Entertainment: “The Help” Takes it Away and Sag Awards, Exclusive Interview with Deena Jacobs

Jan 30th, in Guests of the Inner Sanctum, Media Watch, by Christelyn Karazin

Viola Davis is the best-looking mammy/maid EVER! But is that a good thing, really? Plus, aspiring actress, Deena Jacobs sits down with me to talk about her work, Crazy Bruh, and how she aims to shatter stereotypes in Hollywood by being a stereotype. Huh?

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I’m not thinking this is really a great thing, ya’ll. Is it just me being paranoid (again) or does it seem like every movie centered around the bad ‘ol days when black women were at the beck and call of pampered white women gets a big standing O? Think Hattie whats-her-name from Gone With The Wind.

Look, I’m all for black women getting lots of work in Hollywood, and Viola Davis looked a vision. She was A+++ in her classiness, her bod was all sinuey and glossy…she was gorgeous. At that moment, she represented US really well. I’m really proud of her accomplishments.

So when I make this critique, this isn’t about Viola–this is about the media machine that insists on stuffing black women into the mammy/bitch/jezabel box, because it’s just more comfortable for folks to think like that, and changing impressions is feels too much like work, and frankly, too much like right.

I didn’t see The Help. Wanna know why? Not really interested in seeing walking talking stereotypes–it just doesn’t do it for me. I did buy the book at the kiddo’s book fair at school (the had an adult section, and it was right there…like donuts or something. How could I resist?) I haven’t read it yet, though. It’s in a place I call Book Mountain, nestled in the corner of my office-slash-bedroom.

So, how does Deena Jacobs fit into this?

Speaking of actresses volunteering to be stereotypes, guess who I met for the first time yesterday? Deena Jacobs. Yep. That Deena Jacobs…the one who went on the Dr. Drew show and got felt up by Cray Cray Bro. We hooked up yesterday at South Coast Winery because I just had to know if cartoon Deena was real Deena.

Check her out:

This is actually pretty funny to me. You know what else is funny? This chick is not even close to how she seems on television and You Tube. This made me a bit curious about why the cuss she’s volunteering herself to cast as Jezzie.

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AJ2011 750 pts

So I'm watching one of my fave guilty pleasures when I see this thing again. This time she has another role: a drab, unfeminine, unemployed woman looking for a new start. I choose the episode because one of my favorite Drag stars was featured and now I can't even watch it.

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shawnathesinger 38 pts

Ok, not gonna waste too much time with this lady, but she's is just pure stupid. Thats it.

blackpanthershay 284 pts

What de rass??? yada yada darker toned and my features are more refined

she want 2 lash in she bloodclaut....excuse my language

Nonya 127 pts

CHI-I-I-LE.

In which we remember why we should practice and celebrate articulation and all that comes with it like content, diction, art of the pause (to collect/frame your thoughts), etc. It would have helped Deena to come up with different, neutral terms to explain herself (eg smaller/pointed instead of "refined") and inclusive terms to clarify when asking another person about qualities you both share like complexion (we vs "you"). ...'Cause I know she ain't feen to come up in here and shade our host!

Christelyn: been some things I've been subjected to on this here blawg lately that can only be compensated for with @ least 3 HOTW (hottie of the week) posts. Back to back. Or side by side. *staring at empty swirl cocktail glass*

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Christelyn 3167 pts moderator

Nonya hee hee hee

Nonya Nonya lol lol

Nkosazana 237 pts

That lady got issues. She's over 30 and carrying on like that?

Maxine 203 pts

Viola and Octavia also won best actress and best supporting actress at the Critics Choice Awards. OK this time I will be surprised if there's no Oscar. But I think Deena Jacobs is doing more damage to our collective rep than The Help. She's an actress and she's *acting* through this interview like she cares. The comment about skin and features is so ignorant and embarrassing.

