Black Men and Drag!

ewwww

When did everyone decide that black men in drag should be considered as funny? Seriously people it is so not funny or maybe it’s just me.

For the last decade or so black comedians have decided that it’s either you go drag or go home. When Dave Chappelle told Oprah on her show that he would not dress like a woman to be funny everyone thought he was being difficult.

Most of you don’t know that Chiwetel Ejiofor, Yes the Nigerian, actually played dress up in a movie titled “kinky Boots”. The same dude who played the scientist on 2012 I kid you not. I know some of you would want to see that movie. Don’t bother!

Martin Lawrence recent reboot of the Big Momma series has not in any way helped me feel better about this whole drag gag thing. Alas! For some reason the movie was thrust upon me and it totally sucked. Unlike the previous movies that had just Martin playing dress up, in this one he has an accomplice. I am not even going to bother going in-depth as to why the movie sucked and how weak the story line was. In conclusion, Don’t bother going to see it.

Don’t forget Tyler perry is donning the fat suit again to reprise his role as Madea, and a double dose of Shenene and Wanda; Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx respectively in  a bank robbery themed movie or something to that effect. All I can say is “why Lord why?!”

In my opinion these movies are degrading and slowly creating a disturbing image of older black women. In all my time over here, I am yet to meet a black woman who looks remotely like Tyler Perry’s Madea or Eddie Murphy’s Rasputia.

What sucks is when these comedians decide to dress in drag, they don’t try to bring out the beauty or softness in femininity, rather they reach for the frumpiest and flowery looking gowns they can find and the ugliest looking wigs. They would rather play an uncultured black female than an educated one or would rather be disgustingly obese like we need any more obese role models for black people. So please tell me how is that funny? And who exactly are these movies aimed at?  Teenagers? Middle aged black house wives? Young men between the ages of 25 and 45? Who exactly?

What bothers me is a lot of these parts could have been played by black women and we would have been perfectly fine with it. E.g why couldn’t Eddie Murphy replace Mama Klump on “The Nutty Professor” with Monique? I wouldn’t have noticed any difference? Was it any funnier with Eddie Murphy? Nope!. If Tyler Perry had cast a female as Madea would I have complained? Nope! So why is drag funny? Or am I missing something?

Honestly,these movies are born from a lack of idea or concept and they just go to show how shallow black people have become. The worst part is the young up coming generation of black comedians are already getting introduced into this part of the trade. Case in point; Brandon T Jackson. I actually thought he played a good role in Bow wow’s “Lottery Ticket” even though the movie bombed. Come to find out he’s playing dress up with old man or should I say woman Martin Lawrence! Oh! So it a rite of passage now huh? What a shame.

Whatever lessons we are supposed to learn from these movies (trust me they always try to infuse some lame lesson or another) is eventually lost in the obscenities and ridiculousness of the movie scenes. Take for example Madea running from the cops and cussing like a sailor. Or Wanda or Shenene trying to find love.

It won’t be long now before the Gay folk association or the Registered cross dressers would make some noise about all of this. Or maybe the same black people would make a fuss when a white man decides to play dress up as a black woman. Just you wait to hear the uproar!

Not that I am expecting this drag-dom to stop anytime soon, no thanks to the million and one movie goers who think it’s funny but all I am saying is, it’s so not funny.

Do you?