We’ve had these in the past but rather than see if there’s one within the age of bumpability I’ll just start another one. What plots have you read or seen so many times that you just think “THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO WITH THIS SO DO SOMETHING ELSE!” at the writers? It can be a sitcom episode (e.g. guy has two dates in one night [a bit dated, but you get the idea]) or a TV show theme (e.g. another frigging sitcom about angsty 20something professionals or "not another L&O franchise and or ripoff) or- pretty much anything that’s over done.
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I started the thread because of a major bestseller that came so highly recommended to me: Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. I’ll admit I had misgivings- “ooh, unhappy white kid from well to do family is helped along by downtrodden but wise black domestic and learns a lesson about life, THAT’S original”) but was assured "No no no, it’s not like that. I got a copy of it through Amazon on Kindle and… well, to me, your mileage may vary, that’s EXACTLY what it was like.
I thought “maybe it’s just reading it on kindle is bothering me” so I checked out a copy- nope, same story.
In fairness I should mention I only made it about halfway into the book. I completely lost interest. It may have an absolutely STELLAR ending to it, but it’s all the cliches and angst and melodrama. Worst of all considering the writer is within a few years of my age and grew up in Mississippi (though admittedly in a larger place and wealthier family) but I thought the dialogue/dialect of both white and black characters was awful and urealistic and came more from watching old movies and Good Times reruns than an ear for dialect. In real life both white and black southerners have some unique and shared expressions and eccentric phraseology and grammatical violations that range from funny to fingers-on-the-chalkboard and this was even more true ‘back in the day’ before cable TV softened the dialects a bit. Most weren’t in this book and most of the ones that were I think everybody’s heard.
Add of course the usual stock company characters: abusive black husband, check. Nice but completely oblivious and racist white character, check. Openly racist and evil white character, check, long suffering but spiritual and saintly black woman, check check check check, white kid who’s misunderstood by all but the maid… check check… well you get the idea.
This plot is so damned overdone that I can think of three films that used some variant of it just thatstarred Whoopi Goldberg*! Og knows how many movies Hattie McDaniel appeared in as the kind loving funny wise maid who helps the white kid, then she starred in a radio show and then in a TV series about this plot. Nell Carter starred in Gimme a Break! as- you guessed it- black domestic who just loves some white kids.
Perhaps my prejudice against this genre comes in part from the fact that the only black domestic my family ever had was a lady named Rosa Mae who had 12 toes, heard voices, drank my parents liquor as soon as they left the house, and the only reason my mother kept her on was because she did good ironing, worked cheap, and called my grandmother [my mother’s mother-in-law] a “goddamned old bitch who I hope dogs eat up and the and shit you out on the road!” to her face. In retrospect I thank Og for Rosa Mae" since she at least proves not every single black woman born in Alabama before Condoleezza Rice had a heart of gold or loved taking care of white people.
But I digress. The point is that it’s 2010. We all know that lots and lots and lots of black women used to work as maids, probably many still do. I have known many of them- dozens at least through my time in hotels and motels and various agencies I’ve worked at and trust me, they vary as widely as any other segment of the population in intelligence, morality, back story, sassiness, kindness, and most every other way: some were wonderful, some were evil, some were drunk, some were tee totallers, some were retarded, some were brilliant, some were devout Christians, some were absolutely horrible people. Let’s see some of these.
Since I spent way longer on that one I’ll just do a short second one: the marriage of convenience that becomes a…. wait for it… marriage of love. The Proposal, Green Card, several TV shows from Occasional Wife to Ned and Stacey to one I remember with Billy Connelly- ENOUGH ALREADY! We know every arc and how it’s going to end up.
What are some others you’d like to see retired?
*In fairness to Whoopi, she did at least try to make these a bit different- Clara was Jamaican, Long Walk Home was a Bus Boycott era piece, and when it was time for Corinna she only agreed to do it if they made two changes:
1- Originally the maid character and Ray Liotta’s character feel an attraction for each other but both realize it can never happen and don’t act on it; Whoopi said “if I do it they’re going to act on it”.
2- She insisted they make Corinna a college graduate with ambition. She said when she was working in Montgomery and talking to maids from the Rosa Parks/Boycott era she was amazed how many were well read and some even went to college, but they either couldn’t find other jobs or the professional jobs they did find paid less than housekeeping, so she wanted to tell their story.
Even then she admits she only played a maid again because they paid her a lot of money and she thought Ray Liotta was fine.
Calpurnia, the maid in To Kill a Mockingbird, was also a cut above a stock character. She was highly intelligent, well read, and not particularly friendly to the children. She respected Atticus but was more of a dignified “stand offish” than surrogate mother. One of my favorite scenes in the book was when Scout and Jem went with her to church and were surprised seeing her in her own element rather than their house.