A Step Above Blackface
I usually don't do media criticism, but this...
At the insistence of several good friends, I finally gritted out two episodes of the Netflix series, MO. This is a show by Palestinian-American comedian Mo Amer. As a writer and former comedian, I give everything the benefit of the doubt. Reading screenplays, the usual grace period is around 20 pages (20 minutes of film). When watching stand-up, I give 10 minutes or so. That’s how long they have to show you this is worth your time. I gave this dreck two episodes.
First of all, I simply did not find it funny. I sat there. The writing is stilted, the acting is barely passable. I could go on but simply put, I didn’t get the big deal. First off, this plot line could have been about a guy from Guatemala or El Salvador. Take out the Arabic and olive oil and that’s pretty much what you got.
Now, for the real issue, what was I expecting from an Obama led Netflix? This show simply tries to normalize the shit treatment Palestinians have been on the brunt end of for nearly 75 years. Mo and his crew keep referring to Palestine. Where is Palestine? Is it near China? Belarus? We hear these characters are Palestinian but nowhere (so far, I only made through two, remember?) in the show do we get the how, what, why, etc. of the reason they’re in the U.S. I mean the real reason. The writers have some concocted plot line about escaping from Kuwait. Why are they there in the first place? Could it be that like my Palestinian father, there were no real opportunities in Israel/Palestine, unless you work the family business so they split? That is if the Israelis didn’t steal it already.
No. This is Obamaland. Where everyone just tries really hard and still didn’t mean to bomb people or give money to those who do. Oops! We didn’t mean to pay for Iron Dome! We didn’t mean to destroy Libya. We sure are sorry!
The other burr in the saddle is how much fawning I see from the Palestinian- American Community. “We finally got represented!” or “We’re on TV!” I’d rather have a hard time at the airport because they think I’m a 911 holdover versus thinking that I’m harmless, charmless, overweight clown who poses no threat to the nation or its women.
Black Americans were played by white actors in blackface until talkies. Even then they were singing, dancing valets, maids, porters… all grateful to the ever present, watchful “boss.” In the 1920s, Rudolph Valentino played the Sheik, and women all over the world were swooning for Arabs. Problem was that he was Italian. Then we moved into the Asian American portrayals when they were called Orientals. Chinese, Japanese, it didn’t matter; get a white guy with thin eyes, yellow them up a bit, throw on a Fu Manchu, and voila! Charlie Chan played by a white guy. At least #1 son, Lee was Asian so that’s nice. People forget that this crap is not in the dim past. In the 1970s, Bruce Lee and Robert Wagner developed a show called the Warrior. It was about a Chinese immigrant, brought to the U.S. in the 1800s. He travelled from place to place vanquishing western bad guys. Sound familiar? It was renamed Kung Fu with David Carradine playing Kwai Chang Caine, the lead Lee wrote for himself to star in. Problem is, Carradine is as Chinese as I am. But he had thin eyes! Pin them back a bit, add yellow powder, teach him some cool moves and Presto! A Chinese guy! Even after Lee’s stints on American TV and international super stardom, the dimwits at ABC said, “You look too Chinese.”
So… MO… watch it or don’t. I often quote Jim Morrison, “You write one then,” when I see “critics” go on in a smug way. It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m simply saying that doing a show about Palestinians in the U.S. without addressing the fascist apartheid, white colonialist, settler project known as Israel is like doing Hamlet without Ofelia. I liked it better when it was called Stepin Fetchit.
Abe Abdelhadi hosts the Bitter Truth with Abe Abdelhadi on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Sad but true... I really wanted to like it but so much of it was just wrong on so many levels.
but this ... was worth it.. You forgot Yul Brenner playing the King of Siam.