Nickhiesa 36 pts

but people are grabbing on to that angry black women syndrom its just perpetuate a stereotype. thats my problem i dont want to fit anyone' s mold........ I mean liked deena but I dont want that syndrom perpetuated about me. she right though we do have reason to be angry. black women have been dealt a harsh hand. i am a little conflicted ..............on one hand i dont want to be seen that way but on other hand a lot of us are angry and we got got reason to be. but then she pulled it together in the end. we aren't just that... (angry) we are a lot of other things. this Blog has taught me a lot about the kind of woman I want to be granted I wont agree with every single thing but i think its doing its job.

Monique8 412 pts

Ok, chica is delusional... "the evolution of the angry black bitch" What does that even mean?!! Like she said she's an entertainer and she's looking to get paid. Whatever Deena, good luck with evolving THAT stereotype. BW who enjoy telling everyone who'll listen about who in their family was light and bright with long hair and half cherokee, choctaw, scotts irish with blue green eyes, but who themselves look like a REGULAR BW with WEST AFRICAN features LIKE Deena has is DAMAGED!! End. Of. Story. My great-grand mother had blue green eyes with long jet black hair. WHAT exactly does that have to do with me or anything else for that matter? Please, spare me.

I didn't see The Help and I won't see it. I know that the acting by the BW in the cast was phenominal because Viola Davis is a phenomnal actress, but it pains me to know that in 2011 a BW cannot be nominated for an Oscar unless she's playing a maid or some white man's jump off a la Halle Berry in Monster's Ball, a disjointed movie that had Halle being
f**ked by a redncek like she was some type of animal. That scene was totally unnecessary, IMO. Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar in 1939 for essentially being maideservant to a privileged white woman. In 2011 another black actress is nominated for the same award for the very same role: A maid. Yeah I think I'll pass...

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Joyce345 900 pts

Monique8

1939?????????????????? Wow. The more things change the more they remain the same.

Pearl 2251 pts

Joyce345Monique8 And it's disgusting, I would not be happy about that piece of sh*t Oscar... that's not an award in my eyes.

ForestElfQueen 2112 pts

Monique8 It bothers me a lot because this is exactly the sort of thing that gives multiracial identity a bad name, imo. :<

It's also what makes the OneDropRule BS. In the hallelujah chorus everyone is "all black and all the same" but in a million ways & little asides the truth leaks out...& in not nice ways.

I wish it(acknowledging family histories) was simply looking at patterns of ethnic&racial overlap/connections & sharing experiences & PsOV..... instead of a subtle and overt weapons & badges game. "Oh I'm black & you're black... so let me sidle over and try to shank you in the ribs for being different than I am." "We're all black but my family is really more than half white but we get a gold star for hanging out with/paying attention to yall...Remember to vote for me in the next ______ race."

ack humans!

http://youtu.be/Jc50e02zDt8

i actually like this True Match commercial because it's honest. I feel it's a lot healthier to view Multiracials of partial W. African descent for what they are rather than being magical 'light-skinned blacks' or 'keen-featured blacks' ...and implicitly better, exquisite kinds of negroes.

That way, if a young girl doesn't share the same/similar ancestry ingredients as a celeb like Beyonce, hopefully she can stop feeling like a defective black girl and honor her own ancestry (if known).

I guess this post fits more in the ODR thread but oh well.

...and BTW not only partially-African-descended ppl laundry-list.

http://youtu.be/n0GbUTjQdaY

What's crazy is how, if you look at the Likes/Dislikes & comment areas of these two adverts, ppl are all up in arms over Beyonce's spot but, as of this writing, there are 0, ZEEEER-OH comments on Aimee Mullens' commercial.

Are we saying that it's okay to ID as multi as long as you're not part W. African? pshaw!

ForestElfQueenMonique8 You said it..

DidiO 294 pts

Deena is average looking and brown-skinned, not light.

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Law Wanxi 3263 pts

DidiO

Deena is a legend in her own mind.

Law Wanxi

Lol!

Yeah I got that vibe as well. Up her own arse.

I've told you about using Britglish before. You owe me a packet of crisps.

