good evening sheriff, sorry about the 'up yours, nigger'

On Blazing Saddles:

This quote epitomizes this movie. Flashback to the scene in reference, the fact that in Mel Brooks' movie he has an old lady of the west saying, "Up yours, nigger" to the newly appointed sheriff, is ridiculous. Once Sheriff Bart has proved himself as more than just a black person to the town, the same lady brings him an apple pie and an apology. Given she does confirm that he will have the decency to not mention she came by. This scene calls the question: "is this really the way that people talked and acted back in the 1870s"? but then again, this would never have happened because there would never have been a black sheriff in some 1870s, ho-dunk, town in the American west. Watching a Mel Brooks movie is like a real life Loony Toons episode without the censorship boundaries of a children's program. Only Mel Brooks can get away with a racial commentary like this, distracted by slap-stick comedy and quirky dialogue.

Way too many stereotypes are addressed in this movie. In the first scene the white men watching over the black railroad workers bother the workers for a song, like back in the days they used to be slaves. They sing "I Get a Kick Outta You", to the white men's dismay, but the men request "The Camp Town Lady". The workers are apparently unfamiliar with the song, but in the white men's excitement, they start to sing in dance. Mel Brooks switched it. He made the white men look like idiots, because they like the songs better than the blacks do. Enough so to distract from their usual bigotry and get them in trouble for slacking off. Nothing is untouchable in this movie, sexual stereotypes, intelligence stereotypes, income stereotypes, etc. Maybe in this blog credit is only given to how blacks are shown in the movie, but all races are fair game in the director's lens of Mel Brooks.

The way blacks are portrayed in this movie as if the blacks of the 1970s, when the movie was filmed, were dropped a hundred years in the past, when the movie takes place. The do understand and seem to accept the way that race relations are during this time period, but the way they interact with each other, is completely out of the time period. There are high-fives and black power signs every once in a while shared between the railroad workers. Sheriff Bart, the protagonist, is the black sheriff made to protect the town. Much like Shaft, he is cool, likable and able to handle any situation; a positively projected protagonist that is a black man. The big difference is that Sheriff Bart is just about the only black character in this movie.

This would be the third movie that the main black protagonist plays a police officer. I cannot come with any good reason for this. Maybe, it is just an easy way to make a good black character. I know that sounds a little bad, but this is a transitional period in the movie business. Viewers in America at the time period that movies like In the Heat of the Night are not going to accept characters like Virgil for no reason. Making the black character a policeman automatically places this character on the side of good. It also acts as an excuse for the character not to completely lash out against the slurs and other attacks directed at him, because the character is a police officer, he is on the side of order and justice and good. There has still yet to be a main black female character, I guess America is not quite ready yet. Next on the list is A Soldier's Story.

close it yourself, Shitty

On Shaft:

There is an interesting comparison between Shaft and Sweetback. Both movies pioneered the genre of blaxploitation films, but one had much more commercial success. Shaft is simply a much better movie. The dialogue and the plot are clear, easy to follow and make sense. Shaft is funny, and even at times suspenseful. The characters are likable and the music is awesome. Sweetback is none of those things. Shaft is more relate-able than Sweetback; it is made in the style of movies in that time. Shaft is a gangster movie, with a little bit of romance and a lot of racial undertones, whereas Sweetback is just a semi-pornographic, boring movie. Enough about how much I did not like Sweetback and how much I enjoyed Shaft.

One important thing about Shaft is the character John Shaft himself. He is more than just likable, he is the coolest man ever. Shaft is the main character in this movie and he is black, this is not a movie full of black people either, there are main characters that are white, there is the Italian-mafia, and not all the black characters are good either. There is diversity, or at least relative diversity in the characters in the movie, and Shaft is still a likable, seemingly flawless, black, main character. This had not really been done in movies before. Sure, Sidney Poitier does play the main character in a bunch of movies, but when he does he is always the black character in a sea of white characters. Shaft is different.

