While reading Alvarez's section on "jive" talk and Cab Calloway's Hepster' Dictionary (pg 92-93), I couldn't stop thinking about scenes from the movie Airplane. In the 1980 comedy, two (black) characters on the airplane speak in "jive" language, with subtitles running to emphasize the unintelligible, foreign nature of this "language." Watch the first clip below to see scenes of the jive talking characters during the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRDOp6zypbM&feature=related
While searching for this particular scene on youtube I found an even more fascinating "behind the scenes" interview with the creators of the movie and the actors that portrayed the two jive-talking characters, describing how these scenes came to be in the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fkZdz4Vz10
There are many issues that these two clips bring to light, but I would like to focus on the idea that African Americans have their own separate language that no one else understands. The only people who can decipher "jive" are those who are in on it (i.e. other African Americans) but it seems that others are always trying to find a way to understand or use the language themselves. For example, the white creators wanted to include this part in the movie to be humorous, but also so they could have an entree into the language themselves, so they could start to understand it. This desire to understand and to speak the language is epitomized by the older white woman who "translates" for the flight attendants. I would like to ask you: Why the interest in "jive" language? What's humorous about it? What about the language of African Americans is so appealing/interesting/provocative for white culture? Is there a connection between the way that jive has been addressed in mainstream American and the way that "ghetto" slang/talk/speech is addressed today?
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I would say that the desire to understand "jive" simply follows their ignorance of jive. The scene, for me, makes fun of the binary between bland white people and hip black people--especially considering the interjection by the old woman, making her more of a "hep chick" than her younger female analogues. Anyway, that the writers suggested that jive was an entire language demonstrates ignorance on their part, but the scenes seem inspired by their feelings after seeing Shaft and "not understanding a word."
The last question you raise is interesting. One way that I have noticed it dealt with is through the figure of the "white boy" who tries to act "ghetto" (whatever that means). I don't really know many significant antecedents to this example, but I think it tries to accomplish something similar.
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