The American Society of Magical Negroes Review

[00:00:00] What's up fam?

[00:00:18] It's Chappelle back again for another episode of Recap Kickback, the podcast where I talk

[00:00:23] about whatever I want to talk about with all the people who I want to talk about it with

[00:00:27] and with me per usual to talk about yet another one of these movies to review another TV show

[00:00:33] or another entertainment property.

[00:00:36] My girl, my tag team partner, Mari Forth.

[00:00:39] Mari, what's up?

[00:00:41] We're back.

[00:00:42] The doors are open to the kickback.

[00:00:44] The discussions will be had.

[00:00:47] So excited to be here every week.

[00:00:48] So excited to be here.

[00:00:51] And I just love doing these like we I love doing these controversial, you know, properties

[00:00:59] and shows and movies.

[00:01:01] This is this might be our bag, you know, I really like the discussion aspects of stuff

[00:01:08] that Black Twitter can't agree on.

[00:01:10] You know, yeah, yeah.

[00:01:13] I agree.

[00:01:14] I think that we have really made a habit of tackling topics that really, I guess,

[00:01:20] kind of force you to talk about and see and look at things from different angles, right?

[00:01:26] So in the past, Mari, you and I have talked about we just finished talking about Good

[00:01:31] Times Black Again, a show that in a movie or television show on Netflix that has not

[00:01:35] been received by the public as something that is positive, right?

[00:01:40] And we were able to sit down with Tyrone and we really talked it through.

[00:01:42] We did find that there was some good and some bad and some other in between,

[00:01:45] you know, and your mileage may vary, but we did talk about the point of view

[00:01:49] that that that show had given us.

[00:01:51] And I think even if you all are listening to this, if you want to go check

[00:01:54] out the comments, I think some people involved in the show have found our review

[00:01:58] and have had some positive things to say about it as well.

[00:02:01] They didn't agree with all our assessments because we were very honest

[00:02:04] about how we felt about it.

[00:02:06] But at the same time, they did agree with, you know, some of the direction

[00:02:09] we thought they were going and they even have encouraged us to keep doing

[00:02:12] stuff like this. So that makes total sense.

[00:02:15] But in the past, we've talked about shows that had a lot of commentary

[00:02:19] to them as well, specifically, for instance, Atlanta.

[00:02:23] Atlanta was a show we really dove into headfirst and talked about the social

[00:02:27] aspects of it, the societal issues that are in Atlanta, but also the comedy

[00:02:32] and these iconic black cast in these very funny moments.

[00:02:35] And so that brings us to today.

[00:02:38] Atom, we will talk about another another movie that is riddled

[00:02:43] with some social commentary and with us to do that.

[00:02:47] One of the people who helped us kick off this whole little partnership

[00:02:50] in the first place from when we were talking about Atlanta, but from all

[00:02:54] of the other podcasts and we've done, we had to reach back and get our third

[00:02:59] musketeer, Latanya Starrs.

[00:03:00] Latanya, welcome back.

[00:03:02] And though good to be back and to be back so quickly.

[00:03:06] I am honestly just trying not to take it personally that you asked me

[00:03:10] to come back here to talk about this.

[00:03:13] But Latanya, I've been messaging you for a month.

[00:03:16] We got to talk about Magical Niggas when he come out.

[00:03:19] That's very true, which is the better title for it.

[00:03:28] I'm really glad to be back here with the two of you.

[00:03:32] I cannot think of anybody else that I would like to talk to more about this

[00:03:38] movie because we had to watch it.

[00:03:41] Honestly, I couldn't think of two people I'd rather be talking to.

[00:03:45] Well, we're in luck because the team is back together and we do have a movie,

[00:03:50] a very controversial movie, as Mariah called it, the American Society of Magical

[00:03:54] Negroes were reviewing this movie today and talking about perhaps why it was

[00:04:00] taken from movie theaters, why it is no longer being shown.

[00:04:03] Yeah, very quickly.

[00:04:05] I believe the movie had been out roughly a month and a half before people pulled

[00:04:09] the plug on it. And for what I can tell, a lot of people were not watching it.

[00:04:12] And so we watched it so you don't have to.

[00:04:16] We have a lot to talk about first and foremost, please again, thank you all for

[00:04:21] listening. Thank you all for your review, for your comments.

[00:04:24] We really appreciate everybody who shares the podcast, who lets everybody know

[00:04:27] about these conversations.

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[00:04:43] appreciative or listening or not appreciative, whatever, but five star reviews only.

[00:04:48] OK, because we want to get more people to find the podcast so we can get more

[00:04:51] feedback, Mari.

[00:04:54] Yeah, and Facebook group.

[00:04:55] Did you play the Facebook group?

[00:04:57] I didn't play the Facebook group.

[00:04:59] Recapkeekbeck.com slash Facebook or Facebook community.

[00:05:02] We're at Recapkeek back on all other social media platforms.

[00:05:05] YouTube dot com slash at recapkeekbeck as well will lead you to our society of

[00:05:12] magical Negroes.

[00:05:17] And other people and other folks too.

[00:05:20] It's not exactly the cookout because everybody's welcome, but

[00:05:24] it's like Cookout Adjacent is the cookout where you know the one they

[00:05:27] want to keep inviting everybody to this is essentially that, you know,

[00:05:30] it's going to be it for everybody to get a play.

[00:05:33] I think that's how that's how it's going to work.

[00:05:35] We all invited to the kickback, especially when it comes to talking about stuff like

[00:05:40] this. So, Mari, yes, the American society of magical Negroes.

[00:05:44] I remember when the trailer dropped for this one.

[00:05:47] We talked about how it was when the Good Times trailer dropped.

[00:05:50] Very similar energy, Mari.

[00:05:52] Very, very that.

[00:05:54] I honestly would probably sue if I was if I made this product,

[00:05:59] I would sue whoever made that trailer because that trailer was grossly

[00:06:04] misleading and not in a good way.

[00:06:06] You know what I'm saying?

[00:06:06] Like if you're supposed to have a grossly misleading trailer, it's supposed

[00:06:10] to be positive.

[00:06:12] It's supposed to get more people into the into the seats.

[00:06:16] Like we see that with like action movies all the time and stuff like that

[00:06:18] are comedies where they show all the best jokes in the trailer.

[00:06:21] Like this did the exact opposite.

[00:06:24] Not only did they make it seem like a like a smushy rom-com,

[00:06:30] but they definitely didn't get the satire cross.

[00:06:34] Now, is that the trailer's fault for the satire part?

[00:06:39] I don't know because for me, the satire wasn't strong enough in the movie itself.

[00:06:44] So maybe it was hard to get it in the trailer.

[00:06:47] But the trailer making it seem like a rom-com was stupid, absolutely stupid.

[00:06:53] I mean, wow, that was bad.

[00:06:55] Like and even me who was like, OK, you know, this trailer is not good,

[00:07:02] but I am going to give it a try and eventually give it a chance and see what I thought.

[00:07:07] I overall thought the movie wasn't bad in comparison to what I thought.

[00:07:13] So it but it's like the bars again in hell.

[00:07:16] So yeah, I can't wait to really, really talk about it because

[00:07:22] honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

[00:07:25] And that's that trailer's fault.

[00:07:27] Mm hmm.

[00:07:28] LaTanya, I kind of felt the same exact way

[00:07:31] Marry felt about this trailer when it came to the Good Times television show.

[00:07:35] Now, I don't think you've watched it yet, but the trailer was very much like

[00:07:39] here's what the show is and it was, you know, drug dealing baby and a bunch

[00:07:44] of poor people talking roaches and all that stuff.

[00:07:47] And you missed the idea that this is satire.

[00:07:49] But LaTanya in this trailer, I agree with Marry.

[00:07:52] I definitely did not realize in just the trailer that it was a sad time because

[00:07:56] I thought this was a movie about a biracial young black man dating a white woman

[00:08:01] and using his magical powers to make sure that she was happy.

[00:08:03] That was me.

[00:08:04] Yeah, I too.

[00:08:09] But I did also think

[00:08:12] because of the David Allen Greer of it all in the trailer that there was

[00:08:15] supposed to be some type of deeper mythology to this as well.

[00:08:19] Just because of the title.

[00:08:23] And and that kind of led me to OK, maybe this is a sad

[00:08:27] tire, but I just already knew that it wasn't going to work for me.

[00:08:32] But it just like everything about it felt earnest, but also very flat.

[00:08:40] Yes. Yes.

[00:08:41] Like it felt like I have some questions like I know like who's whose idea was

[00:08:48] this and who did you tell about it?

[00:08:54] What was your friend's idea?

[00:08:56] This was this was the screenwriter.

[00:09:01] It was it was written and directed by Kobe Libby.

[00:09:05] Libby, I don't know if I'm saying that correctly.

[00:09:09] I think this person has four credits to their name.

[00:09:13] Yeah, the comedian writer from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

[00:09:16] Yes, that is Kobe.

[00:09:18] Madam Secretary.

[00:09:21] Interesting.

[00:09:22] So, yes, that person is the person who wrote it and directed.

[00:09:29] I have.

[00:09:30] Yes, I like if we're comparing this with good times, good times took the

[00:09:35] satire like so far like it kind of pulled like a boondocks cartman from South

[00:09:41] Park where the satire was so satirey that if you could take it wrong,

[00:09:46] you know what I'm saying?

[00:09:47] Yeah.

[00:09:48] I'm sure. Yes, absurd.

[00:09:51] Exactly. American side of magical

[00:09:53] Negroes did not take the satire enough like Latanya said, there are parts that

[00:09:58] came off earnest, so it's like you so you're earnestly telling me I need to

[00:10:04] live my life to make sure that white people don't get frustrated.

[00:10:08] You know, it just wasn't enough and

[00:10:11] it's kind of annoying because I feel like there were some parts in there

[00:10:15] that I was like, see, this is the this is the level of satire you should be at

[00:10:20] in this whole throughout this whole entire movie.

[00:10:24] Um,

[00:10:26] and I don't know if you want to get into that right now or whatever.

[00:10:29] Yeah, I'm trying to hold back.

[00:10:31] No, no, no, no, let's continue our setup.

[00:10:33] We'll have plenty of time to talk about, you know, some things that we

[00:10:36] would have done differently, but start with the title of the movie

[00:10:39] American Society of Magical Negroes.

[00:10:41] So the movie opens up with a title card that says exactly what the magical

[00:10:45] Negro is. It's a trope in American cinema and literature as well, where basically

[00:10:50] your main white character or your white

[00:10:52] protagonist has a magical Negro sidekick who shows in, has mystical powers,

[00:10:56] has insight into stuff, has a lot of parables and catchy phrases that helps

[00:11:03] the white man or the white character then go on to do great things.

[00:11:07] And they look back fondly at the magical Negro.

[00:11:10] Now, of course, they use the word Negro to imply that it's a magical black

[00:11:14] character who's more like a Sambo type, you know, that kind of racist stereotype,

[00:11:19] noble, savage type situation where it's like, oh,

[00:11:23] he's got a good heart despite him being a little rough around the edges.

[00:11:26] You know, that kind of thing.

[00:11:27] Oh, you would never see that type of magic coming from this individual because

[00:11:32] oh, they are magical black Negro.

[00:11:34] That one, you know, a good example is the Green Myelin.

[00:11:38] Yeah, I'm sorry.

[00:11:38] I don't mean to interrupt you, but also because the trope is very old as well.

[00:11:42] Yes, very old.

[00:11:43] This is good going on for.

[00:11:44] Huckleberry ages.

[00:11:46] Yes, Huckleberry Finn.

[00:11:48] Like I said, the green of the South territory, like, yes, from Gone with the Wind.

[00:11:53] Like, yeah, like it's so old that we've moved past it in so many different ways

[00:12:02] that it almost questions credulity as to why you would make this the center

[00:12:08] of your movie.

[00:12:10] Yes.

[00:12:11] Yes.

[00:12:11] So yeah, Calling it the American Society of Magical Negroes is a problem for a lot

[00:12:15] of the people who probably did not watch this movie.

[00:12:18] And I think just hearing it and then seeing the trailer really might make you feel

[00:12:23] like, OK, I'm confused as to what exactly is happening because when I heard

[00:12:28] American Society of Magical Negroes, I thought, OK, the title seems a little

[00:12:32] dated, but as black people, we do do that sometimes.

[00:12:36] You know, we'll have the National Association for the Advancement of

[00:12:39] Colored People, right?

[00:12:40] Still in 2024.

[00:12:41] You know, so I was like, OK, I hear what you're saying.

[00:12:44] But my mind, Latanya, went to, oh, this is going to be like a black Harry Potter

[00:12:48] situation, right? Well, we got our society.

[00:12:51] We got magic black folk.

[00:12:53] This is going to be cool.

[00:12:54] But then to get presented with, but all your power needs to be presented

[00:12:58] to white people to make them feel uncomfortable.

[00:13:01] I'm like, that's not what I signed up for.

[00:13:02] That's not what I asked for when I said I want black magic.

[00:13:05] One of the key things that sticks out to me from this movie is this quote,

[00:13:10] which happens early on in the movie.

[00:13:12] I don't blame white people.

[00:13:14] I blame their discomfort.

[00:13:18] And this happens after like a conversation wherein one of the characters

[00:13:24] is about to get jumped because it's believed that they like, I think stole

[00:13:29] a white woman's purse.

[00:13:31] Yeah.

[00:13:32] And and you're just kind of like.

[00:13:36] What are you talking about, though?

[00:13:38] Yeah.

[00:13:39] Like, what do you mean?

[00:13:41] Like I don't blame white people.

[00:13:42] I blame their discomfort to the point where there is an entire society

[00:13:48] that goes back to Monticello, which invoking that is a choice.

[00:13:56] Choices.

[00:13:57] I was gritting my teeth like this.

[00:14:02] I think for you to just be like, you know, your sole purpose on this earth

[00:14:08] will be the comfortability of white people and you will enjoy it.

[00:14:12] Because if you don't enjoy it, then the thing that makes black people special

[00:14:17] will go away.

[00:14:19] Yeah, yeah. Very weird.

[00:14:22] So two things.

[00:14:24] One, seeing that seeing that name did not make me think black Harry Potter.

[00:14:28] I don't know why y'all thought that.

[00:14:30] No, I think when they saw it and they heard it was coming,

[00:14:33] they thought black Harry Potter.

[00:14:35] I don't know how we got so offended.

[00:14:37] Yeah, I think we were hoping Marry Dang.

[00:14:39] OK, well, I don't know because I didn't trust it.

[00:14:43] It did make me think like, you know how they,

[00:14:46] you know how they said like they started off with the definition of magical negro.

[00:14:53] That made me think like.

[00:14:56] I did people not know that because I we are here immersed in media.

[00:15:03] We are like we we consume a lot of media.

[00:15:08] I am married to somebody who literally went to school for film.

[00:15:12] So the concept of the magical negro in movies and television has been

[00:15:18] something known to me for years on it.

[00:15:21] So I'm wondering if.

[00:15:24] You know, there there has to be an audience that did not know that,

[00:15:29] which is why they had to put that that definition in the beginning,

[00:15:34] which I think is is appreciative.

[00:15:37] But you when you don't.

[00:15:40] But if you don't push the satire enough, it just does not.

[00:15:44] It just comes off earnest.

[00:15:45] Like we said, like invoking Monticello with no wink and a nod.

[00:15:50] You know what I'm saying?

[00:15:51] Like invoking all of all of this stuff without like without.

[00:15:59] It being it being for fun, it was just that that was what really graded on me a lot.

[00:16:05] It was just like especially when let me let me say the there the moment

[00:16:10] that I thought was very satirical is when he first goes to like one

[00:16:16] of the the lessons and they're showing old they're showing the holograms of back

[00:16:22] in this time period, this guy did this.

[00:16:25] And the first scene is so stupid and again comes off so earnest where the guys

[00:16:30] like basically giving this white guy a pep talk to do to do billiards and pull.

[00:16:35] I was like, what is it?

[00:16:36] Like, what is the scene?

[00:16:37] There was nothing funny in that scene, right?

[00:16:40] And then the next one they're invoking

[00:16:42] the hologram of a green mile esque

[00:16:47] part where there's a big black man who is literally about to get like taken to his

[00:16:52] death and he's sitting here comforting the prison guard who's taking him to his

[00:16:58] death and then in the middle of talking to the prison guard, he grabs his crotch.

[00:17:03] You know what I'm saying?

[00:17:04] Like that was funny.

[00:17:07] That show me it was like, you know, it's base love or humor.

[00:17:10] But I was like, I get it.

[00:17:11] Like this is what we're saying was overly satirical.

[00:17:15] You know what I'm saying?

[00:17:16] Like, like we have to we have to like he he he magically touched his crotch to

[00:17:21] make him feel better.

[00:17:23] You know what I'm saying?

[00:17:24] Like that is the type of like over the top satire that I think they should

[00:17:29] have had throughout the movie.

[00:17:33] It was too much of it just came off way too serious.

[00:17:38] Like especially a lot of the interactions with the main

[00:17:44] the main character and David Allen, Allen Greer's character.

[00:17:47] I didn't know if you want to run out of character, Chappelle.

[00:17:50] Yeah, I do want to speak to what you just said too.

[00:17:53] I think that you're right about how there are so many moments in this of them

[00:17:58] that I think were so real, like so realistic that it wasn't funny because

[00:18:03] it's not yes.

[00:18:04] You know what I'm saying?

[00:18:05] Like the idea that white people being uncomfortable is dangerous to black

[00:18:09] people, that is a fact.

[00:18:11] But also it's not funny.

[00:18:12] You know what I'm saying?

[00:18:13] It's not funny.

[00:18:14] Yes, it's not funny.

[00:18:17] It is also funny.

[00:18:19] Why is it that black men uniquely have the magic to make white men feel

[00:18:26] better about their penises?

[00:18:28] Like what are you thinking about?

[00:18:29] I think he made one guy fertile.

[00:18:31] I think he actually was trying to make one guy fertile.

[00:18:33] Yeah, that's the first crotch grab.

[00:18:36] I don't remember what the what the what the yeah.

[00:18:41] But the second one, the guy was like, yeah, I don't know.

[00:18:43] I'm going home to the misses and I'm I don't know.

[00:18:45] He was like, I got you, baby.

[00:18:47] And then he hit him with the crotch grab and the magic

[00:18:50] were off right around the same time.

[00:18:51] So he was just holding a handful of white men.

[00:18:54] That was kind of funny.

[00:18:56] Yeah, keep going.

[00:18:58] Lucy, that's what you're talking about though.

[00:18:59] It's not realistic for me to grab a man's crotch to make him feel

[00:19:03] better about whatever.

[00:19:04] But the idea that I have to be silent or to keep all of my my feelings to the side

[00:19:10] or to move out of people's way when they're walking on the same sidewalk

[00:19:13] I'm walking on to hold the door for 13 people as they come through the door.

[00:19:16] All that stuff is real because it happens every day.

[00:19:20] And so, you know, you're really playing with a thin line between

[00:19:23] are you just telling a story or is it supposed to be a funny story?

[00:19:25] Or is this supposed to be absurd?

[00:19:26] Because there are parts of it that are absurd.

[00:19:28] They're part of them that funny.

[00:19:29] And then this is part that is just facts.

[00:19:32] This is just how it is.

[00:19:33] It is just us living life.

[00:19:35] And so I think, yeah, if they lean more into the funniness, even in those moments

[00:19:39] like you talked about that first magical Negro we get to witness,

[00:19:42] he's talking about she's teaching his his white homie to shoot pool,

[00:19:46] you know, way back in the day.

[00:19:48] This guy is known for billions.

[00:19:49] He's like, all right, Mr.

[00:19:50] Beauregard, let me show you something.

[00:19:52] He shows that my granny once told me that the man got the grip on his

[00:19:55] pool stick and don't have a grip on life.

[00:19:57] Oh, OK, you know, and that was kind of just like that was the punch line.

[00:20:04] I was like, is it because that's just some normal stuff?

[00:20:08] You know, like, people try to make other people feel comfortable by giving

[00:20:12] them black words of wisdom from the past from our black elders and stuff like

[00:20:16] bro, we've been doing that.

[00:20:18] OK, yeah, that's not funny.

[00:20:20] It's not.

[00:20:22] I'm not the things that haven't landed with you.

[00:20:24] Though, Mari is kind of the point.

[00:20:26] Like exactly, exactly like I didn't get it.

[00:20:30] I was like, I don't have to explain jokes.

[00:20:33] Yeah.

[00:20:34] And if you do have to explain jokes, then you have joked incorrectly

[00:20:39] and you should probably stop trying to joke from here on out.

[00:20:42] Right.

[00:20:43] Like, did you get it?

[00:20:44] It's a punch line on duct tape, you know, and this is just the setup.

[00:20:48] Like so I was I was really like taking a back at how like

[00:20:54] not funny as it was when it was supposed to be, which I found it.

[00:20:58] It was supposed to be funny.

[00:21:01] And some of the scenarios were just way too long.

[00:21:05] Well, you know, still talking about the first scenario where like,

[00:21:09] like the setup to the scenario was kind of funny because he just sitting

[00:21:13] out the ATM, this drunk white girl comes up to him and is like, hey,

[00:21:16] can you help me?

[00:21:17] And he's like, sure.

[00:21:19] And she's like, well, here's my card and here's my pen.

[00:21:22] He's like, do not give me your pen.

[00:21:23] And then she like, here, hold my purse.

[00:21:26] And it's like, OK, this is like, ah, this kind of funny situation.

[00:21:30] But then when she turns and tells these two white dudes, like, hey,

[00:21:34] like I need help and they're like, oh, he's trying to steal her purse.

[00:21:38] Like that wasn't funny because like clearly he's scared that he's about

[00:21:44] to get beat up. He's two seconds away from getting beat up.

[00:21:46] And then this is where we get introduced to David Allen Greer.

[00:21:50] I was also sitting here like, was this a setup?

[00:21:54] Because where did those people come from?

[00:21:57] You know, I thought it was like a scenario like a teachable moment.

[00:22:02] Yes. Yes.

[00:22:03] Like a training scenario as well.

[00:22:06] I think it was David Allen Greer's character, Roger sees him at the art

[00:22:11] gallery because our main character, Aaron is a sculptor.

[00:22:15] He makes yarn art and very quickly it's clear that Aaron is uncomfortable

[00:22:20] around white people.

[00:22:22] He's not able to move in those spaces.

[00:22:24] He's, you know, navigating them in a way that is guarded, you know,

[00:22:28] and that instead of trying to make them feel comfortable, he is like I

[00:22:30] almost cowering from them.

[00:22:32] And there's even a moment where he's supposed to talk to a man who wants

[00:22:35] to buy his sculpture, his sculpture.

[00:22:37] And he can't even bring himself to say the words because the man

[00:22:40] hold passes him a drink and says, Hey, could you go give me a drink?

[00:22:43] And rather than saying, No, I'm the artist.

[00:22:44] I need you to buy this.

[00:22:46] He said, OK, you know, and he goes and buys the drink.

[00:22:48] And so I think that that alerts David Allen Greer's character, Roger,

[00:22:51] to say, All right, maybe this is somebody I need to take under my wing

[00:22:54] and introduce them to the American Society of Magical Negroes.

[00:22:58] And that is really where we get started.

[00:23:00] Now our main character, Justice Smith plays Aaron.

[00:23:05] Are you familiar with Justice Smith from other stuff?

[00:23:07] Yes.

[00:23:08] Books from the get down.

[00:23:12] The get down. Love to meet you now.

[00:23:15] I actually really like the Dungeons and Dragons.

[00:23:18] Yeah, yeah.

[00:23:22] He was in Amazing.

[00:23:25] I'm sorry, I'm just trying to look for it.

[00:23:29] Go ahead. He was in

[00:23:32] well, explain.

[00:23:34] He's called Boyers as well.

[00:23:36] Oh, yeah.

[00:23:38] I was on Prime.

[00:23:39] I really enjoyed him in Detective Joe.

[00:23:44] Yes, I haven't seen that, but I know that you were.

[00:23:47] Oh, I'm going to have to make JJ wash that.

[00:23:50] That was good.

[00:23:51] You love that.

[00:23:53] Well, look, yeah, Aaron is our our protagonist in this.

[00:23:58] And he is by racial.

[00:23:59] He got a white mama and they made it out.

[00:24:03] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:04] And nobody was shocked in his role in this in this film.

[00:24:08] You know, not to pick poke fun at Kobe Libby, our director and writer,

[00:24:14] but he also is by racial.

[00:24:15] And so I wonder if maybe it's like a cultural thing that, you know,

[00:24:19] because they talk about one of the other characters being a mixed ethnicity

[00:24:23] that maybe that shapes the way that they navigate the world as well.

[00:24:27] Because, you know,

[00:24:30] exactly. And I think that that might also add a layer of context to, you know,

[00:24:34] the story that we're being presented and the actor chosen to present it.

[00:24:37] Mari, what did you think about Justice Smith as Aaron in this role?

[00:24:41] I think Justin Smith did a great job for what he was given.

[00:24:44] He I like him as an actor after seeing the director.

[00:24:48] I'm like literally the director just found a stand in for himself.

[00:24:51] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:53] So I think I think Justin Smith brought

[00:24:58] a good dynamic to the character.

[00:25:00] And I do think that his character was way more dynamic than you would have seen

[00:25:05] in the trailer, because again, the trailer made it sound like, oh,

[00:25:09] because he found falling in love with this white girl.

[00:25:10] Now he want to bring down the whole system.

[00:25:12] But it was almost like

[00:25:16] you said, what was the character's name?

[00:25:18] Aaron. Aaron.

[00:25:20] Yeah. It was almost like we were actually watching Aaron like

[00:25:25] slowly realize like, why am I doing this?

[00:25:29] And it had nothing to do.

[00:25:31] It was a lot of development outside of the love interest.

[00:25:35] And it was it was a lot of natural development

[00:25:40] to not want to be like a magical negro.

[00:25:43] So I think he did bring a depth to the character.

[00:25:45] I actually think there's a lot of depth to most of these characters

[00:25:49] than what you would have initially thought just looking at the trailer.

[00:25:53] Yeah, I agree with you for sure about Aaron and Justin Smith's portrayal of him.

[00:25:59] Because yeah, I'm telling you in that trailer, it did feel like,

[00:26:03] all right, we got a magical negro here.

[00:26:05] But OK, but oh, there's a white lady that he likes and he needs to impress her.

[00:26:11] But what if he has to give up his magic to do that?

[00:26:13] You know, and now he got no.

[00:26:16] And then it was like, and now I need to take this one step further.

[00:26:19] And now I have to destroy all of this so that we can all experience

[00:26:22] our interracial love like we need to.

[00:26:23] And I was like, wait a minute. Yeah, that's why I took it.

[00:26:26] I was like, I'm not watching this.

[00:26:27] You know, but again, it's a trailer, right?

[00:26:29] So you don't get everything.

[00:26:31] So because from from this point of view, after watching the film,

[00:26:34] yeah, it very much came off like he was presented with logical information.

[00:26:38] Hey, white people being uncomfortable makes it makes the block hot.

[00:26:42] It makes it unsafe for black folks.

[00:26:43] So thus we have a team of black people who are here to make white people

[00:26:48] feel comfortable with their magic.

[00:26:49] The magic can only be used in service of white people,

[00:26:52] but it makes the world a better place.

[00:26:55] Thus we see him trying to do the job and then realizing that white people

[00:26:59] being uncomfortable might not be the worst thing in the world for him

[00:27:02] because he has to make himself uncomfortable constantly to make that happen.

[00:27:06] And he cannot get what he wants if he's always jumping through hoops

[00:27:09] for white people.

[00:27:10] And so yeah, we go on the journey with them.

[00:27:13] I see what you're saying.

[00:27:14] Yeah, it definitely wasn't let's tear it all down just so I can be

[00:27:18] at this white woman.

[00:27:19] Yeah, but I think she gave that vibe.

[00:27:21] I knew sorry.

[00:27:23] I know I said I think it gave that vibe.

[00:27:25] Let's on you. Yeah, I was I was definitely shocked when I was like,

[00:27:28] oh, they didn't even really white.

[00:27:30] You know, she's not like

[00:27:33] but no, yeah, but like I was just about to say like being.

[00:27:38] I mean, the white man cared for

[00:27:41] yeah, one of him.

[00:27:43] So I think one of my issues is that no one had any chemistry with

[00:27:47] anyone in this movie.

[00:27:50] I thought they were cute.

[00:27:51] I thought they were very cute.

[00:27:53] Yeah, it was cute.

[00:27:54] Yeah, yeah.

[00:27:55] Because I'm like.

[00:27:57] I honestly just feel like just that's just Justice Smith at a baseline level.

[00:28:04] Like he could have charisma with like a parking meter

[00:28:10] and he's just kind of like genuinely kind of funny in his own little way as well,

[00:28:16] which makes him endearing.

[00:28:18] That's one of the reasons why he had the career that he has in such a short period of time.

[00:28:23] But I didn't feel like there was a lot of like back and forth here at all with with either

[00:28:33] that, you know, his love interest character or in the other way,

[00:28:36] like the relationship with his like co-worker who was also supposed to

[00:28:41] be in love with her, I guess, which I thought was good.

[00:28:45] Can I can I so so that's like at two is

[00:28:50] after Justice Smith, after Aaron has gone over like a little bit of training,

[00:28:54] he is then assigned to this this white dude at this meat box Facebook.

[00:29:00] This is the other part where I was like the satire satiring.

[00:29:04] This is, you know, why are we not here the whole time?

[00:29:08] Yeah, which is called meat box.

[00:29:10] Yeah, it's called meat box.

[00:29:12] But like I'm talking about the owner and we'll get to him.

[00:29:15] But like, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:29:17] But it's supposed I'm thinking it's a stand in for all all social media

[00:29:22] because it's just a social media platform.

[00:29:24] And he's at this office where they don't believe in regular titles.

[00:29:28] And there's like pool tables and shit everywhere.

[00:29:30] The typical like, you know, Silicon Valley, not an office office, whatever.

[00:29:37] And he's assigned to this white guy.

[00:29:38] What's white guy's name, Chappelle?

[00:29:40] There'll be Jason in the movie he's portrayed by Andrew Tarver.

[00:29:45] That actor didn't look familiar to me.

[00:29:49] Drew Tarver is from The Other Two.

[00:29:54] I know do not watch that, but I know the show,

[00:29:58] which is why I'm I'm concerned now talk about it later because he's so good

[00:30:04] in The Other Two.

[00:30:05] Got you.

[00:30:07] So this is only lead role as well, Mars.

[00:30:09] I don't feel bad because I think he's he's been in a few movies,

[00:30:11] but I think that's his biggest role as The Other Two.

[00:30:14] Yeah, perfect.

[00:30:15] So so this is where he he's assigned to to I forgot his name already.

[00:30:20] Jason and but I like the fact that he bumps into Lizzie,

[00:30:27] the the the character he bumps into her first and they have this like

[00:30:30] little meat cute at the con shop and me box.

[00:30:35] Huh?

[00:30:36] They had a meat box at the coffee shop.

[00:30:40] Anyways, it was cute, flirting, banter, awkward, nerdy.

[00:30:45] Yeah, Justice Smith style meat.

[00:30:48] And then he meets Jason.

[00:30:49] Jason is the one he's supposed to be like making feel good.

[00:30:54] And then he realizes like, oh, Lizzie's here too.

[00:30:56] And I was like, OK, that's kind of cool.

[00:30:58] And even him and Lizzie continue to have like their flirting session

[00:31:03] and stuff like that before Jason is even made aware to like her.

[00:31:07] But what I actually really liked about the dynamic was like

[00:31:13] they like she didn't like him.

[00:31:16] She was definitely a stand.

[00:31:18] She was definitely like I like that she was

[00:31:22] aware of her other heritage.

[00:31:24] She was kind of like the us, I would say, the audience standing in a sense

[00:31:30] of like, why am I trying to make him feel good?

[00:31:34] The kind of, you know, the woke character,

[00:31:40] if you will, she was the one who was pointing out all the hypocrisies about

[00:31:44] the office and how Jason is getting hand stuff he doesn't deserve.

[00:31:48] I mean, honestly, again, if you had put a black woman in this role,

[00:31:52] I mean, whatever.

[00:31:55] So she I like that she is like aware of these things.

[00:32:00] I felt like the trailer really made it seem like really surface and all that.

[00:32:06] And then I like that Jason is like, oh, you want me to be with her?

[00:32:10] Like and that there is no chemistry there.

[00:32:13] It's almost like he's entitled to like ask her out and be with her.

[00:32:18] Like he called dibs, but she don't like him.

[00:32:22] He barely likes her.

[00:32:25] And then we get Jason's character being so entitled and being so obnoxious

[00:32:32] and being so

[00:32:34] unaware of his privilege, which is what pushes

[00:32:39] Aaron closer and closer to like, why am I doing this?

[00:32:42] Why do I give a this asshole feels comfortable or not?

[00:32:47] You know what I'm saying?

[00:32:48] Like I actually really like the dynamic between the three of them

[00:32:51] because it's not what I thought of from the trailer.

[00:32:54] I would get thought the trailer made seem like, oh,

[00:32:59] Jason is going to be so dopey and his white guy, he's going to need to help.

[00:33:02] And you know, we're going to have to baby him, you know what I'm saying?

[00:33:06] And the love interest is just so nice.

[00:33:08] She lights up a room and data, data, data.

[00:33:10] But like both of them had way more depth because

[00:33:15] she could see what was going on in the company that was unfair

[00:33:18] and how both her and Aaron were being treated.

[00:33:22] And he was just a douchebag.

[00:33:24] So I really liked him being a douchebag, like Jason being a douchebag

[00:33:29] so that Aaron doesn't want to magical Negro for him.

[00:33:34] So that's what I'll give them the actual movie kudos for.

[00:33:40] Yeah, I enjoyed on Lee in this role as Lizzie.

[00:33:44] She I haven't seen her in a lot of stuff.

[00:33:47] So I think she's a relatively new, like I'm not going to say like she's like a

[00:33:52] fresh start. But you know, like I haven't seen her mainstream,

[00:33:54] but I could very much see her in the future,

[00:33:56] boeing in a lot more roles because she was very good at this.

[00:33:59] But yeah, like we've mentioned, she's Taiwanese and Irish.

[00:34:02] So she is a mixed ethnicity as well.

[00:34:05] But at the same time, you know, when I think like I said, in the trailer,

[00:34:10] it looked like she was presenting as a white woman.

[00:34:12] And so if you were telling me the role of this man is to make

[00:34:15] white folk feel good and, you know, then he's got this magic.

[00:34:20] But oh, but you can't do the magic.

[00:34:22] You know, if it's not helping the white people or it's going to go away

[00:34:25] and then this is white woman like, oh, my God, is he throwing all the way

[00:34:28] his magic for that? Like are we really doing this right now?

[00:34:31] Like that's really the energy that I was seeing online.

[00:34:34] Like you go give us hours so that we can then be oppressed,

[00:34:38] actively oppressed and even happily oppressed,

[00:34:41] a lot of them because it's for the greater good.

[00:34:44] So that is exactly what the setup is.

[00:34:46] He's assigned to Jason.

[00:34:48] Lizzie is the love interest and very quickly we see that he has eyes for her.

[00:34:55] And then she potentially has eyes for him.

[00:34:57] But Jason has to he has them once as well, right?

[00:35:01] He's his white tear meter has been going off Latanya.

[00:35:05] His white tear meter is reaching a maximum capacity.

[00:35:08] And that means they have to send in the magical

[00:35:11] Negro like an emergency squad.

[00:35:14] They couldn't get it done there.

