After discussing in class USA Today's tweet about the new movie The Best Man Holiday, I decided to do a little research and see what other critics and reviews had to say about the film. On rogerebert.com, the very first line of the review written by Odie Henderson is as follows:
"The Best Man Holiday" has the potential to become a staple of Christmastime movie watching in the 'hood."
I could not believe that such a respected and well-known movie review blog would write such a blatantly ignorant and, quite frankly, racist line on a professional blog. I was a bit taken aback, seeing as how this is the first website that popped up on Google when I typed in "The Best Man Holiday reviews". As expected, people commented on this line and were not happy:
"The opening line of this article blew it for me... why does such a great
movie only have the potential to become a staple of Christmastime movie
watching in the "hood"... really?? The hood? You critics will once
again be proven wrong this weekend and the weeks to come when this movie
shows it crosses all racial lines with the money it brings in. Please
stop it with the racial overtones for such fantastic film." -from Adrienne McGee
I would not consider this movie "race-themed", and I'm not even sure that could be considered a common theme in movies. I guess the only movie that we've discussed that I would even remotely consider "race-themed" is Bamboozled, simply because the topic of race is overtly talked about and dealt with in the film. In The Best Man Holiday, though I have only seen a trailer, looks to be about friends getting together over the holidays. This is a movie that appeals to everyone and has common themes of friendship and family, and I suspect a little comedy and drama. That seems like a stretch to call it a "race-themed" movie just because the cast just so happens to be all black. Not only that, but the wording that critics are using is completely ignorant and insensitive and makes it seem odd that movies have an all black cast. The media has the power to change how we see things, and in this case they are feeding in to our societies underlying stereotypes.
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ReplyDeleteYou make a valid point. I wouldn't describe movies as race-themed unless the issue of race is evident in the film.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you mention that the only film you would consider race-themed is "Bamboozled." I would argue that "The Help" is a race-themed movie because it was set in the Civil Rights Era, and it specifically points out African-American as the help and as discriminated.
To add on, the movie obviously doesn't necessarily have to be set during the Civil Rights time frame, but as long its central theme focuses on issues of discrimination, racism, prejudice, stereotypes, etc. then I would categorize it as racism.
I haven't seen "The Best Man Holiday," but based on the trailer that we saw, race doesn't play a role, therefore I wouldn't consider it a race-themed film. Nor would I consider an all (or majority) white-cast films a race film. The thought in itself is ridiculous.
The fact that critics are talking about "The Best Man Holiday" in terms of a Christmas film for the "hood" is a huge issue obviously. This type of critique allows readers to believe that this movie is not for anyone but people in the hood which then can be related back to race. People reading this review will believe that it is only for African Americans because it is suppose to be for people in the "hood". We talked in class about how many people do not watch films that are mainly casted with African Americans because people believe that it is not meant for whites. This critic obviously believes this notion and this continues to be an issue because of the way these films are portrayed. Why couldn't this film just be recognized as a good film for the holidays?
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