theblackactor.com

Where You Goin'?

In…

I’M GOIN’ IN!

Ah… the fearless white male.

I can’t say how many times I’ve heard the cliché line, “I’M GOIN’ IN.”  But, trust me, its been lots of times.

One of the reasons this blog was conceived was because of some of the disturbing images in film I have observed over the years. Naturally, during those viewings, I wasn’t exactly sitting down with a pen and pad. 

Now that I publish the blog, I am trying to recall some of the films that I’ve seen which contain various unpalatable images. This article discusses, in particular, the utterance of the ubiquitous, sanguine decree, “I’m goin’ in!”  Because my memory fails me, I am unable to present specific examples of films in which I’ve heard this.  Can you?

That damn fearless white male, again. LMAO. Of course, as you know, I’ve touched on these matters before. See the White Way category. 

“I’m goin’ in!” is a decidedly overused phrase –- so much so that sometimes, in anticipation of the actor speaking the words, my friend and I actually voice the words before the actor does. I think there was a time or two when we hit it on the mark... when that archetype of the grand species whitis malis actually said the words after we did! But often, we just say the phrase, even when the actor doesn’t. The other recurrent pattern is when instead of voicing the words, the actor executes the action instead.

Are you guys aware of the frequency with which the white male hero character utters these words? Have you ever noticed it? It’s quite common, actually. 

The prevailing attitude and underlying message is, “Bring it on. No problem. Whitis Malis can handle it. Soooooooooo…

• Open the door – even though a 200 foot tidal wave awaits you
• Turn the corner – even though there are 4,238 people shooting, armed with Uzis
• Jump into the water – even though it’s shark-infested
• Enter the room – even though it’s filled with poisonous gas and you have no mask
• Run into that building – that flame-filled, smoke-filled building
• Crawl through that air conditioner shaft…

ROTFLMAO

Didn’t Jason Patric repeat the cliché in Speed 2:  Cruise Control (1997)? I don’t remember where he was going, but he was “goin’ in” to save the world… okay not the world -– the people on the ship. But still. And of course, he saved them.

Am I hallucinating or did George Clooney or someone else say it in The Perfect Storm (2000)?

Ah… the forever fearless… triumphing in spite of the odds… courage… bravery… confidence… unswayed… decisive…  determined…

Martyrs. LOL. No, that’s not true really. It would imply suffering. These dudes don’t even break a sweat. And that’s part of the point of this article. Not only are they completely unafraid, but when they do “go in,” once they’re “in” it all goes so smoothly. No scratches. No sweats. No trembling in terror. No inability to breathe. No racing heartbeat. No knees buckling. No tears. No second guessing.

ROTFLMAO.  :)

Image, y’all. Image.

And so there she is, that 8-year-old Japanese girl in Tokyo –- marveling at the manliness of the American whitis malis. Yes. Yes. She marvels. And she probably still marvels when she is 15 and 20 and 35. But that’s another story.

Anyway, can you think of at least one movie in which whitis malis says, “I’m goin’ in”? I’d love to get a list going.

Look at that Whitis Malis Go!

there once was a man who wouldn’t grow old
he never had to listen to what his body told
this old man would forever be hot
perfectly positioned to reclaim the top spot

they gave him a shot
one last chance
to show he is virile
for that one last dance

this man is strong and smart and clever
wrinkles in his brow? no, not ever
say what you please, he needs not youth
fuk what they say, he ain’t long in the tooth

he will be almighty and we will awe at his machismo
fuk what the world say, he only care ‘bout what he know
he knows he is revered, the great white male
he will remain strong and robust and shall always prevail

he is brave, vibrant, a hottie and a stud
I think he shall not shed one drop of blood
he is potent and powerful and never weak
for that fate is reserved only for the meek

he’ll be runnin, jumpin, movin, floatin
the world on his shoulders, he’ll no doubt be totin
this haggard hotness is here to stay
could it really be any other way?

you can tell this man that he is past his prime
and that now it is surely someone else’s time
but he can ignore this
as if a man in his forties

he’s the ever powerful – and he’s goin’ in
he’ll establish honor and righteousness and of course, he’ll win
for he is strong, he is strong of the whitis malis kind
all day long, all day long – he will save mankind

who do I speak about
the one who knows
that 60 is 30
that’s how it goes

 

65-year-old Harrison Ford will star in the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The last installment, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in 1889 1989. 

