My friends and I have been discussing the philosophy of race in light of the recent release of “Obsessed”, a movie about a successful, black businessman (Idris Elba) married to a beautiful, black woman (Beyonce Knowles). The business man is stalked by a white, female co-worker (Ali Larter) that jeopardizes his happy life. I won’t give any further details away, since most people intend to watch this movie. It sold out the first night we tried to watch it.
When we were standing in line talking about our expectations for the movie and the masses of people who came out to see it, I mentioned that the racial conflict of the movie certainly drew interest. My friends insisted that race wasn’t the main issue and that the husband-snatching was the main appeal. But to think that is to be colorblind. I thought about stating that, but such a response would not be well taken. So I decided to play around with the roles of the characters and their racial attributes to better demonstrate that the racial conflict was important.
Let us say the successful, black businessman was married to the white woman and stalked by the black businesswoman. Catering to the American public and status quo, the interracial relationship would either have to be defended by some virtuous scenes of romantic chivalry and acts of true love or the marriage would be seen as on the rocks. This sort of sequence seems to be unnecessary with same race pairings in American film, they can just be assumed as good or bad with only a brief mention without the elaboration. Given these characters, Hollywood would probably turn it into a romantic comedy, where the black, businesswoman was “pursuing” the black businessman. They would create tension between the interracial couple and the two black people would eventually find one another.
The actual racial setup of the movie, with a happy black couple being stalked by a white woman, is cast as a thriller. The black man and woman are heroically defending their racially homogenous marriage against the heinous miscegenation attempts by the white adulteress. As overly dramatic and hyperbolic as that synopsis sounds, it clearly establishes the setting for the thriller by playing into the social constructs of the viewing public. Sadly, this was proven to me when I did a Google search for “Obsessed” articles and immediately found the label “miscegenation flick” in a few of the findings.
Now, these assumptions about race in Hollywood aren’t definite or certain, but merely observations of the stereotypical trends in past movies. Switching the roles opened the eyes of my friends to their colorblind attitude toward the movie and gave them something to ponder. I heard them talking about the racial role reversal tonight with some of our other friends, so it seems to have sparked a thought or two about the racial stereotyping of roles in Hollywood. I have yet to actually make it into the theatre with all of the crowds, but I am eager to see how the roles are played out and what sort of racial stereotypes are enforced.
If you've seen the movie, perhaps you would care to note any socially constructed racial themes you saw?
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I agree with the view of trying to see the movie as "colorblind" would be ignorant. It is also interesting how the "thriller" aspect of the movie is escalated just becasue the woman is white. Movies with this type of racial setup are still few and far- between in the modern Hollywood film industry. I am also very curious to see the overall reaction of the viewers...
ReplyDeleteI think that you acknowledge an interesting point with this blog post. (I have not seen the movie but I've seen the previews and get the idea and general plot line). You say that if the couple were interracial, some sort of "virtuous scenes of romantic chivalry and acts of true love or the marriage would be seen as on the rocks" would be necessary. However, in this movie, that sort of explanation for the marriage isn't necessary. Does this mean that if we were to see this movie about a married black man and white woman with a black mistress we would want the black couple to have their happily ending?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Obsessed yet, but I agree with your points. Another modern example, albeit with a much different set up, is the thriller Lakeside Terrace starring Samuel L. Jackson where a racist cop harasses a young well-off interracial couple that moves in next door. There I think the part of the idea is that most audience members will more slowly come to the conclusion that the black police officer is an unreasonable racist than they would have been if he was white. I believe Roger Ebert mentioned this in his review.
ReplyDeleteReturning to Obsessed--to me it strikes me as an inversion of latent stereotypes, as traditionally when one thinks "deviant" interracial relationships, the image that stereotypically comes to mind is a black man chasing a blond, white woman. Until I see the movie, I don't want to make a final comment on whether or not the movie encourages racial homogeneity and discourages interracial relationships by proxy, nevertheless I do readily see how it could seem that way.
