"If my book you do not read, please do not attempt to make me bleed." That's a short and truthful statement but yet, Im still I'm going in!
First and foremost, this blog is not an attempt to criticize the content of the movie in regards to the plot, the way it was shot cinematographically, the graphic violence or the the depiction of slavery.
Im focusing not only on the elephant in the room ("N" Word) but how that elephant STILL continues to inflict tremendous pain to a great deal of people considering its historical connotation. In addition, I primarily want to focus on the 3 glaring subtexts in the midst of the DJango hoopla: 1. Spike Lee 2. Ramifications of using N-Word 3. Replacing N-Word (the theory, dynamic, connotation) with another group or faction.
NIGGER
Yes, you may have progressed in regards to the usage of the word. Yes, you may have the power to devalue its meaning and not let it define you; but for some people, its a sensitive issue.
Why is it sensitive? Oh I don't know, maybe some black folks were around in the '60s before black opulence was prevalent and recall the German Shepherd attacks, the savage water hosings and merciless beatings all the while having "Nigger" yelled at you.
But the Civil Rights era is just one nefarious example of racism blacks have endured in the Afro-American diaspora. It's a trip because in 2013 it seems cool to distance yourself from any semblance of black pride or integrity if you're black. If you feel insulted, don't say anything because you don't want to be labeled as the militant Black Panther. Just get over it,sit back and assume the position...and be the example as always. Let lessons be learned, pride damaged and lives lost always at our expense. Screw that!
Spike Lee
Refer to the second paragraph of the "Nigger" title and apply it here. That's the sense I got from Spike when he made the comment about respecting his ancestors.
If people in Newtown, Connecticut chose not to go to the local gun show, it would be understood. No one would say "Aw, you have to go in the building and see the guns, or meet the gun dealers before you diss the gun show." No! They don't care about none of that because last month their kids and colleagues were slain by guns. That's where Spike is coming from. The "N Word" is like a gun to his ancestors. A gun that that's been on his ancestors back for hundreds of years, not just last month.
How is that a knock to Quentin Tarantino or the movie? He's not boycotting or imploring folks not to see it. My interpretation was that of homage to his ancestors more so than hate for Tarantino.
I hear a proud black man who is armed with a wealth of knowledge and history of his people and is confident in that knowledge. But the Spike Lee critics hear a jealous and hating director, mad because he didn't make the movie. First of all, the chances of a Spike Lee taking a movie of "D'Jango's" ilk and getting it green lit is little to none and if Spike wanted to criticize or hate on a director/movie, hes done it before. Ask Tyler Perry. (I concur w/ Spike as well, I don't advocate the minstrel show or "shucking and jiving.")
All of the Spike hating, at least to me, falls under the umbrella of my aforementioned statements/theory of contemporary blacks distancing themselves from anything that could connect them as being black proud, conscious or willing to defend your culture. "Oh Im gonna show everybody Im so progressively 2013, Im going to show the world that I dont side with blacks when it comes to mainstream issues, so screw you Spike, you lost! Tarantino makes better movies then you." Knock it off.
Ramifications of N-Word
As I said all along, before the movie even came out, my biggest fear of "D'Jango" would be the ramifications of using if not glamorizing such an explosive word over 180 times.
No, I didnt think it would have a negative instant impact a la the Rodney King trial in '92, which provoked the subsequent riots. My concern that it would be a slow killer, like the silent and undetected cancer cells that Doctors initially miss.
1. When the movie first came out, several people told me they heard whites and non-blacks not only laughed at scenes in the movie that were meant to be funny when using the N-word, but also at times it was used in a berating or serious tone. That's a negative reverberation right there. Small, but still beginning seeds of a neo-racist perception.
2. Say what you say about Katt Williams. Yes he maybe crazy with questionable credibility, but his recent transgression at a shopping store doesn't sound too far-fetched to me. In short, Williams allegedly assaulted an employee for hurling a racial epithet at him. This is where the story sounds too plausible. Katt said 'Katt, why can't I call you a nigger? I hear you say it all the time.' Another negative reverberation.
3. Even before the movie came out, we remember Gwyneth Paltrow catching heat for rapping the lyrics to "Niggas In Paris." People gave her a pass because they said she was just singing the lyrics to a song. Ok, I havent seen the movie, but are you going to be okay when youre at work and your white boss is reciting a racist soliloquy from the movie? Will he get a pass for his "nigger this, nigger that?" recitation b/c Leonardo DiCaprio said it?
Most people don't own the art of discretion and discernment , timing and tact for this to work out. Just don't do it! But Hollywood and Rap is making it hard for the non-whites, I actually feel for them. It's confusing.
FAGGOTT
I am sooooo not homo-phobic, and like my homie reminded me and eloquently said, my "...argument is not that we should use the word 'fag'....it's that we shouldnt be tolerant of the N-word...." Absolutely, but sometimes you have add drawings to your words for people to clearly see your picture.
The only world I could of that is as explosive as the "n-word" was faggott. If everyone is don't trip about "nigger," then lets imagine a movie that was produced based on 2 gaye lovers that were violently separated...then one of the gaye lovers fights the whole town to capture his gaye lover in the end and during the movie, the word "fag" or "faggott" was used 186 times.
Do you think it would be the same reaction? I remember when Eminem said "fag" in a rap song and then Elton John and the rest of gaye nation was on his ass. But it's a problem for some blacks to react that way who are sensitive and intolerant of the 'n-word?!?!' That's not fair, just or equal...And that's why I have a problem.
