Queen Latifah's 'Bringing Down The House' Sparks Debate

03/10/2003 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Anna Maria Gibson

(3/10/03, 7 a.m. ET) -- Oscar nominee Queen Latifah's new movie, Bringing Down The House, is raising questions about whether poking fun at racial stereotypes in films is acceptable. The comedy co-starring Steve Martin is an example of movies that actually "bring down the black community," according to a North Carolina minister.

Reverend Paul Scott, who's previously criticized the influence of rapper Eminem and Black Entertainment Television (BET), said the movie promotes the idea that to be successful and intelligent is to act white, and to be black means to be ignorant. Scott also took issue with Latifah donning a maid's uniform in the film, saying, "Queen Latifah playing a mammy for the black community is like John Wayne playing Ozzy Osbourne's grandfather."

Film critic Tim Gordon also criticized the scene in which Latifah pretends to be a maid. "One scene in the film has Queen Latifah dressed up as a maid serving Steve Martin because she's supposed to be the nanny, and they have a houseguest there who is telling Steve Martin the experience that she had as a child growing up where they had a butler in the house and the butler would sing Negro spirituals," said the publisher of reelimagesmagazine.com. "Now, the Negro spirituals she sings to act this out is, 'Is Massy gonna sell me tonight? Am I going to be sold?' Now, to me, that's not funny. To me, as an African-American, that's offensive."

Gordon also said it's not cool to have the film's characters uttering racist lines just because it's a comedy, but African-American filmmaker Courtney O. Bennett argued that the film is good therapy for a nation still struggling with race relations, and that he wasn't offended by seeing Latifah wearing a maid's outfit. The founder of island-vision.com was one of the first to catch the movie when it opened on Friday (March 7). And, Bennett, who directed the equally outrageous Bar-Talk film, provided an account of the positive reaction of the many moviegoers who lined up to see the movie.

Bennett said black and whites in the audience seemed to love the film, on which Latifah served as an executive producer. "It's a comedy--you can't help but laugh," Bennett said. "Everyone was having a great laugh--black people, white people--and, I mean, I actually heard people say, 'It's a great movie.'"

-- Anna Maria Gibson, New York

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