HH4PREZ BLOG: Was Hancock A Big Inside Joke For Hollywood?

Written by Biko Baker

My man Minister Jasiri X (who also puts it down in the booth) just forwarded me this blog he just wrote about his reflections on Hancock. Pretty insightful stuff. Check it out:

The Text can be found at http://blog.myspace.com/jasirix

Hancock: The First Ni**a Superhero!

I know I know I'm a conspiracy theorist…

It's just a coincidence that the first "superhero" depicted on the silver screen as a criminal, alcoholic, lazy, foul mouthed, not giving a you know what bum, living in a broken down trailer, who everybody hates including the people he saves,  *just happens* to *be black.*

Right?

And, it's just a coincidence the one man who loves Hancock, has faith in him and truly cares about him as a person; is an idealistic white man who wants to save the entire planet. Let's call him the Anti-Bush. Oh and I can't forget his adorable little son is the only character, besides his loving father, that doesn't refer to Hancock as an a**hole.

Right?

And, is it just a coincidence that Hancock only maintains his super powers if he stays away from a "beautiful" white woman who is *technically* his wife.

*You have got to be kidding, right??!!*

I mean, of course the Blacks and Latinos hate Hancock because the only ones depicted in the movie are criminals, and although he does an extremely poor job, is often late, drunk, unshaven, shabbily dressed and does more damage than good (just coincidences!) he does, at the very least, fight crime.

But, everything changes for friendless Hancock when he saves a white man with a heart of gold and an angel of a son who wants to help Hancock with his "image".  (Because of course America won't accept an always drinking and cursing black man with a rap sheet, I mean who does he think he is Lil Wayne?) In a matter of minutes he convinces Hancock to turn himself in and go to jail. He even writes his press conference speech for him!

Mr. Save the World then proceeds to "civilize" the savage Hancock by convincing him to stop drinking, shave, wear a hero uniform, treat other people with kindness and consideration, and even how to land without ruining public property. Things that; in the 80 years he remembers being a superhero, poor Hancock never seemed to figure out.

After his much needed "makeover" Hancock finally receives the love of the people he was always looking for. And, even when he realizes he is not the only superhero and his "savior's" wife is his long lost love, he gladly leaves because when they are together they become "mortals". Plus, she was smart enough to hide her powers, because unlike Hancock; she could care less about saving people -- she just wants to live a "normal" life. (How ironic that her husband wants to save the world and she actually has the power to do so but selfishly refuses to do so because she prefers being a spaghetti cooking, house wife.)

The black man, even though he's a superhero, needs the white man to properly educate him and integrate him into his society and the white woman who is also a superhero has to hide her power just to keep her white man *

(coincidence!!!)*

Come on now, we all know that any woman in her right mind would take Jason Bateman over Will Smith, and of course Hancock does have his bird to keep him company (yes, it's literally a bird).

But, please don't leave right after the movie ends or you'll miss a bug eyed Mike Epps playing — You guessed it, a jive talking criminal— one steaming pile of white supremacy with a coon on top!

Don't believe me?

Well, just compare Hancock to the other superheroes of the summer like millionaire, genius, scientist Iron-man or millionaire, playboy, martial art expert Batman. Hell, even Bruce Banner (The Hulk) is a world renown scientist who only seems to get into trouble when his skin is no longer…….I know, I know I'm a conspiracy theorist.

Well, at least there is one more action movie coming out this summer that stars a black man! Don Cheadle plays a Black Muslim and former solider with apparent connections to a number of terrorist operations in a movie called "TRAITOR".

OK, OK, *I'm sure this is just a coincidence.*

Right?

*Questions or comments contact Jasiri X at jasirix@gmail.com or call 412-404-2347*

http://www.myspace.com/jasirix

Comments

[RealTalkb]

Hancock: The First Ni**a Superhero!

