list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Soul Man on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Soul_Man/32124/default.aspx Title: Soul Man
Year: 1986
Director: Steve Miner
Plot: An ambitious-but -spoiled rich white kid wins a scholarship to Harvard Law School by pretending to be African-American in this broadly-played comedy. After his father cuts him off financially, Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) wins a full tuition scholarship to Harvard by claiming to be African-American on the application form. With the help of his best friend Gordon (Arye Gross), Mark acquires some bronzing pills, a new hairdo, and a lowered voice. Disguised as a black student, Mark thinks that he's going to breeze through the program. The reality of being a minority at a mostly white institution quickly catches up to him, however, when he encounters some tacit racism and falls for Sarah Walker (Rae Dawn Chong), a fellow student whose affection makes him feel guilty about his ruse. Then there's the imperious Professor Banks (James Earl Jones), an African-American instructor who expects him to perform at a higher level than the other students. Soul Man was written by Carol Black and directed by Steve Miner, who would collaborate again for the popular television series The Wonder Years (1988-93). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 5
Number of Lists: 5
Number of blog posts: 3
SpoutRating: 2
]]>Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:01:21 GMTSoul Man1986Steve MinerAn ambitious-but -spoiled rich white kid wins a scholarship to Harvard Law School by pretending to be African-American in this broadly-played comedy. After his father cuts him off financially, Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) wins a full tuition scholarship to Harvard by claiming to be African-American on the application form. With the help of his best friend Gordon (<a href="/players/P____28966/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Arye Gross</a>), Mark acquires some bronzing pills, a new hairdo, and a lowered voice. Disguised as a black student, Mark thinks that he's going to breeze through the program. The reality of being a minority at a mostly white institution quickly catches up to him, however, when he encounters some tacit racism and falls for Sarah Walker (<a href="/players/P____12943/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Rae Dawn Chong</a>), a fellow student whose affection makes him feel guilty about his ruse. Then there's the imperious Professor Banks (<a href="/players/P____36131/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>James Earl Jones</a>), an African-American instructor who expects him to perform at a higher level than the other students. Soul Man was written by Carol Black and directed by <a href="/players/P___102984/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Steve Miner</a>, who would collaborate again for the popular television series <a href=/films/161591/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>The Wonder Years</a> (1988-93). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide5Slightly Tagged (1-5)532http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t171231n5y7.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Soul_Man/32124/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/29/40057.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
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Post Date: 1/29/2009 11:01:21 AM
Body: There is a good reason Hollywood continually makes Animal House wannabes and avoids producing films that actually focus on academia. Kids prefer their college movies to be about the fun stuff. And so a movie like Old School grossed $75 million while another Luke Wilson comedy called Tenure currently lacks a distributor. The latter film may also be hilarious, as a satire of the tenure process, but if it doesn’t concentrate more on beer bongs and naked co-eds, it won’t attract as big an audience. And according to some scholars, it may not even resonate with them, because it couldn’t possibly be what the process is really like. Film blogger and associate professor Chuck Tryon was quoted about the film last year as saying, “my ongoing pursuit of tenure typically involves me sitting in front of my laptop until 1 a.m., I don’t know how interesting that would be to watch.” And evident by the scathing reviews from Sundance of John Krasinski’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, it appears another film about academia has failed to make a strong case for the subject matter. Too bad for the late David Foster Wallace, whose stories were adapted for the film, that Gus Van Sant wasn’t at the helm. A decade ago, in an interview with Van Sant, Wallace pretty much gushed that Good Will Hunting is the most accurate film about academia ever made. Do we agree with him? Let’s just say there’s not a whole lot of competition for such an honor. But in our attempt to recognize the ten best films about academia, Good Will Hunting doesn’t quite make the top spot. 9. (tie) Elegy (2005) and The Human Stain (2003) Neither of these films is especially great, but it would be criminal for us not to recognize the work of Philip Roth, an author who depicts the academic world perfectly in his novels, particularly The Dying Animal (which is the basis for Elegy) and The Human Stain. The adaptations of these two books fail to capture much of what’s on the page, but each film has its own merit. Elegy, which primarily deals with an affair between a professor (Ben Kingsley) and a student (Penelope Cruz), is worth seeing for the more interesting relationship between that professor and his Pulitzer Prize-winning friend (Dennis Hopper). Rarely is fraternity between two members of the academic intelligentsia portrayed so enjoyably. As for The Human Stain, which also involves a professor (Anthony Hopkins) and his affair with a younger woman (Nicole Kidman), the film deals primarily with the issue of political correctness within academia. The topic is addressed nowhere near as well as it is in Roth’s novel, but it is at least a starting point for discussion, and it’s also worth seeing for an example in how not to cast a movie. 