Okay, now that I've seen the movie, I can say that to me, it seems as though the movie is making a statement with the College Barber about how some of us black folk may view the value of an education. Let's look at the facts.....
1. Why is a brother in college and can cut hair, cuttin' heads in 'the hood'? In my profession as a student
, I have attended three different universities or colleges, and I have seen my share of brothers in school who can cut, and they earn enough cuttin' heads in the dorm. Since I've been in grad school, I've had to go to 'the hood' for my cuts because I do not stay on campus, and I still haven't seen no brothers in school cuttin' in the hood. This goes to my second point that...
2. It seems that this character is not integral to the story. It seems as though the character is added for some specific reason. I think to relay a message about the college educated people in our community. Now, true enough that the character is snobbish, but I think the movie tries to tell us that people in our community are trying to achieve that don't necessarily choose to go to college. I don't think the movie is bashing college educated black folks, it's just that do let the education go to your head. The college barber seemed to believe that barbers couldn't possibly be happy with the barber profession, while we know that this isn't the case. I know plenty of barbers who are professional and are very happy with their chosen profession, and besides, I sometimes think that I need a barber more than I need some of my professors
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3. I also thought that exchange between the college barber and the white barber about 'being black' was interesting. The college barber refers to the white barber as a 'reverse minstrel' when actually, he could be looked at as an authentic minstrel, in that he was white putting on 'black face' so to speak by having all the trappings of "hood blackness" (or ghetto blackness = black face). The interesting thing about this exchange is that the rest of the people in the barber shop seemed to identify more with the minstrel than with the black college barber. Question, do we as black people (as a whole) identify more with the 'hood blackness' as opposed to "intellectual blackness" (so to speak)?
Blackwatch!!!!!