Bringing Down the House and the Half-Hearted Challenge to Hegemonic Norms
The film 2003 Bringing Down the House starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah both reinforces and challenges hegemonic norms by playing up stereotypes in the first half for comic effect and then dismantling them in second, more melodramatic half. Although comedy is the main motif throughout the whole film, the dismantling of hegemonic norms comes with a serious tone that almost seems apologetic for the antics showcased in the film's first half. In this sense, Bringing Down the House appears to want to use norms for laughs because on the one hand it senses that they are true and on the other hand feels bad about it and wants to show that race is a serious issue that should be dealt with more respect. However, the film suffers when the comedy is displaced for a more politically correct approach to the theme of race. Thus, the film (ironically) makes an attempt to "subvert" norms but only after it has already successfully done so through satire -- and in the end only serves to reinforce them. It happens to such an extent that the viewer cringes at the sudden shift in tone as the filmmakers try to assert a "balance" in their representation of race relations. This paper will show how the uneven treatment of hegemonic norms and stereotypes in Bringing Down the House causes the film to ultimately fall flat, to be lukewarm, or to suffer from what Aristotle would call akrasia -- that is, softness of the will.
The film is set in an affluent suburb of Anywhere, America. The main character is a divorcee played by Steve Martin, who is a high-paid lawyer, estranged from his wife and three children (though he still loves them -- work just gets in the way). His routine life is interrupted when an ex-con played...
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