8. Soul Man (1986) If we are to include The Human Stain, it’s just as well we acknowledge this earlier comedy, which also involves ironic situations regarding race and academia. Hardly a brilliant movie, Soul Man is at least as humorous in its examination of racism as the Harold and Kumar movies. Yet it is far less esteemed. And the whole black face thing can no longer be looked down upon now that Robert Downey Jr. has that Oscar nomination for Tropic Thunder. The movie is a worthy lampoon of the politics of affirmative action and their affect on college admissions (as well as an obvious and general look at racism within the student population), but it’s especially entertaining for James Earl Jones as a professor who refuses to favor the masquerading protagonist (C. Thomas Howell) just because he’s black. 7. Back to School (1986) While Soul Man deals with the benefit of being a minority when it comes to getting into college, this film from the same year deals with the benefit of being rich. The idea that anyone with enough money can get into the school of his or her choice is depicted comically in a two-scene setup. In the first scene, a university dean (Ned Beatty) asks millionaire entrepreneur Thornton Mellon (Rodney Dangerfield) how he could possibly admit him as a student when he has no high school degree, no transcripts and no SAT scores. The movie then cuts to the punch-line scene, in which the dean and Mellon are celebrating the groundbreaking of a new business school for the university, named after Mellon, of course. Another favorite jab at academia is with the famous cameo by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., who is hired by Mellon to write a paper about his own work. The paper earns a failing grade. 6. Wet Hot American Summer (2001) You’re probably wondering how a comedy set at a summer camp could possibly be about academia. Well, it’s not specifically about academia, but it does feature a subplot involving a science professor (David Hyde Pierce) that does poke fun of the concept of tenure. This was pointed out by Elaine Showalter, an English professor at Princeton and author of the book Faculty Towers: The Academic Novel and Its Discontents, so you have to accept that it fits the list. Sure, she’s the mother of WHAS star and screenwriter Michael Showalter, but that shouldn’t take away from her observation. 5. The Paper Chase (1973) This film features a plot that could very well lend itself to the other kind of college film, but it focuses its attention on the classroom and the relationship between student and professor rather than the dorm room and social affairs. Of course, the student protagonist (Timothy Bottoms) is getting some action, but it is with the daughter (Lindsay Wagner) of the professorial antagonist (John Houseman, who won an Oscar for the performance), and so even the sex stuff is part of the politics of academia. The best scene is at the end, when Bottoms’ character gives the finger to higher education by not even bothering to look at his final grades. If only the audience was also left unaware of his marks, as the original novel leaves that revelation out. 4. Good Will Hunting (1997) David Foster Wallace may have considered this film to be the best film about academia when he discussed it with Gus Van Sant in 1998, but since that time there have been two more poignant films to deal with the subject. Plus, it never was the best film on academia to begin with. So, as much as he’s right to celebrate the film and in particular the portrayal of Stellan Skarsgard’s character and the issue of professors wanting their students to be brilliant, but not too brilliant, there are three more titles to go. 3. Wonder Boys (2000) Based on Michael Chabon’s novel of the same name, Curstin Hanson’s film cinematically captures the atmosphere of academia as well as Philip Roth does on the page (perhaps Hanson should adapt Roth?). However, one issue with this atmosphere may be that the relationships and characters, though written and portrayed wonderfully, are rather common for such a story. Also, why not change things a bit and have the main character be a film teacher rather than a creative writing teacher, which an overused profession in these kinds of movies. The switch would be more appropriate for the medium, too. Aside from these minor criticisms, though, we can barely take a red pen to this film. It’s terrific. 2. The Rules of Attraction (2002) Probably the most cynical look at higher education ever filmed, Roger Avary’s highly underrated adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel shows us just enough of the classroom and professors (i.e. canceled classes and a single professor who accepts sexual bribes) to let us understand that the joke is in how little of that side of academia is actually necessary to a film like this. In that way it kind of does for college what Heathers does for high school. Neither film is a teen sex comedy in the fashion of most high school and college movies. And neither is a satire of education institutions in the way most of the other films on this list are. Rather, they’re mockeries of the whole education system, but only in that they each consider their respective system to be already a mockery of itself. 1. Horse Feathers (1932) Nobody mocks and satirizes better than the Marx Brothers, and in this film they bring their anarchic shenanigans and brilliant puns to the world of academia. At its core is the basic college sports story, but it’s also one of the first films (if not the first film) to deal with the concept of buying students/players. In addition to lampooning that practice, Horse Feathers makes fun of intellectual gatherings and talk, the influence of trustees and nearly every other aspect of scholarship and higher education you can think of, all in the opening scene. After more than 75 years, it’s still the funniest college movie and the greatest film about academia there is. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:01:21 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/29/2009 11:01:21 AMThere is a good reason Hollywood continually makes Animal House wannabes and avoids producing films that actually focus on academia. Kids prefer their college movies to be about the fun stuff. And so a movie like Old School grossed $75 million while another Luke Wilson comedy called Tenure currently lacks a distributor. The latter film may also be hilarious, as a satire of the tenure process, but if it doesn’t concentrate more on beer bongs and naked co-eds, it won’t attract as big an audience. And according to some scholars, it may not even resonate with them, because it couldn’t possibly be what the process is really like. Film blogger and associate professor Chuck Tryon was quoted about the film last year as saying, “my ongoing pursuit of tenure typically involves me sitting in front of my laptop until 1 a.m., I don’t know how interesting that would be to watch.” And evident by the scathing reviews from Sundance of John Krasinski’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, it appears another film about academia has failed to make a strong case for the subject matter. Too bad for the late David Foster Wallace, whose stories were adapted for the film, that Gus Van Sant wasn’t at the helm. A decade ago, in an interview with Van Sant, Wallace pretty much gushed that Good Will Hunting is the most accurate film about academia ever made. Do we agree with him? Let’s just say there’s not a whole lot of competition for such an honor. But in our attempt to recognize the ten best films about academia, Good Will Hunting doesn’t quite make the top spot. 9. (tie) Elegy (2005) and The Human Stain (2003) Neither of these films is especially great, but it would be criminal for us not to recognize the work of Philip Roth, an author who depicts the academic world perfectly in his novels, particularly The Dying Animal (which is the basis for Elegy) and The Human Stain. The adaptations of these two books fail to capture much of what’s on the page, but each film has its own merit. Elegy, which primarily deals with an affair between a professor (Ben Kingsley) and a student (Penelope Cruz), is worth seeing for the more interesting relationship between that professor and his Pulitzer Prize-winning friend (Dennis Hopper). Rarely is fraternity between two members of the academic intelligentsia portrayed so enjoyably. As for The Human Stain, which also involves a professor (Anthony Hopkins) and his affair with a younger woman (Nicole Kidman), the film deals primarily with the issue of political correctness within academia. The topic is addressed nowhere near as well as it is in Roth’s novel, but it is at least a starting point for discussion, and it’s also worth seeing for an example in how not to cast a movie. 8. Soul Man (1986) If we are to include The Human Stain, it’s just as well we acknowledge this earlier comedy, which also involves ironic situations regarding race and academia. Hardly a brilliant movie, Soul Man is at least as humorous in its examination of racism as the Harold and Kumar movies. Yet it is far less esteemed. And the whole black face thing can no longer be looked down upon now that Robert Downey Jr. has that Oscar nomination for Tropic Thunder. The movie is a worthy lampoon of the politics of affirmative action and their affect on college admissions (as well as an obvious and general look at racism within the student population), but it’s especially entertaining for James Earl Jones as a professor who refuses to favor the masquerading protagonist (C. Thomas Howell) just because he’s black. 7. Back to School (1986) While Soul Man deals with the benefit of being a minority when it comes to getting into college, this film from the same year deals with the benefit of being rich. The idea that anyone with enough money can get into the school of his or her choice is depicted comically in a two-scene setup. In the first scene, a university dean (Ned Beatty) asks millionaire entrepreneur Thornton Mellon (Rodney Dangerfield) how he could possibly admit him as a student when he has no high school degree, no transcripts and no SAT scores. The movie then cuts to the punch-line scene, in which the dean and Mellon are celebrating the groundbreaking of a new business school for the university, named after Mellon, of course. Another favorite jab at academia is with the famous cameo by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., who is hired by Mellon to write a paper about his own work. The paper earns a failing grade. 6. Wet Hot American Summer (2001) You’re probably wondering how a comedy set at a summer camp could possibly be about academia. Well, it’s not specifically about academia, but it does feature a subplot involving a science professor (David Hyde Pierce) that does poke fun of the concept of tenure. This was pointed out by Elaine Showalter, an English professor at Princeton and author of the book Faculty Towers: The Academic Novel and Its Discontents, so you have to accept that it fits the list. Sure, she’s the mother of WHAS star and screenwriter Michael Showalter, but that shouldn’t take away from her observation. 5. The Paper Chase (1973) This film features a plot that could very well lend itself to the other kind of college film, but it focuses its attention on the classroom and the relationship between student and professor rather than the dorm room and social affairs. Of course, the student protagonist (Timothy Bottoms) is getting some action, but it is with the daughter (Lindsay Wagner) of the professorial antagonist (John Houseman, who won an Oscar for the performance), and so even the sex stuff is part of the politics of academia. The best scene is at the end, when Bottoms’ character gives the finger to higher education by not even bothering to look at his final grades. If only the audience was also left unaware of his marks, as the original novel leaves that revelation out. 4. Good Will Hunting (1997) David Foster Wallace may have considered this film to be the best film about academia when he discussed it with Gus Van Sant in 1998, but since that time there have been two more poignant films to deal with the subject. Plus, it never was the best film on academia to begin with. So, as much as he’s right to celebrate the film and in particular the portrayal of Stellan Skarsgard’s character and the issue of professors wanting their students to be brilliant, but not too brilliant, there are three more titles to go. 3. Wonder Boys (2000) Based on Michael Chabon’s novel of the same name, Curstin Hanson’s film cinematically captures the atmosphere of academia as well as Philip Roth does on the page (perhaps Hanson should adapt Roth?). However, one issue with this atmosphere may be that the relationships and characters, though written and portrayed wonderfully, are rather common for such a story. Also, why not change things a bit and have the main character be a film teacher rather than a creative writing teacher, which an overused profession in these kinds of movies. The switch would be more appropriate for the medium, too. Aside from these minor criticisms, though, we can barely take a red pen to this film. It’s terrific. 2. The Rules of Attraction (2002) Probably the most cynical look at higher education ever filmed, Roger Avary’s highly underrated adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel shows us just enough of the classroom and professors (i.e. canceled classes and a single professor who accepts sexual bribes) to let us understand that the joke is in how little of that side of academia is actually necessary to a film like this. In that way it kind of does for college what Heathers does for high school. Neither film is a teen sex comedy in the fashion of most high school and college movies. And neither is a satire of education institutions in the way most of the other films on this list are. Rather, they’re mockeries of the whole education system, but only in that they each consider their respective system to be already a mockery of itself. 1. Horse Feathers (1932) Nobody mocks and satirizes better than the Marx Brothers, and in this film they bring their anarchic shenanigans and brilliant puns to the world of academia. At its core is the basic college sports story, but it’s also one of the first films (if not the first film) to deal with the concept of buying students/players. In addition to lampooning that practice, Horse Feathers makes fun of intellectual gatherings and talk, the influence of trustees and nearly every other aspect of scholarship and higher education you can think of, all in the opening scene. After more than 75 years, it’s still the funniest college movie and the greatest film about academia there is. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/usesoap/archive/2008/8/19/34111.aspx Post By: usesoap
Post To: usesoap Blog
Post Date: 8/19/2008 8:40:19 AM
Body: At one point in "Tropic Thunder," the new comedy from writer/director/star Ben Stiller, co-star Robert Downey Jr. plays and Australian Method actor portraying a black southern soldier pretending to be a humble Asian rice farmer. And what's Ms. Greatest Living Actor Today, Meryl Streep, doing in the next theater? Oh, that's right. She's working on her tan, kicking it in the Greek Isles and singing ABBA tunes. Come Oscar time, if there is any justice, Downey would at least make the "For Your Consideration" rounds for his role as the uber-intense Kirk Lazarus. Downey Jr. treats his high-wire performance with such dignity and devotion that he spends almost the entire film in blackface without once seeming condescending or racist. But let us back up a bit, shall we? "Thunder" is not only a scathing little indictment on the film industry, but, minute for minute, one of the funniest films released this year, overcoming the third-act slump that befalls so many big-budget comedies released today (I'm looking at you square in your bloodshot eyes, "Pineapple Express."). The film, centering around a bunch of whiny actors who sign on for an epic war movie, begins with a wonderfully ingenious way to give us all the back story we need about its leads. Whatever you do, don't arrive late to this movie. Three previews begin the film, one featuring past-his-prime action doll Tugg Speedman (Stiller) who's milking his once-popular franchise, "Scorcher," for its very last drops of testosterone. It's a well that Speedman has reluctantly returned to after an ill-advised attempt for acting legitimacy while playing a mentally challenged man in "Simple Jack." It's followed by "The Fatties," a comedy in which its chubby trainwreck star, Jeff Portney (played by Jack Black), dons various fat suits for a number of roles as a flatulent family. Rounding out the trio of trailers is a phony "prestige" picture, "Satan's Alley," starring five-time Academy Award-winning Lazurus as a monk who longs to taste the forbidden fruit of a fellow man of the cloth. In that brief setup, we know all that is needed about the three main actors of "Tropic Thunder," the name of a Vietnam opus in which each of the actors will share the screen for various career-enhancing reasons. After a series of prissy meltdowns delays production, first-time director Damien Cockburn (played by Steve Coogan) is threatened by a maniacal producer who plans to abort the film altogether. In a last-ditch effort he drops off the leads -- with co-stars Alpa Chino (played by newcomer Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sandusky (played by Jay Baruchel) -- deep in the jungle leaving them to their own Blackberry-less, Tivo-less devices. It's a comedic plot that harkens back to "To Be or Not to Be," with a lot of "Three Amigos" thrown in for good measure, but Stiller takes the time along the way to slaughter cow after sacred cinematic cow. "Thunder" has countless throwaway gags, none wearing out their welcome like the director sometimes did in his previous effort "Zoolander." And when it's not chucking those at the screen, a number of big-named actors whoop it up in secondary and cameo roles. And while Stiller deserves credit for both crafting and capturing the film, it's Downey Jr. who brings "Tropic's" thunder. It is a role that could have sunk the film faster than a "Soul Man" sequel, and required the utmost respect in its execution to avoid any hint of racist intent. But in an industry that celebrates the mere weight loss or gain actors undergo for a role just as much as performance itself, he captures the pomposity and disillusionment that some actors embrace for the sake of their "art" with equal amounts wit and warmth. There are other surprise pop-up performances that, if you have not heard about yet, you should try to witness firsthand before receiving lame line-readings from friends. There is no doubt "Thunder" steps over the line from time to time, but, like "Borat," it's still refreshing to witness a big studio comedy that is willing to stick it's neck out once and a while for a funny, rather than resort to the toothless "yuks" from the wretched parodoic parasites like "Meet the Spartans" and its hell-spawn ilk. Not since 1999's "Bowfinger" has Hollywood taken such an intelligently staged skewering, and Stiller has returned to the same biting satiric edge he once sp gloriously displayed in his short-lived television show. After seeing "Thunder," it will be hard to hear the about the heavily supervised "hell" actors claim they undergo when prepping for a role without being reminded of one of Downey Jr.'s blisteringly amusing monologues of what it takes to earn one of those prestigious little statuettes Hollywood likes to hand out to one another at year's end.
]]>Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:40:19 GMTusesoapusesoap Blog8/19/2008 8:40:19 AM At one point in "Tropic Thunder," the new comedy from writer/director/star Ben Stiller, co-star Robert Downey Jr. plays and Australian Method actor portraying a black southern soldier pretending to be a humble Asian rice farmer. And what's Ms. Greatest Living Actor Today, Meryl Streep, doing in the next theater? Oh, that's right. She's working on her tan, kicking it in the Greek Isles and singing ABBA tunes. Come Oscar time, if there is any justice, Downey would at least make the "For Your Consideration" rounds for his role as the uber-intense Kirk Lazarus. Downey Jr. treats his high-wire performance with such dignity and devotion that he spends almost the entire film in blackface without once seeming condescending or racist. But let us back up a bit, shall we? "Thunder" is not only a scathing little indictment on the film industry, but, minute for minute, one of the funniest films released this year, overcoming the third-act slump that befalls so many big-budget comedies released today (I'm looking at you square in your bloodshot eyes, "Pineapple Express."). The film, centering around a bunch of whiny actors who sign on for an epic war movie, begins with a wonderfully ingenious way to give us all the back story we need about its leads. Whatever you do, don't arrive late to this movie. Three previews begin the film, one featuring past-his-prime action doll Tugg Speedman (Stiller) who's milking his once-popular franchise, "Scorcher," for its very last drops of testosterone. It's a well that Speedman has reluctantly returned to after an ill-advised attempt for acting legitimacy while playing a mentally challenged man in "Simple Jack." It's followed by "The Fatties," a comedy in which its chubby trainwreck star, Jeff Portney (played by Jack Black), dons various fat suits for a number of roles as a flatulent family. Rounding out the trio of trailers is a phony "prestige" picture, "Satan's Alley," starring five-time Academy Award-winning Lazurus as a monk who longs to taste the forbidden fruit of a fellow man of the cloth. In that brief setup, we know all that is needed about the three main actors of "Tropic Thunder," the name of a Vietnam opus in which each of the actors will share the screen for various career-enhancing reasons. After a series of prissy meltdowns delays production, first-time director Damien Cockburn (played by Steve Coogan) is threatened by a maniacal producer who plans to abort the film altogether. In a last-ditch effort he drops off the leads -- with co-stars Alpa Chino (played by newcomer Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sandusky (played by Jay Baruchel) -- deep in the jungle leaving them to their own Blackberry-less, Tivo-less devices. It's a comedic plot that harkens back to "To Be or Not to Be," with a lot of "Three Amigos" thrown in for good measure, but Stiller takes the time along the way to slaughter cow after sacred cinematic cow. "Thunder" has countless throwaway gags, none wearing out their welcome like the director sometimes did in his previous effort "Zoolander." And when it's not chucking those at the screen, a number of big-named actors whoop it up in secondary and cameo roles. And while Stiller deserves credit for both crafting and capturing the film, it's Downey Jr. who brings "Tropic's" thunder. It is a role that could have sunk the film faster than a "Soul Man" sequel, and required the utmost respect in its execution to avoid any hint of racist intent. But in an industry that celebrates the mere weight loss or gain actors undergo for a role just as much as performance itself, he