also ties into film, because that's where you kind of try to represent for the wrong reasons, because instead of getting somebody who's fully black that could play a role, you get a mixed person. On camera, not my words, words I've definitely heard from having, you know, different conversations.
Jada:I've heard
Janae:that so many times.
Jada:Opinions people have, but the lighter, fairer tones. And it's funny because I had a presentation in that class, too, where I talked about my experience as a journalist, you know, getting different internships. You know what journalism? People always ask you, Oh, do you want to be on TV? Is that something you want to do?
Jada:And I always say, Well, no. I could never see myself as, like, a news anchor or things like that. But I'd give it a try, and I've definitely gotten a, Oh, you definitely have to change your hair. That color's too much, and it's gonna be harder for you because you are a darker skinned black woman. Now, as you can tell, my twin sister here yes, we are twins.
Jada:I'm the older one. She is a lighter skinned black woman, but she's still black. So a lot of the things she will go through as far as the work industry would be kinda easier for her because of her skin tone. And I I agree with
Janae:you because even when we were going through school, like high school, I like, people would comment, like, how certain things about me and say different stuff about you, and I never got that until I realized, oh, it's colorism. Yeah. Colorism.
Jada:And colorism is very big in the black community as well too.
Janae:That's another thing that I address.
Jada:Like, yes. And that's when we brought it up high school. Like, oh, Janae, so what she is, beautiful. And, you know, all of that stuff. But when it came to me, who's obviously a lot darker than Janae, and kind of the darkest one of our whole intermediate family, I get different connotations with my words.
Jada:I get different meaning. I can pick it up to words like tired tired.
Janae:Think they we lie when we say we're twins. I'm like, no. Just because she's darker than me doesn't mean we're
Jada:not twins. I just stopped fighting. I'd like, yeah. I lied. We're not think black women are the only women in the world
Janae:that can produce children that come out different type of colors. So that point with that.
Jada:Can have the lightest child in the world and still be black, you can have the darkest child in the world and they'd still be black. Black comes in all shades.
Janae:I think it's called jeans. Yeah. Something like that.
Jada:Yeah. Yeah. It comes in all shades and all colors and is beautiful regardless, but it's still black. But that doesn't mean that you should give the lighter black people a better chance than the darker ones. Exactly.
Jada:Because they're still black at the end of the day. We all have the same struggles and the same we come from the same place. You know what I'm saying? We can give the same things. But, yes, that's definitely true.
Jada:And I definitely feel like it's so true in film. It's something that I wish would change, because when you have that on screen time, when I see a dark skinned black woman or even black man on the screen that's like even darker than me, you know, Stevie's complexion on the screen in film, I get so excited, because I can just imagine the naysayers who look at him or her and it's like, Wow, I don't like that. Or just see it and it's like, Wow, you sure they know what they're doing? Like, really just nitpicking and, like, basically saying that, Oh, they can't do this. For what?
Jada:They have the expertise, they have the experience, they've done it before. What's the difference between you wanting them or not? Oh, they just don't fit our image, they don't fit our brand. It's not who we're going for. Just say it's because they're dark skinned.
Jada:That's all it is. That's literally all it You can get the
Janae:pants that you want.
Jada:Literally. Okay. And I guess something that we can end on for this episode. So, me and Janae are very big. Like she said earlier, we do a lot of video gaming, and we watch anime.
Jada:We're pretty big anime fans. She got me into anime and got me re back into anime, because I definitely was one of the people that was like, Oh, anime trash. And like, Oh, no. But she got me back into it. And a lot of the huge things we've talked about is how a lot of cosplayers that want to cosplay these characters are black.
Jada:But we enter a community that is not welcoming, and we enter a space that is not welcoming to black cosplayers because these characters aren't black. So, it's kind of like to what you said, why are you portraying a character that isn't you? So what would you say about your cosplaying experience? Have you got any negative connotations of cosplays? You've done.
Jada:We also go to this convention called DreamCon. Shout out RDC. Shout out RDC, you know, collab or something, Mark, you know, just saying. But to put it into more simpler terms, it's basically the black Comic Con. So, you know, Comic Con is this big, you know, event where all the, you know, cosplayers come for a different video game or anime or even TV show that's animated, and you come and you can dress as these characters.
