I admit that I have an addiction to DVDs. I have more movies than I can watch; more television shows then hours in a day. Every week, another package comes to my house with some video entertainment in it. Many are for The Indignant Daughters, but most are for me. The way I see it, I don’t have time to see most films in the theater and if I buy a film for $25 (counting Blu-Ray), I would have spent $11 for the ticket, another $10 on snacks, and another $5 for parking, and that’s not counting if The Indignant Wife or the kids come along. Making it worse, my annual sojourn to Toronto for the International Film Festival; there I see films that I wouldn’t even know existed, and often, they end up in the house too.
But there are two popular movies that may not be coming home and both involve black people: namely “Precious, …”; and “The Blind Side” Both films are successful, both have won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and both have been nominated for Academy Awards. But I don’t want to see them, much less let them in my house – but for different reasons.
“Precious” is the story of an obese teenage mother raped by her father and mother and her struggle to survive and attain her dreams. It is a powerful film, I’ve heard, but I just can’t decide whether or not to see it. It’s not because I believe that harrowing stories about African-Americans shouldn’t be made, or that it “paints” a bad picture on us. Just the opposite – I think that these stories should be told, and much more often. It’s just that I’ve seen women like this – I know people who were in similar straights, and I don’t think I need to see it. And I certainly can’t see myself watching it more than once. I want to support African-Americans in the arts and give them money, but personally, I am conflicted. I know that I will see it someday; perhaps on cable.
I’m less conflicted about the other film. A neighbor lent me the book “The Blind Side” about a white family that adopted a young black man and helped him through school and onto college. But, as the book makes clear, this would only be noteworthy because the young man is Michael Oher, a 380 lb, nearly 7 foot athlete who appears to have been born to be a football left tackle (the man who protects a right-handed quarterback’s “blind side”).
In real life, the family was headed by a couple who were alums and big boosters of the University of Mississippi, and I always felt while reading the book, that they were trying to get this kid help so that he could enroll at “Ole Miss” (which he did). While the white family did a great job in getting Oher educated; getting him tutors; taking care of him; I always felt an ulterior motive, especially when they thought about adopting more black kids in the future (with the subtext that they would all be athletes). I felt that even though they did a good thing, they were doing little more than running a scouting combine for Ole Miss.
Oher is now a successful tackle with the Baltimore Ravens, but the movie, from what I’ve heard, doesn’t center on him, it centers on the mother, played by Sandra Bullock. I’ve never been much of a fan of Ms. Bullock except for her breakout role in “Speed” in which she convincingly played a damsel in distress/love interest. She apparently takes over the movie. The mother in the book, while certainly a key person, was not at all the center of attention.
Which brings us, of course, to a major narrative problem; the white person at the center of any film about non-whites. Why is it that in so many movie, particularly mainstream Hollywood movies about ethnic people, there has to be a white person to “narrate?” I am thinking of Candace Bergin in “Gandhi,” or Peter O’Toole in “The Last Emperor.” Mr. Oher’s story is compelling enough (and in many ways similar to the story in “Precious”) that maybe he should be the center of the story? Or is this film’s message to make white people feel better about themselves?
And, of course, there is the “magic” Negro angle. In too many movies, blacks are the virtuous, preternaturally intelligent, almost mystical beings who help the white protagonists. Will Smith in “The Legend of Bagger Vance;” Michael Clarke Duncan in “The Green Mile,” Ruby Dee as “Mother Abigail” in “The Stand” play these roles, that while decent enough, don’t portray real black people at all, just myths. The Oher character here fits in the same role.
The Indignant Wife has mentioned that she might want to see “The Blind Side,” which means that I may have to see it someday. It is directed by John Lee Hancock, who directed one of the best sports films ever (and the best “G-rated, live action movie I’ve ever seen), “The Rookie” with Dennis Quaid, and I tend to want to see movies from directors I’ve enjoyed in the past. But I can’t say I’m lining up to see this. I’ve never ever seen an interview with Michael Oher; perhaps its because of his background and basic shyness; but I wonder what he thinks of the movie?