Black Man/White Machine: Will Smith Crosses Over

On "Crossing Over," his study of the star text of African American singer/performer Paul Robeson, Richard Dyer includes a black-and-white nude photograph of the actor taken in 1926. His reading of the photo finds an "analogy of this visual treatment of Robeson with that of women" and argues that any potential eroticism of the star is made "ambivalent" by its alignment with "the classical nude" (Dyer 115). Seventy-eight years later, another African American star, Will Smith, appears in the science-fiction film I, Robot (2004) and, in a scene that often dominates the discourse surrounding the film, appears nude in the shower. The poses of the two men at these moments are strikingly similar, but the ways in which they are discussed diverge around issues of the black male body, the independent agency of the actors, and the reception that they engender. Dyer approaches Robeson as a "crossover" star whose achievements in academics, sports, music, the theatrical stage, and the cinema as well as his appeal for both black and white audiences make him a figure of social significance (64). Likewise, Will Smith, with his success in music, television, and film and his popularity across a multiracial fan base, is "surely the most successful crossover star of the modern era" (Wills).

Figure 1.

Paul Robeson (1926).

Photo by Nickolas Muray. Used by permission: C Nickolas Muray Photo Archives.

In its 1920s context, Robeson's nude imagery effected what Dyer calls "a double articulation" in which erotic images could be presented "without arousal" by virtue of their classicism in the detached language of "art school ideology" (119).¹ In contrast, nude imagery of Will Smith—in this film—circulates as a more accessible product among diverse spectatorship via multiple media entry points, for example, in blogs written by African American women, a contingent of voices whose sexual appreciation was unheard in Robeson's public reception. Smith's status as a crossover artist and his position as a black performer within a dominant white culture, like Robeson's, offers an opportunity to examine cinematic reflections of race across the reception of his work. Through science-fiction cinema, a genre not traditionally associated with either black actors or black audiences, Will Smith has forged a sea change in Hollywood's expression of heroic masculinity by deliberately integrating his star persona into its narrative and representational spaces. His presence there opens up multiple levels of dialogue around race, visibility, and identity in the popular media imaginary.

Figure 2.

Will Smith, shower scene from I, Robot (2004).

Why has this actor been so successful in this genre? What are his specific on-screen qualities that bring black and white audiences into the cinema? Why do Hollywood studios cast him to lead their multi-million-dollar summer blockbusters? What is it about the thematic and aesthetic depiction of the science-fiction film that Will Smith is especially suited for? Beginning with Independence Day in 1996, then with Men in Black in 1997, its sequel in 2002, I, Robot in 2004, and I Am Legend in 2007, Smith has gradually moved from supporting player to the black half of an interracial buddy duo and then on to A-list headliner in two consecutive science-fiction genre films. He opened the latter two films to $52 million and $77 million, respectively, in first-weekend box-office grosses.²

In this article I explore the star text of Will Smith in relation to his first leading-role science-fiction film, I, Robot. Taken together, these two interlocking texts bridge black masculinity and genre as well as sound an echo to Dyer's Paul Robeson study. His "Crossing Over" outlines public discourses and visual representation that work to foreground issues of the black male star as a potent signifier: "Representations of black people are one of the primary sites where the problem of the body is worked out" (135). One of the key concerns of the science-fiction genre is the oppositional, often contested, territory between the human body...