Letter to Universal about Babies.....

January, 24th, 2013 Thursday


From: Brother Tracy Gibson,

President and CEO OF:

Brother Tracy Gibson and Associates, Inc.

And The Black Millionaire’s Network

213 South 49th Street

Philadelphia, Pa 19139-4205

12154716494

BlockBoi75@Yahoo.Com

BrotherTracy11@Gmail.Com



Universal, Producers of Babies

Office of the President and CEO

100 Universal City Plaza

Universal City California 91608

Dear Career Executives, President and COEs at Universal:

I recently [just today] watched your delightful film BABIES [from 2010]. I got the film out for Free at the Philadelphia Free Library and discovered it to be tenderly filmed and both funny and touching. By the Way, I am an independent, non-paid [at this point], consultant who works in the fields of media, education and Public Relations. I wanted to make some comments and assessments that I hope Will be helpful in any and ALL future film ventures you take on into the future.

I want to tell you why I’m taking the time from My busy Day to even write you about Babies. First, there is my cousin Marie. She is now gone, but Marie Wilmore Nelson, my oldest living First cousin REALLY, REALLY, loved Babies. She was the mother of two children [Iola and Kim] and a grandson [Tyler], but the world’s Babies were hers’ . She loved to see them splashing in water in the bathtub or in the beautiful blue and turquois ocean, running around on the kitchen floor, playing with toys, eating nutritional and healthy food, reading good and interesting books [as they got older], being of good and even robust health, and just being the great little children that Babies can be and usually are, when cared for and treated properly... Then there was my Father. He loved Babies also. He was very mentally and emotionally abusive to me as a child, but I have long forgiven Him for that. In His later Days He was thrilled when His assistant and Health Care Aid came by with her Nieces and Nephews. He adored the little ones and they adored Him. [He had long since gotten over the abuse I had suffered and I think it had more to do with His fear of never having enough money and His thinking that one Day He would be what He called ``under the bridge’’ or ``homeless.’’] Dad, Mr. Charles Saint Clair Gibson, died on July 10th, 2012, and never got to see the film Babies that He had requested to see. That is another reason Why I checked the film out of the Philadelphia Free Library—in Honor of Him and His Legacy—even though I have a very, very busy schedule each and every Day…..

One thing I noticed about the film was that the Producers used traditional or tribal babies and their mothers mostly in Africa. There are traditional societies almost ALL OVER the planet. For some strange reason movie and TV producers only seem to find such traditional and tribal families who are living inside the African continent. There are such societies in other parts of the world including Brazil, The Philippines and Venezuela. While I found the film to be joyful and touching and I especially liked the original ditty [music] used creatively for the opening of the film by composer / writer Bruno Coulais—I would have liked to see a more modern African family depicted in the film. Somehow European Filmmakers forget that there are literally hundreds of cities In Africa that are inhabited by millions of healthy people—people who don’t have flies landing on them every five seconds like clockwork and people who are NOT starving, suffering from diseases like malaria and AIDS. Africa is a bustling metropolis with modern, state of the art factories; modern, sustainable corporate facilities; and The modern African Family—including wonderful African Babies and children—spearheading a new and politically sustainable movement to drive into a fabulous, exciting and rich future that Will be the envy of the world…. Such cities as: Johannesburg, South Africa; Windhoek, Namibia; Kinshasa, Congo ;Douala, Cameroon [Where, according to an ancestry research firm, My Family roots are from—on My Mother’s side]; Maputo, Mozambique; Luanda, Angola; Libreville, Gabon; Lagos, Nigeria; Harare, Zimbabwe; Accra, Ghana; Lusaka, Zambia; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Dar-El-Salaam, Tanzania; Monrovia, Liberia [a Nation that the grandfather of a relative of mine [on my Father side, but through marriage founded]; Nairobi, Kenya [The Nation where the President of the United States’ Father was from]; Asmera, Eritrea; Tunis, Tunisia [the granddaughter of a mentor of mine was named after this Nation]; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Kampala, Uganda; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Cairo, Egypt; and last, but NOT least, Dakar, Senegal. Of ALL these hundreds of cities, you choose a small traditional African village to film a traditional tribal family and their Babies. I thought certainly You could have at least included a more modern family from Africa as you did with the Chinese and North American families. I am not knit picking, but I just cringe at some of the distortions there are in images of African people throughout the world. I don’t think that criminal filmmakers like Respected Producer – Director [in some quarters] Tyler Perry understands how he emasculates and belittles Black men every time he puts on a dress and goes on films that Will be shown as truth and reality around the world. Film stars such as the Waynens [who have a sadly so-called comic horror film out very soon] are also guilty of the degradation and robust exploitation of the Black and African image. By the same token, Babies is a distortion because you forgot the splendid houses, Real Estate and People of modern Day bustling Africa. Showing only the so-called primitive African Family and village may have been a great backdrop for dramatic effect, but it certainly lacked the impact of visual fairness and reality so desperately needed in ANY and ALL depictions of the African Content and Her beautiful People…..

While the Filming and Production qualities were obvious great, I have to ask if you had ANY people of color on your production team? If so, somebody wasn’t doing their job Well. If you need such qualified people of color—actors, musicians, technicians, directors, key grips, special effects people, etc., for your future productions, I am sure our company, Brother Tracy Gibson and Associates, Inc., can help you find them. Regardless of what I think, Babies showed a cinematic celerity that was sublime and superb. I only wish Dad and Marie could have lived to see it. Please call or write if you need any staffing additions of People of Color, especially Black or Latin in ethnic background, in the future. All the Best Wishes for You in the Future,



Peace, LOVE and Blessings,



Brother Tracy Gibson…



















CC: [by e-mail]: Vicky Wilmore; Iola Harper; Aziza Gibson Hunter; Doctor Keith Hunter; Oprah; The Philadelphia Film Office; Doctor Molefi Kete Asante—Creator of the First Doctorial program for African American Studies at Temple University [His new book is entitled ``I Run Towards Africa’’] ; and Ms Monique Lewis.