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Law WanxiDidiO

Haha. I'll send you a virtual one. We all love crisps here, which flavour tickles your fancy? Salt ' vinegar, Cheese & onion, Ready salted, steak n chips, bacon, shrimp, cheesy wotsits, you name it, we got it. We are the queens and kings of crisps.:)

A lot of talk about films like "Precious" and "The Help". Let's talk about films and how they're made.

Films are made to make money and, as such, they have to appeal to a large and defined demographic. Writers start with either a book or a scenario. That's made into an outline, then a script. The script is picked up and optioned. To get the funding to go from book/scenario to script, the scenario has to be "pitched" or sold to studio executives, who are money types, and interested only in money.

Final exam question for your entire grade.

Scenario A is about a young, dark-skinned Black woman who graduates from college and gets a job at, say, a tech company we'll call Initech. She meets a nice young man and, after some comedic scenes, with some resolution of issues scenes, they fall in love and get married. She faces and faces down the objections of almost all the BC. He faces much milder version of the same with his own people. An Asian Male plays an insurance salesman or works at Home Depot. An Asian female is an office worker who calls her kids every day at 4:42PM to see if they're OK. Neither are written to stereotype and could be played by whites if needed. Ordinary people. The main couple get married and, in flash forwards, raise a family and grow old together.

Scenario B is about a new teacher, a BM, who comes to a dysfunctional inner-city school. He's a History teacher and is the new Basketball coach. Not the Lacrosse or tennis or hockey coach; the basketball coach. He requires a minimum C- average [1.85] for player eligibility. The entire BC, from hair salon workers to dope dealers on the corner throw themselves into a frenzy of academic encouragement. Families, both the husband and the wife, spend countless hours tutoring and helping their boys with schoolwork. The team plays the Big Game agains the all-white suburban team and become state champions. The young BM teacher survives budget cuts and continues to coach.

Question: Which scenario goes into development and which one goes in the shredder?

Hint: Which have you seen 100 times, for the development part of the question.

Law Wanxi Scenario B

Law Wanxi And A goes in tha shreddaa! CRAP

Pearl Congratulations! You now have a A+ in "Real World Film Studies 312"!!!!

Law Wanxi ... Real World Film Studies suck eggs, why do people pay to see the same movies again.. its like remakes, but not remakes all at the same time, nothing is original anymore

Pearl Originality is for indie prods that don't make back their teensy-weensy budget. Lots of film festival awards, but a microscopic opening weekend box office. Released, if at all, straight to DVD.

You can take this A+, get an MBA before or after Law School and become a studio executive. Good news: They make millions! Bad news: you kinda have to sell your soul and lose your humanity.

Law Wanxi That sucks.. they don make no money back..?

I'll pass I like doing what I want, and not having to do what others tell me, or not creating something on my own. Millions are not worth that !

Mocha Z 1787 pts

Law WanxiPearl Yeah...Indie is my thing but sadly, they don't make anything. They aren't lured to come in to work hard to be original with the lack of benefit.

For a sleep Dr....you don't sleep at the prescribed times for max benefit either....ha bad patient! JK....Drs don't sleep so you are excused.

Jay from Philly 665 pts

It appeals to white liberals in the suburbs. The ones who never go anywhere near a real "hood".

Jay from Philly

"It appeals to white liberals in the suburbs. The ones who never go anywhere near a real "hood"."

I often hear, from tenured faculty types and rich old hippies about living in "Lily White" land [25% Asian, but we don't count] and the appalling lack of "diversity". Because I'm actually not White and WhinyWhiteLiberals (tm) don't DARE challenge me, I really lay into them hard. I ask where they live and it's ALWAYS some place with 10% Asian 85% White and 5% Latino, counting the live-in staff for the Latino portion.

I always, always, ALWAYS get very confrontational and Angry Asian Man on their #sses and tell them they should move to South Central or, if in the midwest, The D south of 8 Mile [the Grosse Pointes don't count] to get a truly representative "Diversity Experience" and learn to live what they so condescendingly and sanctimoniously preach.

Oddly enough, no one's chosen to move, yet, even though I've offered to help them pack.

