You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …
The Product:
Black Dynamite
The Promotion:
The Pitch:
DY-NA-MITE! DY-NA-MITE!
I love this trailer for how thoroughly it commits to the movie’s gimmick.
Black Dynamite is a parody of 1970’s blaxploitation movies, but it’s a very specific kind of parody. A lot of parodies, they’ll take stock plots, stock scenes, and stock characters from the genre they’re spoofing, and ask, “What can I do to make this (more) absurd?” But Black Dynamite is that rare parody that asks the more interesting question, “What’s the most absurd thing that someone trying to make a legit film in this genre might do here?”
In this type of parody, there’s always two layers to the story: there’s the story of the goofy-ass movie we’re watching, and then (unseen) there’s the story of a film crew whose inept decisions create such a goofy-ass movie. Perhaps the finest example of this genre is Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, where the (fictional) TV series Darkplace is intercut with interviews with the (equally fictional) showrunners, whose behind-the-scenes anecdotes and bizarre views on the creative process give insight into how a hospital drama/horror series could become such a ridiculous mess.
Black Dynamite never goes so far as to have its fictitious filmmakers directly address the audience, but their presence is felt throughout. From flubbed lines to wonky editing to stage fights that threaten to turn into real fights, Black Dynamite deliberately recreates the errors of filmmakers who don’t have the time, talent, or money to get it right.
And this meta-fictional conceit adds another layer to the film’s comedy. Every nonsensical plot twist, every over-the-top performance, every bit of atrocious dialogue delivered with complete sincerity: they’re not just funny in their own right – they’re funny because we’re watching people trying to make a good movie, and failing miserably.
Essentially, Black Dynamite is a so-bad-it’s-good movie, done on purpose. And the trailer 100% gets that.
If Black Dynamite actually came out in the 70’s, and was actually meant as a serious blaxploitation flick, this is exactly the sort of trailer it would get. It doesn’t advertise the film as a comedy, but as a badass action thrillride – notably, the clips it uses contain almost none of the movie’s jokes, because such a trailer would naturally select the coolest looking bits of the moive to use, not its most ridiculously inept. But the film’s parodic nature still comes through, because the trailer is made with the same brand of deliberate ineptness as Black Dynamite itself: over-hyping itself to a ludicrous degree, including pointless repetition, including pointless repetition, and trying way too hard to be the 1970’s version of cool.
This trailer’s so committed to the bit, it doesn’t even credit the actors under their real names. Afterall, you can’t have Michael Jai White as the star of a 70’s action movie – guy didn’t even turn thirteen until the 80’s. Must be this other guy, “all-star running back Ferrante Jones”.
When a movie and its trailer are so in-synch about exactly what they’re going for, it really is a thing of beauty.