There is a din of disgust and disappointment coming from many African-Americans at the success of recent films The Butler and 12 Years a Slave. Not surprising that well written, well performed films that tell the disturbing truths of American history stir emotions on both sides. As with so many things, the issues are not cut and dry, there are valid arguments on both sides:
1. Yes, it is important to keep the horrid truth of The Middle Passage slavery alive and in the hearts and minds of people everywhere because we all know the results of these horrors still live with us disguised as many things. How can we change the present and future if we let these truths of the past fade?
2. And yes, like any other culture, American black culture is not one-dimensional. Nor should our representation on the big screen be the limited buffet we’re accustomed to, leaving us hungry for a black depiction of everyday stories of the human condition—not abscent of race, let’s be real, we know that’s not possible in our post slavery world—but rather inside of race, where we live, love and laugh; hurt, heal and know what the stories are. Therein lies the challenge for us writers: to continue to tell these stores in a ways not yet seen. The war against cliché never ends.
The world is a big place. There’s room for ALL the stories. I understand the frustration in the din. It rises out of the imbalance of stories out there. I feel it too. But let’s not attack the beautiful work on one side of the scale because the other is side is lacking.
Below is a link shared by follower Judith in Brooklyn. See the films, join the conversation. That is also how we begin to change what needs to change:
Avoiding films such as 12 Years a Slave would only silence their voices when many of us are finally willing to listen. — Kirsten West Savali
http://thegrio.com/2013/10/31/why-the-black-backlash-against-12-years-a-slave/
Anita, thanx for the excellent intro analysis and then the excellent link to very cool discussion of this highly interesting issue. I don’t know why this artistic explosion of old issues on the scene today, but it is obviously a rich deep vein of dramatic material so not surprising Hollywood/NYC would stumble on it eventually in spite of themselves. I think beyond the layers of consciousness described in the black community it is all a fascinating (and with practical consequences) human discussion. For one thing if you open up the already seemingly huge time dimension further to the last few thousand years, all colors of people have been slaves, white, brown, etc. My own people (Russian) were slaves in Arabic countries a thousand years ago. So I think those in the black community who would like to move on have a point, because time solves all hurts so why not get on with it. However, not automatically, so the proponents of “you can’t solve the present if you do not know the immediate past” have it more than right too. So it is a practical, human issue that is disturbing to look at. Clearly it is one that white people can indulge in thinking about and good they do. The more the better otherwise Americans never will understand themselves, even while they all dance to black music. (Actually I can indulge in thinking about anything because, one, it’s a free [more or less] country, and two, I paid dues in civil rights movement.) But not as a white person, but just as a person, I have often let my imagination run and thought, what in hell must it have been like to be a slave at historical midnight, say 300 years ago, with no hope or help in sight. No amount of history will solve that question because there is no history there, so the artistic imagination has to chip in or it’s lost. The more books and movies the better as it all helps and elucidates! Free speech, that is the whole ticket. I saw The Butler (Forest Whittaker is always worth price of admission) and haven’t seen 12 Years yet, but seen reviews of it that are over the top with praise. I agree with one commentator at the link you posted, we need a Nat Turner movie (and a John Brown movie too) (in the modern idiom, to contrast old junk made about those two).
Recently, not in connection to this issue, but just serendipitously I read two currently overlooked books that I highly recommend. First, not everybody might realize that Frederick Douglass is one of the very few world-class writers who wrote not one, but two autobiographies. The second one is fantastic, notwithstanding that he never does describe his escape route, for obvious reasons, in it. Yale press brought out “My Bondage and My Freedom” not long ago, and in it are also a lot of his speeches, particularly ones he gave in his years living in England where he was a national celebrity and shortly after being a slave in Maryland was being feted by British nobility, and his speeches over there (about America) are dynamite mindblowers. We need a movie about Frederick Douglass!
A second book, which I assumed I would never read because I assumed it was outdated and the source of passé stereotypes and ideas, but in an idle hour picked up and began reading and could barely put down to eat was “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” That is another page turner, and for a depiction of all the weird aspects of the old South, unequalled probably, and very moving, for any limitations it might have. Also surprising for its unexpected insights into Northern-type racism and the difference between the upper South and the deep South. Anyway it was the little book that caused the big war, in Lincoln’s phrase. A crazy good read.
During the Southwest Georgia civil rights movement reunion a couple years ago in Albany, GA, we watched the marching band and the cheerleaders practicing at Albany State and we asked ourselves, is it better to sit around and hash out these old issues like we’re doing, or is it better to just have fun and live your life like these kids are doing? We didn’t solve that one.