Will Smith the ‘Angry Black Man’ at The Oscars
When is anger justified?
King Richard
Why is Will Smith trending? Will Smith at the Oscars, not in winning his first Academy Award for playing Richard Wiliams, but for smacking Chris Rock.
Where did this happen?
At the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland.
What made Will Smith lose his temper?
From a joke, Chris Rock made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
What was the joke about?
Chris Rock said it was a G.I. Jane joke, but it referenced Jada Pinkett Smith's battle with alopecia.
At first, it appeared Will Smith was laughing as caught by the camera, but when the camera moved to Jada, she shook her head in disbelief that she had become (again) the butt of Chris Rock’s joke, the first time was in 2016, and it was also at the Oscars.
Will Smith the ‘Angry Black Man’ at The Oscars
In an event where the best movies are honored and celebrated (CODA won Best Picture).
But the Oscars 2022 will forever be remembered as a night when Will Smith served the ‘Angry Black Man’ stereotype on a televised event seen around the globe.
This year there was diversity and representation among the winners, Troy Kotsur went on to become the first deaf male actor to win an Academy Award, and Ariana DeBose the first African-Latina openly gay actor to win the Best Supporting Actress award.
Apple TV beat major studios and Netflix to become the first online streaming company to win an Oscar.
There were many first including ‘assault on TV’ by Will Smith.
‘Angry Black Man’
As a young kid that is how I thought of black people as they are portrayed in the movies, and people outside the US would think that is the reality. The truth is, being black in America has deeply rooted racism and nuances that pop culture will never get right.
But movies are powerful, they shape our cultural beliefs.
But what is the ‘Angry Black Man’ stereotype?
One of the most enduring lies white people ever told about black people is that black men are predators out to harm white people. This myth is the granddaddy of the Angry Black Man myth. And D. W. Griffith made a fortune from this lie by using one of the newest inventions of his day — film — to launch one of the world’s most dangerous and long-lasting slander campaigns.
‘To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. ’— James Baldwin
To say the ‘Angry Black Man’ is derogatory and reinforces the movie tropes seen in the movie.
Final thoughts
“Love will make you do crazy things.” It was part of Will Smith’s acceptance speech. When is anger justified? When your wife or family is attacked? What was going on in Will Smith’s mind at the time?
Is it easy to pass judgment, or is it easy to let Will Smith get a free pass.
The conversation about what happened at the Oscars will be talked about for ages, including how people saw it, did you see Will Smith or did you see an ‘Angry Black Man?’
Footnotes
- Oscars condemns Will Smith's slap and launches review — Many say that the Academy should get the Oscar back from Will Smith as his punishment, but that is unlikely to happen according to insiders like Whoopi Goldberg. A sanction, maybe?
- The Sapphire Caricature portrays black women as rude, loud, malicious, stubborn, and overbearing.1 This is the Angry Black Woman (ABW) popularized in the cinema and on television.
- Emmanuel Acho on the myth of the ‘Angry Black Man’
