"BLACK. WHITE."
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Nicholas Sparks as HIMSELF Renee Sparks as HERSELF Rose Bloomfield as HERSELF Brian Sparks as HIMSELF Carmen Wurgel as HIMSELF Bruno Marcotulli as HIMSELF Not Rated Studio: 20th Century Fox Created by: R.J. Cutler, Ice Cube and Matt Alvarez Back to DVD Review Home |  |
The afternoon before I sat down to pen this review, my wife told me to be careful what I said. She was afraid I was going to come across as a racist.
That’s sad, and it’s entirely true. Our current world of political correctness has deteriorated to such a degree that now people can’t even say what they observe for fear of being labeled a racist.
But I’m not afraid.
The series “Black. White.” aired earlier this year on F/X. It was an interesting social experiment dressed as a reality television show. Two families – one black and the other white – lived in the same house for six weeks. While living together, they underwent make-up transformations to turn them into the opposing race. Their experiences as members of a different race were documented by overt and undercover cameras to reveal the results.
This is not a new experiment, but only recently could be done with such convincing results, mainly because Hollywood effects make-up has progressed to the point that it will fool people close-up. I do, however, remember hearing about these kinds of experiments being tried since the 1960s.
The expected tests of sending the black people out into white society and vice versa were done. However, what was most surprising about this show was the underwhelming results. In general, whether they were black or white, the people were pretty much treated the same. The biggest difference seen were moment where people would open up a little more about what they thought when it came to neighborhood racial compositions.
If anything, “Black. White.” shows that the overt racism this country has had in its past isn’t nearly as common as some might expect – at least in southern California. I do imagine, however, that if they did this experiment in the deep South, there might (but possibly wouldn’t be) different results.
One thing I found shocking was how much the black participants clung to the concept of racism, even when it was rarely found in society. The black family came to the experiment with plenty of preconceived notions of how they would be treated, and it just seemed that the biggest difference was that the father had a little easier time buying shoes at a golf course.
The families were dope all around, to be honest. They all had their faults. The white father was stubborn and abrasive. The white mother was a flighty kook filled with too much white liberal guilt. The white daughter was a insecure teenager longing to be accepted into any group. The black father was a generally decent guy who liked to blame race for everything bad that happened to him. The black son was a kid with a decent life who wished he could be a street punk. And the black woman was a horribly racist, intolerant bitch who actually said she wished for racism to be like it was sixty years ago.
On one level, I hated this show because it approached the experiment with an idea of how things would be, but had to backpedal when the racism never really appeared. On another level, I found this show fascinating because it revealed how far we’ve progressed as a society. Ironically, the most overt, dangerous racism revealed in the show occurred when the white couple, with only the man dressed in his black make-up, visited a poor, black district. Yet, somehow, this black-on-white racism was still blamed on white society.
When all was said and done, the biggest conclusion the show could come up with was that we needed to talk about race in this country, and this is ludicrous. We’re doing nothing but talk about race in this country, and this show proves it.
The DVD comes with audio commentary on all six episodes, original casting videos, a slideshow depicting the racial transformations, a music video from Ice Cube and study guides for teachers who wish to use this show in their classrooms.
The real answer is that we need to put race behind us, and this especially goes for anyone who wants to use racism as an excuse when bad things happen. The only thing holding racial unity back is cultural racism that holds people back, and from what I’ve seen in this show and the real world, that comes more from those claiming to be oppressed.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound. Fullscreen (1.33:1). Spanish subtitles. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
