Thursday, May 04, 2006

Missed Appropriation

Note to Bravo Network:

It's not strong BLACK woman. It's strong black WOman.

Nuance and subtlety, my dears. Without it, what was elegant and clever becomes clumsy and just plain amateur.

In the latter, strong and black are peers. They accentuate the woman, the subject of the show, thereby driving home the irony and humor. In the former, the way your announcer says it, the woman, thus the person, is rendered moot. Black is now the subject. The show might as well have been titled Look at Me, I'm BLACK...no not really.

Let me say right now, it takes a brave comic, especially one who's not a Black Woman, to title her show Strong Black Woman. Complements to Kathy Griffin. I hope the special is as good as its title.

Bravo? Coach your announcer. Or better still, hire a strong Black woman...in fact, hire two. Then maybe you'd have understood the subtle genius in the setup and not flubbed it in the delivery.

Edgy humor done well is genius. Edgy humor done poorly is just fucking annoying.

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