Hollywoodland

To me, the mark of a good movie is how much I think about it after I've left the theater, days have passed and what happens when it pops back into my mind. With those criteria in mind, I really liked Hollywoodland.

To be fair, I'm no movie critic. I didn't study film in school and when I go to the movies, I really enjoy getting lost in the story (if I can) and letting myself go on the journey with the characters.

The above did not happen with Cars. It did happen with Hollywoodland.

Of course, getting lost in Adrian Brody's eyes is pretty damn easy and with his surprisingly sexy good looks. Wow. Halle Berry was one lucky Oscar presenter.

Movies like this are faced with a unique challenge. They're set in an era where minorities were excluded from everyday life and if they did show up, they were servants or being abused in some way. Many films do this unabashedly and I'm sure the conversation in the casting room is unfortunately shallow.

Another annoying thing period movies often do is use there eras as excuses for referring to minorities derrogatively. They'll drop in whatever racial epithets they feel like in the name of authenticity, but such words usually just pull the reader out of the story and make cognisant audiences squirm uncomfortably for a scene or two.

But HWL handled the minority issue very well. Set in the upper tiers of Hollywood society, there was a singular type of person the film focused on--leaving little room for darker faces. So I was surprised the first time we see a servant in the movie to see that she's white.

Now, of the two servants who have under-five/featured extra roles, the white maid was the only one with lines. Later, we see a black servant. She has no lines and we only see her from the back.

This is both merciful and curious.

On one hand, it's nice that she didn't speak. Often with roles like this, the black person is made to be shuffling and truckling and a close cousin to Mr. Fetchit. The fact that the black maid didn't talk made her seem almost more in control of her life than the white maid who has an exchange with Brody.

However, if she had lines, it would have been an opportunity for her to deliver them as a well spoken, strong woman and not just a maid. Why weren't the parts swtiched? Who knows. Is it really that big of a deal? In this film, not really, but it is something to think about.

Right after I get done thinking about Adrian. :) (whose ethnicity, incidentally, plays not part in the movie. as in this case, it shouldn't.)

Two Weeks Notice

This movie falls into the same "why are you watching this" camp as Just Married. But Two Weeks Notice did gross bout $120 million worldwide. And $120 million can't be wrong.

I'll get it out of the way and say that I Love Hugh Grant. Yes, he's skeezy and slimy and definitely uses that disarming eye flutter thing to make you think he's better than he is. But he's freaking sexy and looks better and better every year. (and sure he paid for it, but he paid for it with a Black girl!!)

Like so many movies set in New York City, Two Weeks Notice has one minority in it. Filmmakers and television producers a like have decided that this is an accurate representation of the city. Which is strange when you consider that the actual ethnic makeup of NYC looks more like this.


(scroll down the wikipedia page. you'll find the info. and a whole lot more. never stop learning.)

So Two Weeks Notice employs one minority in their cast. And oh, so appropriately, it is a lesser version of the magical black person. Dorian Missick plays Tony, Grant's chauffeur who lives at home with his mother and expects her to have dinner waiting for him when he gets home.

But he's also a great chess player and uses his skills to show Grant how to woo the stubborn Bullock...Too bad he can't use those skills to help himself. Such a burden.

And thus is the plight of the magical black person. See a listing of other notable films who employ this tactic here: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:GchS2LSUp1MJ:www.amazon.com/The-Magical-Black-Person-Genre/lm/J1R7ZNBTA8RR+magical+black+person&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

Thank you Spike Lee for giving us this term. I believe he originally said "super duper magical black person." This is a black person who has a skill or talent that is used almost exclusively to benefit a white person, while the black person is held back by fate or their own folly.

Now, Two Weeks Notice isn't an "important" film and thus the inclusion of a MBP probably didn't affect that many people who saw and/or analyzed this film. But it is lazy filmmaking. And it gives other films to write these vaguely shuffling bit parts in for actors of color and get away with it with no scrutiny.

Just Married

Just Married


Yes, I know. I should probably never have rented it. But as far as a simple movie with some easy laughs go..it's not so bad. And the one black character in it isn't nearly as offensive as the one black character in Two Weeks Notice.

There are two noticeable minorities in JM. One is Juan, an Asian house manager who lives and works at Brittney Murphy's parents. The other is Ashton Kutcher's coworker.

Juan is a bit of a caricature and really dances all over the offensive line. I think the sting of his Asian stereotype is mitigated by the fact that he has very few lines. So few in fact that by the time you think "holy crap! did they just have that guy say that like that?!" he's off screen and Murphey is getting hit in the head with something.

Kutcher's coworker, played by Alex Thomas, is great. He is an example of exaclty what a character who is a minority needs to be. A guy. Who happens to be a minority. And that's it. He doesn't have some crazy accent. He doesn't talk about 'the man.' He doesn't use reflexive, self loathing eptithets. He dosen't, as far as we know in this story, hate women, have too much sex with them, crave more sex with them, cheat on them. He works hard, dresses well and is tough but fair with Kutcher when he starts screwing up on the job.

Too often even small parts like this are overplayed so that racial stereotpyes are the source of the humor. Or at least a major part of the humor. Instead of letting the humor come from the conflict between characters or in the story itself.