What you describe is a phenomenon present in almost every boardroom in America: how do we keep making money like we've been making money while changing as little as possible? Do the things we've always done to be successful.

As you point out though, eventually times change and the formula gets stagnant, and success itself generates enough critical mass that nobody wants to change the status quo, upset the apple cart, or if you'll allow, "mess with the money train."

It's especially true in technology and in the merger of technology with pop-culture. Companies that were once Billion Dollar (or more) companies that no longer exist is a Who's Who list: Digitial Equipment Corporation, Compaq, to some degree even IBM, Myspace, and many, many others. In the sense that it's possibly not evolving, TP's entertainment empire is no different.

I think your article has a lot of fantastic points. I do wonder if the movies you've identified represent overused tropes or if they actually represent people's real-life stories. My guess is the answer is somewhere in-between. I grew up knowing men who represented many of the stereotypes conveyed in some of these movies, sometimes in my own immediate family.

Another thing to consider is if we as black men want to introduce more nuanced and more varied perspective on our histories, we simply need to write and publish more. I don't have any statistics to back this up, but it sure feels like black women do a better job of telling their stories than we do.

In any case, thank you for your excellent piece, even if I disagree with parts of it.