Plenty of us were fans of the original show. I was an adult when the original was on TV and I watched maybe the last year or so. This new cast has a black character. Dixon, who was adopted into the family that 'moved to Beverly Hills'. It is one of those eye rolling moments. Nope, can't have black FAMILY move to Beverly Hills, just have a white family adopt one and move him there. But the funny thing is that even though he lives in the BEV with all the other rich kids, he's the only one who feels the need to hold a job. He works at Jason Priestly's old spot the Peach Pit. None of the other characters on the show work or even want to. But somehow they just step into careers in fashion and high end party planning right out of high school. (no that's not corrupting our already overly lazy youth or anything) We wonder why kids have no grasp of how the world works. Anyway back to Dixon. Of all the kids in Beverly Hills, he's the one that has to get a drug problem. There is an ex child star Adriana who had one too but now she's clean after giving up her child for adoption. But guess just GUESS who Dixon picks as his girlfriend? That's right! The ex junkie! WOO HOO. But aside from that, there are blurs of black girls at his school but does he interact with any of them? Nope. The one time they put a black girl that TALKS onto the show (played by Weezy baby mama Lauren London) she turns out to be a lesbian. Yep black women can't be desirable in the BEV they have to be gay or dragon ladies. Dixon covets Adriana, and do just about anything for her. But that's just being a good boyfriend right?
One the new years episode one of the first things Dixon says after getting off a plane from Paris with his now wealthy sister, (they have written their parents off of the show) 'I know how to say I want a hamburger' just reinforcing the stereotype that black people can't absorb culture and are gauche outside of their own environment. Yeah, make the BLACK MAN the UGLY AMERICAN. Nice.
Later in the episode Dixon and Adriana get a 'hook up' gig from a friend to play a huge LA venue. Kids in the BEV know who you need to get where you wanna go. Whereas if he was just a black kid in the hood without a white girlfriend and not rich he'd be struggling in obscurity for years even in LA. Well the promoter starts fawning over his girlfriend and he gets jealous. The promoter makes a comment about how lucky he is to have her. Dixon agrees, but then the promoter says 'she might not be yours for much longer.' Dixon slugs him. Adriana is angry at this and leave him there. Yep, that's your white girl for you. Now, had he not been a rich kid, he would have PLAYED THE UNDESERVED ONCE IN A LIFETIME GIG THAT WOULD HAVE GOTTEN HIM CRAZY EXPOSURE, GOTTEN PAID FIRST, THEN SLUGGED THE GUY. Dummy. GET YO MONEY AND YO PROPS FIRST FOOL! Then get personal. If he would have grown up around black people he would have known that.
I'm going to say many times in this blog I'm sick of seeing the black girl being cast as the mean girl on every white show. This time it's Holly (played by Meglyn Echikunwoke) She's bitchy, and underhanded. She has a dragon lady mom Rachel Gray played by the lovely Michelle Hurd. We have seen Ms. Hurd over the years just about everywhere. Even on Law and Order SVU for a while. But now she's the one dimensional whip cracking party planner. I toast Ms. Hurd for not being a one note wonder in the all of Hollywood however. I have seen her play slaptick comedy and straight up drama. She has some damn chops.
The bright spot of the cast is the police woman Kat played by Tiffany Hines. She's gorgeous and may have a crush on the other brown character Navid, but of course he's hung up on his own white girl. Dixon's ex nightmare Silver. She and Navid kissed only to cover the fact they were doing secret police business. Kat is the hottest thing on the show, but I assure you she will never have anyone of her own, and be written out of the story before we are able to see her with anyone. I am sure that we will never see Rachel the dragon lady with anyone either. Her daughter Holly, though gorgeous, can't seem to keep a man either; and is never dating anyone even casually. This fact says no matter how gorgeous, thin or rich you are you are still black therefore undesirable, and the interesting twist with Holly and her mom is that Rachel picked Naomi to do an internship in her company over her own daughter. Doubly unwanted.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Parenthood
Hot on the heels of the 'Lisa Turtle Effect' I found myself scanning current programs for black characters and found many of them. I am sure there are black characters someplace that won't rub me the wrong way but my point is that blackness seems to be a fashion and not something that someone IS on television. We tend to be written stereotypically even if the stereotype is subtle and not loud and brash. I have to say anything I say is NOT directed at the actors that chose to play these roles. I too am and actor and am completely aware of how a character is sold to an actor and how it's changed once the contract is signed. So no salt on them at all. No, I do not have a permanent 'racism filter' melded on my eyeballs that will not allow me NOT to view any black character on an all white show as the oddity. Let's look at a few examples shall we?
