BTW, I’ve noticed Bernie gets more screen time on most of the commercials than any of the “girls.” Dude seems to be a draw. Hell, I’m half tempted to see it because he’s in it–thanks for the warning.
His role is pretty small. Much smaller than Bill Murray’s.
Frankly, focusing on Bernie Mac’s little 50-line part while Barrymore starred in and produced this sexist, exploitationist dreck is like criticizing Mussolini for his handling of interest rates. Basically, the entire movie sells itself off the bodies of Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz. The message is “Check out these hot chicks’ bodies.” Not that there’s anything wrong with their bods, but this movie’s Exploitation of Women’s Sexuality score is about ten thousand billion times higher than its Exploitation Of Silly Black Stereotypes score.
Yeah!
Where’s the diatribe for their participation in this cinematic cluster-fuck? Hey, they did it twice!!
Some of you seem pretty sure of Bernie’s finances. Me, not so much. He’s pretty low-paid as far as sit-com stars go. And his roles in films have not been very big thus far. Maybe he still feels the need to fill out his resume? If he tells the producer to stick it, is that producer gonna want to work with him again? Is he gonna get a rep as being hard to work with?
Bernie may feel he has a big mortgage and he wants to put his kids through college. If he stands for his principals (actually, for you with the face’s principals), are we gonna help? Pass the hat, maybe?
Bernie’s an employee, like Lucy Liu is an employee. They do what they’re told. They aren’t big enough to make ANY kind of demands. And if they want to keep their careers, they need to keep in the public eye and keep doing films. Sadly, some of them are gonna suck. He get’s enough of them under his belt, then he can pick and choose AND keep his face in the forefront.
Give the man a break. He was great in Ocean’s Eleven.
Black Dopers, you think Bernie Mac in the new Charlie’s Angels sequel is making you cringe?
Get ready for Radio.
That’s right, Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays a mentally retarded black man, complete with spastic motion and rediculously bad false teeth, who gets he’ped by the good white folk. I saw the trailer recently, and folks, Bernie Mac is the god of black American dignity compared to Cuba Gooding’s portrayal of yet another Magical Negro. It’s so bad that the ghosts of Stepin Fetchit, Pigmeat Markham, and Mantan Moreland are saying, “Damn, doesn’t that boy have any shame?”
Bernie Mac doesn’t need to do that. The man was already a star playing to sold out auditoriums when he was still undiscovered by white America.
Moreover, there is no excuse for a black man, or anyone, to have to take racially demeaning roles in this day and age. Will you try to sell that “just an employee” bit to Morgan Freeman or Denzel Washington? Bernie Mac isn’t an unknown; he’s famous enough with a sufficiently large following that he can pick and choose his roles. Your comments might better apply to the young, struggliong black actors who might be offered nothing but pimps ands gang members, but as Robert Townsend said in Hollywood Shuffle, “There’s always work at the post office.”
There’s some pretty good actors who have done some great movies side-by-side with crap movies.
Gene Hackman and Michael Caine come to mind as actors who haven’t always been that discriminating, and they’re just two examples amongst hundreds. I still respect them though, because they’re very good at what they do, and even though they may be in crap productions at times, they often do their parts quite well within the larger shitfest going on about them.
If Bernie Mac did nothing but these sort of roles from here on out, then I might begin to question his professional integrity. But if he continues to also do things which are well done, then what should I think of his body of work? Do the better things become invalidated because of his earlier decisions?
That show should make us ALL cringe.
Freeman and Washington are already bankable, proven stars. They can pick and choose and their will always be people giving them top quality scripts to read and choose from. There was a time when they couldn’t. You think Denzel didn’t know Heart Condition was gonna be a turd?
Bernie is a big stand-up comedian. That doesn’t always translate into a film career, which he seems to want.
I’d be happy if crap like Charlie’s Angels wasn’t made. And I’m not gonna see it, so I can’t comment on the whole of Bernie Mac’s role. (If the trailer is any indication…) But I’m not fault the man for taking the role. Bad as it is, it still may help his career.
I don’t mean to take this out of context, spooje, but the difference between Bernic Mac and Lucy Liu in this particular case is that you don’t see Lucy Liu perpetuating any Asian stereotypes. At least I don’t think you do.
Heck, I haven’t seen it, but my impression from the first one was that her character was as doofy as the other two “angels” without stooping to cheap laughs on the basis of her ethnicity. I think that’s the charge that you with the face is leveling at Bernie Mac.
Is your point that playing a dumb black man that this demeans all black people, but when a white guy plays a dumb white guy thats ok?
If I thought white people were judged by any Jim Carey Movie I would want him shot.
People make dumb ass movies all the time - its only a movie - its only a job.
