Watermelon Man is probably not the film you expect it to be. The Watermelon Man film you expect goes like this: a casually racist white businessman wakes up one day to find that he is black, experiences life in someone else's shoes, experiences trials and tribulations, has a personal revelation, and then wakes up the next day to find his whiteness restored and having learned a valuable lesson along the way. Thankfully Watermelon Man takes such Hollywood storytelling expectations and subverts them beautifully.
While watching the film, I kept expecting one thing to happen and then being surprised (in a good way) when things went another way. For example, as you would expect the black Mr. Gerber has run ins with the police, is called slurs, and gets turned away from restaurants. But he also faces discrimination from white liberals. His coworker tries to exploit his new race for business purposes and then gets upset when he won't go along with the company's scheme to treat black clients worse than white ones. In another example, Mr. Gerber's new black body is sexualized by a white woman who only sees him as a sex object. And finally, Mr. Gerber even uses his new blackness to exploit his white neighbor's racism, forcing them to pay him a lot of money to move out of the neighborhood. These were all interesting angles on race that I did not expect going into the film.
The biggest problem I have with Watermelon Man is that it never brings all these clever subversions together to convey a larger message. I find the film is strongest while pointing out the hypocrisy of white liberals, the kind who profess to care deeply about race issues but can't handle a black person moving into the neighborhood. However there's also a strong black power bent which I wish was explored further. By the end of the film, Mr. Gerber seems to have accepted his new race but his motivations are left unclear and there really aren't many scenes of him actually interacting with other black people. It feels like the film never fully commits to whatever story it is trying to tell.
Still, I am writing this all from a 2020 point of view. Watching this film today, I found myself wanting more. I wanted the satire to be far more biting. I wanted the black power aspects to be more emphasized. It's hard to put yourself back in 1970 and imagine how this film would have been seen back then. Heck, the famous Star Trek kiss between Shatner and Nichelle Nichols was only a few years earlier.
Beyond the plot, the film itself is also unique. A mix of neat cinematography and weird editing decisions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some of the editing and transitions in particular can be jarring in a way that makes the film feel not entirely finished.
I also find the plot spends far too much time on Mr. Gerber trying to get over the fact that he is now black. It was enough to watch him try to scrub off his blackness in the shower and try skin whiteners. We get the point. There was no need for him to bathe in milk or rage about his tanning lamp or encase himself in plaster. All this time would have been far better spent exploring Mr. Gerber's interaction with society as a black man.
Having said all that, I hesitate to recommend this film, especially to those who aren't interested in trying to understand it on its terms. On one side, some white viewers may find it too easy to laugh along at the film's many non-politically correct jokes-which are indeed funny-without challenging themselves with the uncomfortable points the film raises. On the other hand, Watermelon man is not your typical circa 2020 film about race. This is a good thing in my book, but it also means you are not going to see it on many "Black Lives Matter" watch lists. The film's name and plot alone synopsis are probably enough to ward off many potential viewers. That's a shame because I do think Watermelon Man, while certainly not without its flaws, offers a unique take on race in America, even if it doesn't go nearly as far as viewers may hope when watching it 50 years later.
PS: the song "Love, That's America" is another big highlight.
While watching the film, I kept expecting one thing to happen and then being surprised (in a good way) when things went another way. For example, as you would expect the black Mr. Gerber has run ins with the police, is called slurs, and gets turned away from restaurants. But he also faces discrimination from white liberals. His coworker tries to exploit his new race for business purposes and then gets upset when he won't go along with the company's scheme to treat black clients worse than white ones. In another example, Mr. Gerber's new black body is sexualized by a white woman who only sees him as a sex object. And finally, Mr. Gerber even uses his new blackness to exploit his white neighbor's racism, forcing them to pay him a lot of money to move out of the neighborhood. These were all interesting angles on race that I did not expect going into the film.
The biggest problem I have with Watermelon Man is that it never brings all these clever subversions together to convey a larger message. I find the film is strongest while pointing out the hypocrisy of white liberals, the kind who profess to care deeply about race issues but can't handle a black person moving into the neighborhood. However there's also a strong black power bent which I wish was explored further. By the end of the film, Mr. Gerber seems to have accepted his new race but his motivations are left unclear and there really aren't many scenes of him actually interacting with other black people. It feels like the film never fully commits to whatever story it is trying to tell.
Still, I am writing this all from a 2020 point of view. Watching this film today, I found myself wanting more. I wanted the satire to be far more biting. I wanted the black power aspects to be more emphasized. It's hard to put yourself back in 1970 and imagine how this film would have been seen back then. Heck, the famous Star Trek kiss between Shatner and Nichelle Nichols was only a few years earlier.
Beyond the plot, the film itself is also unique. A mix of neat cinematography and weird editing decisions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some of the editing and transitions in particular can be jarring in a way that makes the film feel not entirely finished.
I also find the plot spends far too much time on Mr. Gerber trying to get over the fact that he is now black. It was enough to watch him try to scrub off his blackness in the shower and try skin whiteners. We get the point. There was no need for him to bathe in milk or rage about his tanning lamp or encase himself in plaster. All this time would have been far better spent exploring Mr. Gerber's interaction with society as a black man.
Having said all that, I hesitate to recommend this film, especially to those who aren't interested in trying to understand it on its terms. On one side, some white viewers may find it too easy to laugh along at the film's many non-politically correct jokes-which are indeed funny-without challenging themselves with the uncomfortable points the film raises. On the other hand, Watermelon man is not your typical circa 2020 film about race. This is a good thing in my book, but it also means you are not going to see it on many "Black Lives Matter" watch lists. The film's name and plot alone synopsis are probably enough to ward off many potential viewers. That's a shame because I do think Watermelon Man, while certainly not without its flaws, offers a unique take on race in America, even if it doesn't go nearly as far as viewers may hope when watching it 50 years later.
PS: the song "Love, That's America" is another big highlight.