Hysterical, really. Now a sista can suspend her disbelief but er… uh.

July 13, 1942 – 65 years old; I believe he was 62 during the filming.

I ain’t no poet, y’all. I’m just sayin’.

All things considered, Harrison Ford is still a handsome and fit 60 plus -– complete with a full head of hair, I might add. They say he did his own stunts. Kudos. Of course, 62-year-old men can be strong and athletic and sharp and smart and sexy and all those things. Men over 60 can run marathons, bench press 500 pounds and be in better physical condition than their twenty-year-old brethren. But that is not the point of this poem post.

Image is.

    

You May Also Want To Read:

The Amazing White Woman
White Male Domination - Blood Diamond
Save a White Woman - The Brave One

 

Image Source

The Amazing White Woman

Did you guys see The Italian Job (2003)?

I remember saying to myself, “That Stella Bridger (Charlize Theron) certainly is something special. She’s quite phenomenal.” 

After all, how many people in the world are:

blond-haired beauties…

   who can

drive a car like an expert racecar driver…

   and

crack open industrial safes with expert skill and precision?

I’m just asking.

I may look into this further, but can anybody think of a case of the amazing white woman?

White Male Domination - Blood Diamond

In Blood Diamond (2006) Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) was always the level-headed one in control. White male domination rears its head again in Hollywood cinema. We see this often. Too often.

    

It only makes sense, since these depictions are channeled through the eyes of the white males who dominate the industry. I expect these images will persist as long as this domination does.

    

(Of course, it is up to us to counter these images; but that’s another story; another post.)

   

For example, in the following scenes (discussed in order of occurrence) Archer demonstrates his confident swagger; from the very beginning of the movie. Archer's hubris is often manifest, image-wise, at the expense of black males in the film:

    

• Archer barks instructions to his comrade, the helicopter pilot, Nabil (Jimi Mistry).

 

• Archer sashays, all cool-like – with confidence and a cigarette, as he approaches the compound of Commander Zero (Percy Matsemala). In this sequence, Archer is in a situation of both power and defiance when he seeks to visit with Commander Zero, for the purpose of making a deal -– diamonds for weapons. In this sequence, Archer walks away from a guard –- his back facing the gun-toting, hostile guard who, moments ago, had Archer at gunpoint. When Archer forced his way into the compound to meet Commander Zero, he demanded Commander Zero pay him first for the weapons and when Zero didn’t come up with enough, Archer demanded he proffer up more diamonds. Archer makes threats. And he gets more diamonds. He wins. Winning. He is always in command of himself. Commander Zero, though heavily guarded by armed henchmen, complied and bent to this white man’s will and logical reasoning.

 

• Archer was intercepted at border security, attempting to smuggle diamonds into Liberia. He had the balls to try to bribe the border security. Confidence.

 

• There are the small things. I don’t think these things can be overlooked. There was a scene where Archer and Vandy were under brutal gunfire by the rebel soldiers and were running for their lives. here was an instance in the sequence when Archer says to Vandy, “lie low.” I’m quite certain Vandy’s innate instinct for survival would have led him to know to stay low. This “instruction” directive was unnecessary. But Archer was controlling that sequence. I’m just sayin’.

