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Justin Simien’s “Bad Hair” Review (Contains Spoilers)
I just finished watching Bad Hair and I am underwhelmed and disappointed to say the least. I’m sad because I was really excited to see this movie. I’m always happy to see a Black director making a horror movie starring Black people. After all, as Jordan Peele often says, many Black people have always and will always love horror, but haven’t seen themselves in these films for many years.
To start, if you’re a Black man making a movie about Black women’s hair, you maybe should have written it with a Black woman?? Because there’s a certain authenticity that’s missing from the film.
When Zora takes over at Culture, Brook-Lynne, played by Lena Waithe, says, “It would be some light-skinned bitch.” This line felt so inauthentic to me. Maybe she would’ve said, “It would be someone with her ‘aesthetic’.” Maybe she would’ve brought up the issue of colorism, but why must we have a film written by a Black man in which a Black woman calls another Black woman a bitch?
When Anna goes to her aunt and uncle’s house and her uncle picks up that plate wrapped in tin foil to give to her, even that felt off to me. In real life, that plate would’ve been in the oven, or in the microwave or on the stove to help it retain heat, not on the kitchen table.
Now, let’s talk about the scene where Anna gets the weave she’s yearned for. When…