The Atlantic - Latest Comments in White Woman Obsessed

Re: White Woman Obsessed

zuhal duyen — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 11:32:40 -0000

Hi .. You made some Good points there...

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very cool post indeed.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

blackteach — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:30:21 -0000

I just watched the movie with one of my girlfriends. We went to the to the movie for two reasons: Idris and Beyonce. I have to admit-yes-we even talked to the screen...his fineness and her beatdown of Ali Larter.

However, I need to say that absolutely this movie deals with race and again movies are symbolic. Black women who often work in jobs with a high number of white females who participate and benefit from white privilege and are often silenced in a variety of ways. And I think when we go to the movies I think that we yell at the "symbol" of white women for a variety of reasons not simply the you stole my man logic.

Give us a little credit.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

makedap7 — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:01:33 -0000

I am surprised that none of the commenters have brought up an obvious point- Black women are the ultimate underclass of American society. Everywhere we turn, our beauty, desirability, femininity and character are being disparaged by comparison to the mainstream, excessively thin, blonde-hair blue-eyed ideal. We have too much attitude, our natural hair is too short or too kinky, our thighs are too thick, our butts are too big, etc. I have seen a focus group of White women on CNN publicly compare Michelle Obama to a horse because of the shape of her figure! So why is everyone surprised and offended that Black women take it personally when the most successful Black men chose a White wife? We have come to harden ourselves to being marginalized by mainstream White society but it hurts even more, on a much more intimate level, coming from one of our own. Instead of begrudging the Black women in the audience the cathartic release of seeing an errant White adulteress put in place by a strong Black woman, perhaps we should question the type of society that inspires these type of feelings.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

M.C. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:02:26 -0000

Where are all these people who idealize white women? All the white guys I know seem to be marrying Asian women. Or Latinas.

Which is fine if they are doing it for the right reasons. The ones who say they like these women because they have "better family values," I drop even as casual friends. It seems to be a code for wanting a traditional, pre-feminist woman who won't make waves.

(Knowing some of the women, these men will be surprised.)

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Tonya — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:38:42 -0000

My guess is that these violent portrayals are against people who have done wrong and are getting their "comeuppance" so to speak.

Jill Scott's husband was an ass! He made her get off of a plane and drive across the country while he had an affair in front of her friends. Not to mention the emotional abuse he heaped on her.

Regina King's husband? Another cheater who was emotionally abusive.

Sanaa Lathan ( I haven't seen the movie..) but from what I can gather of Tyler Perry's movies, she must have been an evil character in some way. Rarely does he let someone just be abusive without cause.

Here's the thing, I think movies allow people to exact retribution in violent ways that aren't really acceptable in normal society. Not to say that there isn't a problem with this. Movies are too violent in general. However, it is a good observation that for these movies it seems it is okay to offer up violence is an acceptable answer to solving your problems to the Black Community.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Tonya — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:25:11 -0000

$12.50!!!! Oh heeeeeeeecccckkkk naw! (sorry..movies are still an affordable $10 here in SF Bay Area)

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Tonya — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:58:01 -0000

I don't loathe her..I just think she needs to sit down somewhere. Why does she have to be in EVERY movie playing EVERY character? Given that there are soo many wonderful black actresses out there, I need to see more of them. Not more of her.

If I watch this movie it will be because of Idris. That's a strong IF.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Juba — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:06:48 -0000

Ah no wonder.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Sweet Jones — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:35:48 -0000

It should be noted that the same guys who did 'Trois' (fellow FAMU Alums Will Packer and Rob Hardy) did this movie also.

Sould help explain alot of the similarities.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Erik G. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:51:19 -0000

Actually, one reason Lakeview Terrace and Obsessed may seem so similar is that they share a screenwriter, David Loughery.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

dragnet — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:51:13 -0000

I also can't stand Beyonce---even though she is fine as hell. And ditto on the Snowflake beatdown.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

tigger500 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:30:08 -0000

Sorry...that's "worth noting" not "worth nothing"

Re: White Woman Obsessed

tigger500 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:16 -0000

I don't mean to suggest you don't engage race, I just meant this post was one-sided in a way that I find problematic. That said, I think this was a reactionary piece - and that's fine - but it's worth nothing that often are first responses in America lean white, not black.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Bougie Applebum — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:10:39 -0000

Ah and a light bulb goes off. You have presented a very good question.

I saw each of the movies that you referenced and you're correct - when the black-on-black-beatdowns were going down, no one was complaining or muttering a single "What tha heck?" Especially when Sanaa was slapped over a counter in The Family That Preys. I mean come on - he hit her so hard she went up and over a counter?! The theater just laughed and gave that man his free pass and honorary Ike Turner club card.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Bougie Applebum — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:05:17 -0000

Seriously? Hated it?

