Today I was flipping through the channels and "Bringing Down the House" was on TV. It stars Queen Latifah and Steve Martin, and most of the comedy comes from how different their characters are from each other. The cultural/racial and socioeconomic differences play a huge part. I was about 12 when that movie came out, so I didn't read too far into it. I just thought it was funny. Watching it now, with this class in mind, I have a few thoughts.
First, I love Queen Latifah. But that's not relevant...I noticed that, as in a few of her movies, she plays the character Reid talked about: a black woman serving as the "friend" who gives white people advice. Granted, she is a main character with her own issues to worry about, and is even on the movie poster, but in the end of the movie, she successfully reunites Steve Martin's character, Peter, with his ex-wife and helps Peter's daughter with her high school problems.
In one scene, though, the movie parodies the long tradition of black servants in film. Peter's family is having guests, and he doesn't want to explain why Queen Latifah's character, Charlene, is staying in his house. So he convinces her to masquerade as his servant. It's obvious she feels demeaned by the charade, but she does it to help him. Even though it is a joke, it's still a little old fashioned that the most reasonable explanation they could think of for having a black woman in the house is that she's their maid.
I also thought of Reid's arguments about "Soul Food," and the female's relationship to her family. Charlene serves as a stand-in for the mom/wife of Peter's family until he is reunited with his ex-wife.
At first Charlene's character seems stereotypical, but in many ways she battles stereotypes. She was in prison, but her ex-boyfriend framed her for the crime. She seems rough, but she really has a good heart. This isn't the deepest movie ever, but it attempts to deconstruct the stereotypes of urban African Americans.
It also reminded me of the documentary we watched. This movie can get away with a lot of jokes about race because it treats them as humor and parody.
What an outstanding explication of the reading! Ironically, I too saw Bringing Down the House that day (parts of it). I too had seen it before, and was also thinking of this class and just how awful it and most of her films are in this regard. Secret Life of Bees seems better, but even then I wonder if she slips back into an archetype. Thanks for your hard work.
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