YOU people

Topic: Tropic Thunder
Conflict: A white man, playing a black man, playing a black character.

In this movie, Robert Downy Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a white man who decides to undergo surgery to become black so he can play a black character in a movie. In the movie, this move is seen as extremely contraversial because why not just cast a black man in the role.
I think this movie is hilarious and it is a step further than just a "minstral show" where white people dress in black face. This man, Kirk, actually pigmented his skin to be black. He even goes so far as to "act black" even when not shooting the movie in order to stay in character.
My favorite part of the movie is where Kirk says, "What do you mean, you people??" to another character. To this, Alpa Chino, an born black man replies, "What do YOU mean, you people?" The character who said "you people" in the first place didn't actually mean 'you black people' but Kirk was playing the stereotype of the racially sensitive black man when he isn't even black. Chino, is just getting fed up with the whole thing.

This brings up so many things: One being the whole black face issue and couldn't they have just hired a black actor to play this role (something I would bet a lot of people thought while watching white actors play black characters). Also, what does it mean to be black... This white man is doing everything in his power to be black and he is really only playing to stereotypes. I personally think that comedy is the best way to talk about race, because it's so uncomfortable - why not laugh about it.

It may not be the best movie ever, but it certainly has it's very funny points... watch it! =]

Racist

I am in a creative nonfiction writing class, and in the inspiration of this class I wrote an essay about my identity and what it means to be black. In a part of my essay I wrote that if I could cornrow hair or use a hot comb, would this make me more black... The point in this was saying that clearly these things do not make a person black or not, in all actuality white people can do these things as well. These are just things people associate with being black... A boy in a bar was actually suprised I didn't know the "Single Ladies" dance...

Anyway... I was workshopped last week. This means that in the week prior my class read my story, and this past Thursday everyone critiqued it in class. A few people actually called me racist. I was amazed! We aren't allowed to speak during our workshop so I couldn't defend myself; I just had to sit there and take it. It was an incredibly awkward situation for these white students to be calling me racist against blacks, when clearly I am sitting there in my dark skin.

After class I spoke with my professor, a black man. I told him I couldn't believe that people were calling me racist, when I was clearly commenting on the rediculousness of stereotypes. He told me that he thought the things I wrote were hilarious, because I was right... these things do not make a person more or less black. He said that what happened, is what happens when the topic of race comes up... People freak out. He said when people see things like this, they automatically think, "Racist!" This seems very true. Race talk does make people uncomfortable, and in attempts to be "PC" everything becomes off-limits.

I just found it all interesting. It was an awful feeling being called racist to my face and having no way of responding. And that someone could possibly think I was racist towards my own race...

Night of the Living Dead

So, flipping through the channels I came across another old movie, Night of the Living Dead. It's a typical horror movie with flesh eating zombies... The fun thing is: the leading role is played by a black man. This movie was released in 1968, which makes this an actually accomplishment. During the movie showing the director spoke (a white man) and he said he didn't even give much thought to the fact he had a black man as his lead; he didn't mean it as any kind of statement, he just picked the guy who gave the best audition. What made this an even greater moment for Hollywood is that this movie went into production right after MLK Jr. was killed. The director said it was at this moment he realized what he was doing.

I though the movie was cool because, from what I saw, there was no stereotype in action. He was the hero of the movie, not the "black hero". What I mean by that is; I didn't get the impression any of the other characters focused on his race at all.

And from what I read the movie did alright; it made between 12 and 15 million dollars in the first 10 years. This is probably very well concidering it didn't have much of a budget. And at this time there were no movie ratings in place so little kids could go see it. The little kids were basically scared shitless; I just thought this was funny. Kids now probably wouldn't bat an eye at it. I do love corny scary movies.

Apparently this movie is no longer copyrighted (or w/e it is that keeps people from posting it online):

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2956447426428748010#

You can find it on Hulu as well.

Last funfact: This movie was inspired by the novel, I am Legend, which was made into a movie starring Will Smith. =]

Bond

I was flipping through the channels the other day and I came accross a program where a guy was fighting off crocodiles. I thought this looked interesting so I stopped there. This character escaped from the animals and approached a house, he peaked inside, I guess saw what he wanted to see and started setting fire to the place. As soon as the flames started to grow the place emptied, it was the "bad guy lair". Out streamed black person after black person. This was amazingly funny because apparently EVERY bad guy in this movie was black! I suppose all the bad guys had to be black, they were on the Bayou (sarcasm). "Black guy bad guy lair on the Bayou."

I ran from my room to find out what this was. I turned on the TV in the living room, found the channel, and it was a James Bond movie from 1973! How crazy. It most def is not a new movie, but it's actually also not that old. It reminds of how "black" always means "bad", while things that are "white" systematically mean "good". Using this mentality it makes sense that black people would be the bad guys, and how awful is that. Casting solely based on the color of your skin. And if you want to be an actor, you have to follow along with these crazy ideas or you won't get on the Silver Screen.

