posted
Can we just have a convention on this one issue?
It seems that in every family comedy these days, or at least the previews for such a film, its pro-forma to have the "black character" (in this case a baseball bat played by whoopie), stop the music in order to say something "sassy." This is the art perfected by Will Smith's canned "ah, hell nah," and "oh did NOT just slap me."
Does this seems just a tad patronizing to anyone else. It's meant to be funny and it never is; I find myself cringing in anticipation of the obligitory "black" moment in every trailer.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Considering Whoopi Goldberg made her entire career using that same type of humor, playing for those types of laughs (and usually getting them), I don't think you have any sort of point at all.
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"Cars" was surprisingly full of them. I say "surprisingly" because Pixar had managed to avoid most obvious stereotypes in its previous films, and yet "Cars" appeared to revel in them.
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posted
I think that was intentional Tom. The main character started out seeing the world in nothing but the broadest, most stereotypical terms...so he ends up trapped in a town populated by nothing BUT the stereotypes he loathes the most.
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posted
I think Will Smith pretty much made his early comedic name doing the exact same thing, and every time since.
Wanda Sykes is the only black actor off the top of my head that goes over the top, and is always typecast specifically for that, and other than going over the top, seems to have little depth of acting beneath that.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Considering Whoopi Goldberg made her entire career using that same type of humor, playing for those types of laughs (and usually getting them), I don't think you have any sort of point at all.
I'm so right I'm wrong? Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Wanda Sykes is the only black actor off the top of my head that goes over the top, and is always typecast specifically for that, and other than going over the top, seems to have little depth of acting beneath that.
Perhaps, but she sure was funny as the skunk in Over the Hedge. Not every comedian has to be deep.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
My comment was not actually about the quality of any black actors, but rather the creative decisions made by the people who cut the previews together to include a :::music stops::: sassy black moment.
In a larger way, this is the fault of script writers who allow lines like "ah hell nah" to be tagged to Will Smith in EVERY movie he's in, (slight variations occur). This is also the fault of casting directors who put Wanda Sykes in ANYTHING where her "comedic talent" is required, (because she can only do one thing, and badly IMO).
I ask you why this is acceptable, or considered funny in so many films, whereas we would not be as likely to accept an "asian moment," or a "white moment" in a movie. We are sometimes confronted with a "mexican moment," but it seems less pronounced a movie convention to me.
This is clear enough I think, given that it has been parodied endlessly in movies like "Not Another Teen Movie," where the one black character said nothing but "That is wack," for most of the film.
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