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Barbershop 2
By Tameka Bradley Hobbs
April 2004
I’m not much for sequels. Like my mama says, "Don’t chew your cabbage twice." It’s true enough
for men, and many other things in life. Why not leave well enough alone? Whatever happened to
"been there, done that"?Most times it seems like the people in Hollywood need to heed Mama’s advice. This
is especially true for movies. In many cases, the sequel can’t measure up to the
original. Look what happened to the Friday movies. Next Friday and Friday After
Next were not as funny as the first, primarily because Chris Tucker decline to
re-chew the cabbage (once again, proving my point).
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Even with the Matrix trilogy,
the Matrix Reloaded and Matrix: Revolutions, while enjoyable, didn’t measure up
to the original. How many times can you see a slow-motion kick before it gets old?
But, as we all know, the call of the dollar is almighty in Hollywood, and sometimes
sticking with formulaic movies that deliver at the box office is a better financial
risk than something new and creative.
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Despite my reservations and Mama’s advice, Barbershop 2 was worth the effort. Ice Cube, Cedric the
Entertainer, and Eve, with the addition of Queen Latifah, led the cast and the entertainment value was
just as high as before. It is heavy with humor and history, hard decisions, and heritage. Cedric the
Entertainer, as the loquacious Eddie, stopped the show, whether cracking ‘em up in the shop or harassing
commuters on the train, although his incoherent babbling was a little much at some points. Most everyone
else holds their own, but I thought that Sean Patrick Thomas’ character, Jimmy, all over the place,
vacillating between ultra-neurotic bourgeois wanna-be politician (which he played so well it’s scary)
to just another homey on the block.
The women in this movie scared me, too. Aside from Craig’s wife, most of the black women who appeared
in this movie ranged between hostile and horny, and not much in between. Latifah as Gina was a bit sassy,
a lil’ bit flirtatious, and a bit vulgar – all in fun, but seeing her threatening to give a man a beat-down
was a little much. Her rage was no match for Eve’s character, Terri. She scowled so much she began to
look like a pitbull with a blonde wig. Aside from those two, the other women in the film, mainly in the
neighboring beauty parlor, sounded like a bunch of cackling hens.
OK, maybe I’m being too serious or looking too hard (it’s all for laughs, right?) but the portrayal of
black women in film is a serious issue. I’m sick of black men playing black women (Martin, Jamie Foxx,
Cedric the Entertainer, and Tyler Perry/Madea) just like I’m sick of seeing angry black women all the time.
All of it is for the same reason: it undermines the femininity, beauty, and grace that are characteristic
of many (maybe most) black women. Black women have enough stereotypes to overcome without having them
perpetuated in our own films. Why we gotta be mad all the time? If we continue to accept and not refute
these images, can we get mad when black men argue that they date and marry outside the race because black
women are too mouthy, too confrontational, and too much drama?
What I do like about both Barbershops is their noble attempt to add historical elements within the films.
In this film, we see glimpses of the 1968 riots in Chicago after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., and the Panthers. I also like that they deal with issues of change and transition
alongside the need for torchbearers, the people in our generation who will fight to maintain what our
ancestors fought for, whether it be dignity or financial independence. With the encroachment of Nappy
Cutz and Twenty-Four Seven (a thinly-disguised movie version of Starbucks), the movie places Craig in the
middle of a contemporary dilemma -- the gentrification and "revitalization" of urban areas where mainly
black people live.
In many communities, the powers-that-be have begun to realize that there is very valuable real estate underneath
the urban jungle and are now coming to reclaim it from the natives. What has developed is a battle over the
character of place, a choice between progress and history, much like the one reflected in Barbershop 2.
Once the developers come and make great, new places, what will happen to the geography of black America?
Are we too lazy to reclaim our birthright, clean up former all-black enclaves of independent and dignified
living – our own neighborhoods, businesses, and schools? Will we instead sell out to the highest bidder?
The way we value our environment speaks volumes about what we think about ourselves.
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Tameka Bradley Hobbs
Doctoral Candidate
Department of History
The Florida State University
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