Hollywood Satire

I really liked Hollywood Shuffle as someone who is moving to L.A with the intent to break into making films not as an actor but from a production standpoint, I really understood Bobby's trepidation. I think the film did a great job of illustrating the issues that Hollywood films sometimes use as tropes especially the matter of race and satire. The reading makes several good points on how satire is a double edged weapon that both points up the absurdity of an outsiders prejudice but also casts a light on the insiders as well. What came to mind immediately was the Chapelle Show and the moral jam Dave Chapelle found himself in, in the mid 00's. Dave halted the show because he felt he couldn't tell if he was enforcing or dismantling racial stereotypes with his satire. I think satire is tough thing because it is audience dependent, take for example Spinal Tap a total satire of heavy metal but not everyone caught on immediately thinking Reiner just followed around a crap band.

Hollywood Shuffle is interesting because it's satire is two fold. We are aware of the film we are watching there is no dip into subjective time, the movie is very filmic with it's jarring asides to dreams and fantasies. We see things as Bobby would, and in my opinion it helps the film overall, the film points out the absurdity of black stereotypes not only in film but in reality. But we are really watching two movies, Hollywood Shuffle and the Blaxploitation film Bobby is cast in. It is here on two "screens" that the satire gels. The film reveals it's mechanisms to us in the studio and Bobby sees that it's all illusory bullshit. What caught my eye was the scene in the studio when Bobby watches the two white actors mid scene. His expression is not one of jealousy but of pity, he is seeing that maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be, that those other actors are suckers.

The reading asks about true representation of the black experience. I think there is a simple answer in terms of the Hollywood film. No one is represented in a true way, these films for the most part are not concerned with exploring the human experience but elevating it to hyperbole, Hollywood seeks to embellish for dramatic effect. Hollywood is out for money and if that means stereotyping they will do it all day every day. Is this right? No it's not but it puts asses in seats and that's what is insidious about mainstream movie, they simply do not care and the average movie goer loves it. For example and I know this is a dead horse but Transformers 2, Skids and Mudflap are two smaller Autobots who besides being annoying ( like the rest of the movie) are incredibly racist characters. The bots speak incomprehensibly fast jive and behave like wannabe thugs.

Hollywood Shuffle is a great movie and an enlightening one if you are smart enough to catch on. Does it solve the problems with how Hollywood uses it's images in terms of African Americans? No but it does shed light on issues like racial typecasting. In terms of it's ending I think it's a sad ending, Bobby loses his dream, perhaps he could have broken away from stereotypical roles had stayed but instead hel oses his dream and could very well go postal.