Parenthood
We have two, count em, TWO black characters on this show. Jasmine played by Joy Bryant, who is the odd man out in this HUGE cast as she is simply the 'baby mama' of one of the main characters, Crosby a sort of half wit screw up who's dream is to own a recording studio. Now, out of a core cast of 20ish Crosby has the least going for him. He is the black sheep and screw up of the family. So why is it, that HE is the one that has a relationship with a black woman? She could just as easily be with Tyrone down the block who is a screw up too. But she crossed over. Well maybe it has something to do with her thin physique, long straight hair and decent vocabulary? Two of those things make her undesirable to a Tyrone around the way. Whereas a Crosby doesn't have to stretch himself too far out of his own comfort zone to relate to her. He frequently refers to her as his 'baby mama' on the show which annoys me because then it ghettoizes her character in front of white people. The twist to their tale is that they were madly in love until Crosby cheated on her. They called off he wedding and now guess what? That's right Jasmine is a single mom. Wow way to stretch a black woman's character writers. No she couldn't live happily ever after. She couldn't move to the suburbs with her white husband, and raise her son and be a soccer mom with a career. Nope she had to be struggling, in an apartment sharing custody with her cheating rat bastard ex. On the up side Crosby did open that recording studio. Which is more salt in Jasmine's wound, as his life goes on and gets better and she gets to raise the cheaters kid. Wooo HOOOO. Don't get me wrong, their son Jabbar is a ray of sunshine. A sweetie to die for. But come on people, another black boy without his father? Cliche much? The upswing for Jasmine is that her sons pediatrician Dr Joe Prestridge (played by D B Woodside) has found interest in having a relationship with Jasmine and Jabbar. He is a handsome educated black man who seems to have monogamy on the brain. However we all know that the good doctor would NOT have had the same interest in say a Shaquanna who was say 40 pounds heavier than Jasmine who also brought her son to see him. As Jasmine appeals to a white standard of beauty as demonstrated by Crosby's initial interest, the same beauty standard is unilaterally true with educated black male doctor types. Not a stretch, but sort of reinforces that whole 'educated black men prefer white women' stereotype. However I can't front that it is lovely to see that the writers had the BALLS to put two black people together in a decent loving relationship on television amidst a vastly white cast. I'm wondering how they will screw it up next season. I do hope she will marry the good doctor and finally get her house in the suburbs and her soccer mom status.
Moving on to our second character Alex, played by Michael B Jordan. He is a 20ish young black man who has somehow taken up with a Haddie, white high school student. ( played in real life by latina actress Sarah Ramos) I say somehow because I didnt see when they met. People in Haddie's immediate circle don't seem to have issue with her dating a black guy. However my issue is with the blackstory I mean backstory of Alex. What we do find out is that he is an alcoholic, and has been in trouble for assault. At least they didn't give him a crack problem. But of course he's an addict, hes BLACK! Alex seems to have zero family around as he lives alone in a crappy apartment by himself. He's a decent and nice guy, and people seem to take to him in general. However there are a few issues between he and Haddie for the simple fact that she is still in high school and deep in her having fun stage in life. He is pretty much been there done that call me when youre done. It's the end of the school year and there is a big party that the high school kids are having. Haddie wants to go and assumes Alex does to. Alex decides it would be a bad idea because he doesnt want to be around people drinking. She goes and he says he will pick her up. The time comes to pick her up and she is wasted. Alex sees this and of course gets annoyed with the situation and is trying to escort her out of the party. The host doesnt know Alex and sees him insisting that Haddie leave and immediately goes into 'who's this nigger in my house' mode. Alex tells the host not to touch him and leave him alone. The host of course ignore him. Alex tells the boy several times to leave him alone. Now while all this is going on does Haddie speak up and say 'hey this is my boyfriend!'? Nope she doesn't. As you can guess things escalate and the host ends up getting his lights punched out by a pissed and pushed to the limits Alex. He isn't even out of the door before the police have him in handcuffs. They arrive quick in the white suburbs. Had that been the hood and Alex and Keysha were getting into it, someone could have been shot and Alex would have still had time to get home make and sammich and catch some sports center. The hosts parents press charges and Alex could go to jail. Yep the black boy gets to go to jail for messing with a white girl again! To Kill A Mockingbird much? Haddie bounces over to Alex's expecting things to be business as usual and can't understand why he's in such a foul mood and doesn't want to spend time with her. Waaaahhhhhhh. Me me me. Eventually she feels a little guilty about the fact that he's even in that situation. But I can't help to think that if he'd been all lovey dovey toward her after the fact that she would feel any guilt at all. Haddie's dad feels bad for the kid and begs the other parents not to press charges giving a moving speech to outline that Alex isn't a typical black kid from the ghetto because if he were would I be letting him date my daughter? I mean duh. They bought it and Alex doesn't face jail anymore. But he continues the relationship with 'I get drunk at parties' Haddie. Gee Alex, do you really think it's good for your recovery to be in a relationship with someone who isn't sober? Think about it.
