BET's Being Mary Jane

BET's future series Being Mary Jane premiered with an extended pilot/movie last night at 10:30. I wanted to watch 1) because I can't complain about the lack of movies featuring black actors/actresses if I don't support some of them (emphasis on the word "some") and 2) I like Gabrielle Union (if you haven't checked her out on Shaq's comedy shack channel on YouTube you should).

The movie opens with the "42% of black women aren't married" statistic. I found this unnecessary. We (read: black women) know the statistic. It's tattooed on our foreheads thanks to the American media's new, and I would dare say targeted, obsession with single middle-and-upper-class black women. The film also lets us know that Mary Jane's story is not supposed to reflect the experience of all black women, which was also unnecessary. I knew that as soon as we got the shot of her house, but it didn't affect how much I liked her. We got a successful black female character from the middle-class who pushed herself even further. No need to cue Drake's "Started from the Bottom." She started from the middle and she's continued to move on up.

Mary Jane Paul (real name Paulette) is a TV show host who is pushing for the recognition of an injustice to black women at the hands of a magazine (I believe it was an article about black women being ugly or uglier or something to that effect. Oh, westernized standards of beauty that just won't quit!) for one of get segments. She receives no support, but that's the point. She wants to be an advocate for black women, but the network and their target audiences aren't interested in that. We like this. Fight for black women!

Now, from this point we start swerving into "let's see what they do with the series" land. Mary Jane's family is trifling, but she supports them because they are her family. We find out that her niece is pregnant again and that she will be one of the main sources of support. I was fed up with them about 20 minutes in (if not earlier). Why do these successful black female characters either have no family, a trifling familiy or only one supportive parent (despite having a two-parent home)? I want to see where this goes...

Now for the second "I need more time with this" issue: Mary Jane's love life. She finds out she's a mistress about 5 minutes in, breaks it of, tells the man's wife and by the end of the movie has stolen an ex's sperm because she wants a family. WHAT?!? ::mind blown:: There's desperation and then there's going from 0 to 60. Anti-feminists would gobble this up! "Woman's life ruined by ambition! Return to the kitchen and the bedroom!" Mary Jane get up! I don't know if they'll continue down this extreme desperation path, but I hope not. Why don't we work on getting her more than one female friend and one gay friend? The isolation alone has to be wearing on the woman.

All in all, I found the movie entertaining. Gabrielle Union is hilarious. Between her character's Post-it obsession and her "whore-bath" at her office, I was hooked in for at least 3 episodes. She has quirks and flaws and has a vibrator in her work desk drawer! How can you not be intrigued?!

I'm giving Being Mary Jane a go and I think you should too.