Letters to the Editor
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And what of black women?
Virginiaca, Big Momma, Rasputia and Madea, to a lesser extent, represent a truckload of tired and hurtful stereotypes about black women trotted out for laughs by a black man. You know-- black women are fat, sassy, ugly, ignorant, hypersexual, uncouth, have "funny" names, and apparently when given the opportunity to "mammy" impressionable young, white women, bad influences (See the Kenan Thompson and Ellen Page skit).
In oh-so-typical fashion, the movie "Norbit" contrasted the hefty, brown, afroed, domineering (read masculine) Rasputia with the more dainty, refined, pale skinned (read feminine) love interest played by Thandie Newton.
I wonder if a cross-dressing black actress popularized a male character that embodied negative mainstream stereotypes about black men, would it be as well-received people--black and white--as these caricatures.
I am a black woman and this sort of minstrelsy isn't funny to me when perpetrated by Charles Knipp OR Eddie Murphy.