| Subject: Re: 'Watermelon Man' Review Spoilers |
Author:
alane
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 19:07:32 03/16/02 Sat
In reply to:
alane
's message, "'Watermelon Man'" on 12:34:36 03/16/02 Sat
For those coming in late and wondering why I'm writing about a 1970 movie about a white bigot who becomes a black man overnight: In "Gone," Xander exclaims to Spike, "Great Godfrey Cambridge" when he catches the vampire macking on Buffy.
Some of us wondered if David Fury might be foreshadowing Spike's future, considering that actor Godrey Cambridge played title character Jeff Gerber in "Watermelon Man."
Today, I had the chance to watch the movie. While the directing style of fast cuts and odd color overlays date it, the story itself is solid.
The basic satrical intent, of course, is to look at bigotry and the state of race relations at a certain point in U.S. history.
There is, however, an underlying story here. It is: What do you do when your life is turned upside down in a Kafkaesque nightmare?
At first, Jeff is in denial. He thinks he got too dark with his tanning light and special tanning lotion. He tries various remedies to lighten his skin and straighten his hair. He goes to the doctor who determines he must have had a black ancestor and the characteristics of that ancestry are just now manifesting themselves.
Having failed to lighten himself, he tries to resume his old life and his old job. His wife ultimately can't take the pressure and leaves with his children. His boss at the life insurance agency wants to use him to lure more black customers. An employee there who never had interest in him when he was white, beds him because she finds the idea of sex with a black man to be exotic. He's nearly arrested a couple of times under what would now be called "racial profiling." His neighbors buy his house from him for more than twice what it's worth just to get him out of the neighborhood.
Finally, he takes control of his life. He moves into a black section of town. Sets up his own insurance agency and becomes immersed in black culture. And the final scene is of Jeff practicing with a group of black men the techniques of fighting back against oppression.
Reportedly Universal studios wanted director Melvin Van Peebles to go with a softer, less controversial ending that would not be as in-your-face to potential white audiences. They wanted it to all be a dream and for Jeff to wake up -- white again, but now enlightened. Van Peebles agreed to film both endings, but he didn't. He only filmed his ending, and that's the one he delivered to the studios.
It was a gutsy move and one that stayed true to his original vision.
So, how do the travails of Jeff relate to those of Spike? If Spike is put to some tests in his travels to Africa and is transformed from a vampire into something else, he needs to embrace the change and make it work for him. The true measure of the man is not what he does when everything is going according to his schedule, but rather in how he reacts when life throws him a wicked curveball.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 