Sorry, I wasn’t trying to embarrass you. I just wanted to be sure of the film you were referring to before I replied.
I haven’t seen Song of the South since I was a kid, so I may have missed a lot of subtleties. (Heck, I doubt it even occurred to me to think of the cartoon animals as black, since they were obviously cartoon animals.) But comparing the clips I have seen recently to clips I’ve seen of Norbit,* I have a hard time believing Song of the South is more demeaning to any group of people.
*I know, an Eddie Murphy picture, but Martin Lawrence is barely a blip on my radar.
I think the difference is in both the makers and the intended audience. Norbit aims for a black audience, and more than likely many black writers. I doubt the same can be said of Song of the South. Definitely a case of “we can make fun of ourselves, but you can’t make fun of us”.
Your therapy group sessions meet Tuesdays at 8 at the VFW hall. Please attend.
What’s even worse, I’ll bet he spends the entire movie “cracking” on, playing “the dozens” with, signifying in reference to, and generally “ridiculing” the other Black characters, "in public, in the workplace, and on the bus, “no matter what their socioeconomic status is.”
Most regular posters here are well-acquainted with TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW’s “fascination” with black and African American culture in modern America. This post, however, is a very straight-forward, honest question about the way Martin Lawrence and other black actors often get portrayed in movies. Is there really a reason to bring up TLDR’s less shining moments here on the SDMB when the OP can stand on its own?
Buffoonery in comedy has a long, profitable history. The difference between this and the old Al Jolson stuff, IMO, is that the leads are laughing all the way to the bank, and often have considerable say in how they are portraying themselves.
Oh behalf of white people everywhere, I’d just like to think **TAFKAVCO3 ** for saying what we’ve all been thinking for all these years, but were too afraid to say because we’d ebe viewed as racist.
Thanks for taking that “Martin Lawrence isn’t funny” bullet man. We owe you.
Wouldn’t it be better to watch the movie and use the seething hatred that would be generated by doing so to first plan and then execute your revenge which would naturally involve cloning Martin Lawrence several thousand times and then imprisoning the clones in a vat and then dropping your tormenter into the vat so the clones could eat him and then tossing in the original ML and then firing the vat a dying sun?