Why isnt Martin considered a "new black" or "c00n" show?

[UserNameless]

Now let's flip this.

George Costanza lived with his parents like Cole did.
Kramer has absolutely NO JOB for 99.9% of Seinfeld.

this.

 

[BiggWebb79]

And he stuck with his chick... Didn't represent the black culture in a bad way

We all could relate, and even though he did the drag shyt.. You can tell it was by his own doing. He also played a lot of other characters on the show.

Everybody had a bum ass dude always borrowing shyt

Everybody had that ghetto ass chick trying to push up on them

Everybody had that one friend who always had money but didn't know what he actually did to get it

Everybody had that one friend who was just slow

And Martin/Pam exchanges were hilarious.
I don't see it as c00ning. Dude kept a job, kept a spot, kept his chick..

Dude even had a black boss.. Then there was the episode where dude got the white boss who wanted him to sell out.. And even pushed up on him with that faq shyt.

"RAAAADIOOOO!"

*throws trash can at window*

*window doesn't break*

This

I think the point the OP is making is that shyt we considered lighthearted and just enjoyed for being funny would be considered a c00nfest now.

My best example is the Wayans Bros show. But that's black people for ya.... Always arguing about shyt and can't never just laugh and be happy these days..

And This

I notice in this fake hotep era that laughing at even ourselves and having a goodtime is frowned upon by fake social media internet militants. As far as the show it wasn't offensive or reinforce negative stereotypes of black people(which is actually what "c00ning" is). It toed the line without crossing it and plus the show had B.I.G on it

 

[James Dean]

Good read but Martin is my jam.

Not going to overthink the shyt and ruin the classics.

Yes I know its nostalgia and a lot of shyt doesn't age well. But when people start putting shyt in perspective and going in depth, I choose to remember stuff for how it was and what it was in my mind.

Entertaining.

We could be here all day pulling up stuff thats praised and break it down.

Its all good though and a good point but nope. Not over here.

 

[13473]

u have to wait until martin comes out and says something against all black people for others to admit something was wrong with his show.

 

[Zero]

*waits for anotha enlightening thread on how Hollywood Shuffle was actually used as a propaganda piece to discourage aspiring black actors from entering da career field of actin . *

 

[NobodyReally]

Difference is that Martin wasn't created for the enjoyment of white people. The jokes would go over their heads and it was really designed for us to poke fun at ourselves and laugh. Not c00n at all

And he regularly poked fun at whites out in the open.

 

[Bernie Madoff]

Some of you guys have seriously lost your fuccing minds.

 

[Roid Jones]

Coli Militants like

 

[Matt504]

I watched Martin my entire childhood and enjoyed it back when I had no idea what the fukk white supremacy, "c00ning" and sambo was, so I was able to enjoy for the entertainment value. as an adult, I can't watch a single episode without noticing how fukked up the dynamics of the show were. Cole AND his girlfriend were both fukking dumb, something I used to laugh at, but now it's just hard to watch.

That show is fukked up on so many levels that it's ridiculous, and it's not the only show from that era that's fukked up.

becoming too racially aware and feeling like you're complicit in perpetuating negative stereotypes with your art can create mental problems.

white supremacy has destroyed, and continues to destroy the minds of millions of non-white people. I can barely watch old episodes of Martin anymore because I start to feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable with some of the dialogue, shyt that I was completely ignorant of when I grew up watching and ENJOYING the Martin show.

 

[muse]

Honestly, I always wondered that just a little with how Gina was light and he clowned on Pam (though never mentioned her being dark which says a lot)

Then he would dress as a woman, but sheneneh was a successful business owner and at times selfless.

Martin was just goofy as fukk tho and he was so over the top sometimes that I'm like watching it, but now that I think about it, I don't think his intent was to exploit blacks and their culture for a white audience. He was being his goofy self for what was initially his main audience then it grew and diversified

 

[feelosofer]

Y'all keep acting like Martin is the pinnacle of black television achievement, and the "GOAT siticom" but Im surprised the show hasnt raised y'all ire given the coli militant standards, and yall collective ability to turn everything into degradation of the black race:

The central character is Martin, who is unserious, unfocused, unintelligent and lives so far off on the economic margins that he can only afford a modest apt in a low income area of detroit, which could be a housing project if you look at the building and those who live there hard enough.

Martin, of course, plays a host of characters who are all dumber than the next. One is a female named 'Sheneneh' (black male emasculation? gay agenda?), who seems to be written with the sole intent of maxing out on every bad black woman stereotype ever invented.

