Black. White. – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews


Credit: Amazon.com

Creators:
R.J. Cutler
Ice Cube
Matt Alvarez

Cast:

Bruno Marcotulli (Wurgel)………. Himself
Brian Sparks ………. Himself
Carmen Wurgel ………. Herself
Renee Sparks ………. Herelf
Rose Bloomfield (Wurgel) ………. Herself
Nicholas Sparks ………. Himself

The Show

FX is becoming known for its original programming that is always unique and often pushes the boundaries of what can be shown on cable TV. Rescue Me, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Nip/Tuck are all highly regarded as great shows. Some people may even call those shows “extreme” in regards to things said or scenes shown on the shows. It should be no surprise that all of these shows are rated TV-MA. Besides “scripted” programming, FX has also started to develop “reality” shows as well. 30 Days is one of the first to come to mind and that show was intended to make you think and learn something from it. Each episode didn’t always accomplish this, but it was an unique idea that worked to some degree. The same can be said about another “reality” show from FX that came out earlier this year, Black. White.

The idea behind Black. White. is to take two families, one white and one black, and have them switch lives. Of course to really do this, they needed to “switch” races as well. How could they do that? The magic of Hollywood makeup! Each family had two “parents” and a teenager. The Caucasian Wurgel family consisted of Bruno, Carmen, and 17-year-old Rose. The African-American Sparks family consisted of Brian, Renee, and 16-year-old Nick. After lengthy makeup sessions, the Wurgels looked black and the Sparks looked white, more or less. Besides all of that, they were forced to live together to “discuss” how their days went as the other race.

Let’s look at the people cast for this show, which is the major flaw of this show. Bruno, the white dad, is so unbelievable that you have to think he is acting. He may in fact be doing just that, since he has acted before, but somehow I believe this is how he really feels. His lowlights include his absurd “rap” video, and blatantly asking a white woman, who has dated black men, if “the myth was true”. You can’t help but laugh at Bruno as you often find yourself wanting to hear what stupid thing he will say next. Carmen, the white mom, starts off as being just as ignorant as Bruno. She does start to learn something from this whole thing towards the end of the show, but her lowlights include thinking that calling someone a “Black creature” is a compliment and trying to explain herself afterwards. Rose, the white girl, seems to be trying the hardest during the season, and as a result she probably learned the most. Nick, the black son, just didn’t care about this whole “experience” and it showed. Brian, the black dad, is just there for the whole thing. He really plays second to his wife, Renee, the black mom, who is almost always bitter about something. She seems to be looking for a “fight”. I did love her yelling at Nick for buying a $150 watch, though. Overall, these families are not a good representation of an average white or black family.

The highlight of this show is the makeup, of course. It won an Emmy this year for “Best Makeup on a Series”. The way these people are transformed into another race has never been seen on a TV show before. Not like this, at least. However, the transformations are not flawless. Nick looks a little like Michael Jackson. Rose is a different person completely, though. Bruno and Carmen don’t look that much different from themselves, just darker. Brian looks a little weird at first, but he is a different person for sure. And Renee is the same, just lighter. Watching everyone going out into the world and fooling everyone else into thinking they are a different race is the fun part; the best aspect of this show. Oh, and the theme song from co-creator, Ice Cube, is also very catchy.

This show was surely created to make people think about race relations and discuss their thoughts with others. However, that doesn’t work as well as it should. For one thing, you can’t stop laughing at Bruno and Carmen to take them seriously enough. The same can be said for the rest of the cast in certain scenes. It doesn’t help that this show reinforces racial stereotypes, for the most part. If there is one thing you can learn from this show and discuss with others, it’s how ignorant Bruno was. If you actually agreed with his thoughts, you need to get your head checked.

Episodes:

Disc One:

Episode 1
Two families, one white and black, share a house in Los Angeles, CA, for a six-week social experiment in which they trade places and races through elaborate makeup sessions. Bruno shops for a used car as a black man. Brian gets a bartending job as a white man. Rose joins a poetry group as a black teenager.

Episode 2
While the families work with dialect coaches to enhance their “transformations”, Renee and Carmen clash over the use of racially-charged language. Attending church is an illuminating experience for both families. Rose reveals her secret to her new friends in the poetry group.

