Saturday
Nov172007
Foolishness Personified: Will Somebody Please Call Tyler Perry or Shonda Rhimes and Ask Them to Give Elise Neal a J-O-B
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 6:26AM The Blogmother
I am never shocked by King Magazine, they are being consistent with business plan which is to make money off the "BACKS" of Black women. Lost cause. But watching the decline of Elise Neal is just plain painful. I liked her characters on the "Hughleys" and on "All of Us". Y'all remember her from "Rosewood"? So when I saw THIS PHOTO over at BOSSIP, it just made me sad. (no I ain't pasting that picture on THIS site. Go over to Bossip to behold the foolishness.) I think this one of her taped to a chair like a kidnapping victim is just down right disturbing? Who come up with this and why would you want to play a role in this disturbed photo director's foolishness?
What would possess her to let them throw her in a bikini, slather her in baby oil and tie her up like a slave? Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth are just ticked off right about now. Unlike some folks who really can't act, Elise actually CAN, but she's intent on becoming the Black Elizabeth Berkley.
Elise walk towards the light sister. It still isn't too late, but if the rumors are true that you plan to play Superhead in the movie remake of "Confessions of a Video Vixen," you may be too far gone. Think "Show Girls" think "Glitter" - Career Killers.
"Paging Shonda Rhimes! Paging Shonda Rhimes! Elise Neal needs a J-O-B. Please hire her before she turns into Elizabeth Berkley"
Walk. Towards. The. Light! Money cannot be THIS tight!
What would possess her to let them throw her in a bikini, slather her in baby oil and tie her up like a slave? Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth are just ticked off right about now. Unlike some folks who really can't act, Elise actually CAN, but she's intent on becoming the Black Elizabeth Berkley.
Elise walk towards the light sister. It still isn't too late, but if the rumors are true that you plan to play Superhead in the movie remake of "Confessions of a Video Vixen," you may be too far gone. Think "Show Girls" think "Glitter" - Career Killers.
"Paging Shonda Rhimes! Paging Shonda Rhimes! Elise Neal needs a J-O-B. Please hire her before she turns into Elizabeth Berkley"
Walk. Towards. The. Light! Money cannot be THIS tight!
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Elise Neal, Ignorance Personified
Reader Comments (98)
This is Sojourner Truth writing and I just added both Elise Neal and King "the pimp" Magazine to my "SIT YOUR AZZ DOWN" list. This is utterly ridiculous.
Wow, money must be really tight for her right now.
Why would she allow such photos of her to be published??
Sidebar: Stop trying to steal my name, Gina. Remember, your are Harriet and I am Sojourner. Kapish. Comprende. LOL
SIgh.
Overeaction...yet again. KING is a lad mag...like Stuff, Like Maxim. They exist....Now you can argue whether any of them are worthy but KING ain't that big a deal.
Glitter, Showgirls = Career Killers
Basic Instinct, Unfaithful = Career Makers
It's all about perspective...
Elise has been doing this stuff for a while. I too was shocked. Mya is another one who has just given up on being respectable.
I know that opportunities for Black women in Hollywood are limited, but are they this bad?
Wow, money must be really tight for her right now.
Why would it be. If done by the right people the Supahead movie could blow up a rather uninteresting career. It could be her 'Basic Instinct.'
KING is good press leading up o that.
JJ,
As usual is the resident contrarian. Attorneymom you need to step up your game or JJ is going to replace you.
sigh.
JJ I am just stating my opinion. You really think the Superhead movie is going to make her career?
I saw that picture on bossip.com and I was definitely dissapointed. She really looked horrible and trashy.
She was definitely channeling her inner lil kim. I realize we don't have a lot of options in hollywood but that cover was just pathetic. It looked cheap. I remember when Brandy did a cover on Vibe with her ass in the air (her infamous doggy style pose). My heart sunk. She looked nasty and horrible.
This isn't a smart move!
I hope that nobody is surprised. They are hoping for the same treatment as Halle Berry... arguably a great actress, who couldn't get into the upper eschelon of the acting world.
It doesn't matter how intelligent, talented, inspired, beautiful, honorable, black women in the media are... they will always reduce us to a 'big butt and a smile' until we take control of the wheel.
If it is a blockbuster...then yeah it's really possible. You're looking at the content and not the potential monetary success of the film.
It all depends on how the film is done...Basic Instinct is basically soft porn in a lot of ways about a nymphomaniac serial killer.
No one would touch it. None of the major starlets in Hollywood (and for good reason) but it turned out to be a HUGE success and jump started Stone's career.
