Denzel stays away from the white ladies yet again
CVK
(Thanks to Robert for this!) Canadian broadcaster CBC reviews the new Spike Lee film Inside Man on their Web site, and uses the film as a jumping-off point to explore the lack of black male/white female relationships on the big screen.
The writer pretty much rehashes the “The Critic” column that appeared in the June 2005 issue of GQ, including everything from the Sidney Poitier vs. Denzel Washington comparisons, to the whole Latina woman as stand-in for white woman thing that Will Smith revealed when he was doing press for Hitch. The GQ story was an excellent analysis of the issue, this is just a weak remix. But anyway, here’s the CBC writer’s take on Inside Man:
…why must black-and-white pairings be so loveless? Regardless of Inside Man’s commercial success, Lee and Washington’s discomfort with the interracial action blockbuster is evident throughout. Screenwriter Russell Gewirtz mocks the Caucasian female lead with her very name, Madeline White; cast members hiss the name of Foster’s character as if it were a curse. Lee and Gewirtz attempt to get around the ritual neutering of the male black lead by having Washington talk dirty to his wife on the phone; he tells her to expect “Big Willie and the twins” just as soon he deals with the bank robbery.
Ben wrote:
I wonder if this writer even saw the movie.
A couple factual points: one, the woman he talks dirty to is not his wife, she’s his girlfriend… I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but let’s just say the ending wouldn’t make any sense if they were already married.
Two, Frazier (Washington) tells White (Foster) to “kiss [his] black ass” after she says he can’t afford her, not after she says the knowledge is above his pay grade. Again, it’s important enough to the plot that I can’t get into details, but the latter happens about 1/4 into the movie, the former near the end.
Most importantly, though, it would have been totally out of character for Madeline White to even consider becoming romantically involved with someone. The whole point of her character is that she’s ruthless and manipulative and doesn’t give a shit about Detective Frazier (or anyone who’s not paying her to give a shit about them.)
This is a Spike Lee movie about a bank robbery, not a romantic comedy. And it’s damn good, so go see it!
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 9:42 am ¶
Tiffany In Houston wrote:
Why does it even matter?? Geez!!!! I’m beginning to think you guys have a problem with us monoracials (although I’m a black woman in America so I doubt that) deciding to or preferring to stay with another monoracial. Would Denzel have more cred with the mixed crowd if he’d married a white girl???
This is ridiculous.
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 11:06 am ¶
site admin wrote:
Tiffany,
I agree with you–it doesn’t matter. This article is really kind of silly, that’s why I posted it. Why, in a heist movie, should there be a love story at all? And why on earth should Denzel’s and Foster’s character get together? It seems like the writer used the existence of a new Denzel movie as an excuse to repurpose that GQ article–even though the interracial relationship angle is completely irrelevant to this film.
–CVK
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 11:11 am ¶
Unlisted wrote:
The point about Latinas being a “stand-in” for white women is not accurate. They are a stand in for black women. It is a new trend (See: Hitch, Training Day, Out of Time, Underclassman, Boat Trip, and Honey…not to mention the TV movie Kojak and the series Scrubs)
I don’t think anyone has noticed yet, but black women are “out of style” in hollywood.
Not saying that that is good or bad…just making a comment
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 11:28 am ¶
Merq wrote:
Unlisted:
I definitely agree with your post, but were black women ever really regarded as “in style” in good ole’ Hollywood?
I mean, Hollywood has an interesting system I call the Black Beauty Pageant. They crown a new Negro of the Year, who gets all the love and media coverage, while the others are left to rot.
Halle began her reign on Oscar Night 2002, and relinquished the throne to Latifah a year later. Even though they seem to be done with La now, it doesn’t seem they’ve crowned another queen just yet, so black actresses are being uniformly underrepresented, as usual.
Denzel is the one perennial, but of course, he never gets that much coverage anyway.
It was almost Djimon Hounsou back in ‘03-’04, but his look wasn’t quite “appealing” enough.
‘04-’05: Don Cheadle almost had it, but he got beaten out by Jamie Foxx, thanks to “Ray.”
‘05-’06: With Jamie nearing the end of his reign, we expected Cheadle to accept his long-overdue Negro du Jour crown, but in steps Terrence Howard (the artist formerly known as Terrence Dashon Howard).