Perspectives

This semester I embarked on a unique experience which is the online class. I looked at the title, TV, Minorities and Cultural Diversity, and thought that this may be an interesting topic. This class is really making me look at the world in a whole new light, and I'm not sure I like it, honestly. This may be somewhere I need to be because I am a jaded young woman. I never felt like I had to deal with racism, I never felt like people looked at me for the color of my skin rather than the person I am. People have commented on my skin, my hair, my features, but I have never felt it in a negative manner, they always just seemed a little jealous. I have always said with pride, and a little humor, "I'm actually half Irish." Because, despite my darker skin, I am more Irish than most of the white people I know... I think this is funny. Unfortunatly, I don't really know what the other half of me is... "Some kind of black," I tend to say. White people think this is hilarious, some black people actually get offended by this. "You don't know!?" they question. Then I have to get into my life story... I don't really talk to my father and even if I did, he doesn't know either.

I don't identify with black people... I don't even know what it means to be black. Most of my friends are white, the family I spend most of my time with is white. Mostly everyone in my little 22-year-old world is white. After being in this class for about a month I have become more aware of my "blackness" and I don't know how to handle this. I am black, that 50% Irish thing means nothing because I don't have the white skin to back it up. When I was about 5, this little girl I went to camp with saw my mother and asked if I was adopted. I was mortified and offended, "NO!" I told her and walked away. I still vividly remember this day, to me, I am my mother's daughter and fuck anyone who can't believe that based on my skin color. I never really saw my family in color, until I got older.

Just living life I see more and more the horror of what it really means to be black. TV, movies, media... Not much of this helps. I never understood why there were so many angry black people out there. Since I know my father, and he's not the best of people, I have always just assumed that maybe it's because you're a douche bag and that's why you can't get ahead in life... not that you're black. Maybe we, as a race, "have a right to be hostile" (to quote Public Enemy).

I don't want to deny my blackness, I want to find a way to embrace it.

Weeds

I've been watching the seasons of Weeds the past few weeks and I think it's a great show. It's interesting how they have taken the stereotypical drug dealer and turned him into a white suburban mother (Nancy Botwin). It kind of shows one of the real reasons people start doing illegal things such as this, out of honest, desperate need for money. Her husband died suddenly and she found herself with a ton of bills, two kids, and no money to pay them off with, so she began dealing drugs.

The show does have some of the typical stereotypes. Nancy Botwin's partner is a black man (Conrad), and she works with his aunt (Haylia) and cousin (Vaneeta). Vaneeta is a young, single mother and Haylia is a big, loud, opinionated, black woman. Conrad is an honest and reliable man, but he has counterpart, UTurn. UTurn is a "Thug," ready to screw over or kill anyone who gets in the way of his drug business. There are also a few Hispanic drug gangs, and they are just as unsavory. There is also another group, I think they are Ukrainian. I'm not sure. But they are just as bad as the others. Race is very important in this show, and people of the same race stick together (even if they stick together within their different crews). Almost everyone makes it a point to make sure Nancy knows she is white. A gang member even brings Nancy along with him to a meeting because he says, "No one wants a dead white lady on their hands." He assumed that if he (being a black man) had a white lady with him he would be safe because no one would want to cause that kind of trouble. For one episode there is a group of white bikers who deal drugs, but no one will buy their weed because it sucks.

So far, one of my favorite scenes is when the group is forced to move their grow house to Majestic, part of the suburb that Nancy lives. Haylia and Vaneeta are walking down the sidewalk and all the white people who are out at the same time are SUPER nice, saying "Hi", and "How are you today!?" in big, cheery voices. Vaneeta comments how nice these white people are, but Haylia shuts her down immediately saying, "they say good morning. but what they're really saying is... I'm not racist." I love that, because in this small community, she was probably right.

Hot Pockets

This is totally random, but what's the use in living if you can't read too deeply into things?

There is this commercial for new pizza hot pockets. The premise is that you can eat these treats without utensils and without tables. All the people who see these table-less eaters discriminate against them. They do things like, deny them entrance to restaurants, deny them seating on a bus and yell things meanly out windows. I think it is so random and strange because it is so close to racism. These are things that real people have/had to deal with in real life, and this brand of foods has made light of a not so light situation to talk about food. And yet, I find myself wanting one... So I guess those writers did their jobs.

The New Black Family

Talk about stereotype. The new Cleveland Show premired this weekend and I was amazed! In the beginning of the show Cleveland leaves "Family Guy Land" and both Stewie and Joe say, one after the other basically, "Bye chocolate people." I know it's just comedy, and I thought it was kind of funny, but doesn't that kind of point towards an idea that these two characters weren't important other than to be the "token black family," which was probably the point.

Gotta love the black woman with the ghetto booty, two back-talking kids and a suckie baby-daddy. I can tell this show is going to be very heavy on the black jokes. I really like Family Guy, so maybe this new show will be able to play up the satire as well as Family Guy does. This show has the potential to be great, it also has the potential to go over the top. Family Guy goes over the top a lot, sometimes that's what makes the jokes funny, sometimes not... If The Cleveland Show goes over the top people may get angry.

