Many leaders in the Black community are livid over MGM’s alleged refusal to discuss the stereotypical imagery in their movie “Soul Plane.”
“The failure of MGM officials to address the legitimate concerns of film patrons about ‘Soul Plane’ is offensive and insulting," Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the National Alliance for Positive Action told eurweb.com .
At a college appearance, filmmaker Spike Lee called the movie an “advanced stage of coonery and buffoonery.”
The critics appear to be split over the analysis of “Soul Plane.” James Hill, staff writer for BET.com, said that the overall lack of range of Black movies should be the larger concern for the community to worry about.
“Fans of ‘Soul Plane’ will defend it by saying it’s just entertainment and that we should learn to laugh at ourselves. Laughing at ourselves is fine, even healthy. Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock are both geniuses at it, but for every joke they make about crack heads or spinning rims, there are 50 more that offer valid comedic insight into our daily lives,” he wrote. “With no Black executive to green light [diverse subject matter], and cookie-cutter comedies like ‘Bringing Down the House’ making big bread, ‘Soul Plane’ may be the best we get for a while, which makes laughing at ourselves seem less a priority.”
AllHipHop.com’s Ill Community was less receptive to “Soul Plane,” which stars rappers Method Man and Snoop Dogg.
Quiet Riot, a member from Galveston, TX, said, “I want to make a sad prediction: this movie will make something within the $15-20 million range over this weekend. I would rather it flop hard so that it teaches them all a lesson.”
Member UmiStillSays said, “When I saw this preview before ‘Spartan’ and ‘Hellboy,’ I wanted to hide my face I was so embarrassed. I can’t believe crap like this still gets greenlighted in Hollywood, and passes for the norm in Black cinema. I bet this buck-dancin, cake-walkin, shoe-shinin’ movie makes more money than ‘Antoine Fisher’ and ‘Bamboozled’ put together.
Nevertheless, others felt that a movie is merely a movie amid all the controversy.
“[‘Soul Plane’] movie looks phat…Snoop really teaches you to relax yourself, in movies and his albums,” said Lyric10, another IC member.
For further discussion on “Soul Plane,” click here!
