Of course it's David Alan Grier
September 21, 2012 3:02 PM Subscribe
In case anyone doesn't know, this is a clip from Amazon Women on the Moon.
posted by camcgee at 3:48 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by camcgee at 3:48 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
And apparently the whole movie is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k25gvfdT0J8 (can't imagine that will last).
posted by camcgee at 3:50 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by camcgee at 3:50 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Back in junior high, we considered Amazon Women on the Moon pretty funny and all, but it just wasn't hardcore like Kentucky Fried Movie.
posted by treepour at 4:03 PM on September 21, 2012
posted by treepour at 4:03 PM on September 21, 2012
At first it was kinda meh, (well ok, it's generally meh), but that ending with Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog, I'm like, hey that song has... wait... He's singing it without soul! I didn't realize that was possible.
posted by symbioid at 4:16 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by symbioid at 4:16 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ain't no fuckin' Thelma here, man!
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:27 PM on September 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:27 PM on September 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
*sigh* I know this is all meant in jest, and forgive me if I'm taking this too seriously.
Maybe I'm in the minority here (see what i did there...), but I don't think this is funny at all, probably because it hits a little too close to home.
I'm a individual who has regularly been accused of being a 'black person without soul'. (I wrote about one specific experience in this comment.
So....let me tell you another story. I started writing songs when I was about 11 or 12, after being inspired by fantastic artists like Jewel, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, etc. I kept most of my songs secret until I was about 20, and then I finally mustered up the courage to record and share them with close friends and family. The first thing my dad said after he heard it was "You sound like a white girl!" and he laughed.
Do you understand how painful that is? Do you understand how confusing and humiliating it is to
be told that I'm "not black enough" because I talk/act a certain way or like/dislike certain things? It's absolute bullshit.
I'm a semi-regular performing musician, and I still hear those sort of remarks, from both blacks and whites. Whenever I stroll into a bar with my keyboard, people assume I'm going to wow them with some soulful Jill Scott/Alicia Keys neo-soul tunes, and they're soooooo amazed (or disappointed!) when my music is more like Bjork than Beyonce.
I don't have anything against neo-soul/R&B/hip-hop/whatever; I enjoy listening to it, but it's not the style I choose to perform. It's not who I am. I know who I am.
I hate being pigeonholed and shoved into some 'soulful' corner where I can't truly express myself.
If the muthafuckin' Don Simmons' of the world want to sing cheesy folk songs or Carpenters tunes, let 'em. This is America, dammnit :)
posted by chara at 4:59 PM on September 21, 2012 [75 favorites]
Maybe I'm in the minority here (see what i did there...), but I don't think this is funny at all, probably because it hits a little too close to home.
I'm a individual who has regularly been accused of being a 'black person without soul'. (I wrote about one specific experience in this comment.
So....let me tell you another story. I started writing songs when I was about 11 or 12, after being inspired by fantastic artists like Jewel, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, etc. I kept most of my songs secret until I was about 20, and then I finally mustered up the courage to record and share them with close friends and family. The first thing my dad said after he heard it was "You sound like a white girl!" and he laughed.
Do you understand how painful that is? Do you understand how confusing and humiliating it is to
be told that I'm "not black enough" because I talk/act a certain way or like/dislike certain things? It's absolute bullshit.
I'm a semi-regular performing musician, and I still hear those sort of remarks, from both blacks and whites. Whenever I stroll into a bar with my keyboard, people assume I'm going to wow them with some soulful Jill Scott/Alicia Keys neo-soul tunes, and they're soooooo amazed (or disappointed!) when my music is more like Bjork than Beyonce.
I don't have anything against neo-soul/R&B/hip-hop/whatever; I enjoy listening to it, but it's not the style I choose to perform. It's not who I am. I know who I am.
I hate being pigeonholed and shoved into some 'soulful' corner where I can't truly express myself.
