gwen...i really enjoyed and appreciated this piece but also couldn't help but be struck by the fact that the final segment--which was intended to show the ordinary, we-are-regular-guys-too side of African men--featured all of these guys as rugby players. given my own research and knowledge about race and sport, i couldn't help but think that this might be signaling and thus reproducing its own set of racial-cultural prejudices and stereotypes. rest assured, i don't want this observation/suggestion to detract from the larger intent and appeal of the piece, but still i felt like i should point it out...

Nice video, but it would've been better if they went over more than just one negative stereotypes people have about African men.

Is it just me, or does this video exemplify a parallel "limited narrative" more effectively than it challenges the ones it describes?

For one thing, it seems really exceptional that being "African men" is the only context Westerners are assumed to want about these charming fellows. Does it not matter which city and country and culture they come from in their enormous, incredibly diverse continent? If the Monolithic Africa narrative is problematic in negative stereotypes, then surely it's no less so in positive ones.

Moreover, what are they really saying by assuring us, in the end, that 3 out of these 4 men are medical students? 

No, it's not perfect.  Yes, there's room for improvement.  But I think it's a step in the right direction.  We have not one but four African men getting the opportunity to have a voice.  Maybe the story that emerges is still rather simplistic, and maybe we have exchanged one set of stereotypes for another.  And that's something we should examine and discuss.  But I think it wouldn't hurt to spend at least a couple sentences talking about what this clip does right.

Actually, there are plenty of cultures where smiling in situations in which one is not explicitly conveying happiness is deemed to be pretty stupid.  

'Stupid' is a harsh word and it's definitely not one I would personally use to discuss frequent smiling or the lack thereof, but bringing a stereotype about smiles speaks more of the target audience's cultural norms than it does about the subjects.  

I really like this movie.  It sounds like there are some stereotypes of rugby players that could be addressed as well! 

When I read "stereotypes of african men" I assumed they would cover stereotypes about cockiness and listen-to-me-woman syndrome and general lack of humility - because, for me, that is the message I get from the select few representations I see. But, I don't watch hollywood militant-blow-'em-ups.

"Don't you have a Matthew McConaughey poster in your room?"Was that a Homestuck reference?

It's a little too "Look! We are human too!" but I can't hate on trying to combat stereotypes.

"Smiling is stupid" hahaha. This is nice! It does have some problems (like I think they should have said what country/countries the guys are from, seems odd not to?) but overall very nice and a step in the right direction.

I see this more when it comes to anything positive concerning Blacks in general, but the criticizing of something simply because it doesn't try to tackle every issue really needs to be addressed.  That is simply unrealistic and impossible, as there are too many issues that plague the international Black community for one short film to tackle. Quite possibly there are too many issues for even one full length film to tackle, but this particular short makes it's point quite well.  After watching it I was hard pressed to think of many films which portrayed modern day Africa as anything more than a land of tribal warlords.  I'd love to see the Middle Eastern version of this as well.