Dr Boyce Watkins, Will Smith Movie Hancock Is Racist
Was Hancock Racist? A Little Bit
Prof. Boyce Watkins
I couldn’t help but feel just a little uneasy during this film and I was not sure why. I eventually determined that the little itch in my butt was the fact that this film was, perhaps accidentally, one of the more racist Hollywood depictions I’ve seen in a while.
1) Is it just a coincidence that first Black superhero just happens to be a dirty, smelly, alcoholic who treats people like crap? Hancock was more like a corner bum than a hero (remember when he took the liquor bottle to the bathroom?).
2) Is it just a coincidence that a clean cut white man comes along to save him? Go watch movies like “Amistad” and “A Time to Kill” to see many other examples in which the white male is clean and heroic, while the black male character is strong, yet misguided, uneducated or in need of saving. This clearly links to history, in which Europeans would go to Africa to “enlighten the savages”.
3) Did you notice that when Hancock was engaging in anti-social, erratic behavior, the film played hip hop music? I remember hearing “Move Bitch Get out tha way!” (Ludacris) as Hancock was flying through the expressway with a liquor bottle and destroying public property. Then, when he went to prison, I heard Ice-T’s “Colors” being played in the background. Interesting.
But Not The Guy Below
Comment by jahneen on 12 July 2008:
Thank you!! In a nutshell I went from enjoying this movie to being so utterly p*s*ed off I couldn’t leave fast enough. A Black man as a dirty, drunk, in need of a teaching from a white man, loving a blonde white woman for decades only to be beaten? Sick how overtly racist this movie turned out to be. I’m disappointed beyond belief.
Comment by Jason on 27 July 2008:
I’m shocked that this hasn’t been picked up in mainstream media.
This movie is clearly a vessel for a deeply racist subtext.
1. Black Superhero is a drunk and a bum
2. He must be “saved” by a white publicist. (as if publicist, white, red, yellow or black, are an example of moral standards!?)
3. The interracial relationship is mutually destructive to both the black man and the white female.
4. Not only in a trivial / normal context but in a semi-mythical one too.
Yes, add the sound track and you have a fully formed vessel for subtle distribution of a racist meme for a new generation, given the target audience…
Honestly did the hollywood Klan faction have something to do with putting this story together?.. it’s frankly unbelievable … Although, clearly and sadly, not a lone example.
What was Will Smith thinking? not to mention the rest of the cast.
Comment by Eric on 30 July 2008:
I saw this movie at a free preview in June and, besides the fact that this is horrible from every cinematic criteria, I was immediately struck by the racism. It is a sad testament to the power of the studio machine in suppressing this fact. Probably also, the Church of Scientology, which has claimed Will Smith as a victim, is helping suppress this as well. But please get the word out: Hancock is the most racist mainstream movie in a couple years!
Comment by Free on 31 July 2008:
I wholeheartedly agree with all of the above comments. May I add? The reason why the blatant racial message was not picked up by the mainstream media is because this was a mainstream media oracle. The message is, “We are still in charge no matter what powers you may perceive to have”. Let’s face it!!! Racism is alive and doing quite well in America. We are in a period of Neo-Slavery where we can now go anywhere in the masters house, even sleep in bed with the masters wife while the master is in the bed we left. But, when outside of the house, the master’s strong arm is waiting to do us harm in the most obvious ways. That cliché, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”, goes like this for us, and sadly it’s, “We feed the hand that continually beats us over the head”.
Comment by Eric on 31 July 2008:
I forgot to mention: in a scene with Hancock in prison (where Hancock’s benevolent white guy ‘friend’ talks Hancock into staying!), the director plays the theme music from ‘Sanford and Son.’ Now, Sanford and Son had nothing to do with prison, and I haven’t seen that show since the ’70’s, but my memories of it include a lot of really bad stereotypes (but I did think the actors were very good, especially Redd Foxx). Anybody besides me think that music was a racial message?
Comment by Noel on 2 August 2008:
Well the movie was a pretty good example of inter-racial relationship’s taboo in America. And the subject of the relatonship between the hero and the wife was pretty hard to deliver so they needed to come up with the usual B.S. cause America cannot seem to deal with the strong black man. The history of Interracial relationships and Ameica’s inability to historically deal with it (scars on hero’s body) i think was the film subconscious point and also how to this day America cannot deal with a strong black man he has to be a bum prisoner basketball player …ETC, also white guy needs to be a loser too. There are African Americans who are very good at decoding these things too, it’s very interesting to see.