[00:35:15] So they sent in this fresh upstart.

[00:35:19] They couldn't figure out what was making him white teary.

[00:35:22] Right, because they couldn't figure out why he was so upset.

[00:35:25] So they sent him in kind of like mission to make this happen.

[00:35:28] And he initially thought that he just wanted to be the new guy in charge.

[00:35:32] He wanted to be like the the Mick character who would be our Mark Zuckerberg type

[00:35:37] Facebook type tycoon type character.

[00:35:40] But in reality, he had multiple things that he wanted because.

[00:35:44] Because that's what white men do sometimes.

[00:35:46] They just want everything and they think they're entitled to everything.

[00:35:48] And it's his time to give him what he wants.

[00:35:50] And what he wants is his work wife, Lizzie, to be his girlfriend.

[00:35:54] Latanya, that's pretty much the plot in a nutshell.

[00:35:57] No.

[00:35:59] Yeah, that is the part which makes me question how like how did this end up

[00:36:07] getting made?

[00:36:09] I just I really just don't understand because the thing that you said before

[00:36:15] about the preview making it seem like X, Y and Z were going to happen.

[00:36:21] And he still did happen in this movie.

[00:36:25] Like they people who were like

[00:36:30] ugly people whose days were being thrown off because they weren't able

[00:36:35] to properly cater to the white people that they were like supposed to be.

[00:36:40] Yeah, we got to talk about that is definitely something we have to talk

[00:36:43] about as well.

[00:36:45] But I don't know.

[00:36:46] I kind of disagree because I don't think from what how I interpreted the movie.

[00:36:50] I don't think it was mainly the Lizzie thing that that he wanted and was

[00:36:54] making him white tears.

[00:36:55] It was revealed later that during the meat box during during the meat box session,

[00:37:02] we get we get the founder coming on and the founder is like loosely talking

[00:37:09] around an incident that meat box has gotten themselves into that they need to get

[00:37:14] themselves out of.

[00:37:15] Done.

[00:37:16] Very yes, gone again.

[00:37:18] It's very funny.

[00:37:19] Like this is the one part I was like truly really funny.

[00:37:23] Again, because you could tell the satire is over the top because you have

[00:37:27] a billionaire CEO who's trying to apologize for a situation that they're not

[00:37:34] really apologizing for that they don't even understand how it really happened.

[00:37:38] But basically meat box started something and

[00:37:42] whole areas in Ghana can't access meat box because they basically like something

[00:37:47] about the recognition software doesn't recognition.

[00:37:50] Yeah, I recognize that which is actually a true thing.

[00:37:55] Actual.

[00:37:56] I mean, yeah, but it's funny because it's like a whole country just doesn't

[00:38:02] their whole faces don't get and then on top of that, again, the apology was like

[00:38:11] we're aiming for new it's technically what's happening right now.

[00:38:17] You know, with all the DEI stuff and it's like we're coming up with new

[00:38:21] innovative ways to do the same thing that we've done.

[00:38:25] Like he even says that like that's one of the lines like we're coming where

[00:38:29] we needed we need to find new innovative ways to do the same mission statement.

[00:38:34] I got the quote, Mar.

[00:38:35] It was they were getting a new logo.

[00:38:37] We're getting a new slogan and a new commitment to the exact same values

[00:38:41] that got us here.

[00:38:42] Like that's the part where you that's the part that feels like that's that

[00:38:46] time but also that's close to home.

[00:38:49] Yes.

[00:38:50] Yes.

[00:38:50] That's that good satire where it's close to home.

[00:38:53] It's funny and it makes sense.

[00:38:56] And I thought that was hilarious.

[00:38:59] Come to find out that Jason was on the team that caused Gana gate.

[00:39:07] And we find this out because they go out with he goes out with Lizzie

[00:39:13] and Erin and Lizzie is complaining about Gana gate because again, she has some

[00:39:17] depth to it. She's like, I can't believe we're a part of a company who did

[00:39:21] something so really bad and all this stuff.

[00:39:24] And as she's saying that, Jason's in there like, well, we didn't do it on purpose

[00:39:29] and we found out that he was a part of that team.

[00:39:32] And he's like, yeah, we probably should have had some

[00:39:35] some people of color on the team.

[00:39:37] But what can we do?

[00:39:38] And immediately we see Erin go into like protection mode, like kind of

[00:39:44] coddle him and we see Lizzie do it too.

[00:39:47] Both of them.

[00:39:49] We know that she's not a part of the magical

[00:39:51] Negroes and when they have a conversation in the car later, it again,

[00:39:56] just kind of double reinforces like,

[00:39:59] why do we need magical Negroes to make white people or white men feel better

[00:40:04] when honestly in regular society

[00:40:08] that is also drilled into regular societies?

[00:40:12] Yeah.

[00:40:12] I love that kind of learning in contrast there as well.

[00:40:17] I think all of the best parts of this movie is the interaction with the three

[00:40:23] main characters to me, because all of the stuff with the magical Negroes falls

[00:40:28] through because it's not pushed enough to me.

[00:40:38] Now you make some good points, especially when it comes to that,

[00:40:41] you know, even the conversation they had about how the reflex is to make

[00:40:44] white people comfortable.

[00:40:45] You know, it's not like you have to wake up as a black person and say,

[00:40:49] how do I make white people comfortable today?

[00:40:51] It's just that when something happens and you see them get uncomfortable,

[00:40:55] you react because you want to protect yourself.

[00:40:57] Right. Roger, Dave Allen, Gris character talks about how, you know,

[00:41:02] even his father at one point when he was a wee lad, saw his father get

[00:41:06] spat on and he said his dad had a temper.

[00:41:08] His dad never backed down from a fight.

[00:41:10] But his dad in that moment did.

[00:41:12] He did not say anything.

[00:41:13] He kind of just brushed it off and went on by his day and it broke him up.

[00:41:17] Roger was crying.

[00:41:19] Yeah, because he saw his dad smile through getting spat on.

[00:41:21] And he goes to talk to his grandmother about it and his grandmother tells him.

[00:41:24] And I mean, this is a magical Negro story.

[00:41:26] So I kind of chuckled at it because again, imagine that somebody telling you,

[00:41:30] well, Granny once said, but that's what he did.

[00:41:33] He said, my grandma told me, I mean, your dad was able to come home

[00:41:37] and live, live again, you know, to, you know, live a life and raise you

[00:41:42] based on that interaction.

[00:41:43] And so you're like, OK, cool, I see why you would feel this way because

[00:41:49] white people being uncomfortable a lot of times is detrimental to black lives.

[00:41:53] It just is the problem is what do you want to paint a movie or film in a world

[00:41:59] like that dictates a world where the that is the extent of our magic.

[00:42:03] That is the extent of our blackness is making sure that we can survive

[00:42:06] normal interactions with white people on a day to day basis.

[00:42:09] And I was like, that for me is like, that is why people are like,

[00:42:13] I'm not watching this because as a black person, I don't need to be reminded

[00:42:16] that I have to go above and beyond to help white people without even thinking

[00:42:21] about it sometimes. There are things that we do and say in certain rooms,

[00:42:24] the coats, which we do, that we do that instinctively.

[00:42:28] I don't need a movie to tell me that that I'm doing that I need to do it

[00:42:32] that there's a society of people doing it and that you could be magical,

[00:42:35] but only if you're doing that.

[00:42:37] I guess it just felt like like there was not enough satire in that for me.

[00:42:41] It was so weird. Like she says, regret is for white people, you know,

[00:42:46] and that when the dad comes home, he can't.

[00:42:49] He's there's no regret because he made it home.

[00:42:52] And the daddy, the daddy story was like a respectability politics story to me.

[00:42:58] It's like it was upholding respectability politics and stuff.

[00:43:01] And I was just like, what what is this?

[00:43:04] Like, who is this for?

[00:43:05] LaTanya, who is this for?

[00:43:07] Because I don't think it's for us at this point.

[00:43:10] Dan, if I know who it's for, like I feel like

[00:43:15] I've got that we're getting to this part of the podcast

[00:43:18] because I feel like you all have been really generous so far

[00:43:22] with your reading of this movie.

[00:43:24] And I just don't have it in me to do it because like

[00:43:29] the the nerve of doing something like this

[00:43:35] and then like directing it toward a black audience

[00:43:40] while giving no

[00:43:44] like, I mean, there's a line in here that goes something like

[00:43:47] I'm going to teach you something

[00:43:48] that's going to help the black people more than a million like BLM marches.

[00:43:53] Yeah. I do remember that.

[00:43:56] Oh, that's irresponsible.

[00:43:58] That's what I'm saying.

[00:43:59] You shouldn't get a lot like get away with saying stuff like that.

[00:44:02] I just don't understand.

[00:44:06] How no one at any point of this process

[00:44:10] said, hey, we need a like a tone check.

[00:44:14] We need a reread for like safety, essentially, like a warning

[00:44:20] like this whole thing is

[00:44:22] should have a massive trigger warning for just about every

[00:44:26] especially for every scene that we get in the actual society.

[00:44:30] Like, yeah.

[00:44:33] Yeah.

[00:44:34] And that's and that's what I'm saying.

[00:44:35] Like I'm really wondering if this was for a white audience

[00:44:39] like trying to get a white audience to understand what black people go through

[00:44:45] because worse. Yes.

[00:44:49] Exactly. That is even worse

[00:44:51] because it's not for us.

[00:44:52] Like like we said, it's not for us.

[00:44:54] All of these situations that that they have put them in and stuff like that

[00:44:58] was stuff that we live on a daily basis.

[00:45:00] This this preaching to the camera about, you know, making it home

[00:45:04] because if you don't do that, it you can.

[00:45:07] That is, you know, we know this.

[00:45:11] We know all of this.

[00:45:13] So that's where my second leap of logic has to be.

[00:45:16] OK, this has to be for white people

[00:45:18] and to like try and teach them something.

[00:45:21] And it makes sense that you lose your black your black audience

[00:45:26] because like Chappelle so pointed out,

[00:45:29] me as black, I don't want to know that my magic is tied to white

[00:45:32] comfortable, comfortability.

[00:45:34] Sorry, I'm not worried about that.

[00:45:36] No, I agree.

[00:45:37] I agree 100 percent.

[00:45:38] Latanya, you and I, we've talked about several different things

[00:45:42] that kind of that we've had to point out these moments of words.

[00:45:45] Like, did you have to do that?

[00:45:46] You know, and I think they're like, for instance, they said

[00:45:49] Meabox was jokingly talking about its diversity campaign

[00:45:54] and what it had been doing to address some of the racial inequities

[00:45:58] in the country.

[00:45:58] They had 22 black owned vendors.

[00:46:01] They suspended operations for 12 hours during the George Floyd protests.

[00:46:04] I'm like, see, it's like, it's like, I hear you.

[00:46:09] But at the same time, you should just made up somebody

[00:46:11] because that's a real life situation.

[00:46:13] Like that's somebody that's not here.

[00:46:15] It is because a lot of companies did do something like that.

[00:46:19] And they felt like that was good enough.

[00:46:21] Like, oh, yeah, we we took a knee.

[00:46:23] What are you talking about?

[00:46:24] You know, we went on to put up our black box, leave us alone.

[00:46:27] And like I said, while that can be funny to point out,

[00:46:31] I don't think it was funny when they pointed out here.

[00:46:33] I don't I just don't think it landed for me.

[00:46:35] It landed because I think that's that's that was where it's like

[00:46:39] really, y'all stopped production for like that.

[00:46:43] That to me was pointing, pointing the satire in the right direction,

[00:46:47] like at the stupid companies and stuff like that.

[00:46:50] But you're right.

[00:46:51] I didn't even think about like, you know, name dropping like George Floyd

[00:46:55] and stuff like that.

[00:46:56] But I thought it's a little gross.

[00:46:59] Yeah, I know.

[00:47:00] Yeah.

[00:47:02] Yeah. But I but do you agree that that's at least the most satirey

[00:47:06] aspect of the movie?

[00:47:09] I agree that it is when the satires point it in the right direction.