Jada:Dream Con is the same way for black people. It's a space where you're not judged, where you're not harmed for representing a character you really, really like even though they're not black. You can come and you can be these characters and you can meet other people who like the characters as well. Like, they have different segments of, like, DreamCon cos DreamCon cosplays. Demon Slayer cosplay is what I meant to say, which shout out Demon Slayer, can't wait till that comes back on.
Jada:And then Hunter x Hunter, Naruto One Piece. One Piece. Like, all these people that wanna dress about these characters can come together and just have fun. And you can be like your character. You can say lines from the show.
Jada:Like, it's super, super fun, and it's just welcoming. So how would you say your experience has been as far as, you know, wanting to, you know, cosplay and just show homage to these characters?
Janae:Well, the last few times we went this last year was
Jada:our third year, right, going there? I think so.
Janae:Yeah. Last few times, I had cosplay as somebody from Jujutsu Kaizen. I cosplay as somebody from
Jada:Oh my god. Taylor did too. Remember the day they walked in. They were ghetto. And I saw them and I was like, you're a character, but I can't put my finger on it.
Jada:And then they said it. I was like, yes.
Janae:Oh, that's funny.
Jada:Shout out JJK. I love JJK.
Janae:And then I was something else. I can't remember. But fast forward, this year, I'm gonna be Dracula from Monster High because Monster High was my stuff growing up. I love that stuff. I'm gonna be drag I said I'm gonna be Dracula.
Janae:Alright. And, you know, I kinda feel like if I were to post it on Instagram or something like that, I feel like I would get kinda, you know, a bit of hate because, oh, Dracula is white. No. She's not. She's a vampire.
Janae:She's pale. My gosh. No blood. Yeah. You can't even see her in the mirror.
Janae:So, what's the problem? And then they'd be like, Oh, why didn't you do Claudine? Like, Oh my god.
Jada:Oh my god. Because you know, sometimes they say, Oh, but they have Claudine, or Oh, they have such and such. Okay, but I wanna be Dracula. What's the I
Janae:wanna be Or if I wanna be Frankie or Cleo. Like, what's the problem?
Jada:I wanna be this person. And that's, again, another good point, because I definitely see, like, a lot of cosplayers. You know, TikTok, so many people cosplay on there and they, you know, showcase, and they do it, first of all, really, really well. Like, these black cosplayers look just like the characters. But there's this one girl, I can't remember her username.
Jada:I'm gonna find his username for these people. My bad, y'all.
Janae:But I can't remember her
Jada:username, but she does a lot of JJK cosplays. And when she was doing the cosplays, she got a lot of comments like, oh, you're ruining the anime. We don't like seeing that. You're doing it wrong. You'll never be this character.
Janae:Or it'd be like, good cosplay, wrong skin. Yes.
Jada:And it's like, what do you gain from that? What do you really get from that? These people are expressing their love admiration for this show, and what are you getting out of that from being negative? They're not doing anything wrong. They're actually being the character better than you They're promoting Right?
Jada:Okay. It's presale promo. Come on now. Exactly. And it's like, when are we ever just gonna see that all these people yo, we have something in common.
Jada:Our commonality is that we love anime and we love the characters that anime represents. Exactly. Why do we have to get into, I look like this and I look more like them, so you can't be them because you don't look like them. Exactly. Why do we have to get into that?
Janae:That actually gives me another point, but I'm gonna say something before that. But, like, recently I had saw another, cosplayer. She cosplayed as Nicole from Go Ball Washington, know, mom. And somebody was like, Nicole's not black. I'm like, she's a blue cat.
Janae:She's a blue cat. Blue. What does that have to do with race? Like, people say, oh, race isn't everything. You're literally bringing it into everything.
Janae:It really is. Like, if I cosplay a cat, literally a blue cat, or ask their, dad as, like, a female version of their dad, they're gonna be like, you're not black. Like, no. It's a it's a animal. It's an animal.
Janae:Like, I'm cosplaying that animal. Or like, but Jacky Lure, I'm cosplaying a vampire. Yes. They're supposed to be pale, but why can't it's black vampires. Like and then that just bring me to the other point of, what you call it?
