With a studio executive and producer lending support, Tom lands in front of a small-town Nevada judge (guest star John Goodman). The judge makes it clear he doesn't like the "condescending" Hollywood types who put on sketches such as "Crazy Christians."
"You make fun of people like my family, people like my friends and people like me," he says. He's already extracted revenge of sorts, calling a Chinese businessman and his daughter "Japs" and threatening to inflict damage on a network lawyer he's dubbed "Matlock."
"I had these guys going," the judge smirks to a sheriff's deputy before turning back to his adversaries: "You're idiots. ... I'm a judge. You really think I go around calling people Japs and ordering deputies to shoot lawyers?"
So the only thing getting shot down in the scene, apparently, is the stereotype of a small-minded "red-state moron," as Goodman's character puts it.
Except when he turns his gaze on Simon.
The judge mocks his hair, which the deputy helpfully explains is styled in twists rather than cornrows, and repeatedly and without apology calls him "Sammy." In Southern parlance, that's the insult of calling someone out of their name — and using a term one small step from "Sambo" or even an ugly "They all look alike" reference to entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
So if the sheriff is a self-aware racist — and one who ends up dispensing justice fairly against those he disdains — is that progress in the culture wars? Or has Sorkin just rubbed the right's face in the crime of intolerance while stripping away Simon's dignity?
I personally got bored with Sorkin's culture war drumbeat after about, oh, the third time the words "Crazy Christians" were uttered. Yes, it makes great material (especially compared to the 'issues' that most other network dramas are 'addressing'), but it's something that, frankly, has been exhausted. And I mean this not merely in the media's exasperated 'value voter' banter that followed the 2004 election, but in Sorkin's own work.
Take the pilot of "The West Wing": the dramatic conclusion features the Bartlett administration facing off with lobbyists of the Religious Right. They are tired of "New York Jews" using them as punching-bags on TV talk shows. Sound familiar?
Once again, I'm not saying Sorkin's 'Elitist vs. Average Joe' script doesn't make for good, or even important, television. But, as the AP piece suggests, you're entering into contradictory territory when you typecast entire segments of the American population into one character (John Goodman's character). Just as the cable television news punditry tired of the 'red state v. blue state' narrative after it failed to explained alot of post-2004 politiking, I for one will be glad when "Studio 60" moves past "Crazy Christians".
No comments:
Post a Comment