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September 25, 2002
Trimming Barbershop: By now, I'm
Trimming Barbershop: By now, I'm sure many of you have heard about the row over Barbershop, a new film starring Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer that's currently sitting on top of the box office charts. Included in the comedy are scenes where characters mock Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Rev. Jesse Jackson -- something which caught Jackson's ire. (In fact, if you're not careful, you can miss the reference to King's serial infidelity entirely.) Now, however, the producers have apologized (though pointedly, the director, Tim Story, has not), but Jackson isn't satisfied: Jesse Jackson says he's pleased the producers of "Barbershop" have apologized for the film's barbs about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and others, but still wants the jokes cut from future DVD and video editions of the hit movie. The producers, Bob Teitel and George Tillman, told The Associated Press on Monday that they had apologized to Jackson on behalf of everyone involved with the film. "I completely did not mean to offend anyone," Tillman said. But Jackson said they must go further and remove those scenes from the video, DVD and cable versions. "The apology is a step in the right direction," he told the AP, but added that he will "keep appealing to them" to do the right thing. I went to see Barbershop myself over the weekend, in part on the reccomendation I heard from Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times. (You can listen to their reviews by clicking here.) In general, I liked the movie, but felt both Ebert and Roeper overpraised it. The subplot involving two nincompoops who steal an ATM machine isn't very funny, but it doesn't take away from the give and take in the Barbershop that lies at the heart of the movie. In many ways, I felt as if I wouldn't have missed much waiting for it to come to home video, so I guess my review qualifies as a mild thumbs up. Funny enough, but Roeper's review had this little tidbit that's proved prescient: It'll be interesting to see how "Barbershop" plays--not just with full-time film critics of all races, but with black commentators and community leaders, and with the moviegoing public. Will they find it to be an honest celebration of the longtime significance of the neighborhood barbershop in many a black community--or a stereotype-laden chuckle-fest with a self-loathing character who criticizes his own people? Looks like the answer for some is the latter. What will be more interesting is the reaction from Hollywood types like Roeper, now that Jackson is pressuring producers to re-cut the film. For some time now, Hollywood directors have been flexing their muscles in Congress attempting to stem the use of colorization and other editing techniques in the name of preserving artistic integrity. In general, I've been sympathetic to these efforts, while at the same time wondering if we really need government intervention in what should essentially be a private transaction. But in this case, I'd like to know what the reaction of these same folks is now that Jackson is attempting to violate Story's artistic independence as substantially as any effort to colorize an old film. In the end, it seems to me that Story's real sin was taking a shot at Jackson -- and in fact if the scenes that Jackson is referring to were cut from the film, it would be essentially gutted. Something tells me if America can survive having The Birth of a Nation remain intact and uncut, we can probably stand having the same with Barbershop. Perhaps the Jackson just needs to grow a thicker skin. UPDATE: NRO's Rod Dreher weighs in with a more extensive discussion about what the movie means to African-American political culture. For a more complete discussion of the issues that Dreher raises, you might want to read Losing The Race: Self-Sabotage In Black America by John McWhorter. CORRECTION: I initially misidentified the Director of Barbershop as Malcolm Lee. In fact, it's Tim Story. I've updated the post to reflect this.
Eric
01:10 AM
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