Law WanxiJay from Philly

D*mn right ! LOL

Law Wanxi Yup...the wash, rinse, repeat is why I stopped watching the news shows like the Today show with Matt and Katy etc after the first few years. I actually liked Ann Curry more and she got less air time.

It really is just a washing cycle that keeps the dirty water in it. The dirt never goes anywhere but keeps getting distributed throughout the clothes with the same dirt. Same as the tv, movies and entertainment(including music). Even fashion is a big recycling bin. Keep the leg warmers, mini skirts(depending on age) and bell bottoms for the next round, lol.

Mocha Z

Working; It's my night in the Sleep Lab.

As far as recycling of plots and the derivative nature of films is concerned, studio executives like to do what's sold before and not do what hasn't sold.

There's another factor here. Potential films are often described as similar to past films. "It's like 'When Harry Met Sally' meets 'Manhattan'!" Sometimes they name a film type with the differences. One of the greatest LA movies made 'Stand and Deliver' was "pitched" as "Ghetto School Feelgood; Mexicans instead of Blacks, math test instead of basketball; based on actual". This is in answer to the eternal exec question, "Whaddya got fer me?"

It's how the system works, how a lot of things work. Sure, it gives us crap and lots of it, more and more each year; but sometimes it gives us moments like Lou Diamond Philips saying, "What's calcooolus?" or Edward James Olmos saying "Tough guys don't do math. Tough guys fry chicken for a living. "

If you've seen it, you'll remember those; if you haven't seen it you should. It's different; it's a ghetto school feelgood, without basketball.

Mocha Z Final note on Indies. Just because an indie never goes into distribution, even straight to DVD, doesn't mean it doesn't have some effect. Some indie directors wind up with the majors. Then, to prove they can make something that makes money, they get a Ghetto School Feelgood, An Action/Adventure or a Rom/Com to make. Many of them end up as big names, making millions.

Of course, we have to consider the words of 'Mr. Bernstein' in another film: "Well, it's no trick to make a lot of money... if what you want to do is make a lot of money. "

Culturally, some of what we say to each other is film-based. Someone said to me last night "Forget it, Wanxi. It's Koreatown."

law Wanxi I figured you were working. I have bad sleep habits, I wont unless I have to. I knew you had a Drs excuse,lol.

I used to do "urban" themed movies until I realized they take too much from me. My friend pushed me to watch rent and I got so much anxiety that I begged her to watch a Hindi movies and the rest is history. She has her own small collection she returned home with after her two week visit with me. I guess the residual bc memories of what I was exposed to in my latter teens is enough for a lifetime. As a kid, "Fame" was hardcore for me. By the time I got to 18, "New Jack City" wasnt too far off from what I saw. I Cali to recover and only took Mobil Masterpiece Classics,cooking and garden books and classical music along for companions whilst recovering. In other words, I "missed" a ton of movies of the ghetto feel good variety purposefully. Love and Basketball... just watched within the last two years or so ago. Sad, but true. The Blind Side was for the white guilt syndrome. Done with urban films.

@coffeelaw shops. When they get mainstream you get sorta jelly,lol.

I wonder if some people will ever wake up from their foolishness.

Yep, I've been accused of being 'so dark' by black men and women like it is some sort of pitiful condition. My usual response is a tired smile or if I have enough energy 'SO WHAT?'

When someone starts telling me how much their skin is lighter than mine and who in their family has light skin and straight hair and how my hair looks soooo kinky I just say something like 'how fascinating! you are so blessed!'

They rarely get the sarcasm.

HATE IT, I use to want to be an actress, now I really don't.

Black women do best at getting Grammy's.

Just don't do drugs and drink.

I didn't watch the videos because, I just can't, I read the comments I got it already.

Pearl "....I use to want to be an actress, now I really don't."

me too P. i took acting classes. ...did the headshots etc. I was in a breathe-and-you'll miss-me few seconds(party scene, so-called 'featured extra' whatever than means) of an indie starring 2 'used-ta-be-big's, a 'one to watch' and an eternal B/C-lister. The coolest thing to me is that my name is actually in the credits.(It's the little things, ha) I also like that it was filmed near where I was born, in one of my favorite areas in CA(Marin Co.), so the eternal day(i'd had no idea how long it took!) was made bearable...

