Talk:Black Is King

Production company

Hi Jedi94! Thought it would be best to start a discussion here. Parkwood Entertainment has been named as the production company in the film's credits and in all of these sources: 1234567. I hope that we can follow this majority. Bgkc4444 (talk) 14:01, 5 August 2020 (UTC)Bgkc4444

No one's denying that Parkwood Entertainment is one of the film's production companies, but we also have sources from reliable, reputable trade publications within the film/entertainment industry, including The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and here again, that also explicitly report Walt Disney Pictures as a production company with Parkwood. The studio's logo is also included at the beginning of the film's opening credits. ~ Jedi94 (Want to tell me something?) 19:06, 5 August 2020 (UTC)

@Jedi94: We should follow the majority of sources, and the majority of sources state that Parkwood Entertainment is the sole production company. Furthermore, the Variety article just copied what was on this Wikipedia article before, which is why Beyoncé is credited as "music by" and "producer", which she is not, and as the sole writer, director and cast member. Bgkc4444 (talk) 16:31, 9 August 2020 (UTC)Bgkc4444

You are forming your own conclusion with your unsupported claim about Variety "copying" Wikipedia. We have seperate reliable secondary sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy that report two production companies. According to Wikipedia's guidelines, when we have sources with contradicting information on a subject and none of them can be demonstrated unreliable, then the article should include both pieces of sourced content to maintain a neutral point-of-view for the reader. We do not choose which one of them is true. ~ Jedi94 (Want to tell me something?) 03:36, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

About the reviews

@Bgkc4444 and Alecsdaniel: I was evaluating whether this article needs semi-protection (I decided it doesn’t) and I noticed the beginnings of an edit war between the two of you about reviews. Please come here to the talk page to discuss your differences, and maybe reach agreement or some kind of compromise. Do not WP:Edit war. -- MelanieN (talk) 21:48, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

I'm glad you brought this into the discussion. As mentioned, the paragraph starts by saying that the work was reviewed positively, but that there were some questions about how does it actually help the Black community of Africa. The answer that "she doesn't have to actually do that, she's not a politician" is a bit strange, but it is still a valid question asked in those articles. With an approval rate of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, naturally the reader will want to know if there was any criticism, but that section only focuses on the praise the work received, which doesn't make it neutral. Alecsdaniel (talk) 09:41, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

@MelanieN: Thank you for this!

@Alecsdaniel: I have a few points here:

1. As there is a discussion started here, you should not be continuously forcing your edits onto the page.
2. You should be attributing these statements to the people who wrote them.
3. You want to ask "how does it actually help the Black community of Africa", but there is no evidence that this is an aim of the film, and in fact those involved in the film have stated that the message of the film is for the African diaspora, and not for Africans on the continent.
4. If you want to represent certain writers' views, you need to represent the views present in the source with due weight, meaning that you cannot take one negative sentence (out of context and that is rebutted in the same source, see point 5) from an overwhelmingly positive review and add it to the article giving greater emphasis on the very minor negative point.
5. You are misrepresenting the authors' views. In the first source, Young rebutts the point you added, saying that there are "limits of a production like this" and that "Beyoncé takes great pains to associate Blackness not just with literal kings and queens, but also with community, consciousness and greatness" (which Beyonce has said is the aim of the film and not literal regality). In the second source, the point you added was said by a Twitter "user who goes by Radiocranberry" and "college student Grace Bassey", whereas the authors of the article disagree and say "Actually, we don't mind the animal prints so much. As a Kenyan professor living in the U.S. and a Nigerian doctor living in Nigeria, we believe that ultimately Black Is King is a timely celebration of Blackness. Considering the current global push of the Black Lives Matter movement and the increased international advocacy against racism, the time has come for a film like this." In the third source, the author immediately says after writing what you added "But Beyoncé is a singer, songwriter, producer, director, and dancer, not a historian or politician, so it’s hard to say that Black Is King oversteps any boundaries in its simple mission to elevate Black beauty and foster Black unity." You called this "a bit strange", but that's the answer your source gives, not me.

There's nothing wrong with adding negative points, but please make sure they are represented fairly and they follow the Wikipedia guidelines. Thank you! Bgkc4444 (talk) 12:17, 11 August 2020 (UTC)Bgkc4444