People in the Movie: C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders, Red Dawn), Rae Dawn Chong (Commando), James Earl Jones (The Sandlot, Conan the Barbarian)
Director: Steve Miner
Pigeonhole: Comedy/ Satire
Only Skin Deep: Mark Watson (Howell) and his friend Gordon (Arye Gross) are both bound for Harvard Law School. Mark, however, gets a last minute rude awakening when his father decides to "let" Mark pay for it himself. Mark, rather than looking for a job or some other means to earn his way through (and also otherwise used to his white upper-middle-class lifestyle) decides instead to bilk a scholarship fund by pretending to be African-American. He accomplishes this deception by taking a large amount of tanning pills.
So off to Harvard he goes, thinking everything will work out, since this is "the decade of Cosby", but he learns that even at a prestigious institution of higher learning, racism (in many forms) is still abound. All is not lost as he does find love with another law student named Sarah (Chong), and Mark may even learn important life lessons along the way.
Recommendation: I highly recommend this film, as the message is still relevant today. Some of the scenes are all time 80's comedy classics, and Howell pulled them off extremely well.
I will note that this presentation of a white man pretending to be a black man has drawn its share of criticism, and there are stereotyped images used - comedically. I will elaborate on these further, but if satiric humor is over your head, then this movie could offend.
'PG-13' rating is for language and sexual references.
Black, White, and Grey Matter: **spoiler alert**
Mark navigates his way through the semester through a variety of "moments" that relate to people's perception of him as a black person, as opposed to just a student - contrary to his initial belief. For example, Mark gets involved in a relationship with a girl named Whitney (who is also his landlord's daughter), who remarks, after having sex with him, about his penis size not being what she expected. At dinner with Whitney's family one night each of her family members hilariously envision Mark in various roles including Prince (the musician), or a pimp, despite the fact he is conservatively dressed.
Conversely, it seems when Mark tries to act as he believes other black people do, he is usually wrong. Mark shows up to a "black interest group" dressed like a Black Panther, but finds all the other members dressed in everyday clothes. Mark quickly covers by asking "did anyone call for a cab" as he turns tail. Mark also takes a law course with Professor Banks (Jones) thinking he might get some better treatment from a black professor. Banks, however, informs the entire class there is no special treatment for anyone.
In another funny scene Mark is quickly selected to play basketball in a pick up game, despite his insistence that "he is not that good". Another black player is there, who Mark then tries to emulate, but only ends up embarrassing himself trying to dribble between his legs (he hits himself in the junk) and dunking (he gets the ball wedged between the rim and the backboard).
The serious element of the film revolves around Mark getting to know Sarah, another law student. Mark learns two facts that start to make him rethink this entire ruse; Sarah is a single mother working her way through school while trying to support her son George, and that Sarah would have received the scholarship had Mark not gotten it. Mark and Sarah become closer, with Mark wondering what would happen if she finds out the "truth" about him being white.
Mark's house of cards finally collapses all in one afternoon as his parents (who don't know he is feigning his racial identity), Whitney, and Sarah all converge on his apartment at the same time. He soon has come clean to everyone, including Professor Banks, in what comes off as a mock trial in a law classroom, with Gordon as his representation. Almost all the students are heard muttering "no wonder" as the reveal is made Mark is, in fact, white.
The reason I like this movie is because it took a serious issue - racial divide - and satirized it. It is also likely because I fell into the movie's target audience - white and middle class - the funny moments especially appealed to me. I understand why some might be offended; Howell spends the majority of the movie in 'blackface', complete with a curly wig. But the whole point of the movie was pointing out the fallacy of stereotypes, as well as the fact that perception of behaviors of whites and blacks towards themselves and each other are often skewed. Soul Man broached these issues with comedy, and I really appreciated it. No one I have ever conversed with about this film, white or black, said that he or she felt offended. The common feeling about Soul Man is that it is a goofy 80's comedy that used the stereotypes to drive the humor almost like Saturday Night Live sketches.
Extras:
- C Thomas Howell dated and later married Rae Dawn Chong. They divorced in 1989.
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