Time to call it a wrap on Black History Month (until June, in which we celebrate Black Music) with something else different yet again: the black versions!
There has always been a mainstream (read: white) Hollywood and then Hollywood for the rest of us; the first time I really grappled with this was when I saw the Spanish language version of Dracula. Dràcula featured many of the same scenes from the English language classic horror film, but with some tailoring for a much different audience. Notably, the inclusion of a little pathological fear of sexuality, already present in the source material, but made more blatant for a predominantly Catholic audience.
And then we have… the black versions. These movies have bubbled under the surface of mainstream stage and screen forever. As you might guess, these are adaptations of materials created for an assumed white audience, reworked for a black audience. Cultural adaptations aren’t anything new, but the “black versions” of films are fascinating to me for a lot of reasons. Why make a black version of anything when we have our own stories to tell? Who cares if it’s the same as someone else’s? It’s not a surprise that these versions are sometimes seen as inferior – by being an adaptation of something for a white audience, they’re already cutting themselves as second rate. Right?
Well, no. Sometimes it works. Sometimes you transcend the source material and create something just as unique and vibrant. Like blaxploitation, the community can go back and forth on whether these films, if any of them or which of them, have any merit. But face it – some of them are your favorite films in the black canon. For example:
1) The Wiz (1978, dir. Sidney Lumet)
The classic example of an update for us, by us, The Wiz is so much more than just a black version of The Wizard of Oz – it successfully stands alone as a surreal, campy, yet still very black experience.
The hazy ‘80s night club backdrops to the tap-dance choreography to the powerful, soulful music numbers that touch on the black experience well beyond the original scope of L. Frank Baum’s story. The Wiz, much like its source material, has proven to be very malleable over time as well without sacrificing the black cast to create a “universal” story of struggle. To say it has remained incredibly black is an understatement. In fact, it seems each Broadway and film iteration just makes it blacker than the next. If you don’t believe me, see The Wiz Live! and let me know the next time you see voguing in a mainstream musical. Go on, I’ll wait.
2) Scary Movie (2000, dir. Keenan Ivory Wayans)
Did someone say “incredibly black”?
A slight cheat in that Scary Movie isn’t a black recreations of anything in particular, but rather a parody of horror films in general from a black lens. In short, a black take on horror comedy. For horror comedy, hands down the original movie can’t be beat. Ironically, its impact was cemented when the terrible offshoot movies appeared on the scene – they all missed the point in trying to encompass too much, too broadly, and poor attempts at satirizing popular film trends often months after those fads died down. Scary Movie mercilessly skews evergreen horror movie AND black movie tropes just as we all did on the couch, giggling over popcorn at white women tripping over their own two feet. I’m not saying it’s closer to a black Mystery Science Theater 3000, but if someone wants to get on that too…
3) Steel Magnolias (2012, dir. Kenny Leon)
The most recent example of a “black version of”, you wouldn’t be faulted for being a little… skeptical. An all-black cast and a Lifetime film? And a remake? Can we not?
As it turned out, Steel Magnolias was great and even a little timely. Steel Magnolias is the quintessential Southern story full of country charm, family drama, and a moral of perseverance and holding onto family and faith in the face of tragedy. As a Southerner to my core, I was pretty curious and a little hyped to see this on my television screen. It avoids being quite a shot for shot remake and boasts some fantastic acting performances from our favorite blacktresses, and adds in a few touches to connect it to the community rather than just creating a complete re-skin. So the question remains, then, why not just tell another, very similar story with a black cast rather than a remake? The true answer is so Lifetime could cut a few costs on their end. But, well, what else embodies the (non-racist) values of the south quite better than black family?
4) Leprechaun in the Hood (2000, dir. Rob Spera)
Another cheat similar to Scary Movie in that this isn’t a “version” or reboot of anything, but rather two great things that go great together, creating a hybrid… thing.
Leprechaun in the Hood jumped ahead in the trends and made a black version of itself. That’s right, I said it. Never the most illustrious franchise, by 2000 the Leprechaun movies were on a down slope until this movie and the sequel Back 2 Tha Hood revived it. The revival was short, but it left us with two films that have become oddly iconic. Leprechaun in the Hood has remained a standout in black horror films for being (mostly intentionally) hilarious, bizarre, a little exploitative, and blatant in its motives. Cashing on the trend of “urban horror” movies, the ol’ wiley Leprechaun seemed poised for a comeback with this soft re-envisioning. Too bad critics and audiences (and the studios) disagreed. A little ahead of its time? Well, leave the memories alone as they say.