White men can't jump? Really?
We can't? What a ludicrous title.
Would anyone object to this title?:
"Black men can't think".
It’s a clunky title but this seems like a thoroughly modern complaint. 92 was a different time.
The title’s a misnomer anyway considering the movie has a white man who jumps quite well. I always saw it as an ironic title because Woody’s character is a hustler who makes his money from people assuming black men are better at basketball.
I don’t know if this calls for an “imagine if the races were reversed” brouhaha.
Oh I'm not one of those who claims racism against whites. We have privilege. I think it's pathetic when white men try to claim victimhood.
I just think the title comes from people who have no real life experience. Is jumping even an issue?
Sorry, I've heard this movie's title most my life and it's always annoyed me. Bad title.
Yeah, it’s not a great title 😆
shareYou guys probably don't know the context. The movie has a black character and a white character always joking and messing with each other because they became friends.
The black character asks the white character why he doesn't dunk in a game and he makes an excuse that it's because it's showboating for the sake of showboating and the black character says it's because white men can't jump. But towards the end of the movie, he finally dunks the ball on a game winning alley-oop from his black teammate thus "proving" his own teammate, the black man, wrong.
It really is a funny movie.
Here's a funny scene from the movie where he tells him "white men can't jump" as he made a bet that he only needs 3 tries to dunk it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDtGS3G3xtY
Here's the ending part where he dunks it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtYYuHuCBvQ
This other scene from the movie is one of the funniest scenes from any movie in my opinion. A lot of people seem to like this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERgRgwCPcXU
Okay, thanks for context. I just can't relate because I've never heard the stereotype that white men can't be good athletes. It seems like some idea invented in Hollywood by guys who never walk outside.
shareActually it was depicted in the film as a stereotype that black men had of White men.
The title comes from blacks being RACIST against whites (imagine that for a subplot in a movie in the 1990s?)
The thing about White men not being able to jump was -- as others pointed out -- a misnomer for the title, because it was one of the smallest elements of the plot dwelled upon in the film.
But yeah, it circulated around the concept of stereotypes black men in bad neighbourhoods had of whites, and how that stereotype was actually wrong (as showcased in the film given that Woody's character was the best basketball player in the film).
More importantly, in the final game, Sidney puts the ball up for Billy to jam it
In other words, Sidney's known all along that Billy CAN jump and counts on him to do so when their victory depends on it