If the muthafuckin' Don Simmons' of the world want to sing cheesy folk songs or Carpenters tunes, let 'em. This is America, dammnit :)
posted by chara at 4:59 PM on September 21, 2012 [75 favorites]
Chara, I way hear that. There's a long, sad history of really visionary African-American artists being "not black enough" and suffering for it commercially with both white and black audiences. I'm thinking especially of singer Dean Bowman, with his crazy psychedelic a capella, Saul Williams, one of the few rap-rockers to have good taste in art-rock, or novelist James Baldwin, whose "black church" novels got all the attention but whose novel Giovanni's Room is all about gay Italians and is awesome.
I think this particular piece is meant more as an affectionate jab at people's expectations for black singers (the movie came out about the time when Lionel Richie was proving that a black performer could be as whitewashed as Lawrence Welk) than an actual mockery of "blacks without soul." But I can see how for a serious black artist, it could hit way too close to home.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 5:12 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think this particular piece is meant more as an affectionate jab at people's expectations for black singers (the movie came out about the time when Lionel Richie was proving that a black performer could be as whitewashed as Lawrence Welk) than an actual mockery of "blacks without soul." But I can see how for a serious black artist, it could hit way too close to home.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 5:12 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
chara: “If the muthafuckin' Don Simmons' of the world want to sing cheesy folk songs or Carpenters tunes, let 'em. This is America, dammnit :)”
Thank you for saying that, chara. As a pasty white dude who likes to play jazz, I concur completely.
posted by koeselitz at 5:15 PM on September 21, 2012
Thank you for saying that, chara. As a pasty white dude who likes to play jazz, I concur completely.
posted by koeselitz at 5:15 PM on September 21, 2012
I laughed with my friends about No Soul back in junior high. I don't understand what makes this skit a better contender than any of the other mildly-funny-to-my-12-year-old-sense-of-humor skits , but maybe I'm just misreading the capacity for laughs in today's laugh-seekers.
You're right: the best mildly-funny-to-one's-12-year-old-sense-of-humor skit that could be effortlessly pulled from AWotM is Son of the Invisible Man.
posted by Chichibio at 5:24 PM on September 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
You're right: the best mildly-funny-to-one's-12-year-old-sense-of-humor skit that could be effortlessly pulled from AWotM is Son of the Invisible Man.
posted by Chichibio at 5:24 PM on September 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
If 1:50 through 2:40 is to be construed in anyway as an extended dis on Karen Carpenter then this is shit.
posted by rlk at 5:30 PM on September 21, 2012
posted by rlk at 5:30 PM on September 21, 2012
I continue to be embarrassed by my teenage sense of humor. I hope that, when I'm in my sixties, I won't hang my head in shame when viewing old Chris Rock or Louis CK clips.
posted by Optamystic at 5:40 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Optamystic at 5:40 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Jack the Ripper was, in fact:
The Loch Ness Monster!
posted by ShutterBun at 5:42 PM on September 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
The Loch Ness Monster!
posted by ShutterBun at 5:42 PM on September 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
The black kids in my high school nerd clique got this mistreatment a lot and it always made me cringe.
Nevertheless, I find Grier's overly precise diction and gestures to be so utterly, perfectly soulless that his performace transcends all racial boundaries and norms of good taste.
posted by borges at 6:11 PM on September 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
Nevertheless, I find Grier's overly precise diction and gestures to be so utterly, perfectly soulless that his performace transcends all racial boundaries and norms of good taste.
posted by borges at 6:11 PM on September 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
Bless you, Chara. Making fun of people because they don't conform to a racial stereotype is, well, racist.
posted by seventyfour at 6:29 PM on September 21, 2012
posted by seventyfour at 6:29 PM on September 21, 2012
I'm with Chara on this one. I started cringing and eventually just closed the window.
