Meet Norbit: Disgrace to Black Women
 

Hello Sorors,

I just viewed the trailer for Eddie's newest movie because I received a link to an online petition....this is a disgrace. :mad:
Please sign this petition if you are tired of being made a mockery of in the media. http://www.petitiononline.com/Norbit/petition.html

This movie is very coonabalistic. If you'd like to see what it's about, here's the link to the movie. www.meetnorbit.com I wouldn't be surprised if the Asian community weren't ouraged as well. Definately promoting stereotypes.

:) I'm not your soror but I've seen the movie trailer before. The theater died laughing at it.

I can see the stereotypes in this movie. Comedies often play on stereotypes. Did the Jewish community protest Coming to America for the barbershop scene? The "what is it, velvet" dude.

Maybe obese, unattractive and overly aggressive black women who are obsessed with food and a man should feel offended and protest. But as long as Thandie Newton is a black woman who isn't poorly represented in this film, I don't see where black women are being misrepresented. Unless folks are arguing that a substantial segment of the black female population is obese, unattractive, overly aggressive, and obsessed with food and a man. If that's the case then there is serious work to be done and this movie is just a scapegoat.

I haven't seen the trailer, but my concern about the petition is that it is mainly about Eddie Murphy personally. So is the author really concerned about the depiction of Black women, or he is using that as a smoke screen to get at Eddie Murphy?

All I see is a combo of Bowfinger/Nutty Professor/Big Mama's House/The Jerk/Coming To America. Maybe that's just me.

After really thinking about it, I guess it's the same as Little Man, Soul Plane, and White Chicks. Maybe it's not meant to offend people, but to purely entertain. I guess if people are laughing, they don't find anything offensive about it. The truth of the matter is that when there's "controversy", it'll make a lot of money.

I saw the trailer during the previews last week when I saw Dreamgirls. I thought it was funny. I was not offended.

Did black men protest and get offened when Eddie did the Nutty Professor? If they didn't why should we?

I saw the trailer and it pulled laughs from me but I was offended at the same time. I don't know how I feel about it. I mean it is funny but on a deeper level Ithink it is wrong and is not a positive portrayal of black women. Each to his or her own.:cool:

Well it's really hard for it to be about "each to his or her own" when there's a petition and you said it's a negative portrayal of a group of people. :)

I've just seen the trailer and from what I've seen I'm not offended or anything. Maybe if the Norbit's girlfriend was the ONLY type of black woman portrayed in the movie but she isn't. But anyway, I probably won't see this because it just doesn't look interesting.

This controversy is very similiar to that surrouning Tyler Perry's Madea character.

The movie looks like it's going to be hilarious.

Read my "updated" post. I had a little more time to digest my thoughts after thinking about it. Yes, I did laugh at the trailor; it was funny. However, I do have to think about the people who may feel it is offending them. I don't think Eddie purposely made this movie to direspect anyone; he did it to entertain. We have to be careful about the types of stereotypes we're saying "oh, it's okay" to as well.

I saw Eddie on Inside the Actors Studio and he discussed the Norbit character. Personally I didn't take offense maybe because I know a woman who beats her husband. I'll have to check the movie out!

Are you also prettynatural or were you just informing me of your update? :)

But is it comical? Would it be comical for a movie to portray a fat black man beating up his wife?

(I didn't know the character beat her husband in the movie.)

Sorry, I thought you were referring to me, that's why I responded. :D

No, its not just you, soror. This is exactly what I thought. This petition for THIS movie seems out of left field.

I can think of several other movies and artistic works that deserve this type of petition. In fact, I just signed one protesting the exclusion of Black girls from the pantheon of Disney princesses.

It seems like the author of the petition is really more upset that the heavier woman who is the more outrageous character is dark-skinned and the lighter-skinned woman is the woman that is depicted as less outrageous and the heroine, i.e., it seems like he's really more on a light-skin, dark-skin thing than anything about the weight.

I agree that the fact pattern that the darker character is seen as the fool or the negative character and the lighter character is seen as the heroine or smart or otherwise positive is a recurring fact pattern in U.S. movies and film. It has been so since before the days of Aunt Jemima and the rag on her head. Shoot, the Aunt Jemima comes from the slavery ignorance that the closer you look to Master, the better you are. We propagate this ignorance by referring to hair as "good hair" and referring to people who are light as "fair" (which is a synonym with pretty - Cinderella was the fairest of them all). Think about it. "Good hair" is typically hair that bears an influence from another race. So you mean to tell me that when we bear an influence from another race, then we are somehow better or uplifted. Self hate at its best. I don't think that many think of it b/c it is just a term - often used down south. I know college-educated people that use this term. They don't mean any harm but when we propagate terms like this, it hurts our children, it confuses our men, shoot, it confuses our women too.

However, given all that. I think it's a stretch to say that Eddie Murphy is playing out his own personal dislike of dark-skinned AA women. I have never known him to say he dislikes dark-skinned AA women so where are we getting this from? So I think the petition is kinda bogus.

But I think that we should petition networks in general to show AA of *all* shades and sizes. Even BET only really showed light-skinned AA women. We must demand better.

SC

I'd like to sign this petition. Do you know where I can locate it?
SC

Well it would certainly be comical for Murphy to put on "yellow face" just so he could be a light skinned, unattractive, fat, overly aggressive woman. :) Or he could've done away with the fat suit and taken "fat" from the equation. That would've been more PC seeing as though the fatness is a bigger (no p.i.) stereotype to me than the blackness.