The Supahead film could give her a level of success she's never had before. That's my point.
they will always reduce us to a 'big butt and a smile' until we take control of the wheel.
LOL
About the pic...once again major overreaction...this is definitely NOT a Lil'Kim pictorial. Miss Thang that's a stretch.
I will say it's a whole "damsel in distress" bit.
"Oh the big bad guys have kidnapped me come save me you strong man you."
Is it a bit much...eh...perhaps. But this is a lad mag who is appealing to their demographic. And she looks hot.
Being sexy and looking hot on the cover of a magazine ain't the end of the world. This ain't Hustler or Penthouse or even Playboy for that matter.
hope that nobody is surprised. They are hoping for the same treatment as Halle Berry... arguably a great actress, who couldn't get into the upper eschelon of the acting world.
Is that in reference to her Oscar winning performance?
Yes, jj... that's what I mean, thanks for clarifying. I really like Halle Berry.. and even *I* thought her acting in Monster's Ball was atrocious. It was as wooden as my coffee table.
I am entirely convinced that the Oscar was her prize for showing her amazing body to the leering white boys in white power entertainment stucture.
JJ
has got to be a guy. Damsel in distress? It looks more like Damsel is about to be chopped up into tiny little peices.
This is soft torture porn, which is growing in popularity in the mainstream.
Here's a link to one article about how the exploding genre is captured on film: http://canada.aol.com/summermovies/general/article.adp?article=movies_femmesfatales
I don't think black women can afford to be part of this sick trend.
Nope, this is no different than something you would see in Maxim or any other "lad" mag, but that is hardly an endorsement. Maxim is not known for achieving sexy without misogyny.
JJ, if I understand you correctly, you believe the end justifies the means. If Elise Neal's career "blows up" and she makes big money, then who cares if she has to trade on her sexuality and demean herself a little (and sadly because of the way race works--demean other black women, too)? I disagree.
The Supahead movie could make big bank. It could be number one at the box office the weekend it is released. Hooray for the film company that will be raking in most of that bank. What will we as black people have achieved? Not a damn thing. We will have confirmed once again the black woman's place in our community, and proven that nothing brings black folks to the cinema like booty shaking and big pimpin. Huzzah!
I don't know who the young lady is (Never saw any of the shows you mentioned), but I'm not particularly offended by the photo. I get the 'damsel in distress' vibe, but then I'm a romance novelist. She's certainly more covered than other women I've seen in those type mags. And at least her ass isn't all tooted up in the air.
JJ is definitely a girl.
And Halle's acting in Monsters Ball was EXCELLENT. Damn good movie...and I wish folk would really get over the sex scene. It was appropriate for the context of the film.
Now if you wanna get mad try the booby shot in Swordfish. THAT was gratuitous and completely unnecessary.
Yes Gina. Damsel in distress. It is a a "come save me" fantasy common to many men.
Or a play on Bondage fantasies...roughly the same thing.
J, if I understand you correctly, you believe the end justifies the means. If Elise Neal's career "blows up" and she makes big money, then who cares if she has to trade on her sexuality and demean herself a little (and sadly because of the way race works--demean other black women, too)? I disagree.
You're assuming she's gonna demean herself.
And women have always traded on their sexuality. Look at the movies from the twenties, thirties and forties if you have any doubt about that.
Slightly off topic...I don't know what Halle Berry received her Oscar for. I have always thought she is an atrocious actress, most obviously when she is portraying working-class black folk (for lack of a better description). Ruby Dee and Angela Bassett are black women who are great actresses. Halle Berry is a black women who is an average actress, but who is blessed with a not-too-"exotic"-but-exotic-enough-to-be-unique beauty that is acceptable to Hollywood.
JJ
has got to be a guy. Damsel in distress? It looks more like Damsel is about to be chopped up into tiny little peices.
LOL.
SMH
And Halle's acting in Monsters Ball was EXCELLENT. Damn good movie...and I wish folk would really get over the sex scene.
Ha! I almost walked out on Monster's Ball even before the sex scene, so I guess one person's crap can be someone else's dinner in the acting world.
But back to this picture Roslyn, I doubt 'romance' was the motive behind the selection. Does anyone honestly think that men will look at that picture and say, 'I would really like to treat her well, cherish her, wine her and dine her'? Let's not confuse raw, unemotional sexuality from a male sexual standpoint with 'romance.'
I would really like to treat her well, cherish her, wine her and dine her'? Let's not confuse raw, unemotional sexuality from a male sexual standpoint with 'romance.'
What's wrong with raw sexuality....
Sometimes it's not all about wining, dining and cherishing....
And the pic isn't that 'raw' it's actually rather tame...with a little "come save me" fantaaay thrown in for extra fun.
Yes, our patriarchal society makes trading on beauty and sexuality an easy path for all women, not just black ones. That's nothing new. Marilyn Monroe did it. Anna Nicole Smith did it. Britney does it. Pamela Anderson does it.
That does not make it acceptable to me.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with raw sexuality in its proper context. And that context, according to my beliefs, is between two people who love and are committed to each other.
With this picture, Elise is presented as a masterbatory tool, instead of a living, breathing human life who deserves to be highly regarded and desired for more than a quick orgasm.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with raw sexuality. But there is a question of balance. We see so much "raw sexuality" associated with black women in pop culture that you would think, per stereotype, all we are is wildly sexual beings.
I also think Neal's photos go beyond raw sexuality to the more damaging associating sexuality with violence against women.
With this picture, Elise is presented as a masterbatory tool, instead of a living, breathing human life who deserves to be highly regarded and desired for more than a quick orgasm.
Young men can find any attractive woman...regardless of how clothed she is as a "Masturbatory tool.'
So I'm not really following that logic but okay.
JJ is a woman. I had never looked at your blogger profile. That is interesting. Keep weighing in. JJ definitely has a different perspective.
"But back to this picture Roslyn, I doubt 'romance' was the motive behind the selection."
I didn't say the picture was romantic. I said I saw the 'damsel in distress' nature of it.
I think it's a bad look when any talented actress does these magazines, white or black. King, Maxim, FHM etc, there all the same. Soft core porn, with a really stupid interview about "what you like in a man". I think any respectable actress who poses for these magazines make themselves look like fools. Not even because of the racy nature of the photo's, but just because the photo's are always done so poorly and w/ such low budget. They just look stupid, not sexy.
Sidebar - I wish people would lay off Halle for her Oscar win. Whether you like her acting or not, noone ever questions a white actresses worthiness the way they question Halle's. There are a whole bunch of mediocre actresses who win Oscars all the time - Julia Roberts, Cher, Helen Hunt, Gwenyth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and the list goes on and on.
Usually when your black you have to be twice as a good as a white person to get recognition. If people think Halle is a mediocre actress and didn't deserve her Oscar, then I guess that's a sign of progress. Because that means she only had to be as talented as white actresses are to get the same recognition they have been getting for years.
Iman, I totally agree with your assessment about this trend of actresses posing for Maxim, Playboy, etc.
As to your sidebar, I doubt that Halle's blackness is the reason for the controversial Oscar win. I seriously doubt that Angela Bassett, Queen Latifah, Gabrielle Union, or even Halle Berry in the context of a different movie would have generated the same controversy.
My point is real progress has NOT been made, and won't be genuine until black actresses have a wider variety options to accept roles that aren't prostitutes, drug addicts, whores, and jive-talkin', one-dimensional characters. To reward talented actresses for their willingness to capitulate to those roles is a reinforcement of the status quo, and not progress.
Actually, I will reverse myself and say that progress is being made, but not by the white controlled entertainment complex.
Movies by Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, etc have given some actresses relief from the endless array of buffoonish characters. Which gets back to my point that we need to control the camera, and not just strictly be in front of it, taking directions.
The Oscar win isn't a sign of progress in my book.
shecodes, i agree w/ you. I don't think an oscar is a sign of progress either, because i don't think an oscar (regardless of who wins it), is an actual sign of anyones talent and ability. It's usually a sign of their connections. My comment re: Halle was said more sarcastically than anything. Just to point out the fact that so many black people challenge her acting abilities as if white oscar winners are these talented powerhouses. For every amazing actor that has won an oscar there are 3 mediocre ones who have as well. And yes, I think the controvery was because she's black.
I agree that progress in Hollywood will be made when there are more roles for black actresses, but being in a Tyler Perry movie is not an example of creating oppourtunity for a serious black actress. Just because your playing a doctor or lawyer, and speaking standard english in a movie it does not mean that you have in fact landed a great role. I like Tyler Perry, but his movies are fluff. Which is fine for a black actress who wants a more commercial mainstream movie career. However if your a serious black actress, you want the roles that are written more creativly and have characters with more depth.
I think progress for a black actress is about having roles that are meaty and have some substance (whether your playing a junkie or a famous author). And your right - this is precisly why we do need to get behind the camera, so that we can tell our stories (the good ones and BAD ones) with the type of layers and depth they deserve.
Movies by Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, etc have given some actresses relief from the endless array of buffoonish characters. Which gets back to my point that we need to control the camera, and not just strictly be in front of it, taking directions
R u serious? Tyler Perry doesn't do Black women any justice...at all.
And Oprah butchered 'And Their Eyes Were Watching God.'
BUTCHERED it.
Being in control of the camera means having a diversity of roles not just Monster's Ball but not just Tyler Perry either (Lord knows not that).
Same goes for media. THe problem isn't that King exists...the problem there aren't enough images out there to counterbalance it.
Gina, we only argue when it is necessary.
JJ, I do not think being offended by Elise Neal's photos in that pimp of a magazine is an overreaction. I viewed Elise Neal as a class act. I guess I was wrong. Sigh
I don't see how posing on the cover of King makes her NOT a "class act."
I guess that's where we differ
Showing the assy is not classy. Sorry.
Where is she showing her ass?
The pics aren't bad...they just have a little extra kink with the tie up theme.
She looks good.
I agree with JJ..its King magazine...I didn't get the "tied up" angle...but then again, the pic wasn't supposed to appeal to me in the first place. I don't have a problem with any of those type magazines...just like I don't have a problem with this calendar I just got of scantily clad chocolate brothas with rock hard abs. Perhaps one day we'll have a QUEEN magazine..so I can properly oogle every month like the fellas.
Well I can't argue that Tyler Perry's movies are meaty. And I agree that 'Their eyes were watching God' was a travesty... so I guess hell is going to freeze over because I'm agreeing with jj over something (smile).
I guess the flimsy point that I was trying to make is that the latest Tyler Perry movie was at least an attempt to make a departure from the stereotypical roles that are the usual fare for Black women. But I would be the last person to defend his movies as high art.
@JJ
Black women have suffered from a long-term real-life portrayal as "free and easy" women in terms of sex and sexuality. This has been in place since slavery. There are a lot of studies out there that tie "lad mags" to violent crime against women. I'm not against a black woman expressing herself sexually, but Ms. Neal pictures reflect submission and domination, not sexy.
I see absolutely no value in a "Superhead" movie. There is absolutely nothing compelling, interesting, or uplifting about her life story. I hope that we as black women would protest and boycott any studio that decided to make a film of this tripe. Black women have a million stories to tell that would serve us strongly and positively as black women.
I would much rather see a film made from Octavia Butler's Kindred, Tandarive Due's, The Living Blood, or Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever. How about a bio pic on Bessie Smith, Elaine Brown of the Black Panther Party, or the first black female aviator, Bessie Coleman? There are several black female detective book series that are begging to be made.
Black actresses instead of settling for crap, need to work together to write and produce their own stuff, this what many white actresses do. Black director Kasi Lemmons used to be an actress, she started making her own films because she hated the roles offered for black women.
Black women have also suffered as being portrayed as aesexual, prudish, bufoons and any number of other stereotypes.
most studies show hat porn is linked to violence against women....not so much the lad mags.
There is value in the Supahead story. And how can you suggest that there is no value in Supahead but value in The Coldest Winter Ever?
Have you read the book?
@Shecodes
Oh it was bound to happen sooner or later:-)
If not done to solely highlight sleeping with celebrities Steffans' story does have the potential to be something other than some skin/trash flick.
Her problem has been that she seems to glorify her life experiences though she says she wants girls to learn from the damage she has experienced.
I say "seem" because I haven't read the book, just heard things here and there.
And if she shows the way these men devalued her, used her, how little they (and she) thought of her it can give pause to girls and young women.
Its up to her how she wants it to go.
There are always good movies out there. The problem isnt that they aren't made, the problem is they arent supported. And they might not be mainstream. Some of the best movies are indie movies. People just need to expand beyond what comes to the cineplex.
Now this disturbs me. These are babies:
http://brownsista.com/dereon-baby-a-little-too-adult
Somebody should be arrested.
@JJ
You're incorrect about the "lad mags", but you are welcome to your opinion on that. My research shows me different.
Yes, I have read both of Superhead's so-called books. I would love to hear your thoughts on the potential value of telling her story as a film, but I hope you're not buying into her "cautionary tale" hustle or if you are interested in what my friend Symphony suggests that the film represents a completely different presentation than the story she originally told then that is just as fake.
Since the books are basically one sex scene after another, how much of that translates to the film? Do you really want to see that presented on film? She sought out that lifestyle with a passion, she desired to be the most outrageous, the most outlandish video vixen, now she's going to be the unfortunate victim in the film?
The only way this story could have any value is if she renounced her previous behavior and she has not. I have not be able to understand how she continues to maintain support and interest considering her recent efforts to rewrite and reverse her own written history. As I stated before, there are much more interesting, empowering, and intelligent stories to be told about black women.
And unlike Superhead's books, The Coldest Winter Ever is fiction. It is also one of the most popular books wtih young urban women. It tells a great story about street life in the hood and the price that is paid for that lifestyle. And it's a better written book than anything Superhead has produced.
Actually I was asking if you had read The Coldest Winter Ever...
And symphony points out how the story can be told. It doesn't have to be "one sex scene after the other."
It can be a cautionary tale (whether she means for it to be so or not) and the script can be written as such.
And the lesson to be learned form Coldest Winter isn't "Don't deal" but don't get caught up with trifling ass men.
Both stories can be spun for negative or positive. All depends on the script.
And I'm not sure what you mean by,
The only way this story could have any value is if she renounced her previous behavior and she has not.
She doesn't suggest to anyone that she should do what she has done. I read the first book and while she does brag, she is also real clear on just how much she had to "do" to get the money, attentions, and goods she got from these men.
Like I said its a cautionary tale whether she meant it to be or not.
Okay jj,
History has proved that responsible movie script writing on a subject like this is as rare as a spotted unicorn.
I also don't see many people interpreting this story as a cautionary tale, if it is written to glorify sleeping your way to the top. After all, her reward for that behavior (according to your previous comments) are 'blowing up' and getting rich.
Let's make a friendly wager: I'll say that it will be written for tittilation, sex scenes and possible laughs. I believe that you think that it will have merit and be interpreted as a cautionary tale.
C'mon... let's put our money where our mouths are. How about it? Ten bucks and bragging rights. We can choose three well known independent reviewers, and them decide who wins. Can you take it, my sister?
Who said anything about blowing up and getting rich?
I said it could be written as a cautionary tale. I didn't say it would be.
f the movie gets made by a major studio it'll be a better script then u think. Supahead is a wealthy woman with a lot of success I assure that whatever you think about her she is calculating and smart...she won't agree to a bad script...believe that.
"Supahead is a wealthy woman with a lot of success" = "Blowing up and getting rich".
So, are you confident enough to back it up, jj? I promise, I will post an apology on my blog and pay promptly if I am wrong. Can you say the same?
@JJ -
You're missing the point. The book is not a cautionary tale - it is written that way at all. It about a woman that used her body to break into the video girl industry and to make money - getting revenge on those she felt did her wrong by telling sex tales regardless of who she hurt.
It's not her story if it gets turned around to make her look like she lived differently than she actually did.
I think the difference between us is that you admire her and I find her disgusting. I do not view what she has done as success or empowering. If she was 100% satisfied with her "sucess" she would not be running away from the name she made famous or trying to portrayal herself as "socialite" -her word not mine.
@Shecodes -
This will never make the big screen. This is cable tv - hbo/showtime/bet if it sees the light of day ever. If this book was truly optioned at all - some independent producer bought it - if a major studio bought it - Ms. Superhead ego would have been bragging a long time ago.
And since JJ skipped over that part of my question - how is this film made without it being 75% about sex? Isn't the only draw of the film? Isn't sex her only talent?
WOW...
@ Professor Tracey
1. I never said I admired her I just don't have a level of disgust about her that you do.
She hasn't done anything different then women have been doing for years. So what if she used sex to get ahead. How does that affect me?
You also act like creative licensed isn't taken all of the time with books that are turned into movies?
Hell so much so that sometimes the movies are so different from the books you're like...huh? That's not what I read.
How can it not be just about sex and turned into a cautionary tale...Let's see:
1. You can focus on her relationships with her mom and the rape.
2. You can focus on her abusive relationship with her husband
3. You can focus on the drug addiction/fast life that led to many of her decisions.
4. You can focus on her as a single mom and her inability to take care of her child b/c of the life she was leading.
5. You can focus on her getting her life together in the end and being able to get her son back and ultimately make something of herself (whether u agree with how she's doing it or not.)
@Shecodes
U said, After all, her reward for that behavior (according to your previous comments) are 'blowing up' and getting rich.
rior to mentioning that she is currently a successful woman I din't say anyhting about her "blowing up and getting rich."
And once again u miss my point...there is no bet to be had because I never said it would be made into a cautionary tale.
I said it could be.
My guess IF it gets made...and that's a big if...it will be a cross between the two.
Just an interesting side note. How many of you have actually read "Confessions of a Video Vixen"?
I borrowed a copy back when it came out. You can read it in about three hours.