Stereotypes, Chappelle, and 'Talladega Nights'

"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" suffers from - and will profit from - the same type of stereotype exploitation that made Dave Chappelle famous. Chappelle liked skewering the perceived differences between races, the jokes in "Talladega Nights" revolve around a gay Frenchman and America's South.

The portrayals in "Chappelle's Show" are perhaps exemplified in "The Pixie Sketch," the skit that supposedly drove him into estrangement and premature retirement. The skit, uncensored, can be viewed here.

In this segment and his show in general, Chappelle poked fun at racial and other stereotypes. He did it, he says, to raise awareness of the absurdity of some perceptions, but also to show there is some truth to some of the stereotypes. Of course, he also did it to make people laugh - and to get incredibly rich.

Apparently it was during the "Pixie Sketch" that he decided people were laughing a bit too hard at stereotypes of other races. The audience had gone from laughing with him to laughing at him. So he quit.

We see a similar situation in "Talladega Nights," though don't expect anyone to quit their jobs over possible social implications. The film gets quite a few laughs from "dumb Southerners." Because the movie is about NASCAR, and stars an old bro's bro, Will Ferrell, Southerners will probably interpret it as laughing with them, not laughing at them. Possibly.

But it's the gay Frenchman, Jean Girard (played by Sacha Baron Cohen), who might have the most relevance to a blog that mostly discusses Europe. Jean Girard has an over-the-top accent, and the film works hard to get the stereotype as humorous as possible: while he drives his race car, he drinks espresso and reads Camus.

The gay angle is played up as well, with five or so man-man kisses during the movie. (Each one was met with a loud "Ewww!" by at least several people in the Ohio theatre where I was.) This French villain is gay, has a husband, and wants the world to know it.

The financial genius behind a character like this is easy to see: To folks who might not be crazy about homosexuals or the French, the villain is hilarious and fun to hate. However, and this is why it's "acceptable," the high-brow crowd will probably view the film as making fun of stereotypes; Similar to "Chappelle's Show," "Talladega Nights" is ok because the intentions are good. After all, Will Ferrell and (director and co-writer) Adam McKay made a hilarious video for MoveOn.org before the 2004 election.

So everybody wins, right? Liberal elitists laugh at the rednecks, and laugh even harder when the rednecks get confused by homosexuality and non-Americans. Conservative homophobes laugh at the funny Frenchman, and laugh "with" Will Ferrell when he acts like one of their cousins. And Ferrell gets rich.

Then again, it's just a movie.