Lately the whole pop cult world has been annoying me a lot. I watched the preview for Django Unchained and thought, oh goodie a movie with lots of guys, interracial bonding, killing, broad comedy: Why would I want to see that? The trailer was enough excitement for me, in the way of manly posturing and gunplay. And feminist critics have pointed out that The Help has a lot of roles for women who actually talk to each other, and even about matters other than men, but it is such a fantasy world.
So is this a problem? Aren't movies supposed to be "just movies, " non-serious entertainment? If this is so, why, then, do filmmakers and critics make extravagant claims about the breakthroughs in race relations these films are supposed to be? Aren't they satisfied to make all that money and lead those great lives, without claiming to be the saviors of the black race?
Adolf Reed, Jr. has written an important essay, Django Unchained, or The Help: How "Cultural Politics" is Worse Than No Politics at All, and Why, in which he poses a lot of questions about the claims of films like these.
One trope I see over and over is that it really doesn't matter how you do in life as long as you remain true to yourself. So if you tell your boss off and get fired, as Skeeter does at the end of The Help, "The implication is that having been fired, rather than portending deeper poverty and economic insecurity, was a moment of liberation." Most workers can't take chances like that. Telling off the man, or in this case, the woman, "finding her voice," is for most, "pure neoliberal bullshit." Of course it's only a movie, right? A fantasy. That's exactly right.
This is a long, complex essay, and I have only discussed the first page. But it is a breakthrough, making important points.
There is a lot more to say, but I really am tired and not well yet.
Anyway, I can recommend the film Adolf Reed Jr. mentions in this essay, The Long Walk Home. It shows how people don't want to change, are scared to change, but how they can change. It's about the Montgomery boycott: a wonderful period piece, very true to the times. As Reed puts it, it's the film people thought they were seeing when they saw The Help.
Here here.
On the other hand, see the amazing, compelling documentary Five Broken Cameras, which won Best Documentary at the Jerusalem Film Festival (which is amazing, considering the content) as well as Sundance, but not the stupid Oscars. It's just so disturbing and gets under your skin for a variety of reasons, not least of which is its portrayal of the filmmaker's fears for his youngest son.
Posted by: Feminema | March 07, 2013 at 05:19 AM
I avoid films for assorted reasons. I like a lot of action but I don't trust Tarantino for how the violence will be and decided not to go for Django even though I am a HUGE fan of westerns and like the stars. I also didn't watch The Help because I read that the author used a real person as one of the characters without credit or paying her. The real person, as a servant, didn't make that much money, and it ticked me off that an author would do that. I might've not even heard the truth but it turned me off on the film.
I will probably buy Lincoln and I bought Argo and was quite happy I did as it was an ensemble type movie that I always like plus some action and the way the film mixed in news footage with the acting was done very well-- something that often isn't. Django just sounded too brutal in that way that violence is not a roller coaster ride but meant to be salacious. I can take violence but it has to not be glorified or seem too real (I am not a total prude about it as I bought Zombieland which is funny violence and the first half an hour I am squeezing my eyes shut a lot but after that it was less. It was funny but more important had Woody Harrelson ;) and that is something that always makes a picture better for me).
Posted by: Rain Trueax | March 07, 2013 at 07:38 AM
I saw The Long Walk Home when it came out on video. It was very understated.
Quentin Tarantino's movies are about movies, and he likes to lard them with references to the popular culture especially of the `60s and `70s. Django's wife is named Broomhilda von Shaft, and Calvin Candie's estate is Candie Land.
There was a lot that didn't make it into the final movie.
http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/what-was-cut-from-django-unchained.html
Posted by: Brandon | March 07, 2013 at 10:20 AM
Movies can be so problematic historically. Take Argo as well, all rah-rah USA when it was actually the Canadians who did all the work.
Great essay.
XO
WWW
Posted by: wisewebwoman | March 07, 2013 at 11:29 AM
I read the debate on Argo and the exact historical truth. There is an extra feature that is on the DVD where the actual people involved are interviewed, including the CIA agent as they discuss what happened. Carter said it was pretty accurate but the debate I read said the issue is making a good movie, not a documentary. That is the same issue with Lincoln who wasn't quite the great emancipator that the film makes out as he would have sent the blacks back to Africa. He was a product of his time. It's separating out, when we watch a movie from a documentary-- which also might not be historically accurate as we tend to frame things as we want.
Posted by: Rain Trueax | March 07, 2013 at 05:28 PM
I guess it's all good in that these movies can cause people to think about events when they otherwise would not have done so.
One movie I really like is Quiz Show, which is about the TV quiz show scandals. It was a neat piece of social commentary. And it really did evoke the 50s as I remember them.
Posted by: Hattie | March 07, 2013 at 05:35 PM
Reed is fond of using the word "bulls--t."
Posted by: Brandon | March 11, 2013 at 11:36 AM