Here it is on Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/97541/the-cleveland-show-pilot

Lines

My favorite movie when I was younger was "Save the Last Dance". This was such a different movie at the time because it put a white girl in a black situation, where it use to always be the opposite. Putting a black youth in a white school or town. It almost seems more dangerous to put the white girl in this situation, maybe that's why it's always been the other way around. Making the black youth fit in to this white society, kind of the way black people are expected to meld into white America instead of just having them belong. Maybe this is a wrong way to look at the world, but it's hard for me to not look at the world this way. If you're black, you're different.

The reason I thought of this was because of the movie "Guess Who" which stars Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher. In this movie, Bernie's daughter brings home the "white boy". It's not as scary as going into a whole school, but the situation is scary because it's a big deal to fit in. Ashton has to find a way to fit into this girl's family because he is going to spend the rest of his life with her. At first, Bernie does not like Ashton and it seems like it is simply because he is white.

My favorite scene in the movie is when they are all sitting at the dinner table and Ashton mentions black jokes. Bernie dares him to tell some of these jokes, so after some prodding Ashton does so. Everyone is laughing because the jokes are cute, innocent and funny. The last joke Ashton tells is, "What are three things a black man can't get?" "A black eye", to which people laugh, "A fat lip... and a job" At this last one everyone gets angry. Ashton's girlfriend's grandfather actually wanted to beat him. Where he crossed the line? An awful truth? Maybe that last one wasn't funny because it's something that really happens? They shouldn't have gotten upset because they made him tell the jokes and clearly he's not racist; he does have a black girlfriend. But where is the line? And do we often cross it? Someone told an awfully racist joke in front of me once and I was mortified because the person told it like it was a funny joke, and it was not funny. It was about lynching Obama... how is that funny? It wasn't okay and he was oblivious to that fact. Would that joke have been okay had he not said it in front of a black girl?

But, anyway. I think this was a good representation of the awkwardness that can happen between people of different races. Ashton meant well, and not all people do, but this awkwardness needs to subside in order for things to get better, at least that's what I think. Things only become more comfortable with open communication.

Black people are Funny

Someone said that God knew black people were gunna have to go through a lot of shit so he gave them a lifetime of cool. So, I guess that's why black people are funny. Right? All black people. At least, that's what someone in another country would think based on American TV. Oh yeah, and black people are loud. Loud and funny.

Bill Cosby (The Cosby Show), Will Smith (Fresh Prince), The Wayans Brothers (My Wife and Kids and all their other projects), Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs), Chris Rock (Everybody Love Chris), and the list goes on. All of these men portray funny characters. Are all black people funny? No, most definitely not. But these forms of media focus on the comedy, and they have since the beginning. Sometimes the comedy comes from stereotypes. There really aren't TV shows which feature an all black cast, or that feature a black character as the main character, that aren't comedies.

I love these shows, and when I watch them I don't sit there and think... Well, this is ridiculous. What black family really has one parent who is a doctor and the other who is a lawyer... And I don't think... I can't believe that this show, My Wife and Kids, is portraying black women as being loud, obnoxious and too opinionated. I sit there, watch and laugh. I don't know how to remedy these issues. I think I would rather see people of different races all over the TV then have them not be there at all.

The N* Word

Now, how does it look when black people diss other black people? It's funny, white people don't know if they should laugh and black people laugh because they see the truth in it. I think Chris Rock is brilliant. Explicit, but brilliant. There are a lot of comics who I think are so smart, and in so many cases in order to be heard you have to fly in under the radar. No one wants to hear this "shit"; but if it comes in a funny package we will listen. Race is not an easy thing to talk about, it's dirty, vague and no one knows where to start. Chris Rock says something like, "I hate niggers," but what he really hates is the people who take advantage of the system, and he is attacking a view of the black population. He makes a distinction between black people and niggers, black people are just human beings, trying to make a decent living and make a better future for themselves and niggers are the people who fulfill this stereotype of the "typical black male," broke, deadbeat, and dumb. Rock is using humor to point out that this is a stereotype brewed from a media enriched society. We often don't see the black man working two jobs to support his family, we see the "nigger" stealing shit from the local convenience store. What's there to love about that?

As a black female I don't want people to assume that I am going to be pregnant before I'm married, on drugs and taking advantage of welfare. I also don't want people to think I'm going to steal stuff from a clothing store. (I actually cringe as I walk through detectors because although I have never stolen anything in my life I am always certain those dumb things are going to go off.) Stereotypes don't know minds or people and that's what makes them deadly. Dave Chappelle talks about stereotypes as well in his stand-up. He goes into a restaurant and the waiter assumes he wants fried chicken. This is simple enough and even a little funny, but it's a stereotype. Chappelle makes light of the situation because it's a silly thing, chicken, but it's not always that innocent. He is a young black man, and the assumption he wanted chicken could easily be the assumption that he's planning on robbing the place or going out back to sell drugs.


Chris Rock on Black People: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7b2oCYgfik
Dave Chappelle on Chicken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ4B7G8Rw3Q