He could've gotten a darker actress instead of Thandie Newton if the colorisms are that big of a deal that we may need to incorporate a form of affirmative action. I wonder who auditioned for the role and why Newton was chosen. Maybe shade of blackness wasn't a factor.


I agree. So again, Norbit isn't the culprit. There are social isms that need to be addressed as they are reproduced through media outlets.

I agree.

Petitions don't work if people will continue to patron. This Norbit petition will draw more people to the box office.

I saw Eddie on Inside the Actor's Studio and say a clip and thats what he said about the movie. Domestic abuse is not comical. However I do not agree that starting a petition for a film that no one has seen is a good idea either. At the end of the day people have a choice as to whether they want to see the movie or not.

Indeed. A lot of people never heard of this movie until the petition circulated.

I have seen this petition making its way around. I guess I took exception to it because of the way we are portrayed in movies anyway. I certainly won't be supporting it.

Its on the same petition website at http://www.petitiononline.com/disneybp/petition.html.

I don't see anything particularly new or interesting about Norbit so I doubt I will see the movie. As far a the petition, I read it and I found its argument mediocre at best. As Soror SummerChild stated the petition was more about a light skin vs. dark skin issue.

The petition goes on to say something like the villainous woman is fat and dark skinned and Norbit's savior is thin and light skinned with European features. In most stories unattractive people have always been painted as villains so showing a big bullying woman as an anti-hero doesn't surprise me...you'll see this type of portrayal in white flicks. Also, IMHO Thandie Newton's features are not that European, her skin tone is light but other than that her features are not uncommon for black women (i.e. nose, eye color, etc.).

I'm obviously not signing this petition & Eddie keep making movies...

Three words for everyone: Save. Your. Money.

Really Soror? Wow. I was thinking of going last night but then I just felt like the movie would make fun of heavier women and I just didn't want to be laughing at that anyway. So it seems that it's not that good anyway.
SC

Saw the movie. It was NOT funny. It was pointless but my expectation were not high when I went so I wasn't that disappointed. Ditto to what btb87 said.

I second the motion of saving your money, it was almost like everyone was trying too hard to be funny :(

I have no interest in the movie. It seems that he's taking his career backwards, but I guess that's where his comedic heart is.

I was THIS close to seeing it these evening. But I figured I had my dose of Eddie today when I caught Nutty Professor II on USA. :)

Norbit was mildy funny. I would have kept my money if I knew that all the funny parts were in the previews!

it was hi-fricking-larious!! Eddie is soo talented... some folk will agree and some will find offense, but I liked it, and would get it on DVD

I always thought Eddie Murphy did have color issues myself- it seems like evry movie he's been in has a light-skinned lead, and the dark-skinned women are hoes or crazy (see Coming to America and Boomerang).

This petition soooooo got more people to see this movie then would have ever even noticed it before.

I think I will wait for it to hit Hollywood Video :cool:

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Interesting. Interesting indeed.
So maybe he has issues with himself? :confused:

Wait! Tisha Campbell (pre-Martin/Boomerang) was crazy for hollering and shouting over that fence. :o


Errr, uhh, my mother just emailed that she saw it. According to her, "it provided many laughs." LOL (I'm going to have to keep my eye on her.) ;) :D

Mixed feelings (no biracial puns intended)
 

I was reading a lot of the posts and I wanted to comment. When I saw the trailer I originally thought it was funny, then I was a bit offended, then I had to think about what was so offensive.

*The fat issue: Eddie Murphy is not the first to make fat jokes and will not be the last. I think because it has to do with black women (who are constantly criticized about being fat) that it seems more offensive. This also is NOT the same as the nutty professor character. That character was portrayed as being a sweet person in spite of his size. There are other fat characters that act like buffoons that nobody has a problem with (pretty much every Chris Farley or John Candy character, many Anthony Anderson characters, and Monique's character on The Parkers). Maybe it's because he put on a suit that it seems more offensive. People got up in arms about Shallow Hal, too.

*The skin color issue: Yes, I believe he has a personal preference for light-skinned women. So what? That's his business. This is also not the first time a darker woman was portrayed as stereotypical while the light-skinned woman was the heroine. ('Mo Money with Stacy Dash, Shananay vs. Tisha Cambell on Martin, etc.). Plus, since Eddie himself is dark-skinned, he would have to put in extra effort (and time in makeup) to consciously make his character lighter.

Although I pointed out why people shouldn't be offended, I still was even if it was just a little bit. I guess I wonder if my problem has to do with this movie in particular or the way black women are portrayed in the media in general. This movie just seems to shine a spotlight on problems that are already there.

Although I had no interest, I was forced to see this movie with my husband and brother. It was the worst movie I've seen in at least 5 years. My feelings had very little to do with it being offensive or not. I just didn't find it funny. For Eddie to take a chance at being offensive with the stereotypes presented in this movie just didn't make sense if he wasn't going to make it funnier.

And the proof of it is Nicole Mitchell (biracial), Melanie Brown (biracial) and Tracey Edmonds (fair-skinned AfAm). Eddie's color issues aren't foreign, of course, to the industry. Look at Jigga and Spike Lee, but with lil' Shelton, he doesn't say it -- he casts it (Cynda Williams, Lonette McKee, Raye Dowell etc.)

I agree...I was dragged to see this movie with my bf and his frat brothers and I was super disappointed. I thought that Eddie was trying so hard to be funny that it just turned out downright ridiculous...especially Marlon's character and the pimps. I was constantly rolling my eyes:rolleyes: while others were laughing, I was beginning to think I was just being stuck up.:)