Reginald Hudlin thinks he has the woman of the `90s figured out.
With his newest film, ”Bebe`s Kids,” this half of the producing-directing Hudlin brothers has been collecting accolades for creating characters that allow black audiences to see themselves as they really are.
But how are black audiences seeing black women?
Well, in the Hudlins` other current movie, ”Boomerang,” playboy Marcus
(Eddie Murphy) meets his so-called match in Jacqueline (Robin Givens). He supposedly learns a lesson about how to treat women. Then Angela (Halle Berry) actually falls for him, and into bed with him.
The rogue still gets the girl. This is rather confounding, given that we`re in the 1990s.
But the sexist Marcus deserves a break, insists the younger Hudlin brother, because ”a lot of people talk about what they should and shouldn`t do, but in reality people do things they know are wrong.”
And, he says, feminists such as ”Waiting to Exhale” author Terry McMillan liked the movie.
Where did he get the prototype for the female characters in ”Boomerang” ? In part from his favorite comedy, the 1940 film ”His Girl Friday.” The strong female characters, he says, ”all have opinions.”
Whatever their take on women in their films, there is little doubt that the 30-ish Hudlins have excelled in portraying blacks in their own milieu.
In their 1990 debut film, ”House Party,” the virtually all-black cast envelops itself in black music, black jokes and black issues, and still embraces teenagehood and its universal problems.
As Reginald Hudlin once said, ” `House Party` lets its black teenagers swear, cut up, get down, make out, break rules, make mischief and really have fun-just like the white kids in `Risky Business,` `Ferris Bueller`s Day Off,` `Sixteen Candles,` `Porky`s` et al.-and still be seen as decent, likable young people.”
With all its machismo bravado, ”Boomerang” managed to do that, too. And in the Hudlins` latest offering, ”Bebe`s Kids,” the irrepressible brats at once evoke fondness and disdain.
The first animated theatrical film with exclusively black characters as principals, ”Bebe`s Kids” features characters created by the late comedian Robin Harris.
The Hudlins were raised in East St. Louis, Ill., and educated at Ivy League film schools (Reginald graduated from Harvard and Warrington from Yale). They have been professional partners since 1986.
Perhaps their most important contribution to the film industry is the Black Filmmaker Foundation, a non-profit networking and administrative support group founded by Warrington Hudlin and two classmates in 1979.
Based in New York, the foundation, in partnership with Paramount Pictures, created 10 behind-the-camera paid internships on the set of
”Boomerang” for young blacks. Furthering their efforts to make filmmaking attainable for African-Americans, half of the production staff on the movie was black.
They`ve continued the trend with ”Bebe`s Kids,” hiring black animator Bruce Smith to direct the film. Smith is also director of animation for Hyperion Entertainment, the company producing ”Kids.”
How will white audiences respond to black animated characters?
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”It`s about time,” he says. The funky, soulful soundtrack, he says, also will go over well. ”Seventy-five percent of rap records are bought by white consumers,” he reasons. ”Clearly, audiences don`t have a problem with black entertainers.”
When Harris died of a heart attack at age 35, the Hudlins already had planned a film about Bebe`s kids, starring Harris.
Animation seemed the only option-perhaps a more fun one in the long run.
And it`s clear Reginald Hudlin likes to have fun. He laughs easily and rejects any notions that he is maturing with each film.
”No, I`m still childish,” he says, barely able to control his chuckles. So maybe it`s OK that he doesn`t have everything figured out. He wouldn`t be nearly as much fun.