Glad you got to this, and agree on the verdict. Melman, long neck and spots notwithstanding, is a turkey.
I was struck from the start, though, that Madagascar consists, essentially, of pairs of Jews and Blacks: Melman/Gloria, Alex/Marty, and Julien/Maurice
I'm not sure what that means, but one idea I've had is that the three different Jewish-voiced characters collectively represent the stereotype of the Jew. Melman is whiny and hypochondric; Alex is talented but insecure; and Julien is manic and unpredictable (if self-obsessed).
I didn't like the movie all that much, but that range of Jewish types -- each playing off a variation of the African-American stereotype -- made it at least a bit more interesting than the disappointingly easy depiction of Melman alone would have done.
Glad you got to this, and agree on the verdict. Melman, long neck and spots notwithstanding, is a turkey.
ReplyDeleteI was struck from the start, though, that Madagascar consists, essentially, of pairs of Jews and Blacks:
Melman/Gloria, Alex/Marty, and Julien/Maurice
I'm not sure what that means, but one idea I've had is that the three different Jewish-voiced characters collectively represent the stereotype of the Jew. Melman is whiny and hypochondric; Alex is talented but insecure; and Julien is manic and unpredictable (if self-obsessed).
I didn't like the movie all that much, but that range of Jewish types -- each playing off a variation of the African-American stereotype -- made it at least a bit more interesting than the disappointingly easy depiction of Melman alone would have done.