jprgplusme

Contributing writer for The Artifice.

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    Latest Topics

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    film
    Blackface in Film
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    Soul Man vs. Tropic Thunder- When is blackface okay?

    Analyze the difference between Soul Man (1986), a movie that shows the length people will go to get an education, and Tropic Thunder (2008), a film that features a white actor portraying a stereotypical black soldier. The former is maligned among audiences and critics and has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The latter is beloved for its skewering of Hollywood, and netted Robert Downey Jr. and Oscar nomination. Where did Soul Man go wrong, and what did Ben Stiller and company do right?

    • Interesting topic! I would warn you to be wary of contrasting these so starkly, however; RDJ actual did receive some serious flak for Tropic Thunder (http://gokicker.com/2013/10/28/blackface-never-okay/) and there are scholars that hold that blackface is never okay, regardless of the popularity or overall acceptance of the practice under certain circumstances. I don't know where your argument will go with this, but tread carefully. You should hesitate to paint the practice in any positive light, and maybe focus more on the blatant racism plaguing Hollywood and the Academy Awards. – Eden 9 years ago
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    • I don't think this should be limited to just these two films (which are already good places to start). But another film that should probably be spoken about is Spike Lee's Bamboozled. This film features two African-American actors putting on blackface for a television show, which is set up by an African-American writer and the company headed by a white man. This was a satirical approach intended to show the ridiculousness of blackface as well as trying to fight traditional stereotypes of African-American characters (Ie the buck, the coon etc.). I think Tropic Thunder's use of blackface is similarly a piece of satire, but it is used more as a tool to comment on the extremity of method actors. It doesn't really crrate a discourse on blackface itself, however If you really wanted you could try and talk about African-American actors whitefacing, although unfortuneately the oly example of this I can think of is White Chicks, where we also see men dressed (or rather disguised) as women. – Jamie White 9 years ago
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    • Wow, amazing idea. I do agree that the you could expand to more than two films. It is sort of a tightrope kind of article, go too much in one direction and you could potentially offend of a lot of people, but this could end up being one of the most entertaining and informative articles if done right. – Austin Bender 9 years ago
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    Latest Comments

    Oct 26, 2015
    jprgplusme

    I was indeed the same age as Andy was in Toy Story 3, so the full circle the movie comes to connected with me on so many levels. The writers could’ve easily kept Andy the same age as he was in the first Toy Story and kept the toy hi jinks the main focus, but that would’ve cheated the audience who had grown up with these characters. Saying goodbye to the toys you loved as a kid means saying goodbye to your childhood, and Toy Story 3 captured that feeling of excitement and anxiety perfectly.

    		 10 Mature Moments in a Pixar Film
    Oct 26, 2015
    jprgplusme

    I appreciate both Whedon’s atheism and his analysis of faith in something. Too often those of us that are non-religious scoff at the flock, but it’s refreshing to see honest portrayals of those that cling to idols or relics in an effort to draw strength that doesn’t come across as preachy or stilted. I never noticed this aspect of the Whedonverse before this article!

    		 God in the Whedonverse: Faith, Hope, and Truth
    Oct 9, 2015
    jprgplusme

    I love the idea of an anti-hero because they provide a middle ground between the cookie cutter hero and villain. They are more entertaining to watch because they can be unpredictable, which can serve a story line extremely well.

    		 Anti-Heroes and the Appeal They Have in Comics