Something New Is Something Old

First, everybody give me a hand. I think this is the second movie, in about a year, that I've seen before it went to DVD. It was a "girls night out" thing (not including the requisite henpecked husband whose wife dragged him along with the girls). I love Sanaa Lathan movies. She's part of the "black rat pack" of actors who star in movies about blacks who are professionals, have educations and come from well to do families. So, as a single black woman who, at varying times in my life, has been part of those on the hunt for an IBM (Ideal Black Man) or a BMW (Black Man Working) I could relate to a lot of the things in this movie - including the interracial question.

So let's pause and deal with some things you're probably assuming. You probably think 'Something New,' like the remake 'Guess Who,' approaches interracial romance as a sitcom opportunity. You probably think the cards are stacked in favor of these two people falling in love. But it isn't that simple. The movie is, astonishingly, told from a point of view hardly ever visible in movies: African-American professionals. Kenya's father (Earl Billings) is head of his department at Cedars-Sinai. Her mother (Alfre Woodard) is a pillar of black society, and of course her daughter made her debut at a black-tie Cotillion. Her brother is a lawyer for a movie studio. Her family and friends are not thrilled by the notion that she might date a white man.

Neither is Kenya. That is not a prejudice, she tells Brian, but a preference. The movie has frank dialogue about race -- not platitudes about how we're all really the same, but realistic observations about race in modern America. There's talk of the 'black tax' that requires someone like Kenya to work harder than her white colleagues, in order to overcome doubts about her competence. At work, she advises an important client to stay away from a merger; this is not news the client wants to hear, and he is unhappy hearing it from a black woman who seems better-informed than he is.

Kenya and Brian do eventually fall into the first stages of a romance. But they get sidetracked when he asks her to take out her weave and wear her 'own hair.' She's angry; she thinks this is none of his business (and indeed men of all races would be wise to avoid hair-care discussions with women of all races, because it's a touchier subject than a man can possibly realize). In social situations, Brian is aware of coolness from Kenya's brother and her friends, and at a comedy club the black comedienne makes comments about race that land around him like grenades.

They love each other, but are they ready to take on the responsibility of declaring their love and living with it? They have an argument in a grocery store that's real in a way love stories are rarely permitted to be. Kenya breaks up with him. An IBM comes into the picture, a wealthy black professional (Blair Underwood) who says and does all the right things ...

On the surface, you could call this an interracial romance movie. I was more cognizant of the class/social stratification differences. Though this guy was educated, he wasn't a professional and that, in many circles, is as big of an issue as the racial one. Now that I think about it, the Cosby episode where Vanessa brought Dabnus (the grounds keeper at her college) home subtly touched on that topic. I also recall a sorority sister whose parents had sent her to exclusive/private schools her whole life. She ended up falling in love with a Puerto Rican firefighter. Her educated, entrepreneurial, elitist grandmother remarked: "Your father spent all that money sending you to private schools and all you can come home with is a Puerto Rican fireman?" She then went on to look at the guy with disdain and quip: "All that pretty hair and no brains." We laughed at the time but, in a sense, maybe the grandmother felt that her family legacy was being tainted.

There is, among the so-called talented tenth, a certain amount of pressure to be very proud of the legacy of education and success in your family and stepping outside of that elite circle of people - who definitely blazed a lot of trails for you - is, in a sense, a slap in the face to the people who came before you. Add white to that and it could be like Cosby meets Bunker and I can't say I'd even attempt to deal with that myself.

Mainly, however, the movie was about stepping out of one's comfort zone or opening up to things beyond what you know or what you think you want. Even though I say I don't want to get married, I won't say never. Though I have certain traits in the back of my mind, I don't have a list (actually afraid I'd leave something major off and end up with a wacko). Even as a kid, I never went shopping with a set idea in my head for an outfit or a pair of shoes. I always said to myself, "I'll know it when I see it" and I'd see something from a mile away and know it was for me. That's probably why I'm not worried about getting married even at this relatively late date. I think I would have known him if I'd seen him even though I have no idea what he looks like.

So, I don't think Something New was all that taboo or new. It's the same old story of getting out of your own way, getting out of a box and trying to see the whole world and not just your narrow segment. That's a pretty universal message that everyone needs to get.