..... & it's funny how it reflected my overall life pattern of being the token brown gal at a lot of parties.

Funny side note: When they called me for the scene, they wanted to confirm that my hair was still natural like in the photos.... Braids, Afro, or Twists/Dreadlocks were acceptable but "no straightened hair!" Makes sense to me now with the (granola/artsy/beach bum/old counterculturalist/neo hippie vibe to most of the characters)....a press and curl or Optimum relaxer 'swanging' would've definitely been kinda WTH. lolz

ForestElfQueen LOL it sounds like you enjoyed yourself. I don't know I might do it, but I know for certain I won't be getting an Oscar and I definitely don't want one, at all. I think they just need to give Leonardo DiCaprio his Oscar right f*cking NOW lol

Pearl re: Leo D. agreed!

I liked the classes most, in hs and later in college &workshops etc.

I really had no idea how tedious and time-consuming the film process can be...just for a couple teeny tiny scenes of screen time. ....That alone amazes me & gave me some pause...no wonder ppl end up on drugs etc!

I burnt it with that agent when they wanted me to be in a PSA about Crystal Meth. I was like 'ummm[hell] no'... I couldn't get a clear idea of what was going on so I refused. ..I dint kno whether I'd be all fresh-faced & 'Drugs are bad mmmkay!' or if they'd paint out my teeth, darken the circles around my eyes, add sores and make me the first Methhead o' Color(that I know of at least). I was thinking 'What do black folks have to do with meth anyway?!"

After the last experience where I got wardrobed and made up in a good way, i realized that it's like being a doll or rather a puppet in a kids' room scenario. "you put this on, stand over there, put this in your hand...pretend to be really amused/serious/wary" All that said, I have mixed feelings. I wouldn't be opposed to playing a mom or something but nothing possibly negative or tacky that I'd regret.

You could still take classes, try theatre, circulate your headshots but be verrrrrrrry picky. If anything feels off, just bail! omg, On the innanetz especially I've read sooo many crazy devil's bargain tales & conspiracy theories about Da Industry that I lean towards discouraging it. OTOH I feel kinda hypocritical since I watch and listen to, enjoy a lot of the product.

A woman approached us about getting our oldest into modeling & adverts etc and my gut reaction was like HELLZ NO! lolz. So many children seem to get messed up in that world. & besides I'm trying to brainwash him into being a doctor anyway. :D ..So far, he's conceded to veterinarian. grrr.

ForestElfQueen LOL I heard about the conspiracies, when it adds up it doesn't make sense. I would still do it lol.

You know a lot about it though, it sounds like you have to be picky especially when yhur black, as we can see lol

ForestElfQueen I think actors get messed up because they are confused people used to love them and then they don't no more and then the critics and them show with murphys lol

Pearl i want my son to be a handsome dr. in real life not just playing one on tv! lol

AvaRay 163 pts

When I used to come across those women (and I have several times in my life) who would try to take my valuable time to tell me about all of the people with Indian hair/skintone in their family or of all of the lightskinned people in their family, I would just roll my eyes and they would stop. Now I would probably just stop them in their place and say "I dont need a roll call of all of the light skinned people with long hair in your family".

Lili2009 1184 pts

Deena's give off a vibe like she'd fit in fighting over Flavor Flav on that dating show he used to have.

Lili2009

A shot as cold as liquid nitrogen!

I don't know who Deanna Jacobs is

blackpanthershay You'll survive it, Shay. lol

Christelyn blackpanthershay hahaha

Entertainment: “The Help” Takes it Away and Sag Awards, Exclusive Interview with Deena Jacobs

Author : Christelyn Karazin

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Entertainment: “The Help” Takes it Away and Sag Awards, Exclusive Interview with Deena Jacobs

Author : Christelyn Karazin

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Definitely not your mama’s relationship book…

Rock it in style, chile!

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