Who’s next? Will it finally be Don Cheadle? Or will Ludacris’ string of good acting turns help him edge out the two-time runner-up? Like Highlander, there can be only one.
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 4:03 pm ¶
the joy princess wrote:
Merq: too funny and dead on! At least Hollywood is willing to consider a rotating group of 3-5 black male actors.
However, I still think Halle is pretty much holding it down for A-List black actresses. She is the queen. Latifah is a princess. Do I dare include miss Thandie, lol? Angie Bassett was poised at one point. So was Nia Long, sort of, eons ago. Sanaa and Gabrielle, Kerry, Regina, Kimberly and the rest of — even the persistent Vivica are ladies in waiting, but I do not have high hopes for all (some of which has to do with various acting abilities, lol)
As Cedric the Entertainer would say: what is we gon’ do when Denzel gets too old to do his thing anymore. Take Morgan Freeman’s place, lol
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 4:33 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
How could I forget good old Morgan? You forgot to ask who’s gonna take Freeman’s place when he gets too, too old? I mean, too old to play “grizzled, wise, slightly sassy but ultimately toothless black man #241?”
And it’s a tragedy that actresses as talented as Regina King, Kimberly Elise, and Kerry Washington are going unrecognized as they are. Kerry Washington is one fine actress (in both senses of the word “fine”). I saw 23-year-old Kerry act the hell out of her role in “Our Song,” and I was even more disturbed by this fact. I mean, this woman plays the standard sexy/smart woman roles, commanded the screen as a doting wife in “Ray,” and convincingly (and, I must stress, subtly) played a 16-year-old high school student in a slow-moving (read: few distractions from the actors’ performances) drama. Yet, Latifah’s allowed to make “Beauty Shop??”
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 7:35 pm ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Hey Brad…good points. I don’t really think we are disagreeing much here.
The point about Jessica Alba in “Honey” only makes my point stronger. They STILL did not get even a light skinned black woman for that role.
Asian females, like Latinas, can go “either way” meaning that they can be paired with a white or black lead. I think Lucy Lui will be in a movie as Cedric the Entertainer’s love interest. They are often portrayed as “vague”.
The Asian MALES are the ones who probably have it worse than Black females. They are often portrayed as a-sexual…that is if they are in a movie at all.
I think we all agree that the black female is not in favor in hollywood. If there is a black male lead these days, for the most part his love interest is Latina, a black female with a very small bit part or “implied” (i.e. on the phone and left to viewer’s imagination)
If you ask me, Beyonce is the new up and coming “queen” they have anointed. Question is…can she act?
Last point, on Ask Men’s latest top 99 list, 7 of the top 25 are Latinas. ZERO “mono-racial” black females in the top 25. The only two included were Amerie and Halle Berry who are both bi/multi-racial.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 10:30 am ¶
Merq wrote:
Unlisted:
I’d thought about adding Beyonce to the list, but the truth is, while she’s the Negress du Jour in music, her atrocious “acting” has made it impossible for her to take that prize in the film industry– as badly as they want to give it to her.
Aaliyah was poised to receive that honor until her death in ‘01.
Also, I agree about that Honey argument. When I read Brad’s comment, I was thinking the same thing.
As far as Asian men go, I think it’s pathetic the way they’re cast (or rather, not cast) and portrayed. Even on TV. Law & Order: SVU has B.D. Wong, who gently coaxes and placates Chris Meloni’s volatile character all the time. Most annoyingly, in the one case where Huang (Wong’s character) takes on Stabler (Meloni) head-on, he returns a few scenes later to apologize and placate once again, despite the fact that he was right to reprimand Stabler for unethical conduct to begin with.
SVU has some very sick people on its writing staff, though. So I can’t say any of this is particularly shocking. I recently saw Wong’s debut episode. Dude’s character was torn straight from a Charlie Chan script. It was incredibly disturbing.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 11:09 am ¶
gatamala wrote:
Poor Morgan. How many times can one win best supporting actor for tough and crusty old black man
Merq you are killing me…
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 2:17 pm ¶
the joy princess wrote:
Unlisted:
Thank you so much for giving me a wonderful dissertation idea based on that Ask Men tidbit you noted: “black” bombshells and the white male gaze!
Juicy!!!
As for Beyonce, she’s cute and can sing, but sometimes when I look at her and hear her talk I think she has two brain cells and they’re fighting each other.
