Chi McBride fits one of the few set type of black man in movies and TV. The enormous bald man - sometimes as Noble Savage (think 'The Green Mile') and sometimes as mafia boss (Ed Vogler in House, played by McBride himself, is one of those).
There's also the wisecracking hipster (Eddie Murphy or the young Will Smith), the hiphopper with the criminal past, and the wise old advisor to the white hero - think the prophet in The Matrix, or any role ever played by Morgan Freeman or Whoopie Goldberg.
Women on TV are almost all unusually thin - not just fatless, but narrow shouldered. Black characters have, perhaps, a greater variety of narrower pidgeonholes.
I had to laugh. The trio of productions you referenced - The Green Mile, House, The Matrix - are all things I've never watched. (Why yes, I DO live under a rock!)
You're right! Hollywood does seem determined to convince us that black people are either thugs, comedic sidekicks or spiritual guides.
They also want us to think gay people are camp and women are non-threatening, non-opinionated eye candy.
Obviously, movie and TV execs have never seen real people.
I think he's in danger of becoming typecast. :-)
ReplyDeleteChi McBride fits one of the few set type of black man in movies and TV. The enormous bald man - sometimes as Noble Savage (think 'The Green Mile') and sometimes as mafia boss (Ed Vogler in House, played by McBride himself, is one of those).
ReplyDeleteThere's also the wisecracking hipster (Eddie Murphy or the young Will Smith), the hiphopper with the criminal past, and the wise old advisor to the white hero - think the prophet in The Matrix, or any role ever played by Morgan Freeman or Whoopie Goldberg.
Women on TV are almost all unusually thin - not just fatless, but narrow shouldered. Black characters have, perhaps, a greater variety of narrower pidgeonholes.
That's how I see it anyway.
I had to laugh. The trio of productions you referenced - The Green Mile, House, The Matrix - are all things I've never watched. (Why yes, I DO live under a rock!)
ReplyDeleteYou're right! Hollywood does seem determined to convince us that black people are either thugs, comedic sidekicks or spiritual guides.
They also want us to think gay people are camp and women are non-threatening, non-opinionated eye candy.
Obviously, movie and TV execs have never seen real people.