His two best friends are Cole and Tommy. The former is a barely functioning retard, and the latter is best known for not having a job.

Martin's girlfriend is Gina, who enjoyed the best written character on the show. She's extremely bright, and the only one thats clearly college educated. She's successful, not promiscuous, logical, the emotional and moral anchor in almost every situation, and always the voice of reason amongst a sea of idiots. And also not so coincidentally she was the lightest person on the show --- her skin so light in fact she was practically racially ambiguous.

Pam is Gina's best friend. Her character isnt too offensive, but she was clearly written to serve as Gina's inferior and chosen as Martin's foil for a reason. She gets by on her sex appeal and little else --- certainly not her integrity, which is always painted as being low to non-existent.

The rest of the show is filled out by a motley crew of aimless low lifes --- bruh man? hustle man? Stan, the station manager at WZUP????

I know its just a show designed for jokes, but logic like that hasnt stopped ya'll before. What gives?

I see what you are saying and those are fair criticisms.

I would differ with you in some things.

You can't really say the show was c00ning because Martin's intended audience was Black. It was made mostly by Blacks for Blacks, I'm old enough to have been in college when the show came out and my white friends were mostly like . They didn't get the lingo the mannerisms, nothing, which is why it's success was unprecedented because it's audience was basically the Black 18-34 crowd and it built a #1 show off the strength of that. I mean you had other shows like the Cosby Show (which had just ended), Fresh Prince, and Family Matters but those shows all took place in a middle-class setting and were aspirational and idealistic as opposed to what was reality for most young Black people in that time period (and now). If you were in your mid-late 20's and working as a Black person, chances are your home looked a lot like Martin's, a small shabby apartment in not the best neighborhood, but you made due.

As for Martin as Martin Payne, I would not say he is unserious, unfocused or unintelligent. I would say he has street smarts as opposed to book smarts. Also I would actually say he is vey focused. He went from radio host to talk show host off the strength of that, and actually, he invests very heavily into his own brand and believes in being honest with himself and others and his own personal integrity. Even as he moves up the ranks he never loses his sense of self. That is admirable, yea he clowns his friends and dumps on Pam but it's all in good fun because he has helped her when she needed it.

As for his friends, yea Cole is a dummy, but he's a good guy and a loyal friend. Tommy although unemployed, is the only one of Martin's friends that went to college and he is clearly quite intelligent, even though he may be making some sort of side money, because he never asked to borrow any from Martin as far as I remember. He also serves as the sort of logical one out of the three.

Gina is cool and she is definitely intelligent and beautiful but it's obvious Martin kinda pegged her as the snobby lightskinned girl who has little knowledge of how things are handled in the streets, but she does act as a moral compass and she did see Martins potential and to some extent stalled her career in order to benefit him, at times, especially earlier in his career.

To be fair all of Martin's characters were exaggerated to play on typical stereotypes, but again the show is a comedy. I mean all of the characters could be construed as a little offensive, but again this stuff was tongue and cheek.

The show is looked at the way it is, because I can't think of a TV show that launched/maintained as many careers Martin did. Garret Morris was able to have a career later in life considering how he was basically a token on SNL and never really had a career outside of playing bit roles in the 80's. He basically launched Tracy Morgan into the big time, hell even Bruh man got TV work and has had a successful stand up career.

Not to mention the success of the show helped start that wave of Black sitcoms throughout the 90's and early 2000's.

So was the show perfect, no but it was a great snapshot into the lives of young African-Americans trying to make it.

 

[Matt504]

I see what you are saying and those are fair criticisms.

I would differ with you in some things.

You can't really say the show was c00ning because Martin's intended audience was Black. It was made mostly by Blacks for Blacks, I'm old enough to have been in college when the show came out and my white friends were mostly like . They didn't get the lingo the mannerisms, nothing, which is why it's success was unprecedented because it's audience was basically the Black 18-34 crowd and it built a #

When you say it was made "mostly by Blacks" who are these Black people you're referring to, can you name them?

 

[Matt504]

Also: http://www.thecoli.com/threads/was-martin-lawrence-a-c-n-patrice.175972/

 

[Remote]

OP just taking shots at Martin.
Almost no one considers that show to be the pinnacle of black television.

Next week OP is gonna make a thread calling Biggie Smalls the pinnacle of black music using the same framework from this thread to deconstruct that shyt.

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

I am not a militant so I simply enjoy Maaaarrrrrtttttt-iiiiinnnnnnnnn, how yall feel?