Another comparison can be made between Shaft and In the Heat of the Night. The setting is completely different in the two movies, Shaft is in Harlem during the 70s, In the Heat of the Night is in Sparta, Mississippi during the 60s. But in both movies there are two cops, one black and one white, who are working together. A big part of what makes In the Heat of the Night such a great movie is the relationship between Virgil and Officer Gillespie. They both have a certain hate for each other, neither of them is blatant about it, but the viewer can tell. In the end they over come their prejudices in the search for the truth about the murder case they are partners on. The dialogue between Virgil and Gillespie is great, and there interactions are always interesting to watch. In Shaft John Shaft works with Lt. Vic Androzzi. Shaft keeps Vic in the closet about so many things, but Vic trusts Shaft for the most part. Race does play a part in Vic and Shaft's relationship, but in a different way than in Virgil and Gillespie's. Because Shaft is black he has inside information on a lot of the goings on in the Harlem gang scene. Vic recognizes this and gives Shaft a degree of independence, but the two still have quite the rapport.

this film is dedicated to all the brothers and sisters who had enough of the man

On Sweet Sweetback's Baadassssss Song:

There are so many things wrong with this movie. The shock-value aspects of this movie were pushed way too far with nudity and violence in every other scene. The 'plot' was almost impossible to follow. There was no flow to the dialogue. The actors were sub-par, the directorial techniques used were confusing and the soundtrack was distracting. The production quality was horrible. This movie did not make sense. Which calls the question: why would this movie ever be considered significant? Going in to this movie, basically what I knew about it was that it was a) X-Rated and b) considered the first ever blaxploitation film, beating out Shaft by a nose, which came out later that year in 1971. I came to learn that was once the most successful independent film in history even though it opened in only two theaters in America. What made it such a (relatively) high grossing film and also so significant, is the fact that it is the first real blaxploitation film. The first movie made by black people, for black people, about black people, starring black people. While Shaft was much more successful, and it may be assumed that Shaft was in production before Sweetback, which was made in three weeks, Sweetback was still the first of its kind. This movie represents a movement of films that has become a cultural staple in the movie-business.

So many stereotypes are shown in this movie. All and every sexual stereotype about blacks was completely exposed and exploited in this film. It is never really made clear why Sweetback is running from the Man, but it is made sure that Whitey is going after Sweetback. The white cops are the only white characters in this movie and they are shown beating up blacks for no reason, torturing blacks for information, letting dogs on blacks and lying to blacks and there is never a reason established formally for any of this. Sweetback is in the right because he is running from the oppression of the Man.

I am glad that I watched this movie. This movie highlighted a symbol that is used in almost all of the movies I have watched for this project and many more in my recollections. Running. Literally the entire movie Sweetback is running from the cops. Literally running. Sweetback runs with his own two legs all the way from Los Angeles to the Mexican border. So many scenes are just Sweetback running with Earth, Wind and Fire playing in the background, and the first thing that it reminded me of is Roots. In Roots Kunta Kinte repeatedly runs from the plantation and away from his slavery. Every opportunity he gets, Kunta runs and doesn't stop until he is caught. Running was an integral part of Kunta's life in Africa before he was dragged away from his camp and in his life in America Kunta runs for his freedom. In Sweetback, Sweetback runs for his freedom also. As the repetitive lyrics to the soundtrack beat into the brains of the viewer during the running sequences, Sweetback has two legs that won't fail him. Kunta winds up in the unfortunate predicament of being punished for his repeated attempt at running away, so the slave masters chop his foot off. After that moment, Kunta himself will never be truly free, because he cannot run. He never earns his freedom like Sweetback does by running to Mexico.

There was running in In the Heat of the Night, such as in the scene were Virgil is being chased by the bigots. There was running in No Way Out during the gang war scene. It keeps showing up and I believe it will keep making sense. I hope that I at least get this one thing out of Sweetback. Next on the list is Shaft.

they call me MISTER tibbs

A different kind of slur is used in this movie. 'Boy', may not seem like the most insulting thing to be called, but when as a fully grown man everybody you meet in Sparta, Mississippi refers to you as a boy, that is something else. As Virgil points out, in Philadelphia, they call him Mr. Tibbs.

Sidney Poitier plays, yet again, the same character as he always does. Virgil Tibbs is a police officer and highly qualified homicide expert, but in Sparta, Mississippi he has no respect from strangers and everyone seems to hate him. The fact is, he got pulled into jail for no reason other than being black in the first place. But throughout the whole movie, for the most part, Virgil Tibbs endures all the slurs and all the abuse and manages to come out on top. Virgil, much like Dr. Brooks, has a thick, black skin. And just like Dr. Brooks, there is a point where Virgil snaps and acts unlike himself. In In the Heat of the Night, when slapped by Mr. Endicott for the accusations made against him, Virgil slaps him back. This could have gotten him killed, in fact, it almost did. Officer Gillespie could have killed him and made it look like self defense. The bigots chasing after Virgil probably would have killed him had Officer Gillespie not intervened. Soon after, Virgil composes himself, he realizes that he was letting his prejudices get the better of him, and that Endicott is not the killer at all. And in the end, Virgil is triumphant in finding the killer.

What is it that makes this Sidney Poitier character that keeps reappearing a great character. Obviously, he is a great man, and he does what he believes in, and one could even argue that he is a hero, for example for bringing justice to the murderer. But that is not all, in this movie, Virgil has the world working against him. Not only does he have so much adversity to over come, but all the hate in his way is for reasons out of his control. It is because of the color of his skin. And Virgil does not obsess over that like so many other black people in these movies, like Lefty in No Way Out who calls the question, "isn't it asking a lot to be better than them, when we get killed for trying to be as good". Virgil knows how little he can do about things like that, like other people's prejudices, and he goes on doing what he needs to do.

The word 'nigger' is only used a few times in this movie. The only scene it stands out in is the scene were Virgil has been chased down by the four white men and Officer Gillespie comes to his rescue. Once Officer Gillespie breaks up the brawl one of the white men calls him, 'nigger-lover'. Of course, Gillespie has a reaction and roughs up the men and sends them on their way. I think that this is a tasteful way to use the word 'nigger' in a movie. The word is not thrown around, and that also makes it all the more dramatic when it is used. It is shocking to hear the phrase 'nigger-lover' come out of a man's mouth, especially directed at a police officer. It is most apparent in this scene that Officer Gillespie is finally putting his prejudices aside to do the right thing. This quality about Officer Gillespie is reiterated in the final scene in his parting words to Virgil, "Take care, y'hear". Probably about the most kindest that the man could muster up, especially to a black man.

The reason that i had no post yesterday is because netflix was a bit tardy on their delivering me the movie. This means that I will be watching another movie tonight though: Sweet Sweetback's Baadassssss Song

you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.

Color-blindness was a big idea in this movie. Multiple times it was referred to. Mr. Drayton when talking about his daughter said that she saw John as just a man, not a colored man. Given, it is implied that all parties involved understand the difficulties that come with an inter-racial marriage. The quote that I started this post out with even explains that John identifies differently than his father, a man of a different generation. John goes on to elaborate that a marriage like the one that he wants will not be accepted by society until his fathers generation is long dead. Is a colorblind society really the future we are moving towards? No. After all, isn't the point of these movies I am watching for my senior project to observe and record the differences between races, the good and the bad, and make a commentary on the, make a movie out of it. Isn't that what culture really is? I think so, that is kind of the point of my project, a cultural view of race. In a colorblind society, it seems to me like there might not be any culture to view on race.

The moral of the story that is this movie is more so about love than race. Race is used to create an example of two 'star-crossed' lovers, with a world of hate between them. There is a reason for these two lovers not to be together, and its not just the hate that the two lovers would have to face and all the ostracizing, their families will endure their difficulties too, and there children will as well, being the offspring of two different colors. The lovers are ready to face that, but the parents do not approve. They think that the lovers do not know what they are getting into. But they do. Only when Mr. Drayton realizes the love that he and his wife have and have had, and how much that means, does he realize that it is unfair to deprive something, even half that, to anyone else. Race is used more as a tool for storytelling in this movie than anything else, but there are still a lot of interesting observations to be made.

There is a character that keeps reappearing in the movies I am watching for this project. No, it is not the same character that Sidney Poitier plays in every movie (a well educated, respectable black man, that no white person should hate or be afraid of), but the black, mammy-esque house maid. She has appeared in every movie I have watched so far, sassy, motherly, black house maid. In this movie Tillie repeatedly confronts John about his relationship to Joanna. She questions his motives, accuses him of betraying his race and goes to great lengths to give him sass in attempts to protect her, basically, daughter. Tillie is also apparently a whiz in the kitchen and can easily take care of the Drayton family's ridiculous requests in the eleventh hour, regarding dinner plans, and is well educated on the latest family gossip. Next on the list is In The Heat of The Night

it's asking a lot to be better than them when we get killed for trying to be as good

For me, that quote pretty much sums up No Way Out.

This movie establishes a few interesting perspectives on race. The position taken by Dr. Wharton and Dr. Brooks is that blacks should be treated no differently than whites. Dr. Brooks as a doctor should be treated the same as anyone else, regardless of his race. As Dr. Wharton puts it, he shouldn't have to hire some rich, white doctor that is not qualified or not give the job to a qualified doctor because he is black. This position is too idealistic for the world of the 1950s though, as is highlighted by Ray Biddle, who hates Dr. Brooks because he is black. He also accuses Br. Brooks for murdering his brother for a decision that any reasonable doctor may have made that resulted in his brother's death. Ray Biddle uses his brother's death as a reason to hate Dr. Brooks, even though in reality he is a bigot, as is expressed when Ray Biddle says that he does not think that he or his brother (or anyone for that matter) should be treated by a black doctor. Bigotry is so deeply rooted in people of this position that Ray Biddle even goes to the length of framing Dr. Brooks of stealing a scalpel just to make life a little harder for Dr. Brooks. The third and less obvious position shown in this movie is that of Dr. Sam Moreland, the Chief of Medicine. Dr. Moreland likes having Dr. Brooks in his hospital and acknowledges the fact that he is a capable doctor, but he wants him in his hospital because it fills a quota. The only concern that Dr. Moreland has with the situation between Dr. Brooks and Ray Biddle is that it is bad press, and Dr. Moreland does not permit the autopsy on ray Biddle's brother because it may lead to unwanted press. All three of these positions are real positions that were around during the time period in which the movie was made.

One thing to keep in mind when watching this movie is that it was made in 1950. That was before the Civil Rights movement, before MLK, before Rosa Parks on the bus. There were still people in the world like Dr. Brooks and Dr. Wharton, who think that people of all race should be treated equally, but there were also people like Ray Biddle and these people had a lot more power. Not only is the hate and bigotry of people like Ray Biddle a powerful force of anger, but that force is reciprocated on the other side of the spectrum. As Lefty, the elevator man put is to Dr. Brooks, "it's asking a lot to be better than them when we get killed for trying to be as good". Ray Biddle is oppressing Dr. Brooks for trying to be as good as any other white doctor, and is even going to a length to try and get Dr. Brooks killed. Dr. Brooks does protest the hate between the two races, but Lefty tells Dr. Brooks that he is not in the wrong, he should not have to go to great length make Ray Biddle believe that he is innocent of the accusations made against him and that he was just being a doctor and trying to save Ray Biddle's brother. In fact, it is asking a lot, too much even.

The resilient Dr. Brooks does eventually snap when a white woman spits in his face for trying to help her son. But, this snapping leads to Dr. Brooks doing something profound. He confesses to the murder of Ray Biddle's brother. Of course, Dr. Brooks is innocent as is revealed by the mandatory criminal autopsy, but even this is not enough for the hate and prejudice of Ray Biddle. In the end, Ray Biddle gets his just desserts and is sent to jail and half bleeds to death from his reopened gunshot wound.

The use of the word 'nigger' in this movie is completely different than that of The Birth of a Nation. Ray Biddle repeatedly calls Dr. Brooks by a variety of racial slurs, including 'nigger'. As Dr. Brooks puts it, he has developed a 'thick, black skin' over the years. This implies that racism is rampant and that in the 1950s, slurs were used by whites towards blacks in a hateful way. Ray is the only main character to actually call a black person a 'nigger' in the movie, which suggests that it is only used by bigots in a derogatory fashion. Already, from the first to the second movie, I have noticed an evolution in the culture and race relations of the times. Given, I made a 35 year jump, a lot has changed. Next on the list is another Sidney Poitier movie: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

So last night I watched The Birth of a Nation, and it was more like the Slow, slow Death of a Nation. I had grossly underestimated the painfulness that is watching a three-hour long silent film. While it may have been extremely boring at most parts to me, I have done some research as to why this film is deemed to be one of the most significant movies ever. Apparently a lot of the camera techniques that I find usual and average by today's standards were pioneered in this movie, these techniques being: facial close-ups and deep focus (using lenses of smaller apertures to focus on one part of the scene). It is fascinating to me, that techniques like these, that are now staples in the motion picture industry were premiered in a movie like this.

