TV Eye

It has been fascinating to read the fallout from Elizabeth Regen's performance as Rita Nash on the new sitcom Whoopi. Described as "the whitest black girl on TV" by New York Times critic Baz Dreisinger (Sept. 28), Rita is the neck rolling, white "sistah" who baffles Whoopi Goldberg's lead character Mavis Rae. Though it looks like Mavis may never get used to her, Rita seems to love Mavis' brother Courtney (Wren T. Brown), and that's enough to seal the relationship on TV.

I've read online chatter about Rita, as well. Interestingly, viewers either think she's a scream or are offended by her. I can't tell who is offended or entertained -- blacks, whites, or otherwise -- since no one has identified their ethnic-racial background online. Not that it matters, because when it comes right down to it, it's not like Rita Nash is new. As an African-American friend reminded me, we've seen her before, but not on TV, and way before hip-hop was widely known.

Anyone who's grown up poor in the U.S. has seen or known Rita Nash. She's the kid from the poor white family that lives in the neighborhood with poor black folks (or Latinos, or any other ethnic minority). She's the girl who, as a matter of course, has picked up the language of the people around her. It's not like a club pass or a secret handshake. It's just the way of negotiating in the world. The same thing happens any place where a group of people share social space.

The flip side of Rita is the buttoned-up Courtney. The joke about Courtney is that he's discovering the joys of "black culture" from Rita -- the white girl, who's presumably acquired her blackness through TV and film. Her father owns a limousine business, and she is a medical technician, so it's not like she's standing in line for government cheese. But it's Courtney that I find most curious. Not because he's an educated black man who seems not to know he's black, but because he's lost his "mother tongue." If he indeed grew up with Mavis (who's uttered "chile," and even a vintage "yo mamma"), it would be more realistic for him to switch between the "straight" language that got him through law school and into the corporate world, and the language of his youth with ease. People of color who've enjoyed some social mobility thanks to higher education know what this is about. When family members or friends ask us to talk to doctors, teachers, and other official people because we know how to "talk like them," we know exactly what they mean.

But back to Rita. Unlike culture vultures such as Madonna, I don't find her offensive because in the broadly drawn strokes of Whoopi, I don't know enough about her. Would I cast an arched glance at her if I saw her in public? It depends on where I saw her -- sitting in the back of a Cap Metro bus or shopping at the Arboretum? Context is everything. Maybe once Whoopi gets over the giddiness of messing with this behavior stripped of its social causes and made cool (i.e., for sale) in popular culture, the roots of how this operates can be explored. In the meantime, I'd like to axe Rita -- where you get dem braids, girl?

Whoopi airs Tuesdays at 7pm on NBC.

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On PBS

A new season of Independent Lens premieres Tuesday. The new season features 29 films, including narrative dramas, comedies, and shorts, as well as documentaries that introduce viewers to stories seldom heard in mainstream filmmaking. This season kicks off with four wildly divergent films, including:

Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz -- A profile of the Brazilian conceptual artist. Airs Oct. 14.

Foto-Novelas 2: "Junkyard Saints" and "Broken Sky" -- Two, new half-hour dramas by filmmaker Carlos Avila, blending dreams, memories, and reality. Airs Oct. 21.

Shaolin Ulysses: Kungfu Monks in America -- Made famous in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this film follows a group of Shaolin fighting monks as they share their martial art and Buddhist philosophy in cities across the U.S. Airs Oct. 28.

A Wedding in Ramallah -- An arranged marriage between a Palestinian American from Cleveland and a woman living in the West Bank puts a human face on love and war. Airs Nov. 4.

Actor/director Don Cheadle (Traffic) hosts the series. All films air at 9pm. For a complete schedule, go to www.pbs.org.