When New Line Cinema announced their upcoming remake of Shaft back in February, it was a cause for celebration. Emphasis on the word “was.”
Novelist Ernest Tidyman created the character of John Shaft in 1970 as an African-American alternative to James Bond. The private detective became a cultural phenomenon, and has already been featured in eight novels, four feature films, seven TV movies and an award-winning comic book series. And of course, his first film won an Academy Award for Isaac Hayes’s unforgettable theme song, which was all about how badass Shaft is.
John Shaft is indeed an iconic character, and he was long overdue for another cinematic adventure. So the announcement of a new Shaft motion picture was a happy one, at least until the follow-up announcement this week that the remake wouldn’t be a traditional take on Tidyman’s character. Instead, it is going to have what Hollywood Reporter describes as “a comedic tone,” courtesy of Kenya Barris, the creator of the sitcom Black-ish, and Alex Barnow, the executive producer of the sitcom The Goldbergs.
The prospect of a comedic Shaft movie is a matter of great concern to David Walker, the writer of the current Shaft comic book series and the most recent novel Shaft’s Revenge. Walker has written a blistering open letter to New Line Cinema and producer John Davis on his website BadAzzMofo.com, arguing passionately but reasonably that given the current political climate, a cinematic interpretation of John Shaft that makes light of the character is… actually, let’s just let Walker put this part in his own words:
Not since Ernest Tidyman created John Shaft back in 1970 has there been more of a need for someone just like him. And yet your solution is to take the most iconic hero in the history of black popular culture—something that is missing from the cinematic landscape right now—and turn him into some kind of comedic figure. Congratulations for your forward thinking, New Line and Mr. Davis. Because God knows that what black people—as well as the rest of America—needs right now is ANOTHER black man cracking jokes to distract us from all that ails us. We can leave the superheroics to the white guys, but the black hero can only be heroic if he is wrapped in a comedic package. I believe I speak for many people when I say, “No thanks, and fuck you.”
Walker has a valid argument, of course. There is a noticeable and serious absence non-white heroes in cinema, particularly of the aspirational variety. The sort of figures to whom audiences can look up to, because they take a stand against real-life injustice, are largely dominated by superheroes in the current cinematic environment, and the vast majority of those heroes are currently white men. So taking one of the few iconic black characters audiences have and making him the subject of a comedy is anything but encouraging, and arguably even disrespectful to John Shaft, Ernest Tidyman, and the character’s fans (pre-existing and prospective).
Many of the best action movies ever made are also pretty funny. Raiders of the Lost Ark has a great sense of humor. Terminator 2 was willing to break the fourth wall and force Arnold Schwarzenegger to swear to the audience that he wouldn’t kill anyone. If this new version of Shaft is an action movie that isn’t afraid to crack a joke once in a while, then all of this ire might be misplaced.
But if this new Shaft is a comedy, in the vein of Black Dynamite or Undercover Brother, Walker accurately points out that the decision even make much sense financially. As fun as those movies are (and they are genuinely fun), neither of them was a box office success. The blaxploitation parody genre simply has not connected with mainstream audiences thus far, and reminding New Line Cinema of this quantifiable fact probably isn’t a bad idea.
What’s more, the idea of a comedic interpretation of Shaft wouldn’t even make much sense artistically. The landscape has changed for parodies lately. Films like 21 Jump Street have opened a new market for nostalgia updates that poke fun of laughable original content, like the upcoming Baywatch movie, which is currently set to star Dwayne Johnson. (The concept that dates back even further of course, to films like 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie and 1987’s Back to the Beach.) And although the 1970s Shaft films may be somewhat dated – as well they would be, given that they were made at earlier dates – they are not laughable.
A satirical approach worked for 21 Jump Street, and should at least theoretically work for Baywatch, because culturally we are generally a little bit ashamed of our affection for those nostalgia properties. We look at the original content of those TV series and, although we can still of course enjoy them, we can’t help but wonder how we could ever have taken them seriously. Many movies and TV series that are popular today will eventually suffer the same fate and be laughed at by future generations. Some of them will deserve that treatment (I’m looking at you, every reality TV show), and some of them won’t.
John Shaft has cultural value, not just monetary value. He isn’t just a well-known name that can be shoved into a popular new milieu to sell tickets, he is a memorable and influential figure who stood against injustice and won, in a time when such stories were uncommon. Such stories are still uncommon now, at least in movies that feature protagonists who aren’t white males. A new Shaft movie would be more distinctive and significant – and yes, probably more profitable – if it was taken seriously.
Although New Line Cinema and the writers of the Shaft remake obviously know a lot more about their remake than we do, the smart talking points brought up by Walker should – one hopes – illustrate just how important this character is to individuals and to the culture at large, and how important he can still be in the future. We don’t need a comedy that makes fun of Shaft. We need Shaft, and we need him done right.
The ball is in New Line Cinema’s court. Let’s just hope they don’t drop it.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
