I am quite possibly the only black person in America who liked this movie. Here's my review in The City Paper.
What offends me, what black people should rise up and shout about, is when blackness is reduced to just a few character types: The Magic Negro (Jennifer Hudson in Sex in the City, Morgan Freeman in almost anything), The Thug (the rapper du jour), The Sassy Black Woman (overweight and loud), The Player (Samuel L. Jackson's specialty), The Hot Black Chick (young, with a nice ass).
Minstrels come in blackface and black skin and I object to them wherever I see them. I didn't, however, see any in Tropic Thunder.
Read the rest here.
2 comments:
*raising hand*
Black, in America, and unoffended here. (Haven't seen it yet, though.)
I thought it was mainly handicapped advocates who were up in arms.
I have to say, the movie's PR people might have saved themselves a lot of bother had they chosen, in their public statements, to respond, "We are not making fun of the exploited, we're making fun of those who exploit." Instead, the spokespeople went down the same old "Don't be so PC, everyone is so oversensitive!" route. Sad and silly.
I still want to see it, though! (At the very least, they put some effort into Downey Jr's skin tone.)
Excellent review.
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