Just because Valentine’s Day is over, doesn’t mean romance is too! Black Love exists 365, soooo because of that, I accepted another post for Love in Color! This time the guest poster is someone you all might know!:
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TOP FIVE BLACK #OTPS
Hi there! I’m Kosoko, the author of I’M SO NOT OVER YOU, published by Berkley Romance, and if you know anything about me, you know I love tv and movies.
Like, seriously, I devour cinematic content.
So, when Take Me Away asked if I wanted to write something about BIPOC love stories, I knew exactly what I wanted to focus on; some of my top five favorite Black romance couples in fiction. Reading and watching love stories is how I decided I wanted to write I’m So Not Over You, a fake dating, second chances rom-com about a Black 20 something who has to still be madly in love with his ex in order to get his dream job, and ends up falling deeper in love with a man who broke his heart the first time around…and learning more about himself in the process. Black romances helped me process my own romantic wants, needs, and feelings. I hope my debut rom com does the same for you!
But more importantly, here is my list of my top 5 favorite Black romances.
LAST HOLIDAY (2009) – Last Holiday is a quintessential Black film and a nice fairly mindless rom com. When Queen Latifah discovers she has a brain tumor, she wants to go all out and have one last holiday. So she cashes out her retirement, and all her savings, and ends up flying to Europe. But the real beauty of this movie is her relationship with LL Cool J. It’s timeless, effortless, and such a beautiful movie about seizing the moment.
HITCH (2005) – You see a trend here? So many of these rom-coms come from the PEAK rom-com era; the early 2000s. And we can’t talk about rom-coms in the early 2000s without talking about the movie Hitch. It’s a recipe for success, Will Smith as a man who thinks that he can make anyone fall in love, especially women; Albert, the man who thinks he isn’t worth any woman’s time of day but still wants love…and of course, Will Smith meeting his match? Priceless.
JUST WRIGHT (2010) – This is quickly approaching being a Queen Latifah stan account, but we can’t talk about Black rom-coms and not give her her flowers. Just Wright could be remade now into a movie or book (and if they do, call me). A perfect modified “Romeo and Juliet, wrong side of the tracks, never meant to be” story between a physical therapist and a basketball star? This is the type of plot we EAT UP nowadays. And the music? Exceptional.
THE PHOTOGRAPH (2020) – This is Issa Rae’s world and we’re just living in it. THE PHOTOGRAPH has a plot we’ve seen before, but typically in white lead movies so its nice to see Black men and women getting a love story that bounces through time and doesn’t deal with heavy themes of slavery, racism, or crime. Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield’s chemistry is FIRE. I’m so glad this movie exists and can usher in a new age of romantic writers, and movie goers.
THE BODYGUARD (1992) – Am I breaking the rules here a bit? Yes. Is The Bodyguard a rom-com? No. Is it a romance? Yes. Whitney Houston is at her peak here. The longing. The sexual tension. The enemies to lovers. The thrills. I knew I wanted to include this on the list because the soundtrack alone has set so many writers into literary motion. It is such a good movie with such a bittersweet ending. If you want a romance that’s steamy and thrilling? You have to check this one out.
Romantic comedies, and romances, that star black characters who are authentically black, without leaning into stereotypes is a hard thing to find. These five movies that I’ve listed are, to me, some of the best movies that represent black love and black people in a holistic and comprehensive way. I wrote my debut rom-com, I’m So Not Over You, as not only an homage to romance books and movies but also as a way to increase representation of black We Are Men, who are vulnerable, sexy, and deserve love just like the rest of us.
I hope, if you get the chance, you not only check out these rom coms, but also my debut novel, coming out February 22nd!
Kosoko
Ok so the body Guard is not a rom com, but it is acceptable because it is ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER. Whitney is one of my faves and I loved this movie. Also all the other movies you mentioned are some of my faves! I just re-watched Just Wright and The Photograph the other day! Ugh so good!
Diverse Book Blogger. Diverse YA Librarian. Wonder Woman enthusiast. Bookish Blerd. "GryffinClaw" Geek extraordinaire. Pitbull mom. She/her
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