posted by HuronBob at 6:54 PM on September 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by HuronBob at 6:54 PM on September 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
Oh for the day when we have a black Belle & Sebastian and a black Bon Iver, with audiences of all colours standing stock-still and stroking their chins to their music.
posted by acb at 7:02 PM on September 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by acb at 7:02 PM on September 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
This must be "Jump all over John Landis day" or something. (he directed the segment in question)
posted by ShutterBun at 7:04 PM on September 21, 2012
posted by ShutterBun at 7:04 PM on September 21, 2012
Ooo, that above-mention of Saul Williams just made me really want to find my copy of Amethyst Rock Star. Thanks for reminding me about him.
posted by hopeless romantique at 7:05 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by hopeless romantique at 7:05 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's still OK to laugh at white guys trying to sound black, though, right?
posted by ShutterBun at 7:06 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by ShutterBun at 7:06 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
The idea of "not black enough" would be laughable if it didn't cut so deep but the thought that anyone would say Saul Williams isn't black enough is kind of baffling to me.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 7:43 PM on September 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by The Hamms Bear at 7:43 PM on September 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
The Hamms Bear, I knew that was going to be Black Stacey before I clicked on it, that song is extremely relevant to this discussion (also my favorite song of his).
posted by jason_steakums at 8:38 PM on September 21, 2012
posted by jason_steakums at 8:38 PM on September 21, 2012
Bless you, Chara. Making fun of people because they don't conform to a racial stereotype is, well, racist.
Sure. And laughing at yourself in public is OK, too. And if that laughter comes from acknowledging the tension that arises from internalizing a stereotype, all the better. It's funny how us white folks get all jittery when black folks start having a conversation about black folks.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:54 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Sure. And laughing at yourself in public is OK, too. And if that laughter comes from acknowledging the tension that arises from internalizing a stereotype, all the better. It's funny how us white folks get all jittery when black folks start having a conversation about black folks.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:54 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I continue to be embarrassed by my teenage sense of humor. I hope that, when I'm in my sixties, I won't hang my head in shame when viewing old Chris Rock or Louis CK clips.
I can virtually guarantee that if you think Louis CK is funny now, you'll be embarrassed by that in your sixties.
posted by Herodios at 9:32 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I can virtually guarantee that if you think Louis CK is funny now, you'll be embarrassed by that in your sixties.
posted by Herodios at 9:32 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
This is pretty racist sounding.
posted by azarbayejani at 10:53 PM on September 21, 2012
posted by azarbayejani at 10:53 PM on September 21, 2012
If the same exact scene appeared in "Hollywood Shuffle" would it still be seen as racist?
posted by ShutterBun at 11:54 PM on September 21, 2012
posted by ShutterBun at 11:54 PM on September 21, 2012
I don't know if it's wise or fair to label this particular clip as inherently racist; I understand that it's satire and it's addressing a very real phenomena that is present in many black communities. If I saw this clip in the context of the whole film, I might just roll my eyes, I might even laugh a little.
But there was no context with this FPP; it was just a single link LOLBLACKPPL video, which is in poor taste. Mocking a marginalized subcategory of an already marginalized ethnic group, using tired assumptions and stereotypes, is neither novel nor interesting. And ShutterBun, to answer your questions, I think it would be in equally poor taste if the racial roles were reversed.
posted by chara at 12:26 AM on September 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
But there was no context with this FPP; it was just a single link LOLBLACKPPL video, which is in poor taste. Mocking a marginalized subcategory of an already marginalized ethnic group, using tired assumptions and stereotypes, is neither novel nor interesting. And ShutterBun, to answer your questions, I think it would be in equally poor taste if the racial roles were reversed.
posted by chara at 12:26 AM on September 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
The roles wouldn't have to be reversed in "Hollywood Shuffle."
Compare this clip to the "Black Acting School" clip, and they could easily coexist in the same satirical world.
Agreed, though, that a little context would have helped.
posted by ShutterBun at 1:49 AM on September 22, 2012
Compare this clip to the "Black Acting School" clip, and they could easily coexist in the same satirical world.