[00:47:11] And I want to talk to you all specifically about this,

[00:47:13] because we did talk about Atlanta and there were episodes like

[00:47:16] white fashion and rich, wigger, poor, wigger that they talked

[00:47:21] about race and they talked about it in a way where it sounded like,

[00:47:24] oh, OK, this is satire.

[00:47:26] But this is saying look white people at what you do as opposed

[00:47:29] to look black people at what you do all the time for for

[00:47:33] the enjoyment of white people.

[00:47:34] Right.

[00:47:35] So they were talking about there's one episode where they

[00:47:36] talk about reparations and it is painted in a lens as to

[00:47:39] black people are getting reparations now.

[00:47:41] Now how white people are going to react when they are on the

[00:47:42] other end of being what they feel like is oppressed or like

[00:47:46] they are not going to be heard in these moments and they got

[00:47:48] to spend a lot of money and pay for the sins of their

[00:47:50] ancestors.

[00:47:51] And you know, and you look at it through the eyes of the

[00:47:54] white man who is being victim to this.

[00:47:56] Whereas in this movie, I felt like the black people were

[00:48:00] still the victims throughout the entire movie.

[00:48:02] Dear God, I mean, if you stuck up with your stuff,

[00:48:04] you lost your magic.

[00:48:05] The whole time you lost your magic and you had your

[00:48:09] memories erased, which apparently they said was the

[00:48:13] equivalent to brain damage.

[00:48:15] So they they inflicted brain damage upon you.

[00:48:20] If you had the nerve to speak up against a white person

[00:48:26] and tell them even like a tenth of what you should

[00:48:30] probably be telling them in that moment.

[00:48:32] Yes, your powers were taken away and you ruined it

[00:48:36] for everyone else.

[00:48:38] Yeah.

[00:48:38] Yeah.

[00:48:39] I like that the this this part of the movie is like where they

[00:48:44] have like they have they call everybody to the thing.

[00:48:47] They're like, the powers, the powers are something

[00:48:49] happening with the powers again in the trailer.

[00:48:52] It made us think that it was, you know, Aaron, him trying

[00:48:56] to run away with white girls.

[00:48:58] What?

[00:48:59] But in the movie itself here, it's like, oh, what

[00:49:03] happened?

[00:49:03] Our powers are going.

[00:49:04] Somebody, one of you stood up for yourselves and then

[00:49:08] one of the only black women in the movie who talks other

[00:49:12] than like Aisha.

[00:49:14] Other than.

[00:49:16] Uh, yeah, Nicole buyer.

[00:49:20] Yeah.

[00:49:20] Nicole buyer who is amazing.

[00:49:22] Like she's like, yeah.

[00:49:24] Okay.

[00:49:24] So like the white guy was he does everything wrong and

[00:49:27] I kind of cursed at him a little bit and they're

[00:49:30] like, oh, and then they're like, yes, we have

[00:49:32] to take your powers and erase your mind and you're

[00:49:36] going to be the worst thing you can be a regular black

[00:49:39] person in America.

[00:49:41] Without the ability to make white people comfortable.

[00:49:45] That's not funny.

[00:49:47] Like, I'm joking.

[00:49:49] Yes.

[00:49:50] I remember a thing.

[00:49:52] You might walk out of your house into the middle

[00:49:54] of a KKK rally or whatever, or like an actual Nazi.

[00:49:58] It's like that's not funny.

[00:50:00] That's not funny.

[00:50:02] Not.

[00:50:04] Where is this?

[00:50:05] Where's the funny part?

[00:50:08] Yes, we have a single part that happened in this movie.

[00:50:11] I shit you not.

[00:50:13] I did not laugh at anything that happened in this entire movie.

[00:50:18] I had a good healthy laugh at Nicole buyer

[00:50:20] not being able to float in anymore because the black

[00:50:22] powers was going and so she had to walk in with that

[00:50:24] ladder and then climb up the ladder.

[00:50:26] I had a good laugh at that.

[00:50:27] But aside from that, no, I went to Latanya.

[00:50:29] A lot of the jokes like I got the satire in certain parts

[00:50:32] and I understood that it was that hard throughout.

[00:50:34] But again, if the joke's not funny, I'm not going to laugh.

[00:50:37] And I love to laugh.

[00:50:39] If you listen to this, you know me.

[00:50:40] I be hollering.

[00:50:41] And so for me to go through this and be like, yeah,

[00:50:43] I remember that one time I laughed.

[00:50:45] That's not great.

[00:50:46] It's not great.

[00:50:47] So for this to be a comedy, I think that that's probably

[00:50:50] where for me, the biggest point where it missed the mark.

[00:50:52] Right?

[00:50:52] Like, I think that if this is satire, if this is comedy,

[00:50:55] if this is supposed to be funny, we're supposed

[00:50:57] as black people supposed to be watching this and enjoying this.

[00:50:59] I would love to see the part where they were supposed

[00:51:00] to be enjoyable to black people specifically.

[00:51:03] Yes.

[00:51:04] Tell me that part.

[00:51:04] Tell me the part that as black people, we supposed to be high

[00:51:07] five and it'd be like, you know it, you see it.

[00:51:09] Because you get it because there's no there's none of that.

[00:51:11] It doesn't feel like that.

[00:51:13] It feels like, yeah, damn, yeah, that's true.

[00:51:15] There it is.

[00:51:16] And speaking of having to bring in the chair,

[00:51:20] the one guy went to Cornell and the other guy went to.

[00:51:24] What was it?

[00:51:25] I forget.

[00:51:26] Dartmouth.

[00:51:28] Like, so the all of the magical Negroes are people who are like

[00:51:37] educated, very educated.

[00:51:40] Like, I mean, that's I don't like that.

[00:51:43] People in scrubs, like, yeah, like emergency meetings.

[00:51:47] We like, you know, the person whose memory that they erased

[00:51:51] was a fine.

[00:51:52] Yeah, someone.

[00:51:53] Yeah.

[00:51:53] Coming in stem.

[00:51:55] I think when I was Toya.

[00:51:59] It's like it's also a little like again, it's like a nerve push

[00:52:05] in the wrong direction.

[00:52:06] It's like it's like pointing out black elitism and that black

[00:52:10] elitism is where the magic resides.

[00:52:13] The magic.

[00:52:16] It's like because you could go be normal.

[00:52:17] Mari, if you make white people, uh, like uncomfortable,

[00:52:20] we'll snatch them degrees from you and make you go be

[00:52:22] a normal black person in the United States.

[00:52:24] Right.

[00:52:25] It's something about that don't feel right.

[00:52:28] It does not feel right at all.

[00:52:30] As a well educated person, something about that does not

[00:52:35] land for me.

[00:52:40] And that's why that's why I said all of these all of the

[00:52:43] scenes at the magical Negro place was just it was just

[00:52:47] not it.

[00:52:48] It was not it.

[00:52:50] Um, so I don't I don't know.

[00:52:53] I'm trying to think of other other scenes, but I I I again,

[00:52:58] maybe I know Latanya says like we're we're we're giving

[00:53:02] it too much.

[00:53:02] Like I said, I think it's just because I was pleasantly

[00:53:06] surprised because I was going into it thinking I was

[00:53:09] going to get something different that I was able

[00:53:12] to find some aspects of it better.

[00:53:15] And again, it's kind of funny because the aspect

[00:53:19] that I found better watching as in like the the interaction

[00:53:25] with the three people was the part that I thought I would

[00:53:29] hate the least from the trailer because I thought it was

[00:53:32] going to be some stupid triangle because we after

[00:53:36] this, we get the scene where like the company's

[00:53:40] tattling diversity.

[00:53:42] But Lizzie does all the work on this new campaign,

[00:53:45] but they ask her to step aside because they want

[00:53:48] Jason to do the presentation.

[00:53:50] So you're not even they're not even learning what's going

[00:53:53] on and he doesn't even do the presentation.

[00:53:56] He gets he does a draft and then he sends it over to Aaron

[00:54:00] to Aaron so he could work his magic.

[00:54:02] Right.

[00:54:02] He can work his magic.

[00:54:04] It's like in and and for Lizzie to get put aside

[00:54:08] her knowing it, I again, I do like that she is

[00:54:12] pointing all this stuff out.

[00:54:15] I like that portion because we could have just got

[00:54:17] another oblivious, you know, non black person

[00:54:21] in this movie.

[00:54:22] But we got somebody who does know what does see what's

[00:54:25] going on now.

[00:54:28] Is it in the bent of race racism or is it in the

[00:54:32] bent of, you know, women?

[00:54:34] We can talk about that later.

[00:54:36] But Jason then being like, yeah, you know, they're

[00:54:40] doing the video games and Jason was like, yeah, I

[00:54:43] got it because I'm clearly better and him having this

[00:54:48] this moment of entitlement and Aaron increasingly,

[00:54:51] increasingly like getting upset with him like, but

[00:54:54] you were told you could always do it.

[00:54:56] He's like, yeah, of course.

[00:54:58] Of course I was like, like he's trying to get him

[00:55:01] to realize his privilege without telling him the privilege.

[00:55:05] Yeah, let me set that up for everybody who they

[00:55:07] didn't watch the movie because we're assuming if you

[00:55:08] if you listen to this, you didn't even listen to this.

[00:55:10] You didn't watch the movie because nobody did.

[00:55:12] They took the movie down.

[00:55:13] Okay, so welcome to my TED talk.

[00:55:15] Here it is.

[00:55:16] Three weeks.

[00:55:16] Yeah, yeah, three weeks and it was gone.

[00:55:18] So here we are.

[00:55:20] So when we get to one of the big moments of the film,

[00:55:24] we do see that Jason has been benefiting from the

[00:55:27] privilege of knowing Lizzie who is doing some

[00:55:30] rockstar work at the company, knowing Aaron

[00:55:32] who is magical and making things happen for him.

[00:55:35] And he's starting to feel himself.

[00:55:37] He's like, well, obviously I've earned these

[00:55:38] things because I'm getting them.

[00:55:40] And so Aaron, who is into Lizzie.

[00:55:44] He's very much into the Lizzie part of this.

[00:55:46] He's like, all right, Lizzie needs to get something from this.

[00:55:48] I can't get nothing from this, but I want to do

[00:55:50] something for Lizzie.

[00:55:51] Maybe I can convince Jason to share his presentation

[00:55:56] with Lizzie because we know Lizzie did all the work

[00:55:58] and she's getting passed up over by Jason because

[00:56:00] he is a presentable white man for this role.

[00:56:04] When presented with that information, Jason takes a

[00:56:07] fence and like, I don't understand why I would

[00:56:08] bring Lizzie on because that wouldn't be fair to her.

[00:56:12] And when he said that, I thought, what do you mean?

[00:56:16] He said, well, if I give her something she doesn't

[00:56:19] earn, then that's not going to help her.

[00:56:21] That's only going to harm her.

[00:56:22] And he doesn't even understand or comprehend

[00:56:26] the idea that there could be other aspects of his life

[00:56:29] or his privilege that allowed him to experience

[00:56:32] this level of success.

[00:56:34] I mean, we see it in the movie.

[00:56:35] Lizzie is doing a lot of the work.

[00:56:37] Aaron is doing a lot of the work.

[00:56:38] Jason is reaping all the benefits and thinking, yeah,

[00:56:40] it's because I'm white and I'm supposed to reap these benefits.

[00:56:43] Like he doesn't know it's because I'm white.

[00:56:45] Yeah, it's me. I've done the work.

[00:56:47] I'm exceptional.

[00:56:48] And that's it.

[00:56:49] You know, all these other people I'm stepping over,

[00:56:51] they don't really matter.

[00:56:52] And this is the thing that sends Aaron over the edge

[00:56:57] and ends up with him getting pulled into

[00:56:59] the American Society of Magical Negroes

[00:57:01] because at this point he is starting to to,

[00:57:05] you know, move away from his responsibilities

[00:57:08] to make white people feel comfortable.

[00:57:10] There is the moment at the presentation

[00:57:13] where Jason really needs Aaron to be a part of the presentation

[00:57:17] because the presentation is spoiler alert about diversity.

