Soul Man (1986)

By Dan_Tebasco

**Soul Man** Had heard a bit about this movie before I saw it, many times refered to as being racist. In fact COMPLEX MAGAZINE listed it as number 4 on a 'most racist movies' list they made. Watching it, I must say it's a whole lot less racist than I expected it to be. In fact I wouldn't call it racist at all. It's about a white guy who gets into Harvard but can't afford to go there so he looks for scholarships that he can take but the only one applicable to him is one designed for African Americans. So he fakes being black (with full blackface makeover and a 80's jerrycurl to match) and gets it. There is of course a stigma around blackfaces stemming from early 20th century films where white people would dress up as black people and make fun of them and make them look stupid etc. But to say that this movie is racist for that reason alone is very simpleminded. Cause even though the guy does put on a blackface, there is not a malicious intent behind it. And he does learn a thing or two about racism himself as the movie progresses. I would probably argue that if anything it's more racist towards whites and perhaps a general white perception of blackness (at least of the time) than it is of blacks. But even that would be a bit of a stretch. Anyways slightly overthinking it here perhaps, as it is in fact not a too serious movie but a comedy. And as a comedy, albeit it has a bit of a rough start it works pretty good. It's no masterpiece or anything and it could have done with some editing cutting it down by 15-20 minutes or so. But overall a decent and fairly harmless watch that does manage to convey a pretty good message while also gathering up some big laughs ocassionally.