Scha·den·freu·de, Offensive Comedy, Masculinity, & Embarrassing Spectacles of Hollywood Elitism in American Culture
The real problem with what Chris Rock said is that among the immense supply of unsolicited material about their personal lives that Jada has made available at his disposal, and to an unwilling public at large, in which to hone in for comedic material - he selected the one about thing her that anyone with basic decency could sympathize with.
There is an ungodly array of subject matter he could have burned her with, if that was his pergoative, that wouldn't have made him appear to be "punching down". And it did appear personal. Apparently there was some existing tension between them stemming from jokes made at her expense by Rock at a previous award show a few years back. So he should have burned her in another way, if intent on singling her out again, as there were plenty of fair punches that could have been thrown.
There's a big stack of shit of which she has never been taken to task for, particularly as it relates to the circumstances surrounding her affair ("engagement") with a young man, a friend of her son, seeking solace in their home, while he was suffering with on-going family and mental health issues - something that Will Smith would have been burned alive for had he, as a man, done the same. When it involves men, they have all sorts of names for that sort of behavior - all of them synonymous with "predation".
I love comedy, and and I care about few things more so than the right to think and speak freely, and to be unintentionally offensive in the process. I believe in other people's right to be explicitly offensive, to make a point, or simply just to troll as to watch the world burn. In any event, it matters not, as that's the burden of living in a truly free society.
It's been said that the poets are the unofficial legislators of society, and to that end I belive that comedians fill a similar niche but additionally serve as the unofficial guardians of free speech; a concept which is held with a unique sanctity, baked into our constitution as the first inalienable right, in a way that simply does not exist to such a degree anywhere else.
It's no coincidence for how and why stand-up comedy, one of the purest American art forms, came to be - and is now replicated and established in other nations where similar values are tolerated. This should be seen as a source of great pride. Free expression is sacred, and we cannot afford to concede ground on this issue.
This Freedom does not preclude responsibility. So if you're going to make your comedy personal, and offensive, it better be funny. To attempt to successfully pull off a joke about her condition in this situation is effectively an excercise in futility. But hypothetically speaking, for that sort of joke to be widely received as funny, and successful, it better be clever.
It was neither, and as someone who has admired the clever tricksterism of Chris Rock for over twenty years - that sucks to admit. It's disappointing. His composure, and capacity to excercise restraint enough to maintain the trainwreck from veering further off the tracks was as astonishing as it was commendable.
It's worth noting that it's not clear that Chris Rock was aware of her condition specifically, but as a black man we can presume he is aware that generally speaking for black women hair can be a sensitive subject let alone in the way of public criticism. Will Smith seemed to laugh. But clearly she was unamused, understandably, to say the least.
This seems to have triggered Will Smith's reaction off camera which however impulsive and ill-conceived it was would be somewhat understandable, endearing even, if not for the fact that he happens to be married to someone who appears to have very little respect for him. Someone who has gaslighted him publicly and given him every reason to feel every bit as emasculated as he appears to be.
One of the positive aspects most men associate with masculinity, believe it or not there are a number of which, is confidence. The ununspoken but indisputable truth is that most of the men who lash out in destructive or repulsive activities have a lack of self-assurance and an abundance of self-loathing. His impulsive behavior in his biggest moment is not in keeping with that of a man who was feeling comfortable in his own skin.
This display of loyalty was of an act of overcompensation, lacking in masculinity, and one that appears unwarranted and unrequited when squared with the toxic developments about their family she's chosen to make public, which no one wants to know about but can't avoid encountering while online. This much makes such a shameful moment all the more regrettable - one which will forever haunt and hover over what was supposed to be one of his proudest moments.
There is a silver lining, for me at least. In the spirit of full discolure I find the Oscar's, The Met Gala, and all other gatherings celebraring Hollywood elitism to be some of the most insufferable and embarrassing spectacles of modern American culture.
And thus there wouldn't have been any real winners regardless, to my mind. So I don't mind that the Oscar's successfully received all of the attention it so desperately, pathetically hopes to receive every year - oh what a beautiful, embarrassing mess it was.
The one positive takeaway about this poorly executed excercise in offensive comedy was seeing the way it burned said insufferable, embarrassing spectacle of Hollywood elitism in American Culture to the ground. Schadenfreude.
( *Since first posting this the day following the Oscars, clips of a Chris Rock interviewing a woman with alopecia have been making the rounds online. There's fewer things more difficult to assess, and more likely to be misinterpreted, than diagnosing someone's motivations but I apparently he produced an entire documentary on Black Hair in 2009. I stated before that we could presume he understood the potency of an ostensibly mild joke. I was less sure abou saying that it appeared personal but it's hard to square how it couldn't be after learning of this.)
