"Leroy"

Uploaded by rogera43

In a recent post, I commented that I know that we are fully capable of producing local content which is of similar and superior quality to what is being imported. When I view Roger Alexis' productions on YouTube, I am convinced that my trust is not misplaced.

I am featuring "Leroy" which I saw recently and which left me limp with the laughter that had poured continuously out of me while viewing. I love Roger's work and I visit his channel frequently to see what his muppets are up to. Sometimes it's just an inflection in the voice, the inspired positioning of a limb, a facial expression, a way of expressing something, a view of the landscape, and Trinbago floods over me. This is the work of an artist who is hyper-observant, who has soaked in and processed what many of us take for granted in our local environment. There is an inaudible gasp behind the laughter when it is presented back to us, the lure of the mirror that does not lie although some of us prefer only its flattering reflections.

In "Leroy", Roger uses laughter as the hook and for some that would have been enough but the artist has also presented a moral to this piece and it is wrapped in stinging irony.

Six-year old Leroy has plainly and simply succumbed to some bad influences in his environment with the result that he is certainly not a child that you would want your children to emulate or even associate with.  Yet, as I watched and listened to all the characters and even the producer's choice of title - "Leroy" with the '666' - mark of Satan tucked cleverly into the top left interior of the letter 'O' of the child's name, something else occurred to me. This is a story about how a child is marked by society. It is convenient for some to use Satan to explain the stain, or to refer to Leroy as a little demon [with the unspoken but perhaps self-fulfilling expectation that with time he will grow into a big demon] but every adult around Leroy is enabling his malformation.

I have no doubt that his mother, congenital and perhaps lifelong shaper of his character, really loves her child but she can teach him only what had been taught to her and not all of it will be good. From what I am seeing, she has already taught him to cuss like a rattlesnake, even though she seems oblivious to having transferred this skill to her child. She has taught him that he can continue to try to manipulate women/mothers/female partners or the gullible. She is teaching him that he will not need to face the consequences of his actions as long as he has a doting mother or a big pappy to shield and defend him. She will guarantee him that in the unlikely event that he should ever be called to account, at least one woman will stand before the press, stolidly maintaining that her son is a good boy. Or maybe not. Maybe the irascible Leroy will outgrow this phase, will switch gears and as an adult reminisce with amused disbelief about his colourful boy days. Maybe Leroy's mother will actually experience the wake up call of witnessing her son in action and will decide to face the facts and to change her ways along with his.

There is so much more that I can say about this episode. Every scene, every character provides a piece of the puzzle that when put together can explain what adds up to dysfunction. For me one of the most telling quotes was provided by Leroy's mother as she berated Mister Maxwell [another cussbud] with an expletive peppered defence of her child's innocence. Where would her darling, little boy have learned to curse??? 

"Look, old man, this is a six-year old child and he doh know nuttin' 'bout cussin' people... Look, just move yuh modda ar-- outta mih yard before I cut yuh ar-- here today! Like yuh hard of hearing or what? Just get yuh ar-- outta here! My child doh cuss! Where the f--- he go learn to cuss?!!"

Where indeed!

Keep up the good work, Roger Alexis!
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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare