Rate the last movie you saw

[gourimoko]

Why?

I love it when black people make fun of white people.

Do you think it's funny when blacks make fun of white people?

Not usually.

Imagine if it were reversed?

I mean, among friends, it's lightweight funny.. My ex-girlfriend, Church Girl, would go back and forth with me with the Black Jokes / Asian Jokes. But if I went to a standup show and some guy started just railing on black folks and only black folks, I'm liable to throw my beer on the stage or start heckling the fuck out of him.

I don't have a problem with racial comedy. But I do have a problem with comedy that seems targeted at one specific group.

For example, for years, I despised Dave Chappelle. Oh. my. fucking. God. I hated this mofos guts...

It wasn't until I heard him speak years after the show had been cancelled and he not only apologized, but admitted the reason he left the show was because he realized White folks were laughing at him and not with him... that is to say, even if one thought they were laughing alongside him, they were laughing alongside of him making fun of his own people. Now, what does that make him?

So, I gained a lot of respect for Chappelle after he not only left the show, but broke it down into such real terms.

It's why I won't watch the Boondocks... Here's a show, essentially for children, where the word nigga is tossed around as if it were a frequently used conjunction in the English language.

So, what you end up with is White kids thinking it's okay to repeat this shit. When, in fact, it isn't, and in reality, it's likely to make matters worse because they think this is a term of endearment when it isn't.

I think this part of Black society is fucked up, and needs to be corrected. We were never this so far gone as a people... We lack self-respect, dignity, cultural identity and pride. Our culture is fucked, and these jackasses aren't doing anything positive to fix it.

 

[gourimoko]

In fact...I like when any race makes fun of another using stereotypes, because it highlights the absurdity of the opinions and still shines some light on the truth.

I totally agree. But socially conscious comedy and satire are very powerful literary devices that often go right over much of the audience's collective heads. This creates a problem wherein individuals who are supposed to be enlightened by the commentary, instead, have their prejudiced and ignorant beliefs reinforced.

A very good example of this is All In The Family. Many bigoted households identified with the Bunker's, particularly Archie Bunker's avid racism and intolerance. They celebrated his ignorance, because it was considered a positive quality when coupled with his moral values.

But they had no idea the entire fucking show was meant to be satirical, and that Caroll O'Connor was the furthest thing from a racist or a bigot. He often had to correct people, routinely, who would come up to him and mouth racial epithets or hateful speech and tell them straight-up "you don't get it."

So while I agree with you this type of comedy and satire has a useful purpose, often, that purpose isn't identified for decades (see, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn). And in the meantime, while the masses are catching up to the actual meaning of the work, they are instead entrenched in their own bigotry.

Comics are generally very tolerant of other groups.

That they are, but not all of them; and oftentimes comics will say whatever they think will get a laugh...

 

[The Oi]

Our culture is fucked

In what way do you mean that?

 

[The Oi]

But socially conscious comedy and satire are very powerful literary devices that often go right over much of the audience's collective heads.

This is true. Hadn't thought much about this. The vast majority of people are REALLY fucking stupid. Particularly from a social standpoint.

That's fair.

So is the problem with the Wayans and Chappelle that they make fun of black people or that the people laughing at the jokes just don't get it?

To me, I think Don't Be a Menace is funny because it's so fucking asinine. This is not a direct comparison by any stretch...but it's the same reason I think Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse 5 are great books. They're absolutely absurd. I love absurdity based in an element of reality.

You are probably correct that there's a lot of white guys watching that movie and saying, "This is the way all black people are," and BELIEVING it.

 

[gourimoko]

In what way do you mean that?

Well..

Our culture has been warped due to capitalistic pursuits, misguided movements towards assimilation, and the dissolution of our cultural African identity. With that, we have created a condition where we are no longer African-Americans, and we're no longer Black-Americans; we're just Blacks, which effectively feels like a form of second-class citizenship.

Culturally, our music has gone from Rock, Pop, Blues, Jazz, Soul, and Reggae, all of which were really pioneered by African-descendent or African-American peoples to basically one hyper-genre of amorphous noise where rappers sing and singers rap, and "hoes" jiggle.

Our contributions to the sciences have diminished, as fewer African-Americans earn their PhDs in the sciences and instead focus on education. And while Blacks are actually the fastest growing racial group for earning a PhD, which is impressive, they earn them in fields other than the sciences, which limits their ability to make groundbreaking discoveries.

Our literally contributions have been diminished. We went from having phenomenal actors, artists, and poets to having the focus of our artistic contribution limited within the scope of what can get published on a record label.

Our self-identity has been purposefully erased. We neither identify as a people, or as a nation. We don't understand what it means to be an American, nor do we value or place in this society. It's akin to being a nomadic people like the Berbers or Romanis (re: 'gypsy'), a people without a place, or a home, or a nation.

Our women have been force-fed a warped version of feminism that encourages sexuality at a young age; are fed foods that overdevelop them; are brainwashed into the belief that adolescence is not a time of innocence but a time of sexual discovery and exploration.

Our men are incarcerated, beaten, shot, killed.... I could go on about this forever.

Bro, our entire society is targeted by all others, by many Whites, and by other minorities. To be Black is to be a target. In the 60s, 70s, 80s, and the 90s, this gave us, as a people, a unique strength. An edge, mentally, that we had to push that extra mile - to fight. It made us tough.

Now, the edge has been dulled, and African-Americans are as soft and dense as butter. Easily pliable, malleable, to whatever shape best serves the moment of those doing the shaping.

We've been tricked, bamboozled, and now, unfortunately, we've been beaten.

 

[gourimoko]

This is true. Hadn't thought much about this. The vast majority of people are REALLY fucking stupid. Particularly from a social standpoint.

That's fair.

So is the problem with the Wayans and Chappelle that they make fun of black people or that the people laughing at the jokes just don't get it?

To me, I think Don't Be a Menace is funny because it's so fucking asinine. This is not a direct comparison by any stretch...but it's the same reason I think Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse 5 are great books. They're absolutely absurd. I love absurdity based in an element of reality.

You are probably correct that there's a lot of white guys watching that movie and saying, "This is the way all black people are," and BELIEVING it.

Exactly.. Not just White folks, but Black people too.

They see it and think, this is reality, when it's not.

Life imitates art just as much as art imitates life.

 

[Jack Brickman]

It's why I won't watch the Boondocks... Here's a show, essentially for children, where the word nigga is tossed around as if it were a frequently used conjunction in the English language. So, what you end up with is White kids thinking it's okay to repeat this shit.

You mean it's not?











































Just kidding.

 

[The Oi]

@gourimoko just PM'd me that I have carte blanche to wholesale use any racial epithets I want in any thread. Nobody else is allowed to do this though.

Give a mouse a cookie...

 

[gourimoko]

@gourimoko just PM'd me that I have carte blanche to wholesale use any racial epithets I want in any thread. Nobody else is allowed to do this though.

Give a mouse a cookie...

Lol.. that'd be the fucking day..

 

[The Oi]

Ended up buying the book "I am Legend."

Could not be more different from the movie. The only things they share in common are vampires and that a dog existed in the plot.

That movie had no right calling itself "I am Legend."

 

[Hurl Bruce]

Ended up buying the book "I am Legend."

Could not be more different from the movie. The only things they share in common are vampires and that a dog existed in the plot.

That movie had no right calling itself "I am Legend."

Agree 100%.

It's not like the book doesn't lend itself to film. The story is great as is with a great "a-ha" moment at the end.

I've never watched the Charlton Heston version from long time ago...might have to find that.

 

[The Oi]

Agree 100%.

It's not like the book doesn't lend itself to film. The story is great as is with a great "a-ha" moment at the end.

I've never watched the Charlton Heston version from long time ago...might have to find that.

EDIT:

Looks like those other stories weren't part of I Am Legend at all, but rather other short stories in the same volume.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Just saw "Birdman". Extremely disappointed. 60 minutes of angst-ridden whining and screaming at each other. I hate angst. So much so that I couldn't get past 60 minutes of it. Felt like it was a bunch of actors pleasuring themselves about how emotionally draining acting is.

Other than that, saw "Miracle" on TV over the weekend, and the douchenozzles edited out the scene where they were doing Herbies and Eruzione ends them with "I play for the United States of America." Seriously? That's the scene you edit for time?

 

[gourimoko]

Just saw "Birdman". Extremely disappointed. 60 minutes of angst-ridden whining and screaming at each other. I hate angst. So much so that I couldn't get past 60 minutes of it. Felt like it was a bunch of actors pleasuring themselves about how emotionally draining acting is.

Birdman was one of the best movies I've seen in a very long while. Absolutely brilliant film. Michael Keaton and Edward Norton were perfect, and also perfectly cast. The direction, cinematography, and score of the film are all simply flawless.

I didn't think it should've won Best Picture, any other year then yes definitely; but I can definitely see why it was nominated and I wasn't mad that it won over Interstellar.

Well, I wasn't that mad.. Like, the anger didn't persist for as long as I thought it might.

 

[Jack Brickman]

@gourimoko

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJuGeqdbn4


This isn't new, but I re-watched it again tonight and it always makes me laugh. The Red Letter Media guys are so great.