And here I liked the movie. I know it touched on the sensitivity between the racists, but I didn't think it was necessarily a racist movie. My race radar must be off, because I'm not picking up on any of these black/white, race/racist issues that seem to be so easily detected by everyone else. lol

Re: White Woman Obsessed

RWB — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:47:53 -0000

I mean Obsessed, not Obsession. Sorry.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

RWB — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:46:06 -0000

I see where you are coming from, but this made the movie more boring. To me, a good thriller has moral ambiguity--the good guys aren't 100% good and the bad guys aren't 100% bad. Otherwise, you just have formulaic children's entertainment. That's why film noir still fascinates 50 and 60 years later, and why we love movies like The Godfather.

Obsession was, in the end, bad noir. I mean, compare Elba's character here to Stringer Bell, an ambiguous character if there ever was one--a gangster trying to seamlessly get out of the gangster life; a murderer who creates a coop to reduce the number of murders (not for any moral qualms, just that murders are bad for business); a drug dealer who also conforms to our national feel-good myth of the guy who makes up for his lack of education and opportunity growing up by going to night school and getting a degree. We loved him and felt bad for loving him. Now to say that Obsession wasn't as good as The Wire is unfair, but the difference between the two characters exemplifies the qualities that separate interesting narrative art from uninteresting narrative art, as far as I am concerned.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

DougEMI — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:43:27 -0000

Her character twenty-odd-years on has no power in the workplace at all, and works as a temp.

I think that she apparently has no power is part of the point, you take someone who appears at the bottom of the ladder and through deviousness, she gains control. There would be a whole different dynamic if the woman was an equal or even a superior to the man (and a different comparison to an equally awful movie "Disclosure")

While there may have been a feminist critique of Fatal Attraction, it doesn't mean that filmmakers are going to change things. Stories of the vixen tempting a man predate the Bible. These kinds of stories happen in the workplace every day, though with less Hollywood sensationalism. Replace business exec with President of the United State, Temp with Intern, add a cigar and you have a real life movie. White House flunkies even had whisper campaigns that Monica was a nutty stalker a la Glenn Close.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

GAPeach7 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:20:30 -0000

What Tiffany said.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Carrington — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:43:14 -0000

Although it's a pretty constraining sexism: the guy's dumb, dishonest, and cheats on her.... but she can't leave him, and she can't realize that he is probably himself the blonde's girl's just desserts.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Carrington — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:33:13 -0000

As Peggy Noonan said, sometimes it's best to keep on walking: look forward, don't look back.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Daphne — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:27:04 -0000

Hi Lee, a co-blondie here.

So this film is a remake of Fatal Attraction? It sure sounds as if everybody has forgotten the feminist critique about that film, after it first came out. It was a highly convenient vehicle for a lot of sexist crap, with Glenn Close in the role of unmarried psycho bitch. Fatal Attraction delved into the psyche of unmarried successful career women, who, it transpired in that film, must be crazy and violent. A deep well of blatant sexism was opened up there.

Obsessed has not reached Europe yet, so I am judging from the trailer only. But it sure sounds as if that particular sexism debate has only moved backward. The psycho unmarried blonde in the remake looks as if she has become even more weird and emotionally unstable than the original character, who at least had some real sex with Michael Douglas to back up her 'claim'. Also, the power dynamic is even more screwed up. Glenn Close's character was a professional woman, working in publishing, if I remember correctly. Her character twenty-odd-years on has no power in the workplace at all, and works as a temp.

As for the black and white woman dynamic, I feel too European and sheltered from the American experience to be knowledgeable enough to comment.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

Professor Tracey — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:14:27 -0000

I find it interesting that folks are worried about a white woman being smacked around in movie by a black woman. When the same folks that saw this movie, most likely sat through The Family That Preys, where a black woman gets smacked head over heels by a black man. The way this was set-up in this film, folks were cheering this beatdown as well.

I sat through This Christmas, where Regina King beats the daylights out her cheating-ass black husband and that too, was greeted with healthy clapping and cheers. And quite frankly, Tyler Perry is a regular offender with this kind of stuff. From Jill Scott smacking her mean husbands with a bottle upside the head to throwing hot grits on someone.

The wrong question has been raised here. What difference does it make who is beaten? The real question is why are these kind of domestic violence movies being made and marketed to black folks in the first damn place? And why do some black folks enjoy seeing these kinds of movies?

Re: White Woman Obsessed

C. — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:00:38 -0000

The Onion's AV Club had a great interview with Alfre Woodard this week that touches on some of these issues of trying to portray complex characters as a black actress. (And a mom.)

It's here:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/alfre-woodard,27224/

In closing, Alfre Woodard is awesome.

Re: White Woman Obsessed

res ipsa loquitur — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:11:37 -0000

I saw the posters on bus shelters and knew that, Idris Elba or no Idris Elba, I'd never see that movie. I'm going leave it to black people to decide whether it's speaking in crude code to black women, but I can tell you that it's speaking in crude code to men and women in general.

TO MEN: Crazy but hot temptress will get obsessed with you and ruin your life with nice and hot woman.

TO WOMEN: Crazy bitch will get obsessed with your man and try to steal him from you.

I saw "Fatal Attraction" once, and that was enough.