I don’t even know who Bernie is but give the guy a break.
And I cannot agree with this, simply be seeing the roles he has taken.
Either he is NOT being offered good quality scripts he can pick and choose from, or he is recieving some bad proffessional advice, or he has no taste in films
No, she’s perpetuating the ‘hot kung-fu babe’ stereotype.
No she’s not. The other two are performing the same kung-fu moves, remember? It would only be the perpetuation of a stereotype if she were the only one in the movie doing it. That is, she’d be the token Asian. She’s not. Diaz and Barrymore’s characters do the same things Liu’s does.
But how can she not be perpetuating the same stereotype (that you admit Diaz and Barrymore are) while doing the exact same thing?
IMO, in a movie like Charlie’s Angels, every character is a stereotype.
Because it’s a simple fact that every person who does kung-fu or other martial arts moves in a movie is not perpetuating a stereotype. Just because she’s Asian and doing martial arts in a movie doesn’t mean she’s perpetuating any stereotypes. The fact that other, non-Asian people are doing the same thing supports this.
How are we defining stereotype here. It may help to clarify our positions.
A stereotype, for me, has to include characteristics that are generally identified with a particular subgroup.
A common Asian stereotype is that they’re all proficient in martial arts. Lucy Liu’s character is trained in the art as part of her job - it’s not as if it’s inherent to her ethnicity.
I’m not sure what stereotypes the other two represent.
RickJay wrote:
Well, lowering the interest rates paid on Government securities, seemed the most workable solution when faced with the Italian national debt crisis in the wake of the First World War.
While i have much sympathy for the OP’s rant, i’m not going to take it out on Bernie Mac. Or, at least, i’m not going to take it out on him any more than i would take it out on any actor who takes a ridiculous role. As RickJay has pointed out, the three women in this movie are doing just as much to perpetuate stereotypes. And there are plenty of other good actors who often end up in bad roles. I’m not an actor, but i’d be willing to bet that there are times when a movie looks much more respectable in script form than it does after the editing.
Also, given the importance of politics (racial, gender, etc.) to issues like this, it’s worth remembering that actors, especially black actors, have to be a bit careful about picking their battles. If they dig their heels in before they make it really big, they can end up on the Hollywood scrap-heap. Is this an ideal situation? No. But it’s the way things are. Many actors, including African Americans like Danny Glover, take on the big, crappy roles (Lethal Weapon, anyone?) so that they have the financial security to also do more thoughtful films or stage roles, and so that they have money to help out their political causes in the real world.
There was an interview with Glover in a recent issue of The Progressive magazine, and the preamble made the point:
Those things include: being chair of the TransAfrica Forum, a group dealing with issues related to Africa and the Caribbean; promoting AIDS treatment and debt relief for third world, especially African nations; Goodwill Ambassador to UN Development Program; board member of the Algebra Project, a program for helping underprivileged kids in America with math; and giving to many charities.
Now, i don’t know anything about Bernie Mac’s offscreen politics, or his long-term intentions, but i think it’s a bit early to write him off as Hollywood’s next Uncle Tom. And it’s worth remembering that, while movies are important cultural artifacts and can have a strong influence on members of the audience–especially young and impressionable ones–they are, after all, just movies.
In that Progressive interview, Glover was asked about the significance of Denzel Washington and Halle Berry’s Oscars for African Americans in Hollywood. He seemed to see the Hollywood part of the question as largely irrelevant, saying:
Glover was also asked if he was getting the sort of roles he was looking for.
And if Danny Glover is having trouble finding meaningful roles, you can be sure that things are no easier for Bernie Mac.
Of course, we all have our own limits, and mine is wealthy big-name celebrities who choose to whore themselves out to companies like McDonalds or Pepsi or Sprint. I understand a struggling wannabe actor taking roles in commercials, but i have little tolerance for big stars who do it just to add a couple million more to their already bursting bank accounts. Is this inconsistent with my above post? You be the judge. I concede that it’s a visceral rather than a really rational reaction, but there’s nothing i can do about it.
What are those stereotypes? I’m a little fuzzy on that. (Sorry to parse one sentence, but the rest of it made perfect sense to me anyway.)
Why do you think the character of Murtaugh was a crappy role? There was none of the racial stereotyping in that role that you see in many “buddy cop” films; Murtaugh was a smart, honest family man. Too often the African American in the plot is a dumb, shifty, no-account, ne’er-do-well… you get the picture. That’s the stereotype, not the family man that Glover’s character was.
I think he also means the ‘hot kung-fu babe’ stereotype. Kicks butt by day, tiger in the sack by night. Granted, it’s more a film stereotype than a racial stereotype, which I gather is what you are talking about.