Hi Meltingpot Readers,
I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I did. We ate, a lot. We laughed and talked and just enjoyed being with family. And then we came home, put the kids to bed and watched a movie. My parents have cable so we had a wide selection of films to choose from. Seven of us were watching and the consensus was to see the film Bridesmaids.
Trust me in that I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary or even that spectacular. I just expected a good laugh. And people, I laughed. A lot. There were some really hilarious one-liners and physical comedy. The story line was quite predictable but it was about as intricate as my food-addled brain could handle last night.
But here's the problem I did have. Here's what pissed me off. The bride in Bridesmaids was played by Maya Rudolph. Maya Rudolph is mixed, some might just call her Black, because her mother --who happens to be the singer, Minnie Ripperton -- was Black. In the movie, they made her father Black. He appeared in the film in two brief scenes, other than that, this was the whitest movie ever. In other words, the movie's conceit was that here you have this Mixed chick with a dreadlocked Black father, yet all of her friends and even her fiance are White. Not a single bridesmaid is Black. That means she has no Black friends. Ok, that's possible. But that would mean she also had no Black family. Maybe her father was an orphan?
So, we can put Maya Rudolph in a movie, but we're going to pretend that her cinnamon brown skin is irrelevant. Why, Hollywood? Black actresses can't even play second-string bridesmaids? I am pulling out my hair as I write this. And this isn't about affirmative-action casting. I'm not saying that every movie should have Black people in it. If this was a movie about a White bride, I wouldn't be saying, she SHOULD have at least one Black friend. But this film featured a Black bride --granted she was from Milwaukee. Statistically speaking, there would more than likely be at least one colored girl in the mix.
Am I crazy? Someone talk me down here.
In the meantime, enjoy this clip from Maya's mom, Minne Ripperton.
Peace!
10 comments:
I feel you on this *so* much :-/
I felt the exact same way, to the degree that in the wedding scene, I was scanning the guests SO CLOSELY. i mean, even a distant black cousin couldn't make a toast and get a hug!? i was so mad.
Anon & Yani,
Thank you! I guess I'm not crazy. Just annoyed.
Well if I were marrying, you wouldn't see any black people at mine. I don't have any black friends and i don't know my black side.
But now that I think about it, that would be an uncomfy wedding. I don't want to be the only minority. I'd probably skip the formal wedding.
Actually, I don't plan on marrying so, problem solved.
There were loads of black faces at the wedding. Are you blind?
LED,
As always, I so appreciate it when folks chime in to show me another way of seeing things. And FYI, I can be your first Black friend :)
Anon,
I'm sorry, I must have missed all the Black faces in the wedding scene. Perhaps I blinked while they were showing them all.
I'm just glad they even aknowledged it at all with her father. Some of my white friends didn't realize Maya Rudolph was black in the first place!
I'm just glad they even aknowledged it at all with her father. Some of my white friends didn't realize Maya Rudolph was black in the first place!
What an emotive post! i wonder if you have more stuff like this in your incredible blog!
My girlfriend and I just saw this and thought the same thing, so I searched interwebs to see if anyone felt the same and found your blog.
What really pisses me off is the way the Maya Rudolph character is conveniently black, switching her "You go girl" accent on and off when it suits her. The whole thing really bothered us and it seemed like a conscious decision. I guess black women just aren't funny. Then again, neither was the movie, really.
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