Ummm... Okay I'm not sure if you talkin about the first black super hero in movies period, or the first black superhero in movies that embodies negative stereotypes of black peoples aka nigga. But for real 4 real I think you bein a little paranoid. First off this isnt the first antihero we've seen in movies at all: John McClain from Die Hard? Why can't black people play bastard drunk anti-heroes without it being associated with negative racial stereotypes? Personally I never even thought of racial shit in relation to Hancock at all until I read your blog. Actually there have been LOTS of black superheroes in movies none of which are stereotypical at all. Meteor Man and Blank Man off the top of my head. How about Steel wit Shaq? (based on Man of Steel who is sort of like Iron Man in that he's genius weapons designer and what not, cept he's inspired by Superman's death to build a suit). The only negative stereotype reflected in Steel was Shaq can't shoot freethrows lol! Little cheesy movie like most superhero movies, but shit I love superhero movies since I grew up on the Superman and Batman movies and Steel was cool as hell. And even if you talkin about the recent onslaught of superhero movies you dead wrong that Hancock is the first black superhero. The very successful Blade Trilogy is actually the movie widely credited for starting the current superhero boom. Blade was followed by another superhero movie called X-Men which prominently features Storm, the best (and hottest) black woman superhero ever, and also the X-Men story is very much an analogy for racism and bigotry in our world. Not far after that you had Berry star as Catwoman too, and you have another previously white character Nick Fury leader of SHIELD being played by a black person, the very inspiration for that character Samuel L Jackson. Yeah I have to admit the whole Hancock thing looks real bad on the surface when you look at it how you laid it out, but I very much doubt America in 2008 is actually thinkin of it like that. I can't wait til they make a movie bout the Black Panther, I picture it like Blood Diamond or Last King of Scotland type shit cept all that crazy stuff goin around the futuristic utopia nation of Wakanda.

[Dook]

@REALTALK...

U took the comments right off of my finger. And I forgot about STEEL and Meteor Man. What about WARMACHINE from Iron man? Hell even iron man was a bumbling idiot in the movie.. a drunk and all. So yeah you are being too over-analytical buddy..

[Prolifik82]

Hancock: The First Ni**a Superhero!

F*** you, you gotta be kidding me god forbid her was a serial killer, or wearing his underwear on the outside.

Hancock was a dude who had real problems. He was alienated due to a false perception that just because he had superpowers that he owed society something. (He is not Spiderman)

Nobody askes SPAWN for s***, and Storm kept it real. Even though Cage and Steel were wack they still held it down.

The First Ni**a Superhero!,
wow...watch who the f*** you swing that word at

[RealTalkb]

Yeah can't believe I forgot about Spawn, he's black too.

I would advocate they make a Power Man Luke Cage movie, but mofuckaz might think he's a stereotype too just cuz he's a superhero from the streets. Flat out a hiphop/movie legend like Will Smith wouldnt make himself apart of somethin racist if it was, Fresh Prince was/is a real life hero for us all 4 real.

Don't take offense, I like this HipHop4Prez blog though, good discussions is always happenin here.

[NK]

LOL @ FIRST I WAS LIKE, "WAIT, YEAH! THATS BULLSHIT!". THEN I READ THE COMMENTS LIKE "OH...OH YEAH". ONLY THING I REALLY CAN SAY IS THAT, THE "COINCIDENCE" ABOUT THE "HOLY" WHITE PEOPLE THING WAS FUNNY AS HELL! I MEAN IF IT WAS INTENDED THEN...DAMN, THATS F-D UP, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, HOLLYWOOD HAS BEEN SECRETELY BATTLIN' URBAN SOCIETY FOR YEARS. EVERYTHING URBAN SOCIETY DO, HOLLYWOOD COPIES. EVERYTHING THE HOLLYWOOD MARKET DO, THE URBAN SOCIETY TAKE IT AND TRY TO MAKE IT HOOD. AND EACH SIDE HAS THIER WHITES AND BLACKS. SO TAKE IT AS ANOTHER POP SHOT AT URBAN SOCIETY, HUSH UP AND KEEP LAUGHIN' CUZ THE ISH IS FUNNY. THATS MY LIL "THEORY" ABOUT IT, HAHA

OH AND BLADE WAS THE SH!T, THE "HOLLY WOOD MARKET" CAN POP SHOTS ALL DAY, BLADE CAN TAKE PLENTY BY ITSELF...SH*T, IT ALREADY HAS

[RdotLaw]

Good theories you have there, except for a few key factors.....

