Soul Trash and Cosby Clash

Soul Trash and Cosby Clash Saw Soul Plane last night and left about half way through, feeling sad. Sad that so many black creative folks felt that working on this ass backwards, pointless film would entertainment people and that they needed the money that bad. Sad that a group of white executives would, along with the Puertoc Rican director and the black executive producer, spend millions of dollars to bring the audience a variety of fart and big dick jokes as nasty as a Luther Campbell 12-inch. Sad that the state of on screen black comedy is now in the hands of rappers like Snoop Dogg and Method Man, who wouldn't know a joke if he was stamped on their forehead. (Meth and Redman even have their own sit-com coming which should be as funny as having your arm twisted by the Rock.) Sad that MGM has told people that Soul Plane is in the tradition of Barbershop, a film with good values and actual ideas, instead of the toliet bowl comedy it is. The only thing that made me happy was that at a 6:45p.m. show at a downtown Manhattan theater that usually draws a solid black audience the room was only about 1/4 full.

Watching Soul Plane made me reflect on Bill Cosby's comments this past week in D.C. At a celebration of the Brown vs Board of Ed Supreme Court decision that struck down separate but equal in public education Cosby did a his version of a Chris Rock comedy routine, blasting poor blacks for bad values and dropping the ball in terms of educating their kids. While its hard, and often unfair making sweeping judgements about groups of people, Cosby's argument that folks need to be held accountable for their condition is compelling. For example if you accept Soul Plane's racid values and decide that it's vision of black humor reflects you, well you are definitely drinking the cool aid. The hip hop generation (and its marketeers) try to shrug off accusations that its cultural products play into ancient stereotypes and that any criticism is just "old school" thinking. But images have an impact. Why else would you make videos unless you were sending a message of some kind about coolness, money, sexuality, etc?

Cosby's jokes about underclass black values and Soul Plane's piss poor attempts at humor highlight a disconnect and debate about the use (and misuse) of the black body that is intensifying as blacks creative types have taken more control of creating their media images. Cosby, through his gift giving, comedy albums and The Cosby Show, has waged a long, noble and effective campaign for nuanced views of black reality. The makers of Soul Plane, whether they wanna hide under the banner of "its-just-entertainment" or not, are making a very different statement. This film isn't the black Airplane it should be. It is a reflection of the contempt many creative types -- white, black Latino, whatever -- have for the audience. What's a joke without a punch line? A string of bad sentences. Soul Plane is the longest bad sentence I've heard in a long time.