Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Films featuring a white protagonist in Africa

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus. Majorly _{(o rly?)} 15:44, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Films featuring a white protagonist in Africa

Strikes me as a rather random topic. Would make a great essay topic- looks like it's got it's thesis with how Africa is used to appear "exotic" and that it consequently gives Africa a poor image- but Wikipedia isn't the place for that. CanadianCaesar Et tu, Brute? 08:40, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

• Well, enough sources to convince me it's a real topic- the article needs sourcing, but IMO the editors should get time for that. CanadianCaesar Et tu, Brute? 09:34, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
• Strong Delete Compares too easily with Wikipedia:Listcruft#Examples. I can't imagine who would be a targetted audience for this list, but I do believe it would be very small. Autocracy 08:49, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
• Keep. The article gives a documentary, an academic paper, and 2 news stories on this specific topic. This is hardly a random topic, and I could imagine a lot of people being interested in this list, such as Africans and sociologists. Any WP:OR or WP:NPOV can be taken out for the article to solely list the films. –Pomte 09:59, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
  • If this article works from sources, that's not very clear. And the documentary doesn't look like it's about this specific topic, namely, a movie about a white person in Africa. CanadianCaesar Et tu, Brute? 10:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
  • keep why is this article up for deletion again. the issue has already been discussed.Muntuwandi 11:36, 10 March 2007 (UTC) see discussion[1]
• Delete per non-existence of Films featuring a black protagonist in Europe or Novels featuring a generic caucasian antagonist in a high-fantasy setting. This level of arbitrary specificity in detail is not necessary and would lead to an overly-bloated Wikipedia. Shrumster 16:07, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
  • keep Issues directly related to race and ethnicity are not "arbitrary specificity". At the heart of this lies very serious issues. There are but a handful of hollywood blockbuster movies that have a theme about africa. But for a few exceptions most are told from the perspective of white superstars. The Los Angeles Times published the article

Tarzan's children: Why movies about Africa require white saviors.[2]

• • If the la times could write an article about this, then it shows that this is a very critical aspect and not some arbitrary characteristic. The article further mentions the changes that the movie industry is going through. without the history of movies in Africa, one may not appreciate the significance of films like hotel rwanda or even understand why Forest Whitaker won an oscar for The Last King of Scotland (film).
  • "Films featuring a black protagonist in Europe"- if all European movies featured an African protagonist and were told from the perspective of africans wouldn't that seem odd. It hasn't happened so we would not need to create such an article.Muntuwandi 22:49, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

• Delete per Shrumster SecurID 19:21, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
• Delete Original Research. This article may use published sources, but it does not follow them closely. Lotusduck 19:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
• Delete - the article holds no function other than being a superfluous list seeing as there's an eponymous category which does a splendid job already. --Joffeloff 01:24, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
  • but the list has no descriptions and the article does.Muntuwandi 01:56, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
• Keep per reasoning by Pomte and coverage of the issue by highly notable sources. Mermaid from the Baltic Sea 05:07, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
• Keep: there is no question that it has enough sources to establish that it is a notable topic and capable of being verified. There is no violation of WP:NOR - compiling a list of things that obviously belong in a given category does not constitute "original research." Otherwise every list on Wikipedia that is not a direct copy of a list somewhere else would be original research.--Fagles 22:27, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
• Keep - This is a very important topic and one that deserves an article: it is perhaps a result of its title that it finds itself here. I can't think of a better one though. Driller thriller 07:49, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Comment - I had a thought that maybe the subject matter of the article could be broadened and the article could be renamed to something like Ethnic stereotypes in depictions of Africa to match up with Ethnic stereotypes in popular culture and Ethnic stereotypes in American media. It's just a thought, but it might help step away from the problem of "listiness" that the article has now. Driller thriller 11:51, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

• Keep the topic is obviously encyclopedic, verifiable and nontrivial on a serious subject. Noroton 02:11, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
• Keep - The topic is interesting but the title may be incorrect. This should be Western films featuring a white protagonist in Africa. Besides that I think it's a worthwhile look at a segment of American and European film making. --68.114.61.89 04:15, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
• Keep. This is by no means "cruft". A number of sources are provided in the article that show this to be a real and valid topic. We don't have "African protagonist in Europe" because such a genre of films does not exist and/or has not been written about. Also, the nomination was withdrawn. -- Black Falcon 07:07, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
• Delete, listcruft, trivias. Pavel Vozenilek 01:06, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.