The script for Hancock has been floating around Hollywood for 15 years now and Will Smith was not the first actor tied into the project, it was suppose to be much darker and less comical. When Will signed on they made it more comical for his audience.

White actors have been casted for the role back then, the studios never went into full production until this one. Which had to be re cut 3 times to get a pg 13 rating.

[dcag03]

Yeah Hancock was a dude with real problems, John McClain was a kind of "anti-hero" (who by the way still managed to save the day: so I'm not quite sure what kind of anti-hero he was/is), and yeah Will Smith is a very heroic inspiration to Americans at large. But what brotha Jasiri is getting at is the deeper, more insidious, and veiled notions of white supremacy and how they operate on an everyday level that not only Americans at large are compliant with but Black folks as well.

And let me make my position clear, as a long time superhero comics fan Hancock sucks as a superhero movie precisely because they tried to clean up his "image". Now it might be a good movie if we understand it based on some other genre, but as a superhero flick, it's whack! (word to my man who called Steel whack, it was too!) Jasiri is on to something when he notes how Hancock's character is introduced to the audience: as a "Nigga" Superhero: dirty, funky, drunk, and careless. But let's not get it twisted when he compares Hancock to Iron Man and Batman: the latter are rich white business moguls who know who they ARE! The very basis of Hancock as a clean cut Superhero is based on the fact that he is learning who he NEEDS TO BE! Moreover, it's not like the link between Blackness and funkiness is unheard of or was just something Jasiri created in a vacuum: Toni Morrison has whole novels devoted to how Black folks learn to value themselves in spite of the omni-presence of blond hair and the bluest eyes (whether subliminally in advertisements, movies, preliminary K-4grd education, etc...) Rappers, for example, (and to a larger extent Black folks and other people of color) have struggled for the longest against societal norms that claim they're too dirty and funky and careless to be living in an orderly, clean, and civil society.

So, to bring it back to Hancock, when u have a[n] [ex]rapper who is a Black male superhero who can only learn how to "properly" save the day by CLEANING up his image, that makes for a whack-ass superhero movie, because their have been more better quality superhero movies whose heroes were dirty, drunk, belligerent a**holes (just go back and watch any Die Hard, any Cowboy flick, or especially Sin City). But more to the point Hancock the movie represents a lot of things, but none perhaps more important than the cleansing of a kind of funky Blackness(embodied by the drunk and worn out Hancock) that has been around since the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement (80 years or so). This cleansing of Hancock's image allowed him to be not only a better hero but apparently a better person, as he made clear repeatedly by saying "Good job" to officers who couldn't save their fellow officer (also the chief commander was condemning Hancock in the opening of the movie, that was funny, he was black too). That scene in particular revealed the irrationality of the police in the movie: no matter how bad they NEEDED him, they would never WANT him until he was cleaned, shaved , and uniformed. This seems to me to be not much more than a kind of social maintanence that privileges the same hierarchy where Black folks are found at the bottom. So, if superheroes are supposed to inspire the poor, weak, disenfranchised, defenseless citizentry, to what portion of the American population do you thing Hancock's 'image changing' story is geared towards?

[papaburgundy]

people,blacks in paticular are quik to pull a race card.the main reason y aint shit racist about hancock is that the movie wasnt written specifically for a black man!!!tony stark was a drunk womanizer,but its not racist some how,when alcoholism affects more whites than blacks.get off this race bullshit.its highly played out