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Mar. 9th, 2006 10:22 amLast night, I took the evening off to watch the finale of Project Runway last night (kind of an anti-climax) and then the premiere of Black/White. Re: Black/White. The show annoys me. It *could* be very interesting, but their take on racial issues is as simplistic as the title.
The "white guy" for example, appears to be a child of Eastern-European immigrants, but there's been no discussion of immigrant groups' complicated relationship to whiteness. There's a lot of discussion of "white culture" and "black culture" and nothing about "mainstream culture" and "subcultures," which might be a lot more relevant in this context.
There's also been no discussion of gender, even though that is clearly emerging as an issue on the show: the white guy is a hulking ex-basketball player alpha-male jackass. In blackface, he looks kinda like OJ Simpson, and continues to act like an alpha male jackass. In other words, he's physically intimidating no matter what race he's playing. The "black guy," on the other hand, is slightly built. In white-face, he looks nerdy and slightly effeminate.
Watching the show is a lot like watching the British version of the Office: it makes me want to punch the annoying jackass right through the screen. I don't know that I'd watch much more of it, even though I'm facinated by passing narratives. I think I'd require a little more complexity in their discussion of race first.
The "white guy" for example, appears to be a child of Eastern-European immigrants, but there's been no discussion of immigrant groups' complicated relationship to whiteness. There's a lot of discussion of "white culture" and "black culture" and nothing about "mainstream culture" and "subcultures," which might be a lot more relevant in this context.
There's also been no discussion of gender, even though that is clearly emerging as an issue on the show: the white guy is a hulking ex-basketball player alpha-male jackass. In blackface, he looks kinda like OJ Simpson, and continues to act like an alpha male jackass. In other words, he's physically intimidating no matter what race he's playing. The "black guy," on the other hand, is slightly built. In white-face, he looks nerdy and slightly effeminate.
Watching the show is a lot like watching the British version of the Office: it makes me want to punch the annoying jackass right through the screen. I don't know that I'd watch much more of it, even though I'm facinated by passing narratives. I think I'd require a little more complexity in their discussion of race first.