captures the pomposity and disillusionment that some actors embrace for the sake of their "art" with equal amounts wit and warmth. There are other surprise pop-up performances that, if you have not heard about yet, you should try to witness firsthand before receiving lame line-readings from friends. There is no doubt "Thunder" steps over the line from time to time, but, like "Borat," it's still refreshing to witness a big studio comedy that is willing to stick it's neck out once and a while for a funny, rather than resort to the toothless "yuks" from the wretched parodoic parasites like "Meet the Spartans" and its hell-spawn ilk. Not since 1999's "Bowfinger" has Hollywood taken such an intelligently staged skewering, and Stiller has returned to the same biting satiric edge he once sp gloriously displayed in his short-lived television show. After seeing "Thunder," it will be hard to hear the about the heavily supervised "hell" actors claim they undergo when prepping for a role without being reminded of one of Downey Jr.'s blisteringly amusing monologues of what it takes to earn one of those prestigious little statuettes Hollywood likes to hand out to one another at year's end. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/8/8/33761.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 8/8/2008 2:00:37 PM
Body: Yesterday’s list dealt with Tom Cruise’s performance in Tropic Thunder. Today, a response to Robert Downey Jr.’s role in the same film as a white actor portraying a black soldier in a war movie (seen in the above clip). Doesn’t it seem such an original and shocking idea? I guess not if you see it as an update on blackface. Fortunately, it’s different when it’s an actor playing a character who makes himself up to look black. It’s funny. But isn’t it typically more acceptable when the make-up isn’t quite as authentic-looking as Downey’s? He actually looks black. Specifically, he looks like Fred Williamson. I’ve seen plenty of lists detailing the worst instances of one race or nationality playing characters of another race/nationality (John Wayne and Susan Hayward in The Conqueror comes to mind as #1), but I can’t recall any lists involving actors playing characters disguised as or playing another race. So here’s one: My Geisha (”Lucy Dell”/”Yoko Mori”) - Shirley Maclaine is an American movie star who fools her filmmaker husband when she disguises herself as Japanese in order to win the lead role in his latest movie. She’s so good that throughout the whole production, he thinks he’s shamefully falling for a woman who isn’t his wife. But really, she’s not so much passing for Japanese as she is passing for the look of a geisha, which itself is not an ethnicity but a costume. Still, the makeup designer (Shu Uemura) pinned Maclaine’s eyes back in a way that wasn’t always done for “yellowface” in Hollywood films. The method (seen here) looks like it must have been excruciatingly painful. Gambit (”Nicole Chang”) - A few years after My Geisha, Maclaine played white playing Asian again in this crime caper starring Michael Caine, but this time her primary character is apparently part-Asian already, hence her surname, Chang. So, I guess she’s more like Eurasian playing more exaggerated Asian. Shanghai Noon (”Chon Wang”) - Did you know that Chinese and Native Americans look the same? You don’t even have to do anything cosmetic. Well, maybe some war paint. Otherwise, just put some Native American dress on Jackie Chan, and he’ll pass as an Injun. Or a Jew? (see this gag). Once Upon a Time in China and America (”Wong Fei-Hung”) - In that part of Shanghai Noon, Chan’s racial “transformation” was likely referencing this film, directed by his oft-collaborator Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, in which an amnesia-inflicted Jet Li mistakes himself for Native American. Which is even more ridiculous when considering that all the Native Americans in this sixth installment of the Once Upon a Time in China series were apparently played by white actors. Black Like Me (”John Finley Horton”) - The problem with this adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s memoir is that James Whitmore doesn’t look all that convincing as a black guy. Eddie Murphy was more convincing the other way around in the old SNL skit when he goes undercover as a white man. Soul Man (”Mark Watson”) - Even C. Thomas Howell looked more black in this unofficial remake. The thing I truly don’t buy with this movie, though, is how Rae Dawn Chong’s character forgives him and even falls for him at the end despite the fact that he pretended to be another race to win the scholarship she should have won. That couple belongs on the list I compiled earlier this year of romances that probably didn’t last. True Identity (”Miles Pope”) - Going back to the Eddie Murphy thing, I never realized that this early ’90s comedy was actually a feature-length spin-off of that SNL skit (both were written by Andy Breckman) combined with the ol’ accidental murder witness plot of Some Like It Hot, Pineapple Express, etc. Here, the witness is a black actor (British comedian Lenny Henry) who disguises himself as white. I’ve never seen True Identity, nor can I even find any stills from the movie (the image above comes from the Siskel & Ebert review), but in the Washington Post review, Henry is said to resemble Mr. Potato Head more than an actual white guy. Trading Places (”Louis Winthorpe III”) - Another Eddie Murphy connection. Here it’s Dan Aykroyd, though, whose character changes race. Let me tell you: I know this reggae singer who sounds authentically Jamaican and almost seems to think he’s actually Jamaican. But he’s still just a white guy in dreads. Yet I have to give him credit for being more passable as Jamaican than Louis. Silver Streak (”George Cardwell”) - Maybe it’s just easier to fool people on trains. A few years before Aykroyd’s character did it in Trading Places, Gene Wilder’s