the one about...

February 20, 2009 9:02 PM

What's going in the opening joke of Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin?

This movie opens with an unusual joke. Here it is on youtube.

How would you interpret it?

posted by sidr to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

I think it's conventional wisdom (although i don't know about the truth of it) that although white people are more advantaged in American society, they're more prone to mental illness and suicide, while black people are more willing to "tough it out."

So the joke starts out as an observation on how many white people kill themselves, and then says that one of the black "suicides" was pushed. This plays on the historical lack of justice for black crime victims in the US.

if there's more to it, I don't really get it. I'm not sure I'd even call it a "joke."
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:14 PM on February 20, 2009

so I guess, after further thought, I would summarize the joke as, "black people in America hardly ever kill themselves, despite living in a society where they can be pushed off a bridge and have it ruled a suicide."
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:40 PM on February 20, 2009

yeah I would agree with the above post. The common quote of "just trying to survive". Maybe the belief that black people somehow deserve{ or atleast are unable to change) thier lot so they tough it out. Interesting I thought of the idea that Black people in America turn their frustration on themselves as a whole race or society, where White people might be prone to turn it onto themselves as individuals?
posted by Cainaan777 at 10:44 PM on February 20, 2009

Yeah, drjimmy nailed it. It could also be an oblique reference that cops will also rule the murder of a black person a "suicide" so they can wash their hands of it.

As an aside: A fairly large regional act, Big Smith, has a song called "ponce" (named after a town here south of Springfield, MO written by Mark Bilyeu. It all started in the mid 90's when Mark and I watched this movie together and he was very taken by that song but realized he could never in a million years perform it with lyrics like "walk on nigger, walk on." So a rewrite was in order. Hence "Ponce"
posted by sourwookie at 11:51 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Uh, you had to have been there.
posted by sourwookie at 11:52 PM on February 20, 2009

There used to be a significant truth there:

Before 1965, the suicide rate among blacks was one
quarter that of whites. After 1970, suicide rates among
blacks had escalated to half that of whites. -- study

In more recent years the African-American suicide rate has been rising substantially, especially among young males, even as the rate among other groups has been falling. Yet African-American women are still one of the least likely groups to resort to suicide.

Anyway, I don't think it's nearly as much about crime victims, but more along drjimmy11's first thought -- that whites are so privileged they can feel the ennui whereas blacks are taught from an early age how to survive on marginal conditions. Obviously there's broad stereotyping there, but I wonder how much it's borne out among demographic groups within races (e.g. Appalachian whites vs. yuppies).
posted by dhartung at 10:37 PM on February 21, 2009