![]() ![]() Consider this: While Ruby runs essentially the most popular infotainment show in the galaxy, he still moves toward the fight when it counts and transforms into a frontline reporter, giving updates from the terrifying site of destruction and devastation. But it's when Tucker plays the opposite that depth is added to an otherwise outrageously campy Ruby. Over two decades later, people still post GIFs of Ruby's "bbbbzzzzzzzttt!" to respond to Twitter trolls, further proof Tucker helped turn The Fifth Element into an enduring classic. He was most obviously hired for his comedic chops and good LORD does he deliver. Tucker's ability to subvert expectations leads to all the best parts of the legendary movie. But as it stands, Tucker broke mainstream ground in the original for the breadth and depth of what black men in American cinema could be. In fact, pansexual Ruby Rhod is the ONLY legitimate reason to ever think about remaking The Fifth Element. God forbid there's ever a remake, but if there is, trust that Ruby's animal magnetism wouldn't just be regulated to many attractive women that fall all over themselves for him in The Fifth Element. Seduction is the game, and Ruby Rhod is the one fanning all the flames. But rather than reducing the character to the gay male caricature most frequently found in Disney films, Tucker's Ruby used his genderqueer confidence to fuel the sort of raw sexuality often left to his hypermasculine peers. From the sway of his hips to the flash of delicate collar bones in a skintight leopard-print catsuit, Tucker strutted through every scene as if spotlights naturally followed him wherever he went. In time, when nearly every variation of the black American male onscreen was an effigy of hypermasculinity, Tucker took on a role that subverted gender and sexuality norms and blew audiences' minds.įlexing in head-to-toe couture Jean Paul Gaultier, Tucker played Ruby with what at the time would be considered effeminate tendencies. At the time, American audiences were used to a much narrower definition of black men on the silver screen: the affable romantic lead à la The Preacher's Wife, the mainstream (even for white people) blockbuster action hero à la Bad Boys, the craft actor's historical biopic à la Malcolm X, realistic looks within the black community à la Boyz N The Hood and, of course, Spike Lee joints other than Malcolm X. Let us count the ways, shall we, starting with the fact that Tucker was a high-profile black actor in a sci-fi epic in 1997 who wasn't named Will Smith. It's hard to remember he's supposed to be a supporting role whenever he swans in, as Tucker's performance elevates what in any other Chris' hands would be a flat, simpering, vainglorious celebrity to genre-defying art. Loud, piercing, unapologetic in every way, Tucker steals every scene in the Bruce Willis classic. Ruby Rhod is Chris Tucker at his most essential.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |