No Love for the 'Guru'

Mike Myers stars in The Love Guru.

Paramount Pictures

If everybody loves a lover, how come there's so much hate floating around for Mike Myers' not-even-opened-yet new film The Love Guru? The fear from some in the Hindu community is that the film is nothing but a collection of tired stereotypes about their faith.

If you've seen the trailer, you get the concern. Long hair? Check. Brightly colored clothes? Check. Hippie sensibility that makes the Grateful Dead look like Republican lobbyists? Check.

Despite all that, the film certainly isn't as offensive as it could be. Myers doesn't play a Near Easterner, but rather a white guy who was raised in the Near East. Naturally, he becomes an accent-laden dispenser of Hindu-like philosophy because that's all the Near East has to offer. This, in some ways, is progress from the character -- or caricature -- Hrundi V. Bakshi, played by Peter Sellers in the 1968 film The Party. But is that enough to keep The Love Guru from being offensive?

The answer to that depends on whether the film is funny. Insightful funny would be nice. Clever funny. But if we learned anything from Borat -- or, more rightly, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan -- there's nothing like a busted gut to make one kick their PC-ness to the curb.

But the bigger issue with The Love Guru isn't whether it mocks or traffics in stereotypes -- most comedies do -- but rather that there's nothing for it to stand in relief against. Other than Kumar escaping from Gitmo with Harold, The Love Guru is probably going to be the only "mainstream" Near Easterner Hollywood introduces us to this year. And it's when we get only one type of image that the image becomes a stereotype -- not doctors or lawyers or folks just trying to find money enough in their household budget to pay for gas, but rather high-toned philosophers in Nehru jackets. If it's played smartly -- which ultimately The Love Guru might be -- I think we can take that. But while you're at it, Hollywood, give us some variations on the theme, as well.

4:19 PM ET | 06-18-2008 | permalink | trackbacks (0)

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Celebrating 40 Years of Loving Day

I previously noted the recent passing of Mildred Loving. However, I thought on the day honoring both Mildred and her husband Richard it was worth remembering their bravery once again with this commentary from Morning Edition:

You may not know it, but June 12th is day of great historical significance.

Forty-one years ago, the Green Bay Packers were the first Super Bowl victors, the Jimi Hendrix Experience released its debut album, the Beatles put out a little thing called Sergeant Pepper, and interracial couples could still not legally marry in 16 of 50 of these United States.

Hence, the significance of June 12th. Loving Day is a little observed, but considerable day of remembrance -- particularly for those with some connection to an interracial relationship, as Loving Day marks the end of one of the last "slave laws" that remained on the books in many Southern states.

Loving Day is not named for the emotion of loving, but, fittingly, for Richard Loving and his wife Mildred. Richard was white, and Mildred was black and when they were married in 1958, their home state of Virginia was one of those 16 that considered the two of them being together just plain criminal.

For a lot of you youngsters raised in a multi-cultural society, I'm sure it's hard to believe people could get so bent they'd actually write laws restricting affairs of the heart. But interracial marriage - miscegenation is the pejorative - was once a severely odious concept. In 1912, Congressman Seaborn Roddenbery of Georgia tried to introduce an amendment to the Constitution banning such unions. To his colleagues in Congress he lectured:

"It is contrary and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is contrary and averse to the very principles of a pure Saxon government. It is subversive of social peace. ... No more voracious parasite ever sucked at the heart of pure society and moral status than the one which welcomes or recognizes everywhere the sacred ties of wedlock between Africa and America."

Then, as now, a particular ilk of politician tried to make bank using relationships between consenting adults as a wedge issues. Substitute "Africa and America" in the previous with "same sex couples" and you get my drift.

The Lovings spent time in jail for the high crime of being married to each other, were forced to move from Virginia. Then, on June 12 of 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Lovings' criminal convictions and struck down all laws against interracial marriage.

Now, 41 years later, there's something like 4.3 million mixed-marriage couples in the United States.

Though their only desire was to spend a lifetime together, it was not meant to be for the Lovings. Richard was killed in a 1975 car accident. Mildred passed away May 2nd of this year.

Well, they're together again now.

For the millions of mixed race couples and their families, this Loving Day is one to be particularly celebrated. It arrives on the heels of history, and is personified in Barack Obama's candidacy. Forty-one years after the laws were struck down - just 41 years. And now the son of a relationship once considered contrary to "every sentiment of pure American spirit" is one step removed from the American people placing him into the highest office in the land.

1:03 PM ET | 06-11-2008 | permalink | trackbacks (0)

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Hollywood Deathwatch

This weekend's fire on the Universal Studios back lot only added literally and figuratively to the pall hanging over Hollywood. Out here we're all on a hard countdown to a potential June 30 work stoppage by the Screen Actors Guild, the trade organization that represents about 120,000 actors. Some of them actually working actors! This, of course, has got everybody in a funk.

The town still hasn't recovered from the ill-conceived 100-day writers' strike. There was a shortened regular broadcast television season. No pilot season. And the creeping hegemony of reality TV continues, which means fewer jobs for traditional craftspersons. Network television viewership sank about 15 percent, and there's already a de facto movie strike happening. Studios aren't green-lighting any new films until the actors' contract situation is resolved.

The fact that AFTRA — the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, a smaller guild that reps about 40,000 actors — was able to hammer out a new contract with the producers in the last two weeks doesn't offer much sunshine. There's some bad blood and bruised egos between SAG and AFTRA, and the fear is AFTRA's public display of lucidity will make SAG all the more recalcitrant.

However, with both AFTRA and the DGA — the Directors Guild of America — demonstrating through their successful contract negotiations that reasonable people can come to sensible conclusions, there's hope that the leadership of SAG can act the part of adults and actually negotiate a deal.

2:44 PM ET | 06- 3-2008 | permalink | trackbacks (0)

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