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Apr. 20, 2005 After reading Jack Lepairz’s column, “When Rich White Kids Try To Be... Black?” I caught the 1999 movie “Whiteboyz” on HBO. It is a satirical, yet all-too real film about a white kid from Iowa who goes by the moniker Flip Dogg, and who glamorizes everything “black,” or at least his perception thereof. (Flip is played by the co-writer of the film, Danny Hoch). When Flip’s black friend Khalid tells him he isn’t black, Flip replies “I’m black on the inside…black is the dope s—t.” It takes a brutal reality check and the death of an innocent man before this kid is jarred back to his vanilla reality. Easter morning I watched the classic, “Imitation of Life” (the 1959 version starring Lana Turner, Sandra Dee and Juanita Moore). Later that evening caught Robert Benton’s, “The Human Stain.” Both films dealt with racial denial and the shame and self-hatred felt by many light-skinned blacks, who passed themselves off as white. In the case of “Imitation” the subject matter was ahead of its time. However, the latter film lives up to its name, leaving a stain rather than a mark on the resume of Anthony Hopkins. The performance is simply putrid and not believable. The cast includes Nicole Kidman, the underrated Gary Sinise and always wonderful Ed Harris, but it was “whiteboyz” that earned more critical acclaim, garnering nominations for the top prize at both the Deauville (1999) and Paris film festivals (2000). Recently “Crash” won the Oscar for Best Picture. It too had race as the central theme. However, Hollywood relegates most films detailing the serious side of black life to the straight-to-video bin. Instead of “Lackawanna Blues” (Terrence Howard, Mos Def, S. Epatha Merkerson) getting major play, we get force-fed movies loaded with caricatures, such as “Madea’s Family Reunion.” Hollywood sometimes confronts the issue of race, but usually that take is not realistic and oftentimes downright laughable (The 1995 John Travolta, Harry Belafonte film “White Man’s Burden” comes to mind). When it comes to black and white, why can’t we see more films like 1970s “The Landlord” (Beau Bridges and Diana Sands)? Instead we get Joe Pesci in “The Super” (1991), a film so laden with stereotypes its unwatchable. I’m not saying blacks in Hollywood are not getting opportunities to make their own films. The sad and simple reality is that the ones that get greenlighted for wide release usually portray blacks as clowns, drug dealers or gangsters. Blacks are a significant portion of the movie audience, and this is supported by the fact that three black films released in 2006 have finished number one at the box office during their first week of release. (“Inside Man,” “Madea’s Family Reunion” and “Big Momma’s House 2.” Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com believes, "There is a six-week period where there is a lot of attention on African-American stories. The studios have figured out that this is a nice time of year to serve what is often times an underserved audience." (Greg Hernandez, Los Angeles Daily News, April 14, 2006). Back to the subject—“Whiteboyz” raised some interesting questions but never supplied any answers. I was left wondering what is it that white kids find appealing about black culture? How could a young white person from the heartland be so confused about his racial identity? Why would they find “props” in being called “nigga”? There is probably no single answer, but this is an issue that is worth exploring further. ------------ About the author: Timothy N. Stelly, Sr. is a 46-year old poet, novelist and aspiring screenwriter who resides in northern California with his three youngest children--Lawrence, Kimberly and Dante. He is a member of various writer's groups and has three novels in print, his most recent, "Like A Straight-Up Sucka," is available at www.lulu.com. website: http://stellbreadO@tripod.com Email: stellbread@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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