Race, Philosophy, and Film
Edited by Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo and Dan Flory
Book Review by Kam Williams
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Hardcover, $125.00
250 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-415-62445-9
“This collection of original essays investigates one of the least-explored topics in the philosophy of film and the philosophy of race: the nexus of our ideas and attitudes toward race and how they arise in cinematic narrative and viewership… As the first anthology to focus on this intersection of topics, its chapters explore issues in epistemology, aesthetics, moral philosophy, social and political philosophy, and technology and the body.
The essays… aim to illuminate not only the philosophical perspectives employed but also the cinematic examples analyzed. This anthology offers a timely… consideration of race, including ethnicity and whiteness and their connections to sex, gender, and the body, through a variety of film genres.”
-- Excerpted from Foreword (pg. i)
Would the Batman trilogy have been as popular with mainstream audiences had the title character been portrayed by a black man instead of a Caucasian? In Monster’s Ball, Halle Berry played a wanton woman so desperate for sex and affection that she slept with her husband’s executioner. Why was that performance the first ever by a black female to win an Oscar in the Best Lead Actress category? Did it have anything to do with the role’s feeding the patriarchal fantasies of the Academy’s predominantly white male membership?
These are the sort of intriguing questions tackled in Race, Philosophy, and Film, a fascinating collection of essays compiled by Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo and Dan Flory, professors at Washington State and Montana State Universities, respectively. The other fourteen contributors to this enlightening opus are also professors, whether teaching film studies, philosophy, literature, critical culture, gender and race studies, or other disciplines.
The timely tome arrives on shelves at a propitious moment, for 2013 has proven to be a banner year in African-American cinema, with historical dramas like 42, Fruitvale Station, Big Words and Lee Daniels’ The Butler already garnering critical acclaim for avoiding stereotypes in favor of fresh perspectives of the black experience.
But this book focuses on how Hollywood has handled race in the past.
For instance, in a chapter entitled “What’s So Bad about Blackface?” the author explains that the problem with that outmoded practice is that it has a tendency to misinform audiences by reinforcing false beliefs about race that are only true in a fictional world.
By contrast, in a chapter called “Hardly Black and White,” the movies Manderlay and Black Snake Moan are assailed for embodying every last racial cliché, from black men embodying sexuality, to all blacks looking alike to whites, to black Southerners singing the blues, to white Southerners being beer-drinking rednecks.
Other pictures analyzed include Avatar, The Help, The Matrix, The Princess and the Frog, Twilight, and Trading Places, to name a few. Because the writers are all academics, the sophisticated material might have you reaching for the dictionary occasionally. Still, making the effort will be richly rewarded since it’s in service of an in-depth analysis of the images disseminated by a very powerful, belief-shaping medium.
To order a copy of Race, Philosophy, and Film, visit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415624452/ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20
Lee Daniels
The “Lee Daniels' The Butler” Interview
with Kam Williams
Lee Daniels is best known for directing and producing the Academy Award-winning film Precious which was nominated for a half-dozen Oscars in 2010, including histwo for Best Picture and Best Director. Mo’Nique won for Best Supporting Actress while scriptwriter Geoffrey Fletcher landed another for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Lee’s production company, Lee Daniels Entertainment, made its feature film debut in 2001 with Monster’s Ball, the dysfunctional family drama for which Halle Berry would earn her historic, Best Actress Oscar. Last year, he wrote, produced and directed The Paperboy, an adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel starring Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman.
Here, he talks about his new picture, The Butler, a civil rights epic recounting the real-life story of an African-American who served in the White House at the pleasure of eight presidents, from 1952 to 1986.
Kam Williams: Hey Lee, what a phenomenal film!
Lee Daniels: Did you like it?
KW: I loved it!
LD: Thanks, Kam.
KW: I was born in the Fifties so all of the ground you cover in terms of the father-son relationship and the Civil Rights Movement resonated with me and touched me very deeply.
LD: That makes me feel good. Thank you very much.
KW: So, what inspired you to make the movie?
We're the Millers
Film Review by Kam Williams
David (Jason Sudeikis) is a small-time pot dealer with a big problem. He’s just been robbed of all of his cash and stash, leaving him indebted to an impatient drug kingpin (Ed Helms) to the tune of $44,000.
Now, David’s only hope of wiping the slate clean rests with accepting a proverbial “offer you can’t refuse” from skeptical Brad, namely, to smuggle a couple of tons of marijuana across the Mexican border. Figuring a family in an RV would look a lot less suspicious trying to get through customs than a single guy with a panel truck, he starts looking for folks down on their luck willing to pose for a few bucks as his wife and kids.
