A scene from The Jerk
The Jerk is one of my favorite movies. I noticed in the very beginning, it makes a few comments on race. Although this clip is not the best and doesn’t really show what happens in the beginning, I will try to describe it. This clip however, shows Steve Martin or Navin, a white man dancing on the porch with his black family. Navin was adopted by African American farmers, but is too innocent to realize that he was adopted. Navin is the only white child in the family and very obviously looks out of place. The house they live in is somewhat ratty and not very fancy, possibly suggesting African Americans are often times poor. The family is singing and dancing and acting very stereotypical of African Americans. They are all clapping and stomping their feet. In the beginning of the movie we learn that Steve Martin has no sense of rhythm, like the rest of his African American family. This suggests that all African Americans have rhythm. I really like this movie, but the Hollywood version of African Americans and the stereotypes they use to define them are troubling. I think they were aware of these stereotypes when they were making the movie though. Maybe they are just also commenting on them??
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Good point here. Like you mention at the end of your post, it is interesting to think about authorial or directoral intent. Why does the director call upon (and exagerate!) the stereotypes we are SO familiar with? Do the stereotypes in the movie only serve to further perpetuate and repeat the stereotypes; or does it satirize them and allow viewers to think ciritically about them? I would like to think that viewers watch movies and think critically as they watch and after they leave the theaters. But I would guess that perhaps a lot of viewers are more passive and simply undersand the movie at the funny surface level. These are the kind of awesome questions that can be addressed by critically thinking students who analyze film much in the same way you did! ya!
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