character attempted to look black in order to sneak past some cops and get onto a train. I get the tradition to portray policemen as stupid, but nobody is that stupid. The Master of Disguise (”Pistachio Disguisey”) - Among the many disguises Dana Carvey’s character takes on in this lame comedy, a few are offensively ethnic, including Indian and Cuban (really just an impersonation of Al Pacino as Tony Montana from Scarface). The fact that this guy is supposed to be the greatest master of disguises is upsetting. The fact that so many children saw the thing was even more upsetting. Zelig (”Leonard Zelig”) - The titular “Chameleon Man” character of Woody Allen’s mockumentary also “becomes” other ethnicities, such as African American, Chinese and Native American. The fact that he always still just looks like Woody Allen is part of the joke, though. Torch Song (”Jenny Stewart”) - Most of the time I don’t even buy Joan Crawford as a white woman, but in this movie her character performs in blackface for the infamous number “Two Faced Woman,” and she looks even less authentic as an African American woman. Maybe one day I’ll figure out what race and gender I would have actually accepted her as. Sexless alien creature? (YouTube clip, unauthorized for embedding, can be found here). L’eclisse (”Vittoria”) - Maybe I’m just used to seeing women with too much bronzer or too many tanning salon visits, but when Monica Vitti’s character goes blackface for a tribal dance in this Antonioni film, she simply looks like a white girl who has darkened her skin. I guess she’s not really trying to pass (neither is Crawford in Torch Song), but her costume isn’t traditional minstrel-type blackface, either. Krippendorf’s Tribe (”Shelly Krippendorf”) - To produce a fake documentary program on a made up lost tribe, James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) disguises his children in black skin and junky tribal costume. But as even his daughter (Natasha Lyonne) admits, she looks more like Tammy Faye Baker than a native of New Guinea. White Chicks (”Kevin Copeland” and “Marcus Copeland”) - Quite possibly the least convincing racial disguises of all time, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play two FBI agents (so I guess this list is actually of 16 characters) who go undercover as Paris Hilton types. But they look like a cross between a Michael Jackson Halloween mask and Eric Stoltz in Mask. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:00:37 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com8/8/2008 2:00:37 PM Yesterday’s list dealt with Tom Cruise’s performance in Tropic Thunder. Today, a response to Robert Downey Jr.’s role in the same film as a white actor portraying a black soldier in a war movie (seen in the above clip). Doesn’t it seem such an original and shocking idea? I guess not if you see it as an update on blackface. Fortunately, it’s different when it’s an actor playing a character who makes himself up to look black. It’s funny. But isn’t it typically more acceptable when the make-up isn’t quite as authentic-looking as Downey’s? He actually looks black. Specifically, he looks like Fred Williamson. I’ve seen plenty of lists detailing the worst instances of one race or nationality playing characters of another race/nationality (John Wayne and Susan Hayward in The Conqueror comes to mind as #1), but I can’t recall any lists involving actors playing characters disguised as or playing another race. So here’s one: My Geisha (”Lucy Dell”/”Yoko Mori”) - Shirley Maclaine is an American movie star who fools her filmmaker husband when she disguises herself as Japanese in order to win the lead role in his latest movie. She’s so good that throughout the whole production, he thinks he’s shamefully falling for a woman who isn’t his wife. But really, she’s not so much passing for Japanese as she is passing for the look of a geisha, which itself is not an ethnicity but a costume. Still, the makeup designer (Shu Uemura) pinned Maclaine’s eyes back in a way that wasn’t always done for “yellowface” in Hollywood films. The method (seen here) looks like it must have been excruciatingly painful. Gambit (”Nicole Chang”) - A few years after My Geisha, Maclaine played white playing Asian again in this crime caper starring Michael Caine, but this time her primary character is apparently part-Asian already, hence her surname, Chang. So, I guess she’s more like Eurasian playing more exaggerated Asian. Shanghai Noon (”Chon Wang”) - Did you know that Chinese and Native Americans look the same? You don’t even have to do anything cosmetic. Well, maybe some war paint. Otherwise, just put some Native American dress on Jackie Chan, and he’ll pass as an Injun. Or a Jew? (see this gag). Once Upon a Time in China and America (”Wong Fei-Hung”) - In that part of Shanghai Noon, Chan’s racial “transformation” was likely referencing this film, directed by his oft-collaborator Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, in which an amnesia-inflicted Jet Li mistakes himself for Native American. Which is even more ridiculous when considering that all the Native Americans in this sixth installment of the Once Upon a Time in China series were apparently played by white actors. Black Like Me (”John Finley Horton”) - The problem with this adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s memoir is that James Whitmore doesn’t look all that convincing as a black guy. Eddie Murphy was more convincing the other way around in the old SNL skit when he goes undercover as a white man. Soul Man (”Mark Watson”) - Even C. Thomas Howell looked more black in this unofficial remake. The thing I truly don’t buy with this movie, though, is how Rae Dawn Chong’s character forgives him and even falls for him at the end despite the fact that he pretended to be another race to win the scholarship she should have won. That couple belongs on the list I compiled earlier