Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Debrief | "Do The Right Thing" ... Perception

"They aren't black... they're more than black" -

In a scene from Do The Right Thing, Mookie gets into a dispute with Pino about what "black is". Pino seems to hold celebrities, athletes, and other prominent figures on a "higher" regard, as opposed to the African American's that live in their neighborhood.

Social media plays a huge role in the way people express their opinions, from what I've seen often times black women are demeaned by members of their own ethnic group for their attempts to change their physical appearance in a manner that is seen as "white" such as certain hairstyles and colors, makeup trends, choice of dress, etc.
Personally I find this to be contradicting when I see celebrities from the black community put on a pedestal when they themselves take part in these actions.

An example,

In May of 2015, Giuliana Rancic (E! News Fashion Police) stated on national tv, that Zendaya's choice of wearing dreads on the red carpet made her look "too boho...like she smells like patchouli oil. Or weed." My point? She was publicly embarrassed for embracing something that is natural.


While on the other hand, Beyonce has become a prominent figure in the media (for all ethnicities). While she is the poster child for many brands, she is clearly highly edited... my point? No one says anything about that.


Clearly general (societal) perception has not changed since the making of this movie, but now the question emerges how can this perception change if it hasn't changed within the (African American) community?

* I got the inspiration to put the scene from the movie together with my personal opinions when I stumbled upon multiple comments on Facebook by African American women stating,
"Beyonce is winning at the white girl game."

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