Netflix adds Black Lives Matter collection as its own genre - Los Angeles Times
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Netflix adds Black Lives Matter collection as its own genre

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Netflix added a Black Lives Matter section to its genre tab on Wednesday, responding to viewers’ interest in titles related to racial injustice, discrimination and systemic racism.

Even though the collection is new, its title tag insists that it’s “more than a moment.” The streaming giant’s main Twitter account has also been posting messages of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

“When we say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ we also mean ‘Black storytelling matters,’” read a Netflix tweet Wednesday morning. “With an understanding that our commitment to true, systemic change will take time – we’re starting by highlighting powerful and complex narratives about the Black experience.”

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A Netflix spokesperson says the company has no plans to remove the Black Lives Matter genre tab.

Drawing on documentaries, films and TV series, among the 48 titles in the collection are: “Da 5 Bloods,” “LA 92,” “American Son,” “13th,” “They’ve Gotta Have Us,” “When They See Us,” “Becoming,” “Moonlight,” “Self Made,” “Pose,” “Malcolm X,” “Orange Is the New Black” and Beyoncé’s “Homecoming.” (Here’s the full lineup.)

The new Black Lives Matter collection arrives on the heels of “The Help” spiking in viewership recently on Netflix. But even one of the film’s stars, actress Bryce Dallas Howard, acknowledged that the 2011 period drama is “a fictional story told through the perspective of a white character and was created by predominantly white storytellers.”

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“We can all go further,” Howard wrote on social media and recommended other “powerful, essential, masterful films and shows that center Black lives, stories, creators, and / or performers.”⁣

And no, “The Help” is not part of Netflix’s new Black Lives Matter collection.

Delroy Lindo’s performance is a seething standout in the Netflix-produced adventure saga “Da 5 Bloods,” from filmmaker Spike Lee.

June 10, 2020

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