Janae:Like your thing went up. My fault. Oh, love it. That bothered me. When you, cosplay as certain things, like, why can't it be more like black characters instead of thinking, like, one character that has darker skin is black or a person of color?
Janae:Like, it always leaves it leaves us questioning, and then it brings more arguments, like, oh, you're just assuming that they're black or those like Yeah.
Jada:It's dark and anime. It'll never outright tell you. Like, there'll be signs, but obviously, first of all, anime is a completely different culture than black and white in general. Exactly. So, one first of all, we're entering a new space where the culture isn't our own.
Jada:And we're trying to do it in a respectful way and pay homage to these characters. But, yeah, you get the character who has kind of the darker skin, and you kind have to be like, Is this their black character? Is this giving us that? Is that who this is supposed to be? Right.
Jada:When in all honesty, I mean, does it matter? Exactly. We all like these characters, and all we're trying to do is showcase that, you know, we wanna be you. Right. That's all gospel is.
Jada:We wanna be these characters who has these powers and can do these And another anime, which, I mean, people go back and forth if this is anime or not, but Dragon Ball Z, like, when you bought up the AmazelWear Gumball stuff, Stevie, my boyfriend, really loved Dragon Ball Z. Favorite anime slash show ever. He loved Dragon Ball Z. But it's a lot of characters in there that skin's, like, green and red and all that stuff. And the community's like, oh, no, they're black and then they're white.
Jada:But it's like, are they really? Like, they're green. They're just
Janae:the color.
Jada:I mean, I get the mannerisms and people try to really force that bit, but they're green. You said, she's she's a blue cat. I'm so lost. What are we talking about?
Janae:Exactly. And the thing I thought of before before I had said that point is, why do, like, when other people, like, outside the black community get offended when we make stuff personally for us? Like, recently, I had saw a news report where it was this, white girl. She was offended that she couldn't get into this all black, what you call it, Call of Duty group because she's white. We we have these spaces for us because we get reprimanded for liking games, anime, and stuff like that.
Janae:Like, we make our own groups, but they want to still come in and invite themselves and then get mad when we say no. Like, you're telling our you always like, people online literally say, why don't you make your own characters? Why don't you make your own group for this? Why do you have to be in ours? But then you'll get mad at us when we do it.
Jada:Like It's time for y'all to see how it feels. You told us to get your own space and make your own stuff and create your own things, so now we are. And you see that it's better than yours, and it's so much fun. Right. Now you think you have the entitlement and the authority to come in and be a part of it anyway when it's not meant for you.
Jada:There's some stuff here that is meant just for black people, because we don't have a lot of these spaces often. We don't have a lot of these opportunities to truly connect with people and just be black. Like, you know, when you ever get in that group or even movies like we talked about, like, one of them days, it truly felt like a, wow, this is a black movie, a good black movie, a movie that's meant to bring community and we can laugh about the things they went through, because we can relate to it and bring examples from our own lives. And it also creates a sense of awkwardness when you try to say a joke or you try to say something that's black, and then you have the non black person that's like, oh, don't get that. Or I don't know what that means.
Jada:Exactly. Or they're like, oh, okay. But anyways, here's what I do, and it's like, that's not what that's for. Exactly. You know, that's not what that's meant to do.
Jada:But, yeah, no, I definitely agree about that. But, yeah, before we wrap up
Janae:I have a oh. Did you have one last point? Or I
Jada:have Oh, no. Go ahead.
Janae:You go ahead for Okay. Can we stop promoting white and black relationships? It's so many other interracial relationships. Like, why does it have to be with a white person or it have to be even with a black person? Like, you know, it's like Asian and Indian people that are together.
Janae:Like, I saw that one time, and it was so cute. I was like, they're so cute together. Why can't y'all promote this type of interracial relationship? I'm so tired of seeing, like we said, with mixed people on the screen with a black father or a white mom. I'm tired of or a black woman with a white man.
Janae:And I'm like, I'm so tired of seeing it. Like, it's other people you can be with. Like I said, Asian, Indian. It could be Indian and Filipino. It can be, what you call it, Thai and Korean.
