This is three or four month’s late, but I don’t pay attention to stuff like the Superbowl unless I’m forced to. Video and the link to Miss Jia’s is at the bottom.
When my sister showed me the video and the commercial from Miss Jia’s, I didn’t take it too hard.
After thinking about the commercial again, I realized that Miss Jia had said everything that I would usually say about the commercial. Then I said out loud to myself, “They caught me napping, Miss Jia! Thank the lawd you were on point!”
The commericial was a complete stereotypical/typecasted rendition of how white folks have viewed Black women since they “discovered” the shores of western Africa and the slave ship to go with it. The Black woman in the commericial is typed as angrily and violently coercing her boyfriend/husband into submission and the Black man is some kind of animal that can’t control his urges, especially his sexual desire for little peppy white women.
This is what I would add to what Miss Jia said:
From the view point of a Black woman, having grown up working class in the South, what I find that rings a little true with me is how in my community, some women really do believe they can control men’s behavior. Its a human flaw, not just a Black woman’s flaw. Call it pussy power, Beyonce’s brand of feminism, whatever you wanna call it–you can’t force or influence somebody in a dominant position into doing something they ain’t gonna do. That’s how power dynamics work. I don’t condone the commericial, period, but the only solid criticism I have with the Pepsi Max commerical, having stated my background, is the fact that they made this Black woman appear so violent, abusive, and angry.
I, too, have been accused of being an “angry Black woman”, over the table and under the table. I’ve had my experiences with that. Whether I’m angry or not, that’s beside the point.
The guy in the video looked very interested in the lil’ white girl, right? Well. Society has taught and engrained in many Black men that Black women are undesirable and distasteful, especially the browner (or “darker”) they are. They degrade Black women in every way they can, then purposefully date and breed outside of their race, calling it “preference” (i.e. look no further than Lil’ Wayne, post coming up that shyt). While they labor under the oppressions placed on all Black people, Black men are also privileged and take advantage of male privilege as often as they can. People don’t bat two eyelashes about it.
So what’s real and what’s not real about the Pepsi Max Superbowl commercial? Really? How often do you see Black people acting out stereotypes? This is a question for Black people who live around other Black people. People who live in these communities know the answers.
In the years before the Obamas in the White House, no one on television was overly interested in Black folks(except for Jerry Springer and even back in those days, he had more white folks on his show, I think). The biggest deal that people ever made out of Black people then was our eating habits, diabetes, and STDs. Now all of a sudden, they wanna put Black folks all up in the media and they want to show the world the worst aspects imaginable more so now than ever. Ignorance, colorism, prostituion and other sex work, sexism, male domination, STDs, heterosexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, poverity, pregnancy rates, the Black male rapist myth, domestic violence–all this stuff has been keyed up for somebody’s viewing pleasure. And they know who to ask to get what they want out of the Black community for entertainment. Its a circus.
more to come,
Ms. Queenly
Visit Miss Jia for her video commentary as well as the commercial and the discussion or View Also @ Ms. Queenly’s:
Black Stereotypes in the Pepsi Max Superbowl Commercial @ Miss Jia’s
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My sister just told me that Christopher Meloni is leaving Law and Order: Special Victims Unit because he and the producers can’t come to an agreement about the contract AND Mariska Hargitay might be leaving, too. HEELLL NO! As depressing and difficult as I find this show, because of the violent and brutal nature of the cases, I used to watch it aaallll the time. What I like about Law and Order: SVU is that it isn’t completely made up, it exposes the flaws of the justice and legal system, and show portrayals of survivors and victims of these crimes with all the drama. And I love two passionate characters/cops like Olivia Benson (Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Meloni). If you take those two off, then the show won’t survive and I won’t get to see the detective minorities like Tutuola (Ice T), the Black guy, and Munch (Richard Belzer), the Jew. I was so proud that Ice T got and held this role! Let’s never forget the coroner, too!
Lil’ Wayne *see my angry face*
I am so embarrassed by some Black people. I’ve heard of this phoenomenon before: you see or hear Black folks on television or on the news doing or saying something straight ignorant and harmful and you’re embarrassed and frustrated. This is why I mostly refuse to watch television and attempt to keep my ears closed to pop culture.
It took Miss Robinson (MissRobinson26 on YouTube) being personally insulted for her to realize that maybe rap and Lil’ Wayne ain’t what’s happening. Watch her video below or go to YouTube to check out her commentary or channel–the video in review is entitled ‘Lil’ Wayne Disrespects Woman for Being Dark Skin’. See Black folks–I don’t want to be the one, but I told you so. You give these celebrities all your money and this is how they repay you for making them into millionaires.
They turn your daughters into hoochies and whores, your sons into “thugs”, and your babies into dark, ugly creatures that you should be ashamed of. What is it going to take for Black folks at least to stop buying into this stuff?!
I was listening to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”, a song celebrating the birth and inherent beauty of a baby Black girl, not degrading and tearing her down before she’s even learned to walk and be on her own. The title of the song may sound like a question, but Stevie Wonder isn’t asking you, really, if his daughter’s existence is a thing to behold, he’s telling you. Thinking of that, I feel sorry for the baby girl Lil’ Wayne played his part in bringing into the world. I hope she’s stronger for this, I hope she never has to understand what this man who calls himself her father has said to the whole world about her and her mother and all women of darker brown skin tones. It makes me so mad and so sad at the same time.
I could go into a whole sociological/psychological analysis of what I think Lil’ Wayne’s issue is, but I don’t want to waste that much time on him. I’m already pissed off enough about what he’s said about browner Black women and about f*cking all the girls in the world (but apparently not the “dark skinneded” ones, especially if he might get them pregnant and produce a less than light-skinned child). I, for one, refuse to acknowledge or condone his racist preferences, or that of any other man’s.
Don’t believe the glitter, don’t trust the hype!
Never let these rappers and celebrities, these racist psychologist and sociologists and other academics, the haters, the ignorant, and the misguided make you feel ashamed of being Black. And that’s for real.
We, as a people, are in enough physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological cages as it is.
for all us precious Black women and children,
~Queen~
Posted by Taviante Queens in Ms. Queenly's Response to..., Music and/or Entertainment, Popular Media, Reflections, Writings to.... Tags: Black feminist critique, Black women, colorism, dark-skinned women, Lil' Wayne, Lil' Wayne Disrespect Black Woman for Being Dark Skin, men's preference, miscegenation, misogyny, MissRobinson26, Ms. Queenly, racial preference, rap artists, social commentary, socio-political, YouTube