Hey BooDaah - I'm out of town now, but when I get back I need to get my spear. Sorry its taken so long.

>i had written a point for
>point rebuttal, but decided against
>posting it.

Shouldn't have. I didn't.

>
>instead I will say that I
>think this was Lee's attempt
>at bringing forth an issue
>that has remained relatively --
>out loud, on screen anyway
>-- unspoken in today's Hollywood
>(the perpetuation of stereotypes and
>the part we have in
>allowing pop culture to proliferate
>them).


I never said that it wasn't important subject matter to be covered - I said he didn't cover it well. I'm tired of giving people points for effort. A bad movie is a bad movie - regardless of intentions. Its like those folks who think any hip-hop record that doesn't talk about ice and money and bitches is a classic. It's not. You still have to execute your craft well.

>
>while Mr.Lee COULD have done several
>things differently I applaud him
>for having the guts to
>use his pull to get
>this concept on the screen
>because very few in Hollywood
>are willing to put themselves
>on the line in this
>way.
>

Let's be real. It's SPIKE LEE. White people LOVE him for being the "controversial race guy". This is the kind of thing he's known for. For someone else, this would be a risky move. For Spike, its a risk to NOT do this kind of thing.

Hey, I'm getting largely the same label of "race guy" placed on me. But I believe if you're gonna play into the "race guy" role you need to really bring the science - not do controversy for controversy's sake.
>
>I don't think the characters are
>anymore "2-D" than the ones
>in Mr. MacGruder's very own
>comic strip.

That's exactly the problem. I do a COMIC STRIP. The characters actually ARE 2-dimensional. They're CARTOONS (I was gonna make this point in my original post but figured that was obvious). Writing a 2 hour screenplay is different than writing a four panel comic strip - or, at least, it's supposed to be.

It would be
>easy to read and say
>"What's that kid so mad
>about and why he gotta
>have a big 'fro?", or
>"is he trying to say
>that all biracial people are
>vapid and their black parents
>some kind of sellouts?", or
>even "why the younger brother
>have to wanna be some
>kind of thug? what's he
>trying to say about younger
>briothers?" This isn't a personal
>attack on Bro. MacGruder OR
>his strip because I've told
>him to his face how
>much I admire his work.
>Moreso, I'm trying to say
>that in both cases (Boondocks
>and Bamboozled) the characters and
>the ways they are presented
>are at the discretion of
>the author to create and
>divulge, for whatever purposes they
>choose, in an effort to
>get their point across.

Again, I'm not disagreeing there, I would just say that you can't use the same approach with different mediums. Comic characters can be simplified because they exist in a narrow space and you have less that 40 words a strip to get a point across. Complexity in strip characters is not always a good thing. Because comics run every day for years, sometimes decades, its dangerous to allow characters to grow and develop in complexity because then they grow out of themselves and the strip is no longer funny. Charlie Brown, Calvin, Dilbert, are brilliant IN their simplicity because they maximize their medium and don't overdo it.

Movies are different. Very different. Their supposed to reflect something closer to reality - unless its a kiddie movie, which Bamboozled amounts to - a satire for first graders.


>Regarding the quality of the writing,
>I saw it with a
>professional, published screenwriting and novelist
>friend of mine (who nitpicks
>everything) and he had no
>problem with it.

Awww ... come on man ...and I saw it with one of the only black writer/directors to make a movie which grossed more than $100 million worldwide. He left the theater ready to whup someone's ass. Point is, that doesn't really matter. There are plenty of published and working writers who have no taste at all - one of the reasons Hollywood is as bad as it is.
I have a degree in Afro-American Studies, I'm published, I work in Hollywood, I do screenwriting - none of that shit matters except that I've seen the reality of Hollywood that Spike oversimplifies. Outside of that, it doesn't make my smarter of give my opinion more worth. Spike Lee himself has asked me to work on a television project of his. I declined. That doesn't matter either. Can you or your friend demonstrate to me what the hell Spike was trying to say SPECIFICALLY? Its good to leave some things open for the audience to mull over, but you almost have to draw ALL YOUR OWN conclusions from this movie. That's wack. Stinky filmmaking, smelly writing.

>
>More than anything, I don't this
>this movie (as with most
>of Spike's "Joints") doesn't pretend
>to be the be all
>end all on the subject,
>nor does it profess to
>fully encompass the realities of
>this world. Instead, I think
>this movie is intending to
>put a bug in your
>head and to spark dialog.
>I think it does that.
>
I think he realized that "race" movies are his niche, and had to "one up" the shock value of "Do the Right Thing" and "Malcolm X" by making a movie where he could put blackface on movie posters and have everyone talking about how "controversial" he is. Its a cheap, self-serving movie and should not be rewarded. As for sparking dialogue - man ... people been talking about this subject forever. For over a year now we've been hearing about the crusade of the NAACP. Bill Cosby used to call "Martin" a coon show years ago. Rememer that Desmon Pfieffer show? The debate over "appropriate" black entertainment goes back to WEB DuBois. Spike just helped to dumb down the debate. Thanks Spike.


>
>I admire Bro. MacGruder's work, and
>believe that he is entitled
>to making his opinion known,
>it is ALSO my hope
>that folk will support this
>movie, make their own judgement
>and really take a good
>look at the reality of
>the idea that in very
>real ways we allow and
>assist in the propogation of
>these type of images.

Eff this movie. Spike knows you care about the subject, but he doesn't contribute to the discussion. He wants your money and the press.
>
>My advice: See for yourself.

My advice: See "The Ladies Man". Its more entertaining and about as deep.

---------------------
Check out Black America's favorite comic strip The Boondocks, at www.Boondocks.net, or the local paper you don't read.

'Cause dammit I ain't drawin' this isht for nuthin'!!!


"Right now I feel I can take on the whole Empire myself ..."

- Luke's gunner Dak (minutes before becoming a friendly fire casualty in the Battle of Hoth)