Day 133: Good Hair

Good Hair by Chris Rock is an interesting documentary. The backstory for it is quickly mentioned as you begin the film. Chris Rock's daughter, aware of the world she's grown up in, asks a completely logical question: "Daddy, why don't I have good hair?" And so, Chris Rock begins his quest. Why doesn't the average African American woman see her hair as "good" as her white counterparts?

I'm glad that Chris Rock made this film. People like to admit that media influences perception and behavior but they never really go all the way with the assertion. If they do make the acknowledgement, it's always for some trivial bullshit that no one really cares about. For example, I've noticed that recently it's become fashionable to acknowledge this about weight. One talk show host, Tyra Banks, went all the way to dress up in a fat suit for her show and show people how you should treat fat people as equals, don't bully them, accept them as beautiful, and all that bullshit. She even went so far so wear the fact suit to a dating service. When the men tried to get out of their date with an ugly fat chick, she then lambasted them for being insensitive jerks.

Of course, Tyra's show was pure drivel. Instead she could have talked about how the fashion industry has been selling us broomsticks as beautiful women for years but she didn't. She chose nonsense. So the premise of Chris Rock film was immediately encouraging. People like to talk about media perceptions but not when it comes to race. The Black experience in America is quite unique and often too dark to fully explore. Chris Rock makes his attempt and I think he succeeds in his overall mission to do it.

It took me awhile to write this review. I actually wrote two full reviews beforehand but felt that I was going off in the wrong direction. I'm the kind of guy who loves to play devil's advocate on an idea and I'll take it completely seriously too. I was thinking about what Good Hair was really about. I think Chris Rock succeeds in his mission to get people talking for sure. I think the comment from his daughter is enormously telling and his exploration of the hair industry in the film is particularly eyeopening.

At first, in my original review, I went on about how black girls are influenced by the media around them when it comes to their hair. I went on about how they've been told that their hair is inferior and thus it leaves girl with a diminishing self esteem. Then I went on about how our own media has gone on to reinforce. Some of what I wrote:

I have to take serious offense with the way mainstream black media has conducted itself. It's one thing to attack others for not offering you an equal platform. But once you've gotten your own platform it's another to propagate ignorance. The truth is, if blacks want black women to put together a positive image of themselves, then you have to convey a positive image of yourself for others. Recent black women of a new generation have shown that "natural hair" looks beautiful too. But even women who relax their hair shouldn't see this as a negative perception of themselves. A lot of white women aren't born with straight hair either.

Though I think I make some interesting points, I thought about something else: if some white women are born with curly hair and straighten it, why is much more said about the internal perception of nappy hair as opposed to curly hair? I think they should be equated because the truth is every woman "does" their hair but it doesn't always have a larger social context to it. Finally I had to go back to "the mainstream black media." It sounds like something you'd from a Fox News host but I think it's fair to come back to it. The truth is black media does not provide enough role models for girls to look up to that don't fit the traditional standards of beauty which have been set by, frankly, whites and not blacks. A number of celebrities have embraced the curly hair look but few blacks boast about their natural hair. Good Hair adequately makes this point when Chris Rock attempts to sell "black hair," to beauty stores. Unable to find any success, an Asian store owner who got lost in translation shows him hair from India and says, "black hair!"

But to me, these are issues mostly facing previous generations. While I think it's important to acknowledge that the comment from his daughter is particularly telling, I think that most young black girls today have seen viable alternatives to straight hair and a lot of them have embraced it. Relaxed hair and straight hair probably should receive the same controversy it received years ago. Yet at the same time the feelings still remain because Don Imus' controversial comment still offended many and revived some bitter feelings.

I can't completely express how I feel about this. I can't really say why his daughter said the thing she said. Not having enough girls in media that do have the natural hair look is probably the most clear explanation I can provide yet there are a few holes in this as well. Some people prefer the straight look. I think we often spend too much time trying to generalize what should be individual opinions. So having "natural hair" shouldn't be superior to having relaxed hair either. Sadly, the truth is most people don't see it this way. I'm glad Chris Rock has at least brought the issue up.

The latter half of the film talks about the economic issues concerning beauty products consumed by African American women. It's telling that in an industry where the main consumers are blacks, it seems to be dominated by a lot of Asians and whites. I wouldn't have a problem with this if it weren't for the fact that African Americans find themselves at the very low of economics too often. For example, the current unemployment for blacks is more than six percent higher than the national average. Missed economic opportunities like this upsets me, but I don't think it's a civil rights issue. African Americans are free to take advantage of capitalism if they wish. No one's stopping them.

Good Hair does a tricky job of dealing with a subject that's all about race yet he finds a way to do it in a way that's not just about race. He also finds a way to take a subject that others would have made too serious enjoying but he also finds a way to balance the tone so that it's not too humorous either. Ice-T clearly steals the show here but Chris Rock's point is thoughtfully made and well executed. Recently Chris Rock has laid his hand in remaking foreign films but I wish he would stick to his own original material and find a director he can collaborate with. When it comes to comedy, Chris Rock is one of the greats but he does a fairly fine job of examining serious issues as well.