[00:57:20] He tells Aaron, hey, you got to be a part of this

[00:57:25] because, you know, diversity reasons, right?

[00:57:29] And he's looking at him like you black.

[00:57:30] We need you on.

[00:57:31] Like we need you to help smooth this over.

[00:57:33] We need you to be the face of, hey, y'all,

[00:57:36] meat box isn't racist.

[00:57:37] We are a does work for black people.

[00:57:39] We don't hate Ghana, you know?

[00:57:41] And so this is the moment that sticks with him the most.

[00:57:45] Aaron is sitting there thinking I'm letting the girl

[00:57:47] that I like get, you know, be with you.

[00:57:51] I'm letting all of these accolades

[00:57:52] that she and I are supposed to be racking up.

[00:57:54] You get them and then you're going to tell me

[00:57:56] I'm a diversity hire in all in every sense of the word.

[00:57:58] So he comes in and he tells Jason that he is not happy.

[00:58:02] He is not OK with what he just said.

[00:58:03] He's not OK with taking the blame for this

[00:58:05] and he's going to speak up for himself.

[00:58:07] And it isn't a heated exchange, LaTanya.

[00:58:09] I'm talking about I believe it went something like this.

[00:58:13] Aaron said, I didn't like the way that made me feel

[00:58:17] because you made it sound like it made it sound like to me

[00:58:20] that I only got hired because of diversity reasons.

[00:58:24] And I feel like I earned this job.

[00:58:26] And Jason responds, well, that would mean I'm racist.

[00:58:32] And I'm not racist.

[00:58:33] So that didn't happen.

[00:58:34] And that is the entire argument, LaTanya.

[00:58:38] Just the gas, literary.

[00:58:44] Lotations.

[00:58:47] It was it was that was a wild statement to hear

[00:58:53] just like come out of another person's mouth.

[00:58:56] Just, you know, you're saying that

[00:58:59] then you're saying a bad thing about me and that can't be about me

[00:59:03] because I've never done or said or even wondered a bad thing.

[00:59:09] Especially not about race.

[00:59:11] There's not a racist bone in my whole body.

[00:59:15] I think it's something that's even said.

[00:59:17] That's what he said.

[00:59:18] Yeah, I don't want to talk about your non-racist skills.

[00:59:23] Yeah. Oh, my God.

[00:59:25] That was a decent wordplay.

[00:59:27] He doesn't physically know how to react to this, though.

[00:59:29] LaTanya, Aaron is hearing he's hearing that I'm that he's saying

[00:59:34] I feel away and what Jason is taking from that is

[00:59:38] you're accusing me of being a type of person.

[00:59:42] And those two things are not the same.

[00:59:44] Yep. No.

[00:59:47] This was this scene is probably the most nuanced

[00:59:51] the movie ever got for sure because

[00:59:55] I think that everybody just from existing in life

[01:00:00] has had that conversation before at least 7000 times.

[01:00:06] And I'm just talking about this year alone.

[01:00:09] So so that all felt very authentic for lack of a better word.

[01:00:15] Like it felt like, you know,

[01:00:20] way more weird on the on the joke here,

[01:00:23] because like we realized that this isn't a joke,

[01:00:25] because this is something that we have.

[01:00:26] We have to like actually defend ourselves in this way all the time.

[01:00:30] So this is this also felt really earnest in its own way.

[01:00:35] But it was definitely the most.

[01:00:39] Complicated, complex, dynamic,

[01:00:43] like any of those things that we saw a discussion

[01:00:47] about race be in this entire movie about race.

[01:00:53] And yeah.

[01:00:54] And that's a lot, you know, it's kind of like how,

[01:00:57] you know, how everyone is like,

[01:00:59] well, the Barbie movie is the most feminist movie

[01:01:02] that has existed in the history of time.

[01:01:04] And it's like, well,

[01:01:07] it just say feminism exists.

[01:01:10] You know what I mean?

[01:01:11] Like it doesn't deserve credit for doing this

[01:01:14] necessarily, but given that there's so little credit

[01:01:18] to give to the rest of the movie,

[01:01:20] this really is a standout scene.

[01:01:22] It's acted really well by Justice Smith.

[01:01:25] And you get the idea that

[01:01:30] the guy from the other two, that Jason was doing his best

[01:01:34] to channel just like the duchiest dude bro that he'd ever met.

[01:01:39] Yeah, I this.

[01:01:42] Yeah, this was like one of the best parts.

[01:01:44] I think I rewound it a few times

[01:01:47] because the frustration building in Aaron, first Aaron is just

[01:01:52] ignoring his calls because he's like, I need to find Lizzie.

[01:01:55] I don't care about this stupid presentation.

[01:01:56] I don't care about you.

[01:01:57] He is like Lord to the presentation

[01:02:01] by Jason to help him.

[01:02:02] And then when he gets there, all of that unravels.

[01:02:06] And for Aaron, Aaron, that frustration, it was like that,

[01:02:10] that built up frustration that a lot of us have felt before.

[01:02:15] And just the talking over the talking over each other,

[01:02:18] like them having two different

[01:02:20] which shows the juxtaposition of the two conversations they're having.

[01:02:24] Like Chappelle said, these are two different conversations going on.

[01:02:26] And I loved how they filmed it because

[01:02:31] Aaron is like, I'm just telling you how I'm feeling.

[01:02:33] It just happened.

[01:02:35] And you're trying to tell me that it didn't happen.

[01:02:37] He was like, it just happened.

[01:02:38] Meanwhile, Jason is like, I'm not racist.

[01:02:42] I'm a racist.

[01:02:42] I'm not my body.

[01:02:43] I agree with slavery.

[01:02:45] Like he was just saying all this just the ridiculous comments.

[01:02:49] Yeah.

[01:02:50] And I just I really did like like this, this part of the movie.

[01:02:56] I like that Aaron didn't stop once the cameras come to him.

[01:03:01] And he really just starts outing the company and stuff.

[01:03:04] And he's like, you know what?

[01:03:05] I'm going out.

[01:03:06] I'm going out and I don't understand.

[01:03:12] I don't know if Chappelle talks about it, but I don't understand the

[01:03:14] transporting Lizzie to the Empire State Building thing.

[01:03:17] But yeah, I did.

[01:03:20] I thought that the ending here was very interesting.

[01:03:25] And I thought it was authentic because we saw Aaron's character

[01:03:29] building to this from the beginning.

[01:03:32] Like it wasn't just one thing.

[01:03:35] That set him off here.

[01:03:38] It was a multitude of things.

[01:03:40] And it was things that a lot of us can relate to,

[01:03:44] especially in the work environment.

[01:03:47] There's one thing that comes up that I cannot relate to.

[01:03:50] So in this moment, Aaron is definitely doing the I felt away.

[01:03:54] I didn't like that you're supposed to be my friend.

[01:03:56] Let's talk about it.

[01:03:57] And Jason is saying if we friends, you shouldn't even be accusing me

[01:04:00] of something like that.

[01:04:00] So what do we shut in this down right now?

[01:04:03] They're not meeting on any playing field.

[01:04:06] Jason's bringing up slavery.

[01:04:07] Aaron's talking about not being seen.

[01:04:09] And he says, you are not my friend.

[01:04:13] I'm you don't like that I'm seeing you don't listen to me and you

[01:04:15] don't like that I take up space.

[01:04:17] And I'm like, he cook it.

[01:04:18] He does that.

[01:04:18] That is that is true.

[01:04:22] And then Aaron says something to the effect as

[01:04:27] I didn't even know I deserve to be alive.

[01:04:30] I've been alive for 27 years and I'm just starting to

[01:04:32] understand that I deserve to be alive.

[01:04:34] And I believe Jason says I never do that until now.

[01:04:38] And I thought no, I can't relate to that.

[01:04:41] I'm sorry, because I don't know.

[01:04:44] I don't know if that's their way of like really putting a cap on

[01:04:47] that's the conversation, right?

[01:04:48] Like black people, maybe some black people don't appreciate

[01:04:52] their own identity just because it's always in proximity to white people.

[01:04:56] Right.

[01:04:57] Like who are you?

[01:04:58] The white person's magical Negro.

[01:05:00] And if not the person moving out the way for the white person,

[01:05:03] making them feel better, make, you know, like, you know,

[01:05:05] you're reacting to whiteness a lot of your time.

[01:05:07] Maybe that's what they're trying to say.

[01:05:08] But for me, that line just did not hit me at all.

[01:05:10] I was like, I got nothing.

[01:05:16] Yeah.

[01:05:16] So that's pretty much the magical parts of all of the story.

[01:05:21] I mean, obviously he breaks the rules.

[01:05:23] They take them back to the American Society of Magical Negroes.

[01:05:27] Nicole Byers character is pissed because she can't float in

[01:05:29] like she normally does.

[01:05:30] She has to be carried in or she has to walk in

[01:05:32] and then climb a ladder, et cetera, et cetera.

[01:05:35] But yeah, Erin admits to saying, hey, I kind of sabotaged

[01:05:41] my white partners presentation.

[01:05:44] I told him about himself because he colonized my girlfriend.

[01:05:48] I liked somebody first and then he came in and liked them

[01:05:52] and then I had to get them up and I'm not OK with that.

[01:05:54] And so he is still banished and his memory is not wiped clean,

[01:06:00] though, because Roger David Allen Greer's character does say,

[01:06:03] all right, I can't really do this.

[01:06:04] Well, he actually tries.

[01:06:05] He tries a couple of times, but I think there was still some glitching

[01:06:08] because a lot of the other magical Negroes had picked up on what Erin was saying.

[01:06:12] I said, huh, maybe I too should speak up for myself.

[01:06:15] And there were a couple of them who were like one who was famously

[01:06:19] grabbing white man's crotch.

[01:06:20] He was saying, hey, sometimes it's OK for you to wipe.

[01:06:22] You grab my crotch too.

[01:06:24] It's OK.

[01:06:25] You know, let's get reciprocate.

[01:06:27] You scratch mine.

[01:06:27] I scratch yours.

[01:06:28] We'll tell you.

[01:06:30] It's just a dumb joke.

[01:06:33] I found it very funny.

[01:06:34] I'm not going to lie.

[01:06:35] I'm low hanging fruit.

[01:06:36] I'm low hanging fruit.

[01:06:38] Literally all.

[01:06:39] Oh, yes.

[01:06:40] I can't.

[01:06:41] I'm going to put the word.

[01:06:42] I don't care.

[01:06:43] I was looking for something.

[01:06:44] At this point, I had no good will left.

[01:06:47] I just right.

[01:06:47] That guy looked familiar too, I think.

[01:06:50] To I think he he I think he's

[01:06:54] like a comedian or something.

[01:06:56] That at that point, all I knew is it was my eighth time looking

[01:07:00] at the clock to see how much longer this movie there was.

[01:07:05] And I just I didn't have any more good will left for it

[01:07:08] at that point.

[01:07:09] I didn't.

[01:07:11] I'm glad that you got some enjoyment out of it.

[01:07:13] That's always great.

[01:07:16] Yeah, I yeah.

[01:07:18] Sorry, keep going.

[01:07:19] No, I was I'm looking up this gentleman

[01:07:22] who's grabbing people's nets so you can go ahead.

[01:07:24] Yeah, so yeah, he transports Lily to the top of the Empire

[01:07:28] State Building, realized they I realized they were in L.A.

[01:07:30] That was so weird.

[01:07:32] Yeah, like his memory doesn't get get wiped.

[01:07:34] Him and Lizzie walk off into the sunset.

[01:07:37] She's like, you got powers and all this stuff.

[01:07:40] But like the ending is very ambiguous.

[01:07:43] And like, yes, some of the magical

[01:07:45] Negroes are like, maybe I don't want to do this.

[01:07:50] But we don't we don't know what happens.

[01:07:53] Like, I don't know.

[01:07:55] It was very ambiguous ending, I guess, in a sense.

[01:07:58] It's just like Aaron's done with it.

[01:08:00] So yeah, he quit the job.