Episode 3
The Wurgels and the Sparkses lock horns over behavior and language. Bruno and Carmen encounter hostility in an all-black neighborhood, and feel out of place at a country-western bar. Carmen befriends an African-American radio personality for insight into the black experience. Brian and Renee worry about Nick’s carefree attitude.

Disc Two:

Episode 4
After experiencing racism for the first time, Carmen is upset by Bruno’s lack of compassion. While Rose struggles to fit in with her black friends, Nick feels uncomfortable at an etiquette class until he reveals his true color. Brian and Renee take steps to educate their son about his cultural roots. Bruno “entertains” the group with his rap video.

Episode 5
Growing tensions prompt a house call from a therapist as the families struggle to find common ground. Rose develops a crush on a friend in her poetry group. Renee develops a new friendship that transcends race. After looking for good Samaritans in a predominantly white neighborhood, Brian and Bruno reach an impasse over their interpretations of racism.

Episode 6
With both families sharing the profound impact that the project has had on their lives, they express their hopes and doubts about the future. Nick spends the day with an ex-gang member and learns valuable lessons of his own. Rose nervously prepares for her final poetry performance. Renee and Carmen make amends, while Bruno and Brian agree to disagree.

The Video:

The video is given in fullscreen color with an aspect ratio of 1:33.1. Transfer is decent with minimal distortion. It’s good enough for what the show is.

The Audio:

The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. There are English and Spanish subtitles as well. No problems here either. The sound is good inside the house and out.

The Extras:

Audio Commentaries
All six episodes have commentary tracks from the cast and crew. Co-Creator, R.J. Cutler, is the moderator for all of these tracks. He is joined by various people to talk about different aspects of the show. In episode #1, R.J. is joined by Brian and Bruno. Episode #2 features Renee and Carmen, and episode #3 is with Nick and Rose. Those are all great, but the best one may be the one on episode #4. This has Keith Vanderlaan (Producer/Makeup Effects Creator) and Brian Sipe (Special Effects Makeup Designer). If you couldn’t tell, they all talk about the makeup used on the show and how the whole thing was done. Episode #5 has Keith Hoffman (Co-Executive Producer), and editors, Poppy Das, Greg Finton, Andy Robertson, and Yaffa Lerea. In episode #6, it’s Keith Hoffman again.

Casting Tapes
These are the original casting tapes that the families sent into the show. They talk about why they wanted to be on the show among other things.

Ice Cube Music Video
This is the music video to the theme song for the show called “Race Card” by Ice Cube. As I said before this song is pretty catchy. The video is quite interesting to watch as well.

Roses’ Poetry Slam Featurette
I don’t really care for this type of poetry, but this is Rose saying her poem out-loud to an audience. We get this from many different camera angles. The poem is emotional, but that’s about it unless you like this kind of poetry.

Makeup Application Slide Show
This is a step-by-step look at how the makeup is applied to the cast on the show. This is all in pictures showing the steps. If you like makeup or special effects, this will be good to watch eventhough we see roughly the same stuff in the first episode.

Study Guides
We get clips of the show in its most racially sensitive moments. We are supposed to look at these scenes again and discuss it with others. That works pretty well, if you want to do that. There are also features here if you put this disc into your DVD-ROM drive.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Black. White.
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

5
THE EXTRAS

8
REPLAY VALUE

7
OVERALL
6
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
This show was a good idea, but it would have been a lot better with different families involved. As a reality show, this one is right there with the best of them. The families fight all the time like on any reality show. However, as a “social experiment” it doesn’t get the job there. I’m sure you can learn something from this show, like how ignorant some people can be, but Black. White. could have been a lot more than what it ended up being. Some people will laugh at this show, while others might be left shaking their heads. I don’t think FX intended for this. You still have to give it to them for coming up with another unique idea for a show, though.

I'm not embarrassed to say that my favorite television show of all-time is The O.C. I live by the motto "you can't fight fate!" More importantly, I watch WAY too much television, but I do so for the benefit of everyone reading this now. So to my mom and my wife, I say thanks for reading! To everyone else that might stumble across this, remember TiVo should be your best friend!