Ferraro- "American Pimp"

"American Pimp"
Hughes Bros.
1999

For "documentary week" I've gone with the film "American Pimp". It was hard to sit there and watch the whole thing without getting horribly offended, but I'll keep my opinions to myself...

This is clearly a “talking heads” documentary, as it relies purely on the interviews of local-known pimps in Chicago or New York. At times, to strengthen a point, the director cuts to a clip from old movies such as “Willie Dynamite” and “The Mack”.

This can also be considered a “propaganda film”, since its entirety focuses on glamorizing the life and styles of a pimp. The only objective views are in the beginning when the director asks the public what they think of pimps. “Sleazy, snaky, [etc.]” they answer, but that’s only for 30 seconds, compared to the 80 minutes of what makes being a pimp so great. At one point, they even show the proud mother of a pimp and how she practically worships her son, decked in trendy clothes, which includes gator-shoes. The whole “sleazy” and “snaky” descriptions are supposedly stereotypes and called “perpetrator pimps” as described by “real pimps”.

Even the women they interview, whom are often called “bitches” and “hos” (which are suppose to considered pet names) explain why they stick around, and how wonderful their pimps are. According to the pimps, the hoes need them like doctors need nurses and priests need nuns... And hos are unable to function themselves, and need their pimps to tell them what to do, where to go, and how to act, and emphasize that women are their “property”.

In such a sensitive issue, I think this film would work better if they had an opposition view and/or ACTUALLY showed that the American pimps are nothing like the “perpetrator pimps.”

The budget seemed somewhat low, as the screen looked rather “fuzzy”, as if it was filmed in the70’s and not ’99.