Black Enterprise Magazine Calls Money The 'Heart' Of Show Business 
  Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Black Enterprise is a monthly magazine publication that dubs itself "the premier business news and investment resource for African Americans," and "Your Ultimate Source For Wealth Creation."  Their latest issue highlights the Top 25 Most Bankable Blacks In Film and Television.  It might have been great:  I won't know, since I can't get past their press release.

In their release, published at PRNewswire, the LEAD SENTENCE is, "Money is at the heart of show business."

They go on to name, of course, Oprah Winfrey, followed by Shonda Rhimes of Grey's Anatomy, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, The Wayans Family, Martin Lawrence, Queen Latifah, and Laurence Fishburne.  And say buy the mag if you want to know the rest.

Which is all fine and dandy, and typical PR.  But the first sentence.  That first sentence absolutely kills it for me.

"Money is at the heart of show business."

Is it?  When you're talking about box office hits or misses, lavish cinematography vs. low budget films, who raked in the most dollars and who cut too many corners - maybe.  If, that is, you're referring to a heart in the sense of the muscular organ that contracts involuntarily millions of times to keep someone alive.

If, however, you are referencing the "heart" in the literary and figurative sense of the word - as Essence appeared to be attempting to do - it is meant to allegorically express intuition, emotion, spirit, courage, and enthusiasm.

True artists and performers are able to pull from the depths of their souls to actually stir feeling in the viewer, a stranger.  The "stars" responsible for a box office smash are the heart not only of show business, but the purpose of BE's entire feature issue.

To attribute this heart to money:  well, that's an insult both the show business itself, and the actors and actresses - both of the present, and of the past, some of whom have gotten so involved in their roles that their personal lives were fatally effected. Money is an inanimate object incapable of feeling a damn thing.

And I may be reading too much into that sentence.  But I think that at some point, somebody should.

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