Parenthood
We have two, count em, TWO black characters on this show. Jasmine played by Joy Bryant, who is the odd man out in this HUGE cast as she is simply the 'baby mama' of one of the main characters, Crosby a sort of half wit screw up who's dream is to own a recording studio. Now, out of a core cast of 20ish Crosby has the least going for him. He is the black sheep and screw up of the family. So why is it, that HE is the one that has a relationship with a black woman? She could just as easily be with Tyrone down the block who is a screw up too. But she crossed over. Well maybe it has something to do with her thin physique, long straight hair and decent vocabulary? Two of those things make her undesirable to a Tyrone around the way. Whereas a Crosby doesn't have to stretch himself too far out of his own comfort zone to relate to her. He frequently refers to her as his 'baby mama' on the show which annoys me because then it ghettoizes her character in front of white people. The twist to their tale is that they were madly in love until Crosby cheated on her. They called off he wedding and now guess what? That's right Jasmine is a single mom. Wow way to stretch a black woman's character writers. No she couldn't live happily ever after. She couldn't move to the suburbs with her white husband, and raise her son and be a soccer mom with a career. Nope she had to be struggling, in an apartment sharing custody with her cheating rat bastard ex. On the up side Crosby did open that recording studio. Which is more salt in Jasmine's wound, as his life goes on and gets better and she gets to raise the cheaters kid. Wooo HOOOO. Don't get me wrong, their son Jabbar is a ray of sunshine. A sweetie to die for. But come on people, another black boy without his father? Cliche much? The upswing for Jasmine is that her sons pediatrician Dr Joe Prestridge (played by D B Woodside) has found interest in having a relationship with Jasmine and Jabbar. He is a handsome educated black man who seems to have monogamy on the brain. However we all know that the good doctor would NOT have had the same interest in say a Shaquanna who was say 40 pounds heavier than Jasmine who also brought her son to see him. As Jasmine appeals to a white standard of beauty as demonstrated by Crosby's initial interest, the same beauty standard is unilaterally true with educated black male doctor types. Not a stretch, but sort of reinforces that whole 'educated black men prefer white women' stereotype. However I can't front that it is lovely to see that the writers had the BALLS to put two black people together in a decent loving relationship on television amidst a vastly white cast. I'm wondering how they will screw it up next season. I do hope she will marry the good doctor and finally get her house in the suburbs and her soccer mom status.
Moving on to our second character Alex, played by Michael B Jordan. He is a 20ish young black man who has somehow taken up with a Haddie, white high school student. ( played in real life by latina actress Sarah Ramos) I say somehow because I didnt see when they met. People in Haddie's immediate circle don't seem to have issue with her dating a black guy. However my issue is with the blackstory I mean backstory of Alex. What we do find out is that he is an alcoholic, and has been in trouble for assault. At least they didn't give him a crack problem. But of course he's an addict, hes BLACK! Alex seems to have zero family around as he lives alone in a crappy apartment by himself. He's a decent and nice guy, and people seem to take to him in general. However there are a few issues between he and Haddie for the simple fact that she is still in high school and deep in her having fun stage in life. He is pretty much been there done that call me when youre done. It's the end of the school year and there is a big party that the high school kids are having. Haddie wants to go and assumes Alex does to. Alex decides it would be a bad idea because he doesnt want to be around people drinking. She goes and he says he will pick her up. The time comes to pick her up and she is wasted. Alex sees this and of course gets annoyed with the situation and is trying to escort her out of the party. The host doesnt know Alex and sees him insisting that Haddie leave and immediately goes into 'who's this nigger in my house' mode. Alex tells the host not to touch him and leave him alone. The host of course ignore him. Alex tells the boy several times to leave him alone. Now while all this is going on does Haddie speak up and say 'hey this is my boyfriend!'? Nope she doesn't. As you can guess things escalate and the host ends up getting his lights punched out by a pissed and pushed to the limits Alex. He isn't even out of the door before the police have him in handcuffs. They arrive quick in the white suburbs. Had that been the hood and Alex and Keysha were getting into it, someone could have been shot and Alex would have still had time to get home make and sammich and catch some sports center. The hosts parents press charges and Alex could go to jail. Yep the black boy gets to go to jail for messing with a white girl again! To Kill A Mockingbird much? Haddie bounces over to Alex's expecting things to be business as usual and can't understand why he's in such a foul mood and doesn't want to spend time with her. Waaaahhhhhhh. Me me me. Eventually she feels a little guilty about the fact that he's even in that situation. But I can't help to think that if he'd been all lovey dovey toward her after the fact that she would feel any guilt at all. Haddie's dad feels bad for the kid and begs the other parents not to press charges giving a moving speech to outline that Alex isn't a typical black kid from the ghetto because if he were would I be letting him date my daughter? I mean duh. They bought it and Alex doesn't face jail anymore. But he continues the relationship with 'I get drunk at parties' Haddie. Gee Alex, do you really think it's good for your recovery to be in a relationship with someone who isn't sober? Think about it.
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