this year of romances that probably didn’t last. True Identity (”Miles Pope”) - Going back to the Eddie Murphy thing, I never realized that this early ’90s comedy was actually a feature-length spin-off of that SNL skit (both were written by Andy Breckman) combined with the ol’ accidental murder witness plot of Some Like It Hot, Pineapple Express, etc. Here, the witness is a black actor (British comedian Lenny Henry) who disguises himself as white. I’ve never seen True Identity, nor can I even find any stills from the movie (the image above comes from the Siskel & Ebert review), but in the Washington Post review, Henry is said to resemble Mr. Potato Head more than an actual white guy. Trading Places (”Louis Winthorpe III”) - Another Eddie Murphy connection. Here it’s Dan Aykroyd, though, whose character changes race. Let me tell you: I know this reggae singer who sounds authentically Jamaican and almost seems to think he’s actually Jamaican. But he’s still just a white guy in dreads. Yet I have to give him credit for being more passable as Jamaican than Louis. Silver Streak (”George Cardwell”) - Maybe it’s just easier to fool people on trains. A few years before Aykroyd’s character did it in Trading Places, Gene Wilder’s character attempted to look black in order to sneak past some cops and get onto a train. I get the tradition to portray policemen as stupid, but nobody is that stupid. The Master of Disguise (”Pistachio Disguisey”) - Among the many disguises Dana Carvey’s character takes on in this lame comedy, a few are offensively ethnic, including Indian and Cuban (really just an impersonation of Al Pacino as Tony Montana from Scarface). The fact that this guy is supposed to be the greatest master of disguises is upsetting. The fact that so many children saw the thing was even more upsetting. Zelig (”Leonard Zelig”) - The titular “Chameleon Man” character of Woody Allen’s mockumentary also “becomes” other ethnicities, such as African American, Chinese and Native American. The fact that he always still just looks like Woody Allen is part of the joke, though. Torch Song (”Jenny Stewart”) - Most of the time I don’t even buy Joan Crawford as a white woman, but in this movie her character performs in blackface for the infamous number “Two Faced Woman,” and she looks even less authentic as an African American woman. Maybe one day I’ll figure out what race and gender I would have actually accepted her as. Sexless alien creature? (YouTube clip, unauthorized for embedding, can be found here). L’eclisse (”Vittoria”) - Maybe I’m just used to seeing women with too much bronzer or too many tanning salon visits, but when Monica Vitti’s character goes blackface for a tribal dance in this Antonioni film, she simply looks like a white girl who has darkened her skin. I guess she’s not really trying to pass (neither is Crawford in Torch Song), but her costume isn’t traditional minstrel-type blackface, either. Krippendorf’s Tribe (”Shelly Krippendorf”) - To produce a fake documentary program on a made up lost tribe, James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) disguises his children in black skin and junky tribal costume. But as even his daughter (Natasha Lyonne) admits, she looks more like Tammy Faye Baker than a native of New Guinea. White Chicks (”Kevin Copeland” and “Marcus Copeland”) - Quite possibly the least convincing racial disguises of all time, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play two FBI agents (so I guess this list is actually of 16 characters) who go undercover as Paris Hilton types. But they look like a cross between a Michael Jackson Halloween mask and Eric Stoltz in Mask. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/romance/MemberTagFilms.aspxromance
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]]>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:51:56 GMT118672219Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/racism/MemberTagFilms.aspxracism
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]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT80069136Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/school/MemberTagFilms.aspxschool
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]]>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:18:11 GMT109055123Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/college/MemberTagFilms.aspxcollege
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]]>Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:47:24 GMT5681432Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/conscam/MemberTagFilms.aspxconscam
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]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT23331219Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/crossculturalrelations/MemberTagFilms.aspxcrossculturalrelations
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]]>Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:01:16 GMT68179Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/roleswitching/MemberTagFilms.aspxroleswitching
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]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:02:27 GMT317715Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/loot/MemberTagFilms.aspxloot
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]]>Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:02:29 GMT127433Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/scholarship/MemberTagFilms.aspxscholarship
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]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT7923Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/thatsracist/MemberTagFilms.aspxthatsracist
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]]>Sat, 12 Aug 2006 20:10:21 GMT616Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/yay-stereotypes/MemberTagFilms.aspxyay-stereotypes
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