What I mean by, 'a movie like this' is: one of the most controversial films of all time and one of the highest gross films for its time. After watching the movie I can see why both of those things are true.

No matter what time period it is, now or a hundred years ago, black-face is offensive. As far as i could tell, at least most of the blacks portrayed in this movie were whites in black-face. In addition to that, the dialogue of the blacks is a bizarre, butchered English. Given, it is a silent-film, none of the dialogue was actually spoken, paragraphs of quotes occasionally are shown on the screen, for example: "Dem free-niggers f'um de N'of am sho' crazy", which is a quote from the Cameron family's house servant when introduced to the Stoneman's. Also, as is made apparent by the quote I just cited, the word 'nigger' is used in this play. I am sure that it will be in a significant amount of the movies I watch over the next three weeks, and I was sure that this movie would be no exception, but I was surprised by the context. The only time i can distinctly remember the word 'nigger' ever being used was in cases like my example, were one black person was talking about the other. Having said that, white people in the movie did still use the dated term 'negro', but I am sure that was not the only this that blacks were refered to by whites a hundred years ago. Maybe D.W. Griffith omitted the word in that context on purpose, in hopes of a positive reception.

In the entire first half of the movie the only way that blacks are portrayed is by either dancing around or working in cotton fields. Literally, only those two things. The blacks in the movie play a much bigger part in the second half which is about the Reconstruction. According to the movie at least, the blacks gained voting power and oppressed the whites by bullying them out of their votes to get a "mullato" representative. There is a scene where congress is shown to be predominately black, and this was possibly the most offensive scene in the movie. Basically, all the black representatives are drinking, eating or dancing during this session of congress. At one point, one of the black representatives takes his boot off to itch his foot, and the speaker of the house rules that shoes must be worn. Not only do I not think that the political oppression of the whites from the blacks shown in this movie is historically accurate, but it is full of offensive stereo-typing. Blacks are also shown terrorizing the town and breaking into the Cameron house, raiding the cabin that Dr. Cameron has found refuge in and chasing after the Cameron daughter in attempts to find a newly legal inter-racial marriage. Just as all these horrible things are about to happen, the Cameron's killed, married off, or worse, the Clan comes riding in on horses to save the day and are shown as the heroes. While Ben Cameron is shown to be a flawed character, he hunts down the black man, Gus, that leads his little sister to kill herself, and presumably lynches him with the rest of his clansmen, he is made out to be a sort of romantic anti-hero. The Cameron family is destroyed by the Civil War and is further ruined and torn apart by the rising power of the blacks during Reconstruction, so Ben Cameron's actions and forming of the KKK is justified apparently and the Clan will go on to rebuild the White Empire of the South.

On the other hand this movie did pioneer many popular film techniques as I already explained. It was also one of the earliest full-length feature films. Despite its content, the film did have a good story. Even though it was mostly Aryan propaganda the story had romance, action and revenge. There was a rising action, falling action and climax. A lot of the writing in the movie was honestly poetic, even if the meaning was not, the words used were poetic. It was a well written movie, and it will continue to be watched because of that and because of its controversial content. While I may not have been the happiest camper watching the movie, I am glad I watched it. Today I will be watching No Way Out.

introduction

I am a high-school senior at H B Woodlawn. Every year, seniors at my school get a three week block of time designated for "senior projects". A senior project is supposed to me a time where as a senior you can pursue and study something that interests you outside of what you would be otherwise learning in school. After a little bit of thinking about what interests me and what i would like to learn more about or at least study more I came up with something: film. I am a big movie buff and an avid film watcher and I have more of an interest in film as a method of storytelling than most other things. So at this point I had the broad topic of film. I got to thinking about what movies I would want to watch and write about and a lot of the great movies I have seen that came to mind were about race. Race relations, racism and the cultural implications of race are some of the heaviest topics regularly displayed on the big screen. Once I had gotten to this point in my senior project decision making I decided i needed a little more focus to my project and decided to focus on blacks in America.
Over the next 21 days I will be watching 21 movies about blacks in America. The movies come in all genres and all across the spectrum of seriousness, but they all focus on the history and culture of blacks in America. The list of movies i have developed also spans over about one hundred years and I plan to watch in chronological order. The first movie I will watch, which I plan to post a response to later today, is The Birth of a Nation.