I cannot say that I necessarily agree with you. I do not think that the white woman pursuing the successful black business has a whole lot to do with the movie being popular or being advertised as a thriller. I think the main reason why people are going to see this movie is because of Beyonce. People want to see Beyonce fight and criticise her acting skills. I honestly think the movie would have gotten just as much attention if the female were a black actress. The drama of two women fighting over a man and a fatal attraction always draw attention. The truth is people love cat fights, especially if one of the participants is Beyonce.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be great if we could look at the movie as just two women fighting over a man, but the fact that it is a black couple and a white "mistress" is an interesting concept that has been brought up. Interestingly enough, when the movie came out I saw a facebook status that said "Beyonce kicked that white girls ass". I think that the stereotype of the angry black woman that doesnt want to see black men with white women will be played out as people continue to see the movie. Maybe they will feel some sort of vengence against interracial relationships.
ReplyDeleteWhile more and more interracial couples gain public acceptance, there still remains those underlying questions of motivation for why the black woman and white male are together, or the white woman and black male.
I do want to clarify that it is possible for the movie to have any combination of races and be just about the catfight. But I think that the producers weren't completely ignorant of the racial set-up when they cast the movie. And yes, most people are out there to see Beyonce fight (I am actually one of them). But I think that pondering on the significance of races in casting is still intriguing, nonetheless. In fact, I was just polled on my experiences and feelings about interracial relationships in the library, so somebody is researching it as we speak. (Perhaps in light of the movie)
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this, I too wondered what would have been said if the stalker was black as well. I agree with Jasmine, I feel like it would be considered just as big of a thriller due to the "drama of two women fighting over a man and a fatal attraction." Maybe I'm being naive or colorblind, I'm not sure. I'm trying to imagine all the different scenarios of the raced couples and the other woman, and what people would say/think about the movie then. It is interesting to think about, but I wonder should we question the race of the person who wrote the screenplay for the movie? Of who cast the movie? I'm not sure, but i think it is intriguing as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought of that too bell.annie. I take it more movie goers would find the appeal in a strong independent beautiful black woman, Beyonce, beating up a crazy white women trying to tear apart her marriage, rather than as a way to mock "the angry black woman that doesn't want to see black men with white women." I definitely agree there is that some people believe the stereotype you mentioned, I just think the people that believe it would be more inclined to sneer at the movie and not go see it than otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThe catfight, beyonce, and thriller elements are obviously the movie's main selling points, but I do think there is another dimension to the movie's box office success, which I don't think the producers were completely ignorant of when they were casting the roles. I wasn't so sure initially, if the interracial undertones really would be a subconscious selling point to some people--outside of the fatal attraction thriller selling point--but many of the people I've asked said they thought that was part of why the movie did so well. Interestingly, black males were the people saying that's partly why some people saw the movie, whereas black females were the ones predominately said it didn't really matter. (The white people I asked typically said it didn't matter, but were more split. Generally speaking, males also seemed to think it mattered more than girls.) I don't know what that means, but it did seem like an interesting possible trend.
I heard this movie was a piece of trash regardless of the racial tension. The idea that a movie would be entirely sold on interracial tension is also just as ludicrous. I am more likely to believe that it is more on wife-stealing than white woman stealing black man. But maybe I am incorrect. My point is that it should not matter too much: trash is trash, and it should be swept away regardless of the conflict. Maybe that is the theatre-major in me talking, but that is how I feel.
ReplyDeletethis makes me think of the movie Save the Last Dance. I haven't seen it in awhile, but I remember that it also revolved around an interracial relationship. I also vaguely remember a scene when an african american girl asked the white girl why she had to go after Derek, because he was one of the good african american guys that they had left. And it brought up an interesting thought. Can we really look at ourselves as that progressive and advanced, if there are people who still believe that the races should stick to their own and not date interracially?
ReplyDelete