Reader comment: Jorge on Tropic Thunder and Robin Kassner

This comment comes from Jorge at Black and White Blog, where I am co-author. In his comment I am questioned on my thoughts about Robert Downey Jr., the movie Tropic Thunder, and the event involving Robin Kassner at the Regan National Airport.

Jorge's comment verbatim is:

You ask for people to understand that double standard here is OK but in your article about the lady in the airport you’re outraged at the double standard. Sorry. Doesn’t work that way.

You either condemn all double standards based on race or you have to accept them all.

It is ridiculous to say that blacks air exempt of criticism or parody because of history but they can make fun of white lifestyles, mannerisms, and looks. Again, either accept the fact that like all double standards, such as those based on gender, racist double standards are a double edged swords and you cannot pick and choose which parts are convenient to you and which aren’t.

My response is:

Jorge,

I’m glad to see that you are an avid reader of my posts. I thank you for that and your comment.

It’s important for me to be honest and consistent in what I write. I don’t do this to create shock (though I admit that some of the things I say may shock some readers) or for self-aggrandizement. I speak my thoughts and often comment on the racial complexities that is race in America. So I went back and re-read every post on Tropic Thunder (Is Robert Downey Jr funny as an African American? - 3.5.2008.1 and Tropic Thunder draws questions of racism - 3.12.2008.1), and my comments about Robin Kassner.

Now you state that I

“...ask for people to understand that double standard here is OK but in your article about the lady in the airport you’re outraged at the double standard. Sorry. Doesn’t work that way.”

In fact my comments about Tropic Thunder are not to accept the double standard but to highlight it. And I did not ask anyone to accept anything, other than the history of the work by actor Robert Downey Jr. has consistently been quality work which is a positive towards a movie that I feel unease about.

“This could be like the absurdity of Gene Wilder in Silver Streak. Or it could be Al Jolson. When you add in the nudge against Eddie Murphy, the undertone is not quite so positive.”

I have no problem with an actor portraying a character of a different race, if it is done with respect and done well. But I also do understand that far too often Hollywood has avoided using highly qualified and available actors of color, insteasd using sub-standard White actors in a manner that is degrading.

“A Black entertainer making a bad portrayal of Whites is seen as a failure on the entertainer’s part. A White entertainer in the reverse position (for most of the history of Hollywood) had been seen as making an honest attempt at portraying Negroes, which were considered below them. That’s the history of the situation.”

The question is the intent of the portrayal. Too often it has been to embarrass or humiliate those being imitated. Too often it has been an act of White privilege to presume they can accurately portray other races, and that their depiction was more than fair. That is where I have conflict.

But in regard to Robin Kassner the issue is how the media portrays reality. This is not a film, there are no characters. The reality is that Kassner was treated in a manner that many Muslims and people of color have experiences since 9/11 in airports across the nation. But instead of taking the same lazie faire attitude that has come from the media, or blaming those persecuted, the major news media has taken sympathy on her plight.

That is a different double standard.

Either Kassner was presenting a danger to the public interest, as was the excuse for the reaction when Muslims and people of color were treated in this manner, or all the other victims were over-reacted against and deserve the same sympathy and funds claimed in her lawsuit.

Whether it’s the presumption of innocence as in the Duke rape case, or the avoidance of the topic like in the Megan Williams case, or the near total absence of fact like in the number of reported missing Black, Hispanic, Asian children in the nation the major media is playing a double standard that is not only unfair but potentially damaging.

When I highlighted that fact how is it the same as questioning the ability of an actor to make a respectful portrayal?

When Eddie Murphy made a portrayal of a White man on Saturday Night Live, was that wrong or funny? I say funny because it was honest and respectful. When Joel Grey played a Korean it was honest and respectful and he got a Golden Globe nomination for it. When the Wayan brothers portrayed 2 White girls it was stupid and ignorant. When Gene Wilder tried the Black face in Silver Streak it was funny because it was an admission of absurdity and the ignorance (stupidity) of some people.

Robin Kassner was either being treated like a threat or abused. There was no respect, humor, social commentary in it. The news media coverage of the event was biased, but in similar events the bias goes in the opposite direction.

How am I wrong to point that out? How is that like questioning if the storyline in a movie is respectful and humorous? How is pointing out when the news media identifies Blacks in chest high flood waters as looters the same double standard as questioning the script a White actor in make-up follows?

Hollywood has long believed that a White actor can portray another race in any manner and it’s ok – which I disagree with. The media has long believed that people of color, especially African Americans, can be portrayed as dregs of society – which I disagree with. I believe my posts highlight those views.

If I am incorrect, please do show me where I was wrong.

Paris Hilton back in orange - 7.30.2007.1

Take a look at the picture above and observe it well. Yes I know it’s Paris Hilton. As sad as this girl is, actually pitiful is more the term I’d use, I have to think the executives at the Fox show The Simple Life are worse. That is because the talent less heiress was made up like the Great Pumpkin, or perhaps for an appearance on The Simpson’s, and that is being described their interpretation of a Black woman.

For some reason, and I am lost as to why, Paris is being changed to look Black. It has something to do with her television program that continues to be shown season after season. But I am insulted that this is what they consider Black on that program.

I don’t know when looking like Farah Fawcett with a really bad fake suntan became the equivalent of being Black. Didn’t any of them get to see the program Black.White. Couldn’t they afford that makeup team? Or did they somehow think that Mr. Gene Wilder’s comedic act of desperation, devised by Mr. Richard Pryor, from Blue Streak was somehow spot on.

I know I often joke with friends that I have the ultimate suntan base, it cost me nothing and I have it year round. Even so, a suntan is nothing like the hue I have gained from my Puerto Rican father and Black mother. Paris does not look like any Black or Hispanic person I have ever seen from anywhere in the world.

I don’t care that a low quality, mind-numbing show is using a gimmick to get viewers. I expect that, since that is the premise of the program. But I do have issue when someone tries to ‘revision’ the Al Jolson blackface just to get a ratings bump. It’s distasteful and insulting. If say Lil Kim was to appear for a show in clown white makeup, pretending to be Caucasian I think some might find that insulting. Same thing here.

If the execs at Fox have no idea of how a Black person looks, here are a couple of hints.