The Black love movies I grew up with knew what they were doing. The women were bad and the men were fine. The story lines were spicy, and the tea was piping hot. But for so long, so many Black love stories were bogged down by baggage or emotional turmoil. There were no stories where a Black woman didn’t need to emotionally sustain her partner, or ride an emotional rollercoaster before ultimately living happily ever after. We didn’t have a lot of films about two Black people who just met and decided they want to love each other. As new stories of Black love emerge, we’re seeing more representation of Black couples from cisgender to same sex, to non-binary. And films like The Photograph , the highly-anticipated Valentine’s Day movie starring Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield, are proving that audiences don’t need the drama to be invested in an onscreen love. But it triggers an exploration of the blueprint set by some of the iconic Black love movies that paved the way.