[01:08:02] He essentially is that the the the magical Negro in question.

[01:08:07] Mari, I know you're going to recognize him once I say it.

[01:08:09] His name is he plays Anthony Holmes on the show Grand Crew.

[01:08:13] Yeah, yeah.

[01:08:14] Yes.

[01:08:16] The only a show Mari takes me every other week to say you

[01:08:19] should watch this.

[01:08:19] And then I'm like, Mari, have you seen this show?

[01:08:21] Grand Crew. And she's like, I told you.

[01:08:25] Watch it. I'm like, oh, yeah, you're right.

[01:08:26] You crazy.

[01:08:28] Yeah, that's that's Kwame.

[01:08:30] But yeah, the movie ends Aaron quits his job and he goes and finds

[01:08:33] Lizzie and says, hey, Lizzie, by the way, I remember that

[01:08:37] crazy thing I did where I teleported you to the Empire State

[01:08:39] Building, even though we live in LA.

[01:08:41] Yeah. So just I was a part of a magical society, but I quit

[01:08:45] and that's over with.

[01:08:46] And Lizzie says to him, yeah, that's crazy.

[01:08:48] I'm a part of a magical society too.

[01:08:50] And he's like, girls, stop playing.

[01:08:51] But we see after the sunset and after the screen wipes to black,

[01:08:57] Lizzie does enter the headquarters of Soswag,

[01:09:01] the Society of Supportive Women, Wives and Girlfriends.

[01:09:05] And so this entire time, big plot twist,

[01:09:07] Lizzie too is a part of a magical society to make white men feel good.

[01:09:13] And that's your movie.

[01:09:15] Thoughts?

[01:09:17] But type of response.

[01:09:19] She wasn't a wife or a girlfriend of anybody.

[01:09:22] He was a work life, work wives count.

[01:09:24] Oh, let's get in on a technicality.

[01:09:29] Also now I think she's Aaron's girlfriend.

[01:09:31] So I think she still has the clock. Yeah.

[01:09:34] OK. That's all I thought.

[01:09:36] Yeah, I was picking up notes of a little bit of like again,

[01:09:40] a little bit of feminism.

[01:09:43] Um, that's what it's not.

[01:09:47] Even what that tells me, that tells me that they thought

[01:09:50] this movie was going to get a sequel.

[01:09:53] Oh, like so the next one was like American

[01:09:55] Society of Magical Negroes, twos, wives and girlfriends strike back.

[01:09:59] Right. So swag addition.

[01:10:01] Exactly.

[01:10:03] Cruise control.

[01:10:05] Yeah, cruise control.

[01:10:07] You know, so the plot twist I thought was pretty cool.

[01:10:11] I thought like, oh, OK.

[01:10:12] But again, I think that the the moments where Lizzie

[01:10:16] is being a supportive wife or girlfriend,

[01:10:19] I think that those are the moments where she is like,

[01:10:22] those are the most subtle parts because again,

[01:10:25] it's just her naturally acquiescent to what Jason wants throughout the film.

[01:10:29] And it's the same thing with Aaron.

[01:10:30] Like they both were like, oh, what?

[01:10:32] Well, we weren't calling you racist.

[01:10:33] No, we weren't saying that the meat boxes racist for not having the air.

[01:10:36] You know, they talk about it like, hey, that's what we just default to.

[01:10:39] And it sucks that we have to default to that as people.

[01:10:42] But now that I find out that it's also where I got the end is another magical agency.

[01:10:46] I'm like, dang, even the women can't have magic without having to do, you know,

[01:10:49] I'm saying, yeah, yeah, no crazy.

[01:10:54] But yeah, that's the movie.

[01:10:55] I mean, that's it.

[01:10:57] To Marry's point, she said this a couple of times.

[01:10:59] I don't think the trailer does it any justice, Smith.

[01:11:02] I think that it puts them in a position where if you did,

[01:11:05] if you only watched the trailer, you do not.

[01:11:07] You're not going to watch the movie a lot of times.

[01:11:09] And then if you watch the movie, I think there's a lot there.

[01:11:12] But also think they miss the mark in a lot of ways for me.

[01:11:15] I'm sure somebody loves this movie.

[01:11:18] I have not found that person yet, Latanya.

[01:11:21] I feel like this trailer kind of did the opposite

[01:11:26] of what the original Suicide Squad trailer did for it.

[01:11:31] Remember how trash that movie was?

[01:11:33] But the trailer was so good.

[01:11:35] Everything exactly.

[01:11:37] This did the exact opposite.

[01:11:38] It was just like, well, strike that, reverse it.

[01:11:42] And here's your trailer.

[01:11:44] L.T., would you ever recommend this movie for anybody?

[01:11:48] No. Honestly, no.

[01:11:52] Like who?

[01:11:54] Yeah. The reason I ask.

[01:11:56] When I recommend things, I want people to want to come back to me and be like,

[01:12:00] wow, I got a good recommendation.

[01:12:03] I'm so glad that I spent my time on this.

[01:12:07] Why is time spending?

[01:12:08] Well done, you.

[01:12:09] I don't want them to be like, you should die.

[01:12:15] Please leave me alone.

[01:12:17] Never speak to me again.

[01:12:19] Well, the reason I ask is because, you know, like we said,

[01:12:22] the trailer is not a direct parallel to the movie in a lot of ways.

[01:12:26] They're not even similar.

[01:12:27] And so I asked that question to say, like, is there enough from the movie

[01:12:31] that you think is beneficial to be watched?

[01:12:33] Or if you're like, we should just bend it all together.

[01:12:35] Sounds like a resounding no from Latanya.

[01:12:37] But Mari, you've seen to have kind of like mixed feelings about it.

[01:12:42] How do you feel about maybe telling other people to watch the movie

[01:12:45] and giving it a shot?

[01:12:48] You know what I said about Good Time Last Week is like,

[01:12:51] I never want to tell people not to watch something because I don't prefer it.

[01:12:58] Everybody has their own taste.

[01:13:01] If you've gotten this far to us and you and you want to want to now,

[01:13:07] you know, give it a shot, give it a shot like.

[01:13:11] But.

[01:13:13] Like would I watch this again?

[01:13:14] No.

[01:13:16] No, I wouldn't watch it again.

[01:13:18] Barely watched it the first time.

[01:13:20] Exactly.

[01:13:21] Like, I just I just think it missed the mark on so many things

[01:13:25] like who the intention, who the audience was, the satire aspect of it all

[01:13:33] or lack thereof.

[01:13:35] And again, the only reason why I actually did like the interaction

[01:13:41] of the three main characters is because I thought I was going to get

[01:13:44] something completely different going into it.

[01:13:47] So when I got what I got, I was like, oh, this is so much better

[01:13:51] than what I was expecting.

[01:13:52] You know what I'm saying?

[01:13:54] So again, the bar started off.

[01:13:57] The expectations were so low that honestly, I think you can only go up.

[01:14:02] And I was able to find some bits and pieces to go up unlike

[01:14:05] what Tanya where who did not like I get it.

[01:14:08] Like like the the scenes in the magical society were upsetting.

[01:14:15] They're generally upsetting and and and all of that,

[01:14:19] but it just overtakes anything else.

[01:14:22] So I completely I completely get that.

[01:14:24] So again, I you know,

[01:14:30] beware, in my

[01:14:34] drink responsibly like it's up to you.

[01:14:36] Like it's you we're there grown adults listening to this.

[01:14:40] Like if you want to watch it, go watch it.

[01:14:41] You know what I'm saying?

[01:14:42] Like if you want to watch it, find a link because it's not in theaters.

[01:14:45] So good luck.

[01:14:47] Right. Right.

[01:14:48] Exactly. Like so it was I it was I.

[01:14:52] Like like it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, I guess.

[01:14:56] That's why I'm I wish I could be the highest on this movie.

[01:15:01] But I think I'm kind of like I'm closer to the audience into this one.

[01:15:04] And then Mari because I'm like I hear what you can't.

[01:15:10] Yeah, but see my thing was good times that there were moments

[01:15:13] where I thought we're kind of funny.

[01:15:14] I just I didn't think this was too funny and too many parts.

[01:15:17] And I think that's the big difference

[01:15:18] because I do understand that you're telling the story.

[01:15:20] I feel like there's a point of view here.

[01:15:21] I feel like it's trying to get across the idea of the absurdity

[01:15:25] of black people only being able to use their magic to help white people

[01:15:29] and the absurdity that white people can't even see that a lot of times

[01:15:32] people, minorities, women, people are just jumping out of the way

[01:15:36] to make life easier for them

[01:15:38] because when they get uncomfortable, people feel unsafe.

[01:15:40] Like that is very much like the through line of the story.

[01:15:43] Now, I just don't think they executed in a way that I felt like,

[01:15:46] OK, that was entertaining.

[01:15:47] I felt like I watched it.

[01:15:49] I saw it. I didn't rip my eyes out, but I'm definitely not like,

[01:15:52] hey, you need to go watch this.

[01:15:53] There were some some parts I thought were pretty like clever.

[01:15:56] I really did.

[01:15:58] One part was when they were talking about the rules of trying to keep

[01:16:02] your black powers, right?

[01:16:04] And I thought because I thought this is what Mara was talking about.

[01:16:06] They were pointing the satire back at the white people.

[01:16:08] It was saying, remember, it's always about the client.

[01:16:11] It's only acceptable to white people if it's not acceptable to whites

[01:16:15] based off of their perception of blackness in a it don't count.

[01:16:19] And I started to think of how many different ways is like where

[01:16:22] white people will legitimately tell you that you're not black enough.

[01:16:25] And you're like, what?

[01:16:26] What do you mean? It's like, oh, well, you're not like the other ones.

[01:16:28] Why? In what way?

[01:16:30] You know, you're one of the good ones.

[01:16:31] You know, those types of conversations.

[01:16:33] And it's just like, yeah, that's stuff that we hear as black people

[01:16:36] and we hear it all the time and we roll our eyes at it.

[01:16:38] But as a white person, if I'm watching this, I'm thinking, damn, I do.

[01:16:41] You know, goddamn, I kind of do do that sometimes, you know?

[01:16:44] So I like when they are like, hey, hold the mirror up and say, look at this.

[01:16:48] When in a lot of these spots, I feel like they were not holding the mirror up.

[01:16:51] It was just them making a conversation about something to be hardy.

[01:16:54] So that said, it was fun talking to y'all about it.

[01:16:59] You know, I'm saying always good to have interesting conversations.

[01:17:04] You know, before we wrap it up, I have to bring it back

[01:17:07] to something we did all talk about, American fiction.

[01:17:10] Yes, American fiction did a great job of balancing the seriousness

[01:17:17] with the satire of what was going on in American fiction.

[01:17:22] Or maybe just the comedy of it, you know what I'm saying?

[01:17:25] Like that was something like maybe that's what magical Negroes was going for.

[01:17:31] But they completely missed the mark.

[01:17:33] Yeah, for sure.

[01:17:35] Yeah, that's very true.

[01:17:38] And one of the many reasons that, you know,

[01:17:42] Kord Jefferson is the visionary filmmaker that he is,

[01:17:45] is because he's able to walk a tightrope like that

[01:17:49] and actually come out on the side of having black people

[01:17:53] rooting for and identifying with what it is that you're saying.

[01:17:56] Even though you're talking about some really tough topics,

[01:18:01] like things that we didn't even expect to happen in that movie ended up.

[01:18:04] Yeah, exactly.

[01:18:07] Exactly.

[01:18:08] And the and the tone being able to switch

[01:18:11] really well between being very serious, like dealing with all the family issues

[01:18:16] to the book, to the stuff with the book and the book being over exaggerated

[01:18:21] and all of that.

[01:18:23] And yeah, like I it makes me appreciate American fiction so much,

[01:18:30] so much more now and to see how that how how

[01:18:35] like Lutron said, find a tightrope that is.

[01:18:39] Yeah.

[01:18:41] Shout out to the cast first and foremost.

[01:18:43] I think they did a great job.

[01:18:45] Even shout out to Kobe, the director.

