The 1980’s was a golden age of bad entertainment: Bad music, bad television, and bad movies. And yet we take a guilty pleasure in enjoying this awful stuff. One of the worst movies made in the decade (and one of my favorites) is about law school. I’m referring to, of course, Soul Man. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Soul Man, let me give you a brief synopsis:
Mark Watson is a rich California kid. He and his idiot friend, Gordon, are admitted to Harvard Law School. Mark’s dad decides to teach his son a life lesson and not pay for law school. Mark tries to figure out a way to pay for law school. Somehow he can’t secure a loan, and begins searching for a scholarship. Gordon finds one that awards a full ride to a student from the Los Angeles area. The only problem is that the scholarship is meant for a black student. But Gordon has an idea…
Mark takes an excess of experimental tanning pills to darken his skin. He gets a perm. And he passes himself of as African-American, and is awarded the scholarship. Mark arrives at Harvard, but encounters some things he never expected, like prejudiced landlords and racist jokes. He meets a tough, demanding black professor played by James Earl Jones, who expects more from Mark because he is black. He also meets a black single mother who is a student at HLS, who would have been awarded the scholarship had Mark not taken it. Predictably, they fall in love.
Eventually, Mark’s secret is discovered through a series of misunderstandings and hijinks. There is the predictable scene in front of the disciplinary committee where Gordon gives an impassioned speech in defense of Mark. He should be kicked out of school, but since he learned a valuable lesson, Harvard decides to let him stay and continue his legal education - as a white student.
This movie is very bad, even by 80’s standards. This movie is racially insensitive, even by Jim Crow standards. Yet it somehow works. A few more thoughts and observations:
**A bold choice here, as this is the first time a white actor appeared in blackface since the Vaudeville era.
**At no time do Mark and Gordon appear to be remotely intelligent, yet they attend Harvard. And Legally Blond, also set at Harvard Law, features another seemingly brain-dead law student. If I went to Harvard, I’d be offended that Hollywood perceives Harvard admissions to be slightly less rigorous than the average 4th-tier school.
**Despite his best efforts, Mark did not appear to be the least bit black. He did not appear to be half black, a quarter black, an eighth black, or any other fraction. He looked like a white guy covered in bronzer and a bad perm. But nobody’s suspicions were ever raised. I can understand if some of his WASP-y Harvard classmates didn’t suspect anything, as he was probably the first black guy they had seen up close. But how did James Earl Jones, the salty black professor, not suspect anything? More importantly, why did James Earl Jones agree to do this movie? Couldn’t they have found a less dignified actor to play the role? Was Robert Townsend busy? For shame, James Earl. For shame.
**Finally, Mark perpetrated a huge fraud against both Harvard and the scholarship committee, yet nobody sued. How is this possible? Mark easily incurred civil liability here, and probably criminal liability as well, against a law school and a group of law school alumni, who are some of the most litigious people in the world. Yet nobody presses charges? Even worse, they let him come back to school because he “learned a valuable lesson.” Didn’t they have an honor code? Is this the best punishment they could come up with? Wouldn’t this be a major red flag on the character and fitness portion of the bar application?
