TV Review: Black.White - 3/15/06
Published March 18, 2006
Ignorant, clueless, close-minded people plus manipulated footage does not a good documentary series make.
The premise of this show is simple: Take two families, a white one from Santa Monica, Calif., and a black one from Atlanta, Georgia, and have them live together in a house.
As I wrote last week, this six-part series Black.White, could provide an important step toward better understanding between the races. But in order to learn, the members of the white and black families need to be open-minded, ready to listen to thoughts they may not like, be patient, and be honest. However, I am increasingly convinced the white adults in the series don't have what it takes for this experiment to be more than a variation of MTV's The Real World, or other reality shows. While the white couple says they want to learn what it is like to be black, they instead appear more interested in talking than listening.
FX has been billing this as "a documentary series", but R.J. Culter, a documentary filmmaker, and the man who developed the show, and rapper Ice Cube, who is an executive producer, have distanced themselves from that label, according to a Los Angeles Times article. The article also includes interviews with owners of businesses in Los Angeles visited during the making of the series. The interviewees say the show seems more interested in finding and exploiting conflict than on reporting what they actually found.
That must have been the case when the black mother visited Leo's All-Star Sports Bar and Grill and talks to people who do not make racist statements. Those encounters are not included, while the one person with racist comments is.
The series also shows the black father, Brian, interviewing for a job. Viewers are not told that a job for him had already been secured, prior to the interview. This selective editing, which leaves important contextual details out of the final product, reminds me of Michael Moore, who has been accused of the same tricky moves in his own documentaries in order to better make a point.
The white mother, Carmen, says she is upset with how the footage was spliced, saying it is not accurately showing what happened. In her case, I wonder if she's just trying to save face.
- TV Review: Black.White - 3/15/06
- Published: March 18, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Television, Video: Reality TV, Video: Film and TV Business, Video: Documentary
- Writer: Scott Butki
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- Scott Butki's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
great review Scott. like i told you on the other thread, i missed a portion of the show, but from what i saw, i'm going to have to agree that the idea of this show is pointless unless the families are willing to be open-minded and willing to actually learn something.
what you said about Bruno and Carmen was pretty accurate...but i think Renee is just as bad. from what i saw, it seemed like she was looking for someone to show signs of racism.
and i think that Carmen was wrong about the whole "bitch" thing, but then Renee totally kept it going, almost like she needed to argue about something. she just couldn't let it go.
what's the deal with the son, though? i hardly saw him, does he interact with anyone? or did i miss that when i was putting my daughter to bed?
The son was barely shown but appears to figure prominently in next week's show.
Yeah Renee also appears close-minded. I think Carmen hit it when she said Renee wanted to see ignorant comments and Carmen did that for her.
I'm not sure I buy this theory but this is what Tyler wrote in the comments section of my review of the first episode:
I read on imdb, confirmed on tv.com, that the white family, at least, are actors not related to each other.
Bruno is an actor, Carmen is NOT his gf (first they said they were married), and Rose is not related to either. In fact Rose is one of the stars of a Disney Show called Movie Surfers. Her name is Rose Bloomfield, not Rose Wuergel. I can't believe RJ Cutler would produce a "Reality" show, but use actors.
That is quite pathetic.
actors huh? i suppose it's fair then to assume that the black "family" are all actors also.
which makes this whole "experiment" a complete farce. so much for racial progress and opening ones eyes to a different culture.
Scott...have you looked at the links that Tyler provided from your other review?
I followed one link and saw they have credits as actors but does that neccesarily mean they are not a white family?
let's not discriminate against them just because they are actors:)
lol...i wouldn't discriminate if they truly are indeed actors, but then the show just loses credibility as a "reality show", right? what would be the point?
Loses credibility as a reality show? You mean, reality shows used to have credibility?
A friend taped this week's episode so I'll watch it tonite. Did anyone here see it?
Except Bruno said he was a school teacher, and Rose's weepy tear just don't seem sincere anymore.
What makes you think Rose's tears are not sincere?
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/45159)
Did others watch the show this week?
Am I being too harsh on Carmen?