Shonda Rhimes and that NYT TV Critic
This tone deaf, ignorant and, racist review of Shonda Rhimes's shows came out shortly before I went on stage for my encore for Magical Negro Speaks and struck a nerve with me. For those not caught up on what went on I'm a fan of this recap of the article and this reaction to NY Times TV Critic, Alessandra Stanley's "apology". In brief though the tv critic suggests that character in the show that Shonda Rhimes's produces is
a) autobiographical (nevermind the show was written by a white man) and b) a two dimensional stereotype of black women (The angry black woman).
This all struck a nerve for me because part of the reason of doing Magical Negro Speaks is the nagging feeling that when black people are continually portrayed as two dimensional like the Magic Negro, people start to think of black people as two dimensional. Here was an example of a professional woman - the most powerful black person producing television - in a job where she is responsible for creating multifaceted characters - being profiled as two dimensional stereotype herself. It is difficult to put in words how crazy this is... If you can be black and your job is to create three dimensional characters and people can still be profile you as two dimensional in a reputable newspaper that - supposedly multiple editors reviewed - what does that mean for black people who's jobs aren't so lucky to exemplify being three dimensional....
There's also some other choice racially loaded commentary in the review - the best in my opinion is the allusion that certain black actresses are not classically beautiful...
Alessandra Stanley you need yourself a magic negro editor!
