Miles Mendenhall and Boogie Nights
Remember when Don Cheadle was in Boogie Nights? His character’s name was Buck Swope. Seriously. Buck Swope. You can’t ask for a better pornstar name. I used to wait tables at this shitty Thai place and once I had this guy come in and the name on his credit card was “Johnny Surprise.� No fooling. Johnny goddamn Surprise. Naturally I assumed that Mr. Surprise was also a pornstar because Don Cheadle put such a solid character behind the name Buck Swope; good movie characters always get me projecting false personas onto real people. However, Mr. Surprise was most likely, in all reality, probably not a pornstar, only a victim of my skewed perceptions (thankyou Hollywood) and therefore less interesting to me. The point being: the truth hurts, especially when its progressive. In Talk to Me, the civil rights movement of the 60’s and 70’s is dissected through the biopic of a radio DJ, specifically within his relationship with his more outspoken polar opposite. A predominately black radio station begins to cater to a white community, and one character conforms and the other protests, which Back calls “a paradox for a scene which prides itself on being socially aware, and open-minded,�. The character of Petey critiqued this aspect of the Black community, convicting change and progression even though his criticisms could even be seen as racist. I really wanted Johnny Surprise to be a pornstar, but I knew he wasn’t, I knew he was more than just some outlandish profession. And although my fantasy would have been more entertaining to believe, it was more progressive for me to grow up and realize that not everyone can be want I want them to be for the sake of my entertainment, and that making a point through pornography references is the only way to make a point.