Monday, November 9, 2015

THE BRILLIANCE OF DON'T BE A MENACE IN SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD...


Almost 20 years after the release of Don’t Be A Menace I finally saw its true brilliance thanks to a Menace To Society/South Central double feature at The Brooklyn Academy Of Music. Actually, I don’t know if I should thank The Brooklyn Academy Of Music for their somewhat goofy film programming back in August. Don’t get me wrong, BAM is kind of like my second home and I normally love their programming but I was a little displeased at what I saw on the big screen back in august. In an effort to promote some of the recent California-based hip-hop films like Straight Outta Compton & Dope (a movie I still don’t know if I like or not), BAM curated a series of LA-based hip-hop films like Friday, Boyz N The Hood, South Central, Menace To Society, The Glass Shield and a few more. While certain films in the series are exempt from my criticism (Boyz N The Hood & The Glass Shield are still really great and have aged with grace), others, like the aforementioned Menace To Society & South Central don’t get the criticism they deserve (actually, The Glass Shield is relevant now more than ever with all these crazy-ass police out there). But I guess that’s why Kenan Ivory Wayans made Don’t Be A Menace In South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood. Perhaps he was sick & tired of all the stereotypes that some of these films perpetuated and he just wanted to poke fun at them. Don’t get me wrong, I always thought the movie was hilarious. I have fond memories of rewinding this particular scene with my friends at countless sleepovers…


(for reference)

But I never fully realized how hilariously on-point a lot the humor was. I’ve never been a fan of over-analyzing comedy to the point where it becomes unfunny (which seems to happen a lot these days) but the issues that The Wayans Brothers tackle in Don’t Be A Menace are rooted in some very serious subject matter (racism, subconscious self-hatred among black people, the prison system, police corruption, the absence of fathers/father figures, etc). It’s really disheartening when serious issues like that are tainted with bad acting or redundant plotlines like in South Central & Menace To Society. I guess I could give South Central some credit as it kind of centers around a black father that actually gives a damn about his son. But I just cant get past all the bugged-eyed bafoonery…

South Central
South Central

And women are no different. If they aren't crackhead prostitute single mothers (prototypical characters featured in both South Central & Menace), they’re barely seen (Angela Basset’s strong female character is seen only twice in Boyz N The Hood).



Sorry but neither South Central nor Menace To Society have aged well. I know it’s blasphemous to speak ill of these films within certain circles but I think it’s time we come to grips with a few things. Not only is lead actor Tyrin Turner’s acting incredibly awkward (as is the acting in South Central), but if you look in the background during certain scenes you'll see what seems to be an unrealistic amount of 40oz bottles conveniently placed everywhere. I know 40z’s of malt liquor were pushed in certain neighborhoods but I highly doubt every other person in south central stood around drinking malt liquor at 11am (if anyone reading this who came up during this era feels this portrayal is accurate please let me know).
This is something Kenan Ivory Wayans points out in his film…

Screen grabs from Menace To Society...

DONT BE A MENACE...


I’m always hesitant to fall in to that belief system of “this makes black people look bad” or “this set us back a few years” but Jesus Christ…so many of these post-Boyz N The Hood movies recycle the same shit. Each film has the same prototypical characters & basic plotlines, and they even recycle the same actors from one movie to the next. Some of the actors in the Oliver Stone-produced South Central were supporting actors in Boyz N The Hood. Even Forest Whitaker’s directorial debut Strapped (one of the more obscure films within the hood movie genre) practically lifts a scene directly from Menace To Society...




And the famous drive-by scene in Boyz N The Hood is no different. The Hughes brothers practically recreated it at the end of Menace To Society




Then there's the scene where the misguided boy learns how to shoot a gun from his (emotionally stunted) father figure...

South Central
Menace To Society

I wonder if John Singleton knows he’s indirectly responsible for all the sub-par/terrible films that came out during the 90’s just like how Melvin Van Peeples was indirectly responsible for all the post-Gordon Parks blaxploitation films of the mid/late 70’s (The Wayans Brothers also poked fun at that genre in I’m Gonna Get You Sucka). Actually, Kenan Ivory Wayans has almost made it a point to critique every film genre that concerns Black people so I wonder if he’s ever going to address all those shitty Madea Tyler Perry movies.



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