All he can find on such short notice are Kenny (Will Poulter), a naïve, home alone kid who lives down the hall; Rose (Jennifer Aniston), a struggling stripper at the local gentlemen’s club; and Casey (Emma Roberts), a streetwise teen runaway. But will the faking foursome be able to pass themselves off as a typical suburban family over the course of their 4th of July weekend jaunt?
That is the intriguing premise of We’re the Millers, a raunchy road comedy directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball). Of course, the faux family has a really hard time maintaining their cover, such as when supposed mother and daughter are spotted making out by a DEA Agent (Nick Offerman) they unwittingly befriend en route.
While certifiably funny in spots, consider this a fair warning: much of the movie relies on a coarse brand of humor apt to shock fans of co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis, given the relatively-tame, TV fare they’re known for. For instance, there’s the hilarious, if graphic, sight gag featuring a swollen testicle that’s been bitten by a tarantula.
The dialogue can be crude, too, especially when characters discuss their sexuality and bodily functions. But betwixt and between the bottom-feeding jokes, director Thurber continues to ratchet up the tension as we watch the Millers do their best to deliver the weed despite alarming the authorities and being trailed by a vicious mobster (Tomer Sisley) with a claim on the contraband.
Picture Cheech & Chong on a National Lampoon Vacation!
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R for pervasive profanity, crude sexuality, drug use and full-frontal male nudity
Running time: 110 minutes
Distributor: New Line Cinema
2 Guns
Film Review by Kam Williams
DEA Agent Robert Trench (Denzel Washington) and Naval Intelligence Officer Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) have both infiltrated a drug syndicate run by Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos), a creep who carries the head of a decapitated adversary around in a bowling bag. Therefore, the imbedded lawmen are careful to make sure their cover isn’t blown while bringing down the ruthless kingpin.
However, neither of the narcs is at all aware of other’s true identity, which means they aren’t prepared to serve as backup in a sticky situation. Worse, when an operation does go bad, they are initially suspicious of each other.
But once they clear up the mutual case of mistaken identity, they conspire not only to crack the cartel but to relieve it of $43 million in ill-gotten gains sitting in a bank vault. This development doesn’t sit well with Earl (Bill Paxton), Papi’s accomplice holding the key to the emptied safe deposit box.
Directed by Iceland’s Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband), 2 Guns is basically an adrenaline-fueled buddy flick featuring a high body-count designed to satiate the bloodlust of the lovers of gratuitous gore. Here a body, there a body, everywhere a body-body.
The picture has its share of titillation, too, most of it coming courtesy of an inscrutable moll played by pretty Paula Patton, real-wife of crooner Robin Thicke. The problem is that the preposterous plot never pretends to be plausible, a failing perhaps forgiven by diehard Denzel Washington fans eager to see him trading quips with Mark Wahlberg or cavorting carnally opposite a topless Ms. Patton.
As for standouts in the supporting cast, Edward James Olmos and Bill Paxton do great jobs of portraying a couple of readily-detestable villains. But their never-developed characters are so simplistically drawn that the audience’s job is just to sit back and wait for these bad guys’ inevitable demise.
A remarkably unengaging adventure, given its incessant attempt at overstimulation.
Fair (1 star)
Rated R for profanity, brief nudity and pervasive violence
Running Time: 109 minutes
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Snoop Dogg
The “Turbo” Interview
with Kam Williams
Calvin Cordozar Broadus was born on October 20, 1971 in Long Beach, California where he was nicknamed Snoopy by his parents because of a striking resemblance to the Peanuts cartoon character. A promising rapper from an early age, he began performing in the 6th grade but was waylaid by brushes with the law in high school.
After a stint behind bars for drug possession, he took the stage name Snoop Doggy Dogg and launched his recording career with the help of hip-hop producer Dr. Dre. His 1993 debut album, Doggystyle, featuring his trademark, laidback vocal phrasings, was well-received and quickly went quadruple platinum.
Over the course of an enduring showbiz career, Snoop has released a dozen solo CDs and sold more than 30 million records. Last year, he tweaked his alias to Snoop Lion when he recorded a reggae album in Jamaica called Reincarnated.
A talented thespian, he’s also acted in a score of movies, most notably, Training Day, Baby Boy, Old School, Starsky & Hutch and, most recently, Scary Movie 5. Here, he talks about his latest screen outing as Smooth Move in Turbo, an animated adventure about a snail who dreams of entering the Indianapolis 500.
Kam Williams: Hi Snoop, thanks for the interview.
Snoop Dogg: My pleasure, Kam.
KW: What interested you in Turbo?
SD: Well I’ve wanted to do a family movie for a while now. Being able to watch a movie with my family and some of the kids from my Snoop Youth Football League has always been a goal of mine, so when [director] David Soren reached out to me about Turbo I was all for it. And my character is a smooth little snail…I thought it was a cool concept.
KW: How would you describe Smoove Move?