Question is…can she think critically at all about anything, lol
Merq:
R.I.P. I died at seeing ’slightly sassy’ and Morgan Freeman in the same sentence!
Brad:
Regina King once mentioned in Essence that yes, indeed it’s hard to be a black woman in Hollyood, but it’s even harder for Asian actresses (as you mentioned) and — lest we forget — American Indian actresses, who probably really have it worse, unless folks are passing, lol.
And I don’t know why Eva Mendes keeps getting work. She reminds me of Liv Tyler (pre Jersey Girl when I couldn’t stand her) and Michelle Rodriguez because they have one look and expression: bland. Or in Michelle’s case, angry. I’d rather waste my time watching JLO before Eva any day, lol!
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 3:55 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
“As for Beyonce, she’s cute and can sing, but sometimes when I look at her and hear her talk I think she has two brain cells and they’re fighting each other.
Question is…can she think critically…”
joy princess:
EVIL. I thought about discussing her intelligence, but I figured I should be nice. Evil. She’s one of those pretty dumbasses, whose interviews you watch on Mute. It’s a shame Mama Knowles bred the girl for the stage, and in keeping with that metaphor, that girl’s a throughbred! I dare you to take your eyes off her while she’s performing.
(Actually, she’s lost much of that onstage magic. I saw her butcher Ike & Tina’s “Proud Mary” at the Kennedy Center Honors, I believe, and I was greatly disappointed. Pity.)
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 4:37 pm ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Joy Princess:
If you are serious, I’d like to read it. Let me know where it will be.
If I were a betting man, I would say that their 2007 list will only have Amerie in the top 25 and more Latinas (probably Shakira joining in) and possibly Aishwarya Rai (Indian)
Brad:
You asked: “When is the last time you saw a really sexy dark-skinned woman (African, Native American, or Asian)? ”
That is an open-ended question…At face value, the answer is today.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 6:51 pm ¶
thejoyprincess wrote:
Unlisted;
Umm, I’ll give you a dissertation shout out in 4-5 years! lol
Merq:
I call’em, like I see’em!
ROTFL at your thoroughbred description! As soon as I read that I immediately got it! I heard all that captivating dancing, including the excessive Crazy in Love bootyshake move has landed her in regular physical therapy. Guess she put too much back into it, let her backbone slip, lol. She works hard for the money, I’ll give her that. To think I was almost ready to declare her a 21st century video Jezebel….
Brad:
Yeah, man, I guess you’re right that there’s got to be something to B somewhere. I’ll cut her a leetle slack. It’s just that I’ve been duly influenced by people I know who’ve interviewed her/worked on videos with her, and they confirm the mall’s open but nobody’s shopping. “Sweet, cute, but vacant” as a guy friend who adores her told me after working with her. His heart was broken.
Of course, maybe at home (weave laid to rest) she and Jay Z work the NY Times crossword together….. I’m not snickering at the thought, I swear, lol.
Posted 13 Apr 2006 at 10:25 am ¶
Real black woman wrote:
Where are the real black women in Hollywood? Absent.
Where is the authentic, dark-skinned, broader-featured female phenotype with shorter, kinky hair? Absent.
Our places are taken by mulattas, black-identified mulattas and almost mulattas who provide the audience with a good conscience and take on a buffer role. Do we not exist? Nobody sees our misery. Worse, black men don’t care at all as long as they are alright themselves.
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 5:17 pm ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Real Black woman:
Does Nia Long count?
I suppose this is easy for me to say because I am not a black woman, but I don’t understand why more black women do not explore options other than black men.
But indeed I have noticed what you have noticed. It is pretty obvious. Don’t see it changing any time soon though.
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 5:37 pm ¶
Real black woman wrote:
I fully agree, more black women should explore the option of dating non-black men and they will. A lot have already started to do so. If this trend goes on a few generations from now blacks will no longer exist in the US but maybe that’s how it was meant to be.
However I wasn’t talking about relationships but about phenotypical representation. Even Nia Long is not an authentic dark-skinned black woman. Where are the Venus Williamses, the Alek Weks of Hollywood? A lot of us look like them an we want to see our phenotype represented.
White men tend to have solidarity with white women. They protect them and promote them. Most black men don’t care about black women as long as they’re alright themselves.
Posted 15 Apr 2006 at 11:28 am ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Real Black Woman:
I hope that what I say below is not offensive. I usually just call things like I see it without much commentary of whether I think this is right or wrong. At any rate…
I understand where you are coming from, but I wouldn’t expect to see what you desire any time soon.
However, I will disagree with you on one thing though. I don’t think that white men in hollywood do what they do out of any solidarity to white women. It is about what sells. If this tells you anything, I know a ton of African American men, and I don’t think a single one that would tell me that Alek Wek is good looking. And even Venus and Serena wear hair weave. If the Alek Wek look was “in”, you best believe that we would get a large helping of it.
I know it is a crude analogy, but we also will not see fat women in abundance on screen any time soon either. It is the culture.
As noted on this site, the “ambiguous”/”exotic” look of a Jessica Alba or Devon Aoki is “in” and it sells. The Latin look is “in” and it sells. And white women (seeing as how whites are the majority) have always been in will be in for the foreseeable future.
Last note: Even in Africa, dark skinned women are bleaching their skin with toxic level skin lighteners. So even in Africa, the Nia Long types would be more ideal.
Again, just stating the facts, and not saying whether this is right or wrong.
Posted 15 Apr 2006 at 5:57 pm ¶
Tamara B. wrote:
Unlisted:
1.I don’t find Alek Wek, who is from Sudan, particularly attractive either. However there are many West-African women who are just as dark-skinned and negroid featured as she is and who are not only extremely beautiful but also seen as such by both african and white european men.
2.For an african person skin bleaching is more related to status (light and white means rich) and westernization which everyone wants to display than actually to beauty. That’s why you will see quite a few african men married to very ugly white women.
3.Comparing the negroid phenotype to obesity is simply racist. Obese people exist in all races.
Posted 28 Apr 2006 at 7:14 am ¶
Anonymous wrote:
Some people really seem to believe that black women don’t exist at all.
Worse: Showing little black girls (and boys) mulatto-phenotyped women like Sanaa Lathan and telling them that’s black only serves to give them the wrong message for their self-esteem. Instead of making them see their OWN beauty it tells them:” Look that’s black as well. You’re unattractive yourself but you’re part of a group where a few people look like Halle Berry, Sanaa Lathan or Beyoncé.” All of this only shows the hypocrisy of so-called “black pride”.
Posted 28 Apr 2006 at 8:02 am ¶
Dianne wrote:
I really think it’s ok for blacks and whites to be together because everybody it the same in the inside. As long you love that person it does not matter what people think. As Long you and that person share the love and joy that’s all that matters. My boyfriend is Black, Native American and Portuguese. I am Portuguese and I love that man with a passion. To me I could give a damn what people think. Dianne
Posted 12 May 2006 at 2:24 pm ¶
Bohwe wrote:
Let’s be realistic. Men are men, and if they find women attractive, you best believe, they will find anyway possible to promote her, put that woman in movies, television, whatever. But, realistically, there are alot of white women who control and run Movie studios. Don’t blame just the white man. Men in my opinion are like this, if a woman is sexually or physically attractive, he will go after her, and do everything he can to get her into bed or get her attention, and that includes getting movie roles for her. But, in all fairness, white women will promote themselves and only themselves. So, that’s what’s going on. You will never see a black woman, asian woman, or Indian woman, Middle eastern woman doing big things in Hollywood because Hollywood is targeted towards white women, and they don’t for the most part want to pay to see minority women being the object of affection or sexual desires especially from their men. Now Latinas is an another story, for the most part, these latinas can pass as white, so they can be embrace by the white female demographic. Stop sugarcoating this mess, white women control Hollywood, and black and Asian and Native American women will never get our just representation, because of the fear that the stereotype of black women seen as sexual objects will increase, and white women can’t have that. That’s why Something New didn’t do well, because a sistuh had the audacity of having a white man and black man fight for her love, and how dare this white man paint her toe nails, and choose her over his ex-girlfriend who was white. Many people want to view women as being equal but if one look at the history between white women and black women, it has never been peachy.
Posted 13 Jun 2006 at 4:57 am ¶
d. wrote:
I heard that Terrence Howard has mocked Tyler Perry’s act of genius as Madea, and the family we all love in Good Times BUFFOONERY! Is this true?
Posted 20 Jun 2006 at 9:13 am ¶