Janae:Like, why can't we do different cultural backgrounds?
Jada:I definitely think the word interracial has fallen really, really hard in the cuffs of black and white because I also think people are kinda scared to go underneath black and white. Because not to say it's easier, but it's easier, if that makes sense
Janae:Yeah.
Jada:It's far as, like cultures and customs and traditions that you kind of have to do your research with, which I'm saying we definitely should because there's so many people in this world that do not get highlighted, that should be. And like you said, so many other interracial couples that probably don't even think they're interracial because they're not black and white. Are other things. There are other ethnicities that are together, or there are other races that are notthat are limited, I should say, that people don't talk about or think about. And they're like, Oh, is this classified as interracial?
Jada:Are we interracial? Are we two separate racials? Are we the same thing we don't even know? I definitely think a lot of stuff has I definitely think biracial and mix has been branded to just be black and white, when people so much more than black and white.
Janae:Right. It's so much more that could be into that box and stuff like that. Like, how you saying it might be like cultural differences or cultural like backgrounds. I wanna see the struggle of like you marrying an Indian person and then you have a different like religion or something than them. I wanna see that.
Janae:It's different than seeing black, and it's different from seeing white. I literally wanna see that on screen. Like, what did what did they go through to make this relationship work? Like, it would be so interesting to see that. Like, I would tune in all the time if it was a show.
Jada:That's a good take, honestly. I haven't heard that take a lot. Honestly, that's a good take. I told her she had some good stuff. Okay.
Jada:We've been yapping a lot.
Janae:Yeah. We're we're yapping.
Jada:But it was really, really good. I told her I keep y'all notebooks open, and they better have been open today. But to wrap this up, Janae does a lot of content creation. She is on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram. What else you want?
Janae:You are that's all. She
Jada:does a lot of that stuff. She does days in the life. She does reviews. She does mukbangs. She does she gets sponsorships.
Jada:My girl has sponsorships under her belt. Look at them glasses. That sponsorship. Come on. Hit her up.
Jada:And she does so much stuff, and she's really, really good at it. This is definitely something that Janae has wanted to do for a long time, and I'm so happy she started doing it, and she's very consistent, very consistent. So shout you out. I'm letting you do self promo. I don't let people do this often.
Jada:You gotta pay me, but, you know, you don't have to pay I'm gonna pay you. You don't have to pay me. Self promo.
Janae:Okay. My Instagram is my first name and last name, which is j a n a e underscore v a s s e r, not a r, e r
Jada:Clap that. Clap
Janae:that. Fourteen, and then my TikTok is at little v fourteen. I I it was a random name. Don't judge me for it.
Jada:Brother. What's the background? I'm short. Types. I I like
Janae:that, actually. And I don't have a lot of followers on TikTok, but, you know, I just do that. And then for YouTube, it's NaeS, n a e s, lifestyle, and then I think it's, like, one four nine eight. Some random numbers. Yeah.
Janae:They gave me random numbers at the end. I didn't want that, but they just did that.
Jada:Right. So But, yes, follow my girl. She does so much interesting stuff. Like, if you like day in the lives, if you like the routine videos, the what I eat in a day videos.
Janae:I'm also about to start I do have a business page that I wanna dedicate to film. I'm also about to start doing movie reviews and talking about a lot of stuff in the film industry.
Jada:Tell her you'll hit her up. She does everything. Like, you wanna book her? Bro, hit her up. Come on now.
Jada:But alright, y'all. This was a really, really good episode. Like I said, I've been wanting to get Janae on here since All Shade Chocolate started and I'm super happy you came on here. I feel like you finally get to put the face to the name of all the stories I've been telling and all the things I've said about me and Janae. No.
Jada:I'm just like No. Don't believe her or why not? All the stuff I said about me and Janae from my childhood and things that we went through, this is her. This is the wonderful, wonderful Janae. Hopefully, she'll be back
Janae:sometime Oh.
Jada:Hold on now. Anyways follow her on socials all that all that stuff and yeah this has been On Stated Chocolate where Janae and I have brought the sweetest the hottest black culture to MSU and remember to stay sweet. Bye!