Agreed, though, that a little context would have helped.
posted by ShutterBun at 1:49 AM on September 22, 2012
Great comment from Chara. This sort of thing really leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Oh, a black person with no "soul". How funny! They don't conform to our much-loved black stereotype! So yeah, racism, basically.
posted by Decani at 4:18 AM on September 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Decani at 4:18 AM on September 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
I went through what a lot of young black people go through as adolescents, where your interests align with "white" things and you reject other black people because some of them reject you. It took me an extremely long time to get past that. Racism from white people helped, but when it came to music (one of my great loves) it's taken longer still.
I've written hundreds of songs and my family gets to hear NONEOFTHEM because I already know, I already know. I'm more inspired by Kate Bush. I let my mom listen to one of my cover recordings once and she asked me "why don't you sing this with any soul". It was one of my favorite oldies ("Ooh Child" by the five stairsteps?) and that hurt me so bad I stopped singing for a while.
My worst experience was karaoke on a cruise ship (already bad enough right there but it gets worse). Before I went up a soulful lady performed some Gladys Knight song along with some gentlemen in the audience who served as her Pips. The crowd had a rousing good time. I was getting up to sing..well a power ballad by an 80s rock band we'll leave it at that. On the way up one of the guys asked me if I needed any Pips and of course it was a sheepish "no". People laughed at me in the middle of my song and I was so traumatized I couldn't get off the stage for a while (wish I was as strong as you Chara!), I just sat at the edge for a long time. 10 years went by before I could perform in public again.
But whatever, last year I got up the nerve to sing karaoke again and once again before I went up people assumed I'd be singing something funky, this time it was the girl next to me. But they got "Please Come to Boston" and Norah Jones and that's that.
posted by Danila at 5:19 AM on September 22, 2012 [5 favorites]
I've written hundreds of songs and my family gets to hear NONEOFTHEM because I already know, I already know. I'm more inspired by Kate Bush. I let my mom listen to one of my cover recordings once and she asked me "why don't you sing this with any soul". It was one of my favorite oldies ("Ooh Child" by the five stairsteps?) and that hurt me so bad I stopped singing for a while.
My worst experience was karaoke on a cruise ship (already bad enough right there but it gets worse). Before I went up a soulful lady performed some Gladys Knight song along with some gentlemen in the audience who served as her Pips. The crowd had a rousing good time. I was getting up to sing..well a power ballad by an 80s rock band we'll leave it at that. On the way up one of the guys asked me if I needed any Pips and of course it was a sheepish "no". People laughed at me in the middle of my song and I was so traumatized I couldn't get off the stage for a while (wish I was as strong as you Chara!), I just sat at the edge for a long time. 10 years went by before I could perform in public again.
But whatever, last year I got up the nerve to sing karaoke again and once again before I went up people assumed I'd be singing something funky, this time it was the girl next to me. But they got "Please Come to Boston" and Norah Jones and that's that.
posted by Danila at 5:19 AM on September 22, 2012 [5 favorites]
The problem isn't even in the play on stereotypes. It is in what the concept of "soul" evokes. Something wild and untamed, something desirable but dangerous, a sweaty, jungly, animalistic vigor. The call of nature. We all know blacks are closer to nature, right? Right, right. Don't we all have moments where we long for simpler times...? Anyhoo let's snap out of that daydream and get back to work. Ha ha. Honestly if this was a movie about "sexless women" it would get slammed to MeTa so fast it wouldn't be funny. Which it isn't.
posted by deo rei at 5:48 AM on September 22, 2012
posted by deo rei at 5:48 AM on September 22, 2012
MeFites, you are the greatest! A truly amazing and blazingly honest discussion!
posted by Galadhwen at 3:52 PM on September 22, 2012
posted by Galadhwen at 3:52 PM on September 22, 2012
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