Sunday, July 31, 2005

White Wedding Crashers

Ridiculous piece in Salon today, wherein a black woman bemoans the lack of black weddings in The Wedding Crashers.

The woman's speaking about the long montage near the film's opening, where Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn crash a variety of multicultural weddings. There's a Jewish wedding, an Irish wedding and an Indian wedding, to the best of my recollections, but there are possibly one or two more in there I've forgotten.

But they don't go to a black wedding. I didn't really notice the absence at the time, though I can see why a filmmaker would reasonably leave it out. Jokes about white guys pretending to be "down" with black culture have gotten entirely tired (Vaughn already played that character earlier this year, in the reprehensibly stupid Be Cool). Would we really want to see another scene with Vaughn and Wilson trying to do some cool black guy dance but looking dorky, or trying to give a toast in street slang? No thanks.

But author Debra Dickerson doesn't consider any options but racism. She boldly declares that the lack of black brides in the opening of Wedding Crashers results from the filmmakers "inability to comprehend Negro culture."

Is she insane? Every 10 seconds, I see an ad for a major Hollywood film reveling in Negro culture. It's everywhere. In fact, Hollywood has ripped off black culture to such an extreme, it's almost a relief to see a mainstream comedy free of dumb jokes based on white vs. black racial differences. If she really wanted to go after a racist movie, how about one in which Cedric the Entertainer does his offensive "black preacher" routine, wherein he jumps around and hoots like a mental patient. Or what about one of the films in which Marlon Wayans plays a spastic, incomprehensible psychopath who loves guns just a bit more than he loves casual sex without condoms?

But Dickerson doesn't want to talk about those genuinely racist movies. He has an entirely separate agenda, you see. Not only is Wedding Crashers insensitive for not depicting a black wedding, but the film reflects Hollywood's (and white male's everywhere) acknowledgement that black women can't be sexy.

Owen, Vince: We long for those things. It's a misery to black woman why our strength, the strength that kept our people from extinction and which holds the community together yet, makes us seem manly somehow, as if no white woman has ever roughened her pink hands or survived rape for her family's sake. Or been a bitch.

Okay, I'm not saying that the issues this woman brings up aren't accurate about society at large. There is a stigma about black women, and they are depicted in our culture frequently as cruel, loveless matriarchs. But that is so only part of the story, and it has nothing to do with Wedding Crashers. Putting blame on Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, as this woman does, is random enough to be delusional.

I mean, she's upset that the montage in Wedding Crashers doesn't include any black women, which already is kind of an odd, silly complaint, and then she extrapolates that into a lament that the history of slave rape makes black women unsexy? What?

This is when feature-y cultural commentary goes totally haywire. It's fair to analyze a film for subtext and try to get at what societal truths lie buried in pop culture. But to take one scene in a mainstream comedy, a scene that isn't about the interrelation of races so much as the sparkling personalities of its two leads, and twist it to suit an argument you've had in mind for months that only tangentially relates to the movie...that's just irresponsible and pointless.

And, besides, I don't think Hollywood's problem is that it doesn't find black women sexy. Sanaa Lathan, Christina Milian, Beyonce Knowles, Vivica Fox, Halle Berry...are these not sexy black women who make films? Lots of films? I think Hollywood's problem is that there aren't enough black people in positions of power or black filmmakers, so all too often talented black performers and creative artists are saddled with poor material and tiny budgets. Why can't we get an article about that?

Could it be Debra Dickerson wanted to write a piece about how it's hard for a middle-aged black woman to feel sexy in 2005, and had to link it to Wedding Crashers to get it published or something? Because I'm out of other explanations here.

9 comments:

Horsey said...

Now why would anyone take a single hollywood movie, and then use that as a barometer to indicate ANY trend in hollywood or society. I mean, have people forgot about wtf statistics are for? A sample size of motherfucking 1! Wow, yeah, we can deduce massive amounts of things from a sample of 1. So say your sample had been Amistad, we could say that every fucking hollywood movie is about Blacks and their struggle for freedom. If the sample had been Hustle and Flow, then we could say FOR SURE, that hollywood thinks white women are prostitutes only fit to be pimped by down and out blacks.

