While some of us were appreciating and laughing at Nicki Minaj's acting debut on SNL, others were displeased to say the least. In today's society Black-American women constantly complain about how badly they are portrayed...so why do they do things like this? The Black Republic posted this reflection on her performance.
Laughing With Us or At Us?
Being the homebody that I am, last night I tuned in to watch NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” with guest host Jesse Eisenberg from ‘The Social Network’ and musical guest Nicki Minaj. I love SNL, but it’s obvious that it has been struggling since the brilliant Tina Fey departed in 2006 as head writer. In any case, I still tune in from time to time if I like the guests and to see if the show has gotten any better.
There was a particular sketch last night that had black folks a bit agitated on Twitter, which I personally thought was worthy of a few laughs. The sketch included newcomer Jay Pharoah and Nicki Minaj in what was a ‘black’ rendition of Frankenstein, titled “Bride of Blackenstein.”
As in the original, Frankenstein (played by Pharoah) creates a bride (played by Minaj) for his newly-created monster (played by Kenan Thompson). As the bride comes to life, Frankenstein’s monster gleefully welcomes his new mate while he (and Frankenstein) marvels at the new bride’s “assets.” As the monster expresses his happiness and plans their future, the bride goes off in a so-called ‘independent, angry black woman’ type of rant. Stating that she has no ring on her finger, the bride retaliates every statement that the monster makes regarding their relationship.
At one point, the villagers of the town burst into Frankenstein’s lab to kill the monsters. However upon seeing the monster’s bride, a (white) male villager begins to ogle at the bride’s voluptuous backside, drawing him to complain about his (white) wife’s rather flat behind.
The skit wasn’t super hilarious, but it was funny. Some folks claimed that it reinforced black stereotypes by emphasizing Minaj’s over-inflated rear end as well as the ‘you-don’t-own-me’ dialogue between the bickering monster and bride. Seriously?? Anyone who’s ever watched SNL will understand that the show’s purpose is to parody, mock, and criticize through humor any and all topics ranging from politics, to race, to pop culture and beyond.
I find it extremely obnoxious that our community can feel free to talk about any other race or culture in its humor (sometimes crossing racism), but will be the first in line to cry afoul of someone not black, making a joke about our people or culture. People need to understand the difference between someone laughing ‘with us,’ rather than ‘at us’ in the realm of comedy. Regardless of whether people thought the skit was funny or not, they need to understand that SNL was laughing with us.
Besides, it’s not as if every single black person is doing a service to the community when they participate in or support programs, artists, shows, media, or any other medium that sets back the community 100 years. Remember “Flavor of Love” or “BET Uncut?” What about artists like Waka Flocka or Gucci Mane. I’m not saying that the community needs to make holier programming, or that everything produced for our audience needs to have a message. What I am saying is that people need to get off their high-horse and understand that sometimes it’s just all in good fun. And that maybe – just maybe – if we stopped continuing to support these so-called ‘stereotypical’ images in our culture, programs like SNL wouldn’t have anything to parody in the first place.
Check out the sketch from last night. What do you think?
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Food for thought. I whole-heartedly agree...
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