WIG REVIEW: BLACKKKLANSMAN
2018 is a giant garbage fire (which has been building daily since, say, November 8, 2016). This summer, two movies have offered us solutions: 1) Run screaming from it into a wine soaked caftan (Mamma Mia Here We Go Again) or 2) Meet it face to face while examining how we got here. BlacKkKlansman offers the latter, and it is brilliant. But what about the wigs? Let’s discuss.
John David Washington (yes, Denzel’s son) plays Ron Stallworth in the true story of how the black undercover detective infiltrated the KKK in Colorado Springs circa 1979.
Stallworth himself has commented that his actual afro was about an inch or more shorter, but Spike Lee knows that the bigger the hair, the closer to god and this wig is GOOD. Like Key & Peele level good (which is the best level, of course). There are no visible seams, the texture and uniformity is right on. Jordan Peele was a producer on this film so clearly he held the wigs to his own high standard.
There was an excellent profile last week in the NY Post (of all places) about the lady wigmaster who brought these lewks to the screen. In it, she discusses wanting to get natural hair aesthetic from the 70s right (as it differs from today) while also varying the different styles of afros. Here, we see Ron’s very tight and circular coiffe compared to Patrice (his Black Student Union love interest’s) more uneven and freeflowing lewk.
The subtle yet telling differences in all the different afros in the film are truly next level art and all these wigs WURQ.
And then there’s David Duke. In wigs as it is in life (especially in this film), white dudes really have to ruin everything. (To be fair, there is also a super racist white lady in this movie but she doesn’t wear a wig). Anyway, I think we can all agree that the #1 racist in this movie (and probably still very high in the running in real life?) is KKK Grand Wizard, David Duke. And much like him, his wig is terrible!
Granted, David Duke in the 70s looks pretty much like Topher Grace in a bad wig (yes, Topher - this is what dating Ivanka gets you). But look at how fluffy and blown out this is! Saturday Night Fever era John Travolta would be so proud (of the hair at least).
Nothing like the greased down, bent and bothered nonsense you see before you. And the part. AND THE PART. If big hair does make you closer to god, I will say that this matted down mess only does its job in that David Duke is incredibly godless (Editor’s note: my use of this quote twice in one review is meant to show my affinity for Steel Magnolias, as Dolly Parton is my god).
I guess I should mention that there are some ok (wigless) white dudes in this movie, including Adam Driver as the dude who has to pose as Ron in person. I usually find Adam Driver to be the person equivalent of Bushwick but this movie made me actually tolerate him. Progress!
Back to Topher, as with most male wigs (which are all usually terrible), the most tellingly bad part is the back. Like most bad male wigs, this thing juts out at the back - the taper is all off! NO THANK YOU. Just look at the meeting of these two wigs. In every single way, good vs. evil.
AND ANOTHER THING: LOOK AT THAT PART AGAIN! NOOOOO. Also why do racists have to ruin everything including capes? GODDAMIT.
In the end, my wig judgment comes down to this: can a film full of fabulous afrotastic lewks trump one very bad man wig on a racist?
The film ends looking back at our recent past - to the terrible Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and its counterprotests; I’m sure it was no coincidence that this film was released almost exactly a year later. This is a very depressing end to an ultimately depressing movie. And yet, this year, the Unite the Right rally had an incredibly low turnout with thousands attending the counterprotests. I cannot help but take that as a small sliver of hope in this continuing garbage fire that is America. And in the same vein, I choose to believe that a film teaming with masterfully executed black wigs DOES trump one sloppy white dude wig.
VERDICT: WURQS