Urban Thought Collective

Last week I told you how my stomach was tied up in knots (well, not exactly, but I was nervous) anticipating Robert Downey, Jr.’s blackface role in Ben Stiller’s new comedy “Tropic Thunder.” I had my fingers crossed that Stiller’s talent for thoughtful satire (he co-wrote, directed and produced Thunder) would elevate the white man-pretending-to-be-black shtick above race-mocking buffoonery. I’m happy to say that “Tropic Thunder” does exactly that.

A zany send-up of movie industry excesses, “Tropic Thunder” follows a troupe of spoiled, self-important actors as they attempt to shoot a mega-bucks Vietnam War flick. Robert Downey, Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a multi-Oscar-winning Aussie who arrogantly takes on the role of a black war hero. Lazarus thinks he’s rocking the role with authenticity, but his performance is built on clichés so he actually looks preposterous. That, along with the mere fact that Lazarus is portraying a brother, leads to repeated verbal smack downs (and one physical smack) from the one real black man in the cast, cocky rapper-turned actor Alpa Chino, played by “Roll Bounce” dozens-master Brandon T. Jackson. (More on him in a minute.)

“Tropic Thunder” doesn’t make fun of blackness. It makes fun of a white man who’s egotistical enough to think he’s perfect for the role of a black man. The joke is that he looks foolish trying to act black. Kind of like Gene Wilder in “Silver Streak,” although not nearly as funny. Wilder created one of the movies’ most hilarious moments when he smeared brown shoe polish on his face, struggled to keep time with the radio and made a mess of black slang. That scene still cracks folks up because Wilder was so obviously phony – but his character didn’t realize that. Downey would have been funnier if he had hammed it up more. But he and Stiller knew that they were stepping into deep and dangerous waters with this character and neither one of them wanted to make black folks mad. I appreciate their sensitivity.

Actually, the most relevant black caricature in “Tropic Thunder” is not the fool played by Robert Downey, Jr. It’s the afore-mentioned Alpa Chino. He’s a blinged-out fake gangster who promotes an energy drink called Booty Sweat, raps pornographically about his love of the definitive female body part – all the while hiding a secret about his personal life. This character underscores how cartoonish hip hop has become. Stiller didn’t have to stretch at all with the Alpa Chino parody video at the beginning of “Tropic Thunder.” Even the drink name, Booty Sweat, isn’t that far over the top. After all, Pimp Juice is a reality. Among other things, “Tropic Thunder” reminds us that an art form that started as a powerful and important voice for blacks in the inner-city has, in many ways, degenerated into an unimaginative, socially irrelevant and money-mad circus with clowns and all.

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.