[01:18:47] I feel like this is a hard story to tell.

[01:18:50] It is ambitious.

[01:18:52] And I feel like there are definitely things that we could tweak

[01:18:54] to where people would probably appreciate it more.

[01:18:56] But I do think that you didn't leave yourself any favors by throwing out

[01:18:59] that trailer because a lot of people just didn't go out to see the film.

[01:19:02] You know, just you got to grab people.

[01:19:05] And I think that was one of those things that was actually pushing people away

[01:19:08] because a lot of people who watch these types of movies where there's magic

[01:19:11] involved, they've been clamoring for a replacement for that

[01:19:16] other story with that guy with the glasses and the light.

[01:19:19] You know what I'm saying?

[01:19:20] Oh, a lot of people were grabbed in this movie.

[01:19:22] OK, like at least.

[01:19:25] A good hand for twice actually three times.

[01:19:29] I think I saw some just like hands on action there.

[01:19:32] But again, I think that when people say, oh, that's what I'm looking for,

[01:19:36] like Harry Potter, but make it black.

[01:19:38] You know, we saw whenever the Triton or the Twitter topic

[01:19:41] when all the people were like, oh, yeah, black Hogwarts and stuff like that.

[01:19:44] People were primed and ready for some black people magic.

[01:19:49] And this is what they got.

[01:19:50] And so I think that you got to read the room.

[01:19:53] You got to read the room on timing for something like this.

[01:19:55] Because black people love they magic, you know, no, no.

[01:19:57] Don't nobody love a good sleight of hand like us.

[01:20:00] And so just just throwing that out there for the next time

[01:20:04] somebody wants to take on such a role, so ambitious as to making a movie,

[01:20:08] a fantasy movie about black folks magic because we are magical.

[01:20:11] Sorry if you didn't believe it before, but we are and it don't got nothing

[01:20:14] to do with white folks. So that being said, yes.

[01:20:17] LaTanya, thanks for coming back, man.

[01:20:20] It's good to have you back.

[01:20:22] It's always good to be here.

[01:20:23] Whenever you want to talk about anything absurd ever again,

[01:20:28] or something not absurd, something like very, very good and gripping.

[01:20:33] Yeah, you know,

[01:20:36] yeah, I'm just happy to be back here.

[01:20:39] Happy to have you back.

[01:20:41] And could you tell everybody what you're working on?

[01:20:43] Because I believe you have a few irons in the fire right now.

[01:20:46] Yeah. So

[01:20:48] catch up on a previous recap

[01:20:53] kickback episode with me where we did surely the Netflix movie

[01:20:57] with Regina King that was like just so much information

[01:21:02] about a historical figure that we should all know way more about.

[01:21:07] But I feel like we don't know nearly enough about.

[01:21:11] And then just keeping it in the family, I was on episode

[01:21:14] one hundred of crime scene with Mari and Sarah, where we

[01:21:20] covered crime scene Berlin Nightlife Killer.

[01:21:26] And that was a really, really good like true crime.

[01:21:29] And the the things that are like linked in the show notes as well on that episode,

[01:21:34] the podcast that Mari recommended so good.

[01:21:39] I've been listening to all those.

[01:21:40] So if you've been enjoying true crime things

[01:21:44] also look out for potential true crime podcasts.

[01:21:48] And I believe Sarah, Karenine and myself are going to be doing

[01:21:52] for a silent podcast.

[01:21:54] We're going to be talking about

[01:21:57] my gosh, under the bridge, which is a new Hulu show

[01:22:03] starring Lily Gladstone where they are investigating

[01:22:09] the disappearance of a young 14 year old girl based on a true story.

[01:22:15] Check that out for on Silent Podcasts.

[01:22:17] Then I've got Top Chef coverage going on on RHAP.

[01:22:23] That's all going very well and good.

[01:22:26] I'm enjoying this season.

[01:22:28] And then we're also on Silent Podcasts.

[01:22:30] Naomi and I are going to be dropping The Sympathizer,

[01:22:35] the HBO Max Show soon.

[01:22:37] So look out for that on Silent Podcasts.

[01:22:40] You can follow me on Twitter at LK Starks.

[01:22:45] You can follow me on TikTok at Latanya K. Starks.

[01:22:49] Or you can follow me on Instagram at Stormborn 1222

[01:22:53] for information on all these things and more.

[01:22:57] Thank you, Latanya again.

[01:22:59] Happy to have you back all the time

[01:23:01] and would love to have you back soon.

[01:23:03] So keep your ears and eyes open for what's coming up

[01:23:06] that we can talk about.

[01:23:07] And then again, if you're listening to this

[01:23:08] and you want to hear more Latanya, let us know.

[01:23:10] Get in the comments and say, hey, give us more Latanya

[01:23:13] because y'all have been here the first time.

[01:23:14] She's back again and we'd love to have her back for more.

[01:23:17] Mari, what about you?

[01:23:18] What do you have going on?

[01:23:20] Coming up on crime scene on episode 101,

[01:23:26] we talked about, oh my God, drawing a blank.

[01:23:33] What Jennifer did.

[01:23:35] I was just about to ask you if you talked about that movie

[01:23:37] because, Mari, it's something about the trailer.

[01:23:39] It makes me feel like whatever she did,

[01:23:41] she did some Black folk.

[01:23:42] That's all I'm saying.

[01:23:43] I didn't watch it, but that's the vibe I'm getting.

[01:23:46] She did it to her parents and then she blamed Black folk.

[01:23:51] I knew it.

[01:23:52] I knew she did this.

[01:23:53] I seen it in her eyes.

[01:23:55] Right?

[01:23:56] On Netflix.

[01:23:57] OK, yeah, I just saw that.

[01:23:59] We had a great guest.

[01:24:01] It dropped today, Rebecca LaVoy.

[01:24:05] And we talked about what Jennifer did.

[01:24:10] I knew she did.

[01:24:11] Not a spoiler.

[01:24:12] I mean, it's the name of the thing.

[01:24:14] She she did it.

[01:24:15] She killed her parents and then tried to blame it

[01:24:17] on Black people breaking into her house.

[01:24:19] So it is a very interesting documentary on Netflix.

[01:24:24] We had a great conversation about it.

[01:24:26] So go check out Crime Scene by going to

[01:24:28] robhazwebsite.com slash crime feed.

[01:24:31] I will be going on maternity leave pretty soon.

[01:24:34] So there's no wrestling rehab up.

[01:24:35] We are on hiatus, but crime never stops.

[01:24:38] So Sarah will be continuing crime scene.

[01:24:42] She's going to have Sarah debunking

[01:24:46] sit in a second chair and she's going to have loads of fun

[01:24:49] guests covering what else but crime.

[01:24:52] So make sure you are still subscribed to crime scene,

[01:24:56] even as I go.

[01:24:59] I had a great time with Jason and Asia last week over

[01:25:03] on the Mayor of that First Sight podcast,

[01:25:05] where we talked about the reunion part two.

[01:25:08] I like no offense to y'all, but I haven't laughed

[01:25:11] that hard in a minute on a podcast.

[01:25:14] Making fun of these people on these messy

[01:25:17] ass dating reality TV shows.

[01:25:19] It's just so fun.

[01:25:21] And I hadn't I hadn't done it in forever.

[01:25:24] So when we got up on there, we were definitely cutting up.

[01:25:28] So go to you can go to robhazwebsite.com slash love

[01:25:31] at first sight feed to subscribe to Jason and Asia over there

[01:25:36] covering Mayor of that First Sight and Love is Blind

[01:25:38] coverage, ultimatum coverage, all that really, really good

[01:25:42] fun stuff.

[01:25:44] I was also on the BB can round table with Taryn and Melissa

[01:25:49] this past Friday.

[01:25:51] Well, BB can 12.

[01:25:52] We finally had something to talk about.

[01:25:55] So just go to Rob as a podcast YouTube page

[01:26:00] to see us talk about that.

[01:26:01] That was that was fun.

[01:26:04] And that's it.

[01:26:04] I'm just getting in as much stuff as I can before, you know,

[01:26:07] in two weeks I'm tapping out.

[01:26:10] So definitely just go and follow me on Twitter at

[01:26:14] Mari talks too much.

[01:26:15] That's to like number two, because no matter what,

[01:26:16] I will be tweeting.

[01:26:18] I will more likely be tweeting from my hospital bed.

[01:26:23] So you can always follow me there and then wait for me to come back.

[01:26:29] And we'll all be waiting on your return, Mari.

[01:26:32] Thank you so much again for being here and helping me every week.

[01:26:36] And of course, good luck with New Baby.

[01:26:38] Hopefully we get a couple more podcasts out of you before

[01:26:41] they come in our fun.

[01:26:43] In the meantime, I did guest on episode 99 of the

[01:26:47] Was It Good Though podcast where we talked about the Nutty Professor.

[01:26:50] It is the most unhinged I've been on a podcast ever.

[01:26:55] So if you want to go here, Chappelle unplugged

[01:26:57] because I thought nobody was listening.

[01:26:59] Go check that out.

[01:27:00] It is ratchet.

[01:27:01] It's wild and it is so much fun.

[01:27:03] Those two people over there on that podcast are great.

[01:27:05] They're amazing.

[01:27:06] Leave a comment and tell me Chappelle sent you.

[01:27:08] Was it good though?

[01:27:09] Podcast episode 99, the Nutty Professor.

[01:27:11] Also, you can catch me on R.H.A.P.

[01:27:14] Talking about Dealer No Deal Island every week.

[01:27:18] I do the exit press every week when someone eliminated from Dealer No Deal Island.

[01:27:23] We do a recap and we do the exit interview.

[01:27:25] And we got a special exit interview planned for a couple of weeks

[01:27:29] and not an exit interview per se, but somebody involved with the show

[01:27:33] wants to come talk to us and it's a great time.

[01:27:36] So check that out on R.H.A.P.

[01:27:39] Also, check out the Below Deck coverage every Wednesday

[01:27:42] with me and Sasha.

[01:27:44] This Wednesday we'll be covering it live on YouTube at 3 p.m. Eastern.

[01:27:49] But you can catch us every week talking about Below Deck.

[01:27:51] And I believe Below Deck Med will be up next

[01:27:53] and Sasha and I will be covering that as well.

[01:27:55] So check that out on the Bravo Rehapos feed for R.H.A.P.

[01:28:00] Rob and I are talking about nothing but net...

[01:28:02] Well, sorry, talking about Netflix shows on nothing but Netflix.

[01:28:05] We're talking about Unlocked, a jail experiment.

[01:28:08] The crazy reality show on Netflix that has everybody talking about it.

[01:28:14] Rob and I got into the first two episodes

[01:28:16] and we'll be finishing our coverage of that this week on Nothing but Netflix.

[01:28:19] So subscribe to Nothing but Netflix, follow Nothing but R.H.A.P.

[01:28:22] on Twitter to keep up with all of that.

[01:28:24] And then of course, Recap Kickback

[01:28:26] where we're doing all the rest of the podcasting.

[01:28:28] Sasha and I have more Bravo content coming for this very podcast.

[01:28:31] We're talking about Summer House Month is Vineyard coming soon.

[01:28:33] We should have that podcast out to you this week.

[01:28:36] Gia and I will be talking about Abbot Elementary every other week.

[01:28:39] So we should have Abbot coverage for the most recent two episodes this week as well.

[01:28:45] And then before Mori pops, I think her Tyrone and myself,

[01:28:49] we need to get together to talk about the boom box.

[01:28:51] It just needs to happen.

[01:28:52] So a lot of content coming for Recap Kickback.

[01:28:56] And again, thank you all for listening.

[01:28:58] Check out RecapKickback.com. Leave a five star review.

[01:29:01] Let us know what you think.

[01:29:02] Leave some comments. Follow us on all the social media.

[01:29:04] And then check us out every week as we bring you more content

[01:29:08] that I want to talk about with all the people.

[01:29:09] I want to talk about it with you.

[01:29:13] Don't got to go home, but we're done talking about this movie.

[01:29:16] So peace out. We will talk to you all later. Bye.