 

• Then there is the scene when Archer comes up with a brilliant idea. Before the idea was explained, during the scene, Vandy asked Archer, “What do I do?” (again, the small things; Vandy looks to the white man for guidance). The plan was for Archer to pose as a prisoner and Vandy would pretend to be a captor. Archer was planning to murder the RUF guards who blocked their way to the bridge. Well, sure enough, Archer killed the two guards and the third RUF scurried away in terror and was also killed by Archer. Amazed at the brilliance and execution of Archer’s plan Vandy stands there, awestruck.

 

• When Benjamin (Basil Wallace) was shot by the child soldier, Archer drove the car and saved the day and got the black man to safety and medical attention.

 

• The scene when Archer instructs Vandy to pretend to be a cameraman (another brilliant idea from Archer). Amid resistance from Vandy, Archer explains that if he wants to see his child again, he must do this.    

And that ties in with the fact that it is white people (Archer and Mandy), who have the power to reunite Solomon with his family.

    

• Another brilliant idea -- Archer asks Journalist Mandy (Jennifer Connelly) to occupy the guard while he goes into a tent to steal supplies. Specifically, Archer told her to interview the guard, and pretend she wanted his story and photograph for a magazine article. It was a ploy designed to occupy the guard’s attention.

 

• There was a scene when Archer threatened to kill Vandy if he left to get his son.  Archer finally gave in to Vandy’s demand to search for his child, but still mandated that if there was going to be any son-searching, it would be done at nightfall (which actually made sense. Ah... the voice of reason.)

 

• As it turned out, it was Archer who saved Vandy’s son.

 

… blah blah blah. There’s more.

    

These scenes are just a few examples of Archer’s white male domination. Over and over again we see Archer is always in command, never fearful, always in power, always needed, always has the upper hand, always smart, always clever, always crafty. Everything he does is done with confidence and purpose. He even dies on his own terms.

    

Archer was a soldier, previously. This might account for some of his actions. However, whether or not we are to believe Archer’s actions are governed by this fact is not in question here. The purpose of this post is to merely present another example of white male domination in Hollywood cinema. This domination often presents quietly, but it’s there.

 

 

You may also want to read:

 

Djimon Hounsou

Does Djimon Hounsou have a responsibility to stop playing certain roles?

 

Save a White Woman (The Brave One)

In Terrence Howard’s film, The Brave One (2007), this dude (Terrence Howard as Detective Mercer) takes a bullet in the shoulder and a risk to his career for no apparent reason except to save a white woman and grant her wish to kill a man.
    
Let us examine this piece by piece.
    
Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) wants murderous revenge against the men who beat her boyfriend to death.  Understood. Not nice. But her motivation is understood.
    
Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) empathizes with her pain and her desire for revenge. He’s human. There is a place for his empathy. Understood.    

He empathizes with her sooooooooooooooo much that he is willing to:
    
jeopardize his career... and risk serious injury – even death
    
… all to please the white woman.
    
I said…
    
JEOPARDIZE HIS CAREER! He would jeopardize his career in order to permit a woman he barely knows, to commit murder? What if, later, she has a change of heart and wants to reveal to authorities what happened? Why would he entrust this virtual stranger with the strings that his career hangs on? For all he’s worked for, we are to believe he would risk it all merely to satisfy her need to murder? He would do this for her? This would make him an idiot, now wouldn’t it?  This would make him stupid, wouldn’t it? This would make him a man whose judgment is questionable. 
    
RISK SERIOUS INJURY; EVEN DEATH!  When he asked her to shoot him to make the crime scene plausible, she was trembling and shaking like a leaf.  Mercer himself acknowledged earlier in the film that she was not a good shooter.  He deduced, early on, when he examined the grocery store crime scene, that she was a poor shooter since even though she was standing only a few feet from the man she killed; it took three shots for her to kill him. Only one bullet struck the man. So he knows she is not a skilled gunslinger, yet he urges her trembling hand to shoot him anyway.
    
This is preposterous.
    
The notion that this black man would desire to serve this white woman in this fashion and honor her wish to commit murder demonstrates what is often shown of black men on the silver screen…
    
Weakness.  And idiocy.