rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_2e06a257-8625-58ba-8bc6-4b0ead5e8c29">1989) argues that the strained ethnic humor and the inferiority of Black people turned upside-down was used to trick black people into believing that Blaxploitation meant better depictions. But the major characters were superspades with aggressive, take-no-shit attitudes concerning “the man” according to Bogle who argues that the Black Power movement was actually mocked in these films.
Contemporary Zip Coons
Eddie Murphy is definitely a talented actor and comedian, yet his career is built around a number of stereotypes, specifically, the Zip Coon. One of his most controversial characters appeared on Saturday Night Live (1998) where he butchered the English language as Buckwheat from the Little Rascals (1955). In the Beverly Hills Cop series (1984, 1987, 1994), 48 Hours (1982), Another 48 Hours (1990), and Showtime (2002) movies his signature laugh, wide-toothy grin and aggressive nature create a comfortable Zip Coon reminder for white and black consumption. And, despite Murphy’s enormous skill of being able to portray various members of the Klump family in The Nutty Professor (1996), Buddy Love shows up to portray the cool yet ignorant stereotypical Zip Coon.
A number of other popular Murphy characters display Zip Coon characteristics like the jive-talking donkey in the Shrek (2001) series, the con artist, street thug Billie Ray Valentine in Trading Places (1983) and even the Oscar winning Jimmy from Dreamgirls (2006) with his bright suits and third person speech pattern. According to Sands (2018), while not overly racist, a number of Murphy’s movies reinforce negative stereotypes. Sands says that throughout Murphy’s career, he has been able to appeal to mixed-race audiences by using stereotypes. However, he has also taken the time, occasionally, to celebrate the more positive attributes of blackness in Coming to America (1988), Dr. Dolittle (1998) and Daddy Day Care (2003).
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In 2016 Kevin Hart became the highest paid comedian in American history making 87.5 million dollars between June 2015 and June 2016 (Berg, 2016). Hart’s movies and television shows like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Ride Along (2014), Ride Along 2 (2016) and The Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013) have grossed millions and his stand-up comedy fills huge stadiums like the Staples Center in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden in New York (Box Office Mojo, 2018).
Many of the characters played by Kevin Hart fall easily into the category of contemporary Zip Coon. For example, Ride Along and Ride Along 2 introduce Ben as a high school security guard who eventually becomes a police cadet. James, played by Ice Cube, is not happy about Ben marrying his sister so he proposes a ride along for Ben. Ben agrees in order to win James’s blessing for the wedding while James makes the offer to prove Ben does not deserve his sister. In both movies critics call Ben a clown, a man Smurf and Sir Scream-a-lot. He uses many tired Zip Coon tropes like talking loud, acting stupid, and dressing in bright, colorful, distracting clothes. At different times in the film Hart even imitates an ignorant street hoodlum and an outlandish African Prince.
Get Hard (2015) presents a number of the stereotypical traits related to black men in general and Hart specifically. James, a white, hedge fund manager played by Will Ferrell, is found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to jail at San Quentin. Although Darnell, Kevin Hart’s character, has never been incarcerated he agrees to teach James how to survive in prison. Throughout the film examples of problematic ethnic humor are inserted linking Hart to the Zip Coon including encounters with gangs, prison sex, and urban violence.
A number of roles in Tyler Perry’s movies and television shows depict stereotypical characters, but none more obviously than Zip Coon Mr. Leroy Brown played by actor David Mann. In the movie (2008) and television show (2009–2012), both titled Meet the Browns this character is as close to the original Zip Coon stereotype as you can get today.
Mr. Brown dresses ridiculously, wearing striped shirts with flowered pants in bright, lively colors like red, blue and yellow. He is portrayed as very stupid with a poor understanding of the English language and he talks constantly about nothing. Mr. Brown’s acting efforts are usually over the top including lots of eye popping and hand waving, not to mention his high-pitched whiny voice.
He is the constant butt of the joke. In one television episode, Mr. Brown eats drugged-up brownies and flashes back to the 1970s where he dresses and talks like a stereotypical pimp during the Blaxploitation period. In other episodes, his character continuously offers insults, pranks, and exaggerated movements in response to intense situations. As a matter of fact, in some episodes his degrading ←18 | 19→ethnic humor gets very extreme. For example, Mr. Brown wets himself, eats rotten food willingly, and even jokes about performing a vasectomy on himself. Svetkey, Watson, and Wheat (2009) express concerned that there is power beyond images in Perry’s depictions of black life, so even though Perry believes his characters are simply tools to make people laugh, such comedy mixed with such stereotypes deems black disparity as palatable.
Chris Tucker tends to be a Zip Coon stereotype in most of his movies. In the Fifth Element (1997) he is a transgendered Zip Coon, in the Friday (1995) movie series he is a pothead Zip Coon and in the Rush Hour series (1998, 2001, 2007) he is a crime fighting Zip Coon. Tucker uses all of the conventional Zip Coon elements like bugging his eyes, loud talking, head rolling, misunderstanding and mispronouncing certain words, and displaying an obvious ignorance. Leslie (2001) describes Tucker’s character in the Rush Hour series a one-dimensional role.
he’s the sidekick, he’s the frightened, yet funny dim-witted buddy. It’s a role filled with all the standard black stereotypes: he’s loud, child-like, dishonest and unable to restrain his emotions when faced with sex and money.
For example, Tucker spends most of his time in The Fifth Element screaming in an irritating, high-pitched voice and bugging his eyes. He is dressed in a tight leopard-skin outfit wearing afro puffs or a large white bun. His comedic debut as Smokey in Friday focused on how lazy and unreliable his character was. Smokey smoked weed constantly rather than selling it, whipped his neck when he spoke for more emphasis, and jumped around on numerous occasions almost
