There are a few admirable points about Hollywood Shuffle. For one, it was directed by a black director, Robert Townsend. I feel as if the movie was directed by a white director, it would just feel as though the movie was making fun of black actors for the sake of making fun of them and solidifying the exaggerated stereotypes. Townsend even makes sure to emphasize other stereotypes in the movies, like the female producer and the gay hairdresser. In “Stereotypical Strategies,” Harriet Margolis claims that this strategy makes sure to show that stereotypes of other identities can be just as offensive and ridiculous. Another positive is the fact that the movie has a moral explicitly stated at the end of the movie. The main character, Bobby Taylor, realizes that the stereotypes he was cast to portray are offensive and degrading to himself and his family. He expresses his feelings and moves on to a more honorable career. It could almost be said that Bobby is supposed to be seen as a hero and role-model for both black actors and black citizens in general.
While I thought Hollywood Shuffle was pretty lame, it did do a good job proving that Hollywood has an awful tendency of excessively stereotyping not only blacks, but also other common races, genders, and identities.
At first I wasn't sure if Townsend was parodying the gay hairdresser to make a point or to just down right make fun of him to be honest and I'm still kind of on the edge about that issue. I mean, the hairdresser wasn't in his fantasies like the black stereotypes he satirizes and neither was the snapping gum lady. But there is a scene where that lady acts completely over the top, snapping her gum and the screen shifts upside down and back and again and again, clearly exaggerating the over the top nature of her character and the other white producers. There's not really a scene like that with the hairdresser that I remember? So it kind of seems like he was just making fun of him for comedy. Not 100% sure though.
ReplyDeleteI like that you made a point to talk about if this film was directed by a white director versus a black director. I think that if a white director was trying to talk about struggles that he or she had never faced before the message wouldn't be as powerful.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, if the film had a clear moral about how damaging stereotype are, both for a man and his family, why is the film funny "for all the wrong reasons?" What 'wrong reasons' do you see? I wish you'd spelled that out a bit more--interestingly you seem to work these observations out more extensively in your comment on other people's blogs than your own.
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