Comments on: American Pimp (1999)

By: Reverend

Reverend — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:15:56 +0000

Shannon,
You are too kind, but the only ravings of the reverend worth there salt, are of the WordPress variety. Admittedly, the Hughes Brothers film is misogynistic in its ow right, and I think there is a certain amount of circumlocution around that point in the post above, that said there are some interesting theories of history put forward by a number of the pimp figures that may very well be the basis of an outlandish historical thesis. And you may even tie it into the quest of blackness and Irishness in the 19th century. You have chosen a great discipline.

By: Reverend

Reverend — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:11:57 +0000

Chip,

A couple of response in regards to many things:

a) Thank you, thank you thank you (play infinite loop here) Like Flannery O’Connor meant to write, “A great CIO is hard to find.”

b) There may be something to this resurrection idea, my dog recently dug up my reverend collar, the fact that I start back the day after Easter raises all kind of strange parallels. There have even been a few reverened sightings on UMW Blogs already.

c) I haven;t seen Putney Swope, in fact I haven;t seen any of Robert Downey’s Sr.’s films, which is a major hole in my viewing given how much I have heard about his films. From your description I immediately think about Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, which makes me Putney Swope may very well make an interesting double bill with this more recent take on Madison Avenue’s understanding of blackness. Thanks for this recommendation, consider it Netflix queued. I imagine we can actually have the discusion about these movies in person sometime very soon

By: Chip

Chip — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:29:40 +0000

Quick digression to previous post — there may be a gravestone about your tenure at UR, but here there is much discussion about resurrection. The close proximity to Easter: a coincidence? I think not.

To this post — I’ve got many movies to see before I can play in your league (as you know), but I’m wondering if you’ve seen one that I have. The discussion of the depiction of race made me think of Robert Downey Sr.’s “Putney Swope.” I haven’t seen it since it came out in 1969, but I remember more about that film than many that I’ve seen since. Certainly it was way over the top, and certainly it is a white man’s vision, but it is at least memorable if not deep. The power comes not so much from the racial satire (although that’s memorable too) but from its juxtaposition with Madison Avenue advertising (requires having some sense of the state-of-the-practice in advertising at the time).

Memorable, of course, doesn’t always imply good, and I’d have to see it again to figure out whether I think there was art there. Instead, I leave the question in your capable hands

By: Shannon

Shannon — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:09:36 +0000

Some of my favorite blog posts that you write are the ones where you analyze movies. Even though I lack the ability to read into movies the way you do (go ahead a say it, “You Philistine!” heh) when you write these posts it makes it easier, for this non film buff, to go deeper into film.
Of course my history major senses started tingling at the idea that prostitution and pimping became condemned once Black people started to make money at it (tax free!). This would certainly be interesting as a thesis paper : )
Rock on Rev.