Race and Stereotypes

[Javier Jbara]

Race is profoundly intertwined with the film “Smoke”. Racial stereotypes are ubiquitous in the movie. To illustrate, the criminals in the movie -whether they stole from Auggie’s store or beat up Paul- are black. Smoke continues the longstanding narrative of blacks as violent in film. However, the racism is not only between different races. It is also ingrained, as Rashid was accused of attempting to rob his own dad by when he was just painting. Do films have a duty to display society “correctly”? Smoke, whether consciously or not, is invoking racist stereotypes to portray its interpretation of NYC. Is this ethical? Should racial stereotypes be used in film? I struggled with these questions, as all movies use stereotypes to connect with the audience and to “set the stage”. Moreover, the parallel between Auggie and Cyrus when they both find out they are fathers deserves a closer look. When Auggie finds out about a daughter he never had, he is shown to be understanding and supportive. Auggie goes to visit his daughter and gives her mother 5000$. On the contrary, when Cyrus finds out that Rashid is his son, Cyrus punches him in the face. What is the significance of the parallel? Why does the black father have to be violent towards his son, yet the white father will selflessly donate thousands of dollars towards his daughter? One plausible explanation is that the film is trying to show the connection between race and personal responsibility. Is this connection real? Is the film a product of NYC or a product of the film industry’s perception on it? Even when the actions are identical, there is a double standard. Auggie robbed an old blind lady of a camera, but the heartfelt beauty of his Christmas Story makes it acceptable. On the other side, when a black man robbed Auggie of two magazines, he was perceived as a “thug”. Even though Auggie stole the far more expensive item, the film uses context to find the justification. That is a fundamental issue of the double standard: Finding justification for one action and seeing another action “as is”. Examining race’s effect on film and film’s effect on race is something that tells a large amount about society. It will take more than a lifetime to uncover all the nuances of race on culture. Fundamentally, it is vital that the conversation continues and that deep examinations of things that seem immovable are a constant in the future.

Word Count:411

[Liam Lynch]

I like how rather than just analyzing the film, you questioned it. I think the responsibility of films, an important idea, is something that is often overlooked, and I’m glad you challenge the movie in its portrayal of black characters and its possible enforcement of stereotypes. This is something that often comes to mind for me when media romanticizes smoking, as I think I think they have a big influence on young people who want to emulate the movies and shows they look up to and start smoking. Back to your criticism though, I agree and disagree with it. One the one hand, I think that if you categorize the characters by race, the black characters commit most of the crimes and generally partake in less moral activities and are portrayed as such. On the other hand, I think the film does a good job in giving complexity to these black characters — Auggie talks about how he more-so sympathized for the kid who stole the dirty magazines, as he is just a poor kid who grew up in the projects with little hope of getting out. And while Rashid and Cyrus do some questionable things, they are both complex to the point where different aspects of their character and circumstances influence their actions much more than race, and I didn’t think about their race when the scenes unfolded. However, again, maybe this still enforces stereotypes subconsciously, so it’s very complicated.

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