There will always be an unexperienced fraction of America who wants to know what black men are all about. For them, American culture serves up any number of proxies. Whatever your choice of stereotype or archetype, there's one. There are problems with this of the species that all analogies fail, but for the purposes of abstract conversations, they do quite well.
We could begin and end with OJ or Mike Tyson or Colin Powell. More recently the subject has turned to sex and Taye Diggs (or so I've heard through the Kwaku Network). But along with the Washington Post, one of the more salient conversations about the 'state of the black man' will be goosed along this holiday season by the impending and I think inevitable success of Will Smith's next film, 'The Pursuit of Happyness'.
It's the story of a man who succeeds against the odds and insures that his son understands the virtues of manhood. And that's all it has to be.
Nobody has seen the film yet, although over the weekend one could tell that it is bound to fill four hankies with tears by the preview trailer. The critics are already thinking that it is Oscar material, and although I haven't seen anything yet in the blogs, I'm certain that the expectations will be high all around. That is because it is clearly a film that stands out as far as films about black men go. But it stands out in a way that perhaps ought to be unremarkable. I'm thinking that Denzel never had to make this kind of film, nor can I recall one in this style done by Poitier in the prior generation. Why demonstrate the elements of manhood? Why not just be a man?
Well it's because this generation needs examples. I hope they get what they need, and I hope this film will suffice. Perhaps it's the once every few years shot of vitamins this generation needs to remind them that they're supposed to be men despite the odds. I think Finding Forrester did an excellent job of that. Also Antwone Fisher was the picture four years ago.
I'm not one of those folks who cries out in the wilderness for a lack of positive images. You wouldn't catch me gnashing my teeth over the production of Soul Plane. I think boycotts are a waste of time, in fact no other comment on the recent hiccup over Michael Richards struck me as more pathetic than the one that wished more blackfolks watched Seinfeld in the past so that we could boycott it even more in the future. But the extent to which positive lessons might be learned from these films is exactly the extent to which they are not learned elsewhere. And I think we might measure that in terms of disbelief and hype.
The more that people talk about this film in terms of what blackfolks need, the more Will Smith becomes the new black role model, the more this film becomes more than just a film, the more it means that the film was necessary. Is this kind of film necessary? Is this what we need, as a people?
I'm not going to launch into a tirade about the failure of our society. I think our society works very well, and despite the fact that grumpy old men like myself chew around its rougher edges on the whole we're satisfied. And so I can continue my pledge not to second-guess blackfolks. Those who get what they need - more power to them. Git in where you fit in. But let's not make the mistake of suggesting that the lessons of this film are anything so alien or unknown to African America. We are way larger, in all dimensions, than any series of films are going to capture, which means our depravities are more profound and our successes are more stellar than can be known. From time to time someone takes time out from life to talk about life, and the unexperienced fraction get another taste that rings true. I predict that this film will have that flavor and people will suddenly remember what their ordinary lives tell them to forget.
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