Bah all this whining is nonsense. Sure there is racism in films, but I'm pretty sure it's not this shit.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Dickerson begins her piece by stating that she loved the film. She states that she is depressed because she feels that her group was excluded. This piece was in no way a movie review nor a putdown on the 2 lead actors. The writer makes it clear that the film was only a catalst for her reflection of the place of black women in American society.

I think Ms. Dickerson's piece was insightful and the issues raised right on target.

You don't seem to get it, but I think that is because you just don't want to.

Anonymous said...

film was only a catalyst. Sorry for the typo

Lons said...

Well, obviously I want to "get it." That's why I wrote a blog post on it. And I think I do "get it," I just think her complaint is pretty thin and would be better-directed at other, more offensive films. Stuff like "White Chicks" and "Man of the House" comes out, and I don't hear a peep from Salon.com, but here is a funny and popular film that has very little to do with race in America, and here's a front-page story about how it's racist against black women.

And though Ms. Dickerson may feel that, on a personal level, white men ignore black women (and this very well may be true...), I'm not really seeing that as a strong force in the popular culture, where attractive black women are quite common.

Horsey said...

Anonymous -- I don't know much about the status of black women in American society today. But I do know that the people I hang with lech over a black girl that's hot, the same way they lech over a white/asian/indian girl that's hot. No difference.

But then some girls are not hot, and so we don't lech after them. They could be white, indian, asian, or black .. but we aren't going to drool over them if they aren't hot. Maybe if the universe was fair, we would drool over all of them the same, but it isn't fair so we don't.

It isn't racism that makes us drool or not drool over women, it's more mundane things like the size of their boobies, how shapely their buttocks are, a thousand things like that.

If you are black and hot, guys will hit on you. If you are black and not hot, they probably won't. Why does it need to be a racism thing?

Chicks that are not hot need to just make peace with the fact that they are not hot, instead of trying to rationalize it by saying, oh I'm not being hit on because society is racist. Fuck that, all you gotta do is go to one nightclub in San Jose and see a hot black chick mobbed by a bunch of white frat guys, and you know this woman is not living in the same world I live in. Sure there are some plain janes in the corner not getting hit on by anyone, but goddamn it there is one of every race back there. Why do the black ones sitting in the back have to say we are racist? Goddamn it we aren't racist, we are superficial scums, it's a totally different thing.

Lons said...

Go to any random bar mitzvah and you'll get all you want of awkward white people poorly doing the Electric Slide.

Considering how many bar mitzvahs I attended during puberty, and the number of elderly, heavy-set Jewish ladies I've seen attempting the Electric Slide, it's a miracle I've ever managed to achieve or maintain an erection.

Lons said...

Well, Nichelle, as I say, all points of view are welcome. I don't mean to undermine the valid complaints of black women about the racism they face in society. I KNOW for a FACT that our society is prejudiced towards women and minorities, and in many cases blacks in particular, and don't wish to deny this.

I simply felt that Ms. Dickerson's scorn towards "Wedding Crashers" was misplaced. A film like "Hustle and Flow," for example, strikes me as reflecting FAR more racist and stereotypical attitudes towards blacks than "Wedding Crashers." The film is about a pimp who relies on his rapping skills, and help from his dutiful and obedient hoes, to make it in the world. (The film is also, I should add, directed by a white guy). I mean...COME ON. That's racism. Owen and Vince not attending a black wedding is a harmless omission.

And I find it hard to believe that you feel the issue of white male dominance of Hollywood gets enough coverage in our media. For the percentage of films in release featuring a majority black cast, how many are made by black filmmakers? How many are produced by black executives? If this issue received more attention, the situation might actually improve.

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Unknown said...

I watched this flick for the first time the other day. The only black character in it is the help, the butler. And though I liked his demeanor as the nonplussed observer of rich-people madness, I wasn't crazy about watching another black actor in a servant role in 2018. No elaborate social theories, or philosophical deconstructions, just my personal impression as a person of blackness.