Golgot
09-28-04, 08:56 PM
1Woah, i had a real problem with this one. Not something i would've chosen to see, but seeing as i have...
Here's a brief plot summary:
Two black FBI agents keep messing missions up by trying to do everything themselves. When they crash a car while transporting two spoilt rich white girls who are targeted for kidnapping, they decide to take the places of their bruised charges at a high-profile gathering. Cue pisstakes of priviliged society, racial stereotypes and other easy targets.
And here's my reactions:
-The general generic comedy is pure ****e. Animal stunts. Fart jokes. Slipping on spilt beads. Animal infatuation. Laughing at unfunny jokes in the hope that they become funny. The Wayans brothers's stuff at its worst.
-Some of the all-purpose parodies of race and 'class' are kind of amusing. Whether it's the white airhead heiresses or the black football 'turncoat', there are some good performances and occasional spot-on jokes.
-And now the big problem....
2i came away with the feeling that they'd mashed too many ideas/cinema-cliches together, and whether through accident or design, conscious intent or unconscious belief, one of the results was that the idea of White was aligned too closely with the closer-to-reality idea of white-dominated-wealth-and-power.
What i'm saying is: the imaginary, unifying, perception of a skin-tone/broad group (Whiteness - as in the Blackness that was parodied in Bamboozled) was aligned too closely with realities that are only true for a minority.
I got a feeling that, beneath the shallowness and simplicty of much of the presentation and humour, there was an assumption that it's ok to lump all whites in with the white-dominated power-structures of many multi-'cultural' countries like the US and UK.
3That, to me, came close to racism. Damn close.
I feel, as distance from this mainly derivative and only-occasionally-creative comedy-lite takes hold, that i may just be reacting to the novel situation of my skin-tone being the main focus of broad-stereotypes (the black characters were much more diverse and potentially-intelligent in nature than all the other characters). But i still question whether there isn't a negative trend going on here, that reinforces stereotypes that cut deep, under the broad fluffy fleece which was presented to us.
Thoughts?
Is it ok to lump an idea of what 'Whiteness' is in with the fact that white races still hold majority priviliged positions in the biggest english-speaking societies - and have been responsible for great oppresion of black races?
Is that ok? Or is that damaging?
This was a throw-away comedy. But i think that that particular issue pulsing beneath it's skin can do more long-term harm than good. Especially when it's blurred amongst easy-access/rough-and-ready comedy veneers.
Here's a brief plot summary:
Two black FBI agents keep messing missions up by trying to do everything themselves. When they crash a car while transporting two spoilt rich white girls who are targeted for kidnapping, they decide to take the places of their bruised charges at a high-profile gathering. Cue pisstakes of priviliged society, racial stereotypes and other easy targets.
And here's my reactions:
-The general generic comedy is pure ****e. Animal stunts. Fart jokes. Slipping on spilt beads. Animal infatuation. Laughing at unfunny jokes in the hope that they become funny. The Wayans brothers's stuff at its worst.
-Some of the all-purpose parodies of race and 'class' are kind of amusing. Whether it's the white airhead heiresses or the black football 'turncoat', there are some good performances and occasional spot-on jokes.
-And now the big problem....
2i came away with the feeling that they'd mashed too many ideas/cinema-cliches together, and whether through accident or design, conscious intent or unconscious belief, one of the results was that the idea of White was aligned too closely with the closer-to-reality idea of white-dominated-wealth-and-power.
What i'm saying is: the imaginary, unifying, perception of a skin-tone/broad group (Whiteness - as in the Blackness that was parodied in Bamboozled) was aligned too closely with realities that are only true for a minority.
I got a feeling that, beneath the shallowness and simplicty of much of the presentation and humour, there was an assumption that it's ok to lump all whites in with the white-dominated power-structures of many multi-'cultural' countries like the US and UK.
3That, to me, came close to racism. Damn close.
I feel, as distance from this mainly derivative and only-occasionally-creative comedy-lite takes hold, that i may just be reacting to the novel situation of my skin-tone being the main focus of broad-stereotypes (the black characters were much more diverse and potentially-intelligent in nature than all the other characters). But i still question whether there isn't a negative trend going on here, that reinforces stereotypes that cut deep, under the broad fluffy fleece which was presented to us.
Thoughts?
Is it ok to lump an idea of what 'Whiteness' is in with the fact that white races still hold majority priviliged positions in the biggest english-speaking societies - and have been responsible for great oppresion of black races?
Is that ok? Or is that damaging?
This was a throw-away comedy. But i think that that particular issue pulsing beneath it's skin can do more long-term harm than good. Especially when it's blurred amongst easy-access/rough-and-ready comedy veneers.