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8918. arkymalarky - 11/11/2013 11:29:24 PM How neat! 8919. Trillium - 11/23/2013 7:07:47 AM Most people are aware now that "Birth of a Nation" was racist, inflammatory, and regrettable.
While lingering way too long in a supermarket line, I came across some notes about a new movie with Kathy Bates(?) The movie is called American Horror Story, and is based on an actual (and hideous) story about a sadist during the era of slavery.
In a time of heightened racist incidents, do we really need this kind of inflammatory movie?
Based on the same standards that we use to judge "Birth of a Nation", I don't think it's a good idea to put this out. I think the producers ought to be held accountable for harm that is likely to result. Just saying. 8920. arkymalarky - 11/23/2013 4:25:17 PM American Horror Story is a TV series. She's a regular in it. I'm not sure what you're expecting to happen or why, especially considering Django Unchained and Twelve Years a Slave having been recently released. What do you mean the "same standards"? It glorfies and embraces the value of slavery? The truth of slavery is an ugly story that has been depicted horrfically many times in literature, movies and television, and for good reason. 8921. judithathome - 11/23/2013 7:45:45 PM I quite watching the series after the first episode because the young "witches" acting in it are so wretchedly inept but from just the first episode, I certainly didn't think it was glorifying slavery but rather, making the Bate's character extremely disgusting.
Judging from headlines today, with people murdering blacks left and right based only on "how they look", we might need a few reminders of just how awful we can be toward "the other". 8922. judithathome - 11/23/2013 8:28:40 PM I'm posting a link to my favorite film critic's review of 12 Years A Slave...he posts at my forum; first joined when it was at The Atlantic but he's stayed with me through all my forums' incarnations.
Anyhow, he lives in the Philippines and is a wonderful reviewer:
Noel Vera on 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Check out his other reviews, too...he has a way with words!
8923. Trillium - 11/23/2013 8:30:09 PM I have a lot of extended family in Europe and other parts of the world. In many places, "the other" is not necessarily "white" or "black", but some other historical ethnic division based on religion/ language/ political differences.
Because of the lines that our family crosses, and our history, I am probably more aware than most people of just how ugly people can be to "the other"-- and I think you've missed my point, Arky and Judith.
The problem of this Horror Story is incitement hate and to brutalize people who may resemble Kathy Bates. I hope that you don't come across someone who thinks you resemble her, and who decides to take out their aggressions on you.
This American Horror story seems irresponsible to me, and I'm surprised more people don't speak out. It's polarizing, and we don't need any more resegregation than we've already got in schools and neighborhoods.
8924. arkymalarky - 11/23/2013 8:42:46 PM I get your point. I think it and the comparison to Birth of a Nation are a far stretch, to put it mildly, and a bit insulting wrt the judgment of (black?) people. I haven't heard that people resembling Leonardo DiCaprio have been targeted and I'm trying to see the basis for your concerns.
Roots caused riots in my high school. But that didn't mean the story shouldn't have been told--cheesy as that 80s-era miniseries was. I still don't at all get your comparison of a pretty weak horror series depicting the sadism of slavery to Birth of a Nation. 8925. arkymalarky - 11/23/2013 8:47:52 PM I live and work in a very integrated environment and the idea that this low quality cable series will contribute to resegregation, which has very different causes, is just way out there. 8926. judithathome - 11/23/2013 8:48:09 PM Trill, do you live in the USA? Because if not, you might have missed the fact that many in the southern tier of states think the South should rise again.
Trust me, those types are no threat to Kathy Bates or anyone who looks like her. 8927. arkymalarky - 11/23/2013 8:48:41 PM 70s-era 8928. judithathome - 11/23/2013 8:49:28 PM I think everyone could benefit from reading that review I linked to...;-) 8929. arkymalarky - 11/23/2013 9:13:40 PM Very nice. I would say that focusing and having the audience attach to the individual enables them to empathize with the whole. Detail and jistorical purity, even quality, may be secondary. That's why a mediocre book like Uncle Tom's Cabin could lead to a major shift in public opinion and, as a result, in history.
Quentin Tarrentino is fond of taking beaten down classes of people and creating scenarios where they take control of their own fates through sheer ballsiness and courage and the blinkered nature of their abusers' hate. 8930. judithathome - 11/23/2013 9:27:24 PM Still, I can't watch a Tarrentino film all the way through. I just hear his name and think of his massive ego...sours on his work. 8931. arkymalarky - 11/23/2013 9:42:00 PM I used to think that before seeing him talk a few times. He didn't strike me that way. The writing is just so great. Mose and SIL love him. I'm going to watch Django with them so they can cue me to the gruesome parts. It's one of SIL's favorite movies ever. 8932. judithathome - 11/23/2013 11:42:38 PM When did you see first Tarrentino interviewed? I am basing my opinion on interviews I saw long before he got wise to how he was coming across...pre-media consultants. 8933. arkymalarky - 11/24/2013 12:36:16 AM I wasn't paying attention back then, but I don't think about him or directors at all when I watch their movies, even when they act in them, like in Pulp Fiction. I'm not a movie buff but, like I am with music, if the characters, environment, and dialogue put me into their world I like them. I don't usually even know anything about the directors' personalities. Stan rarely likes any movie so I don't watch a lot and hardly ever in a theater. I was telling him how I wanted to see the Dallas Buyers Club based on tthe previews and he didn't get it. 8934. arkymalarky - 11/24/2013 12:39:19 AM I used to not like Spielberg movies, but he did a great job in Lincoln and with Schindlers List. And I loved his first movie, Duel. But I didn't think ET or The Color Purple were great. But I know zip about him otherwise. 8935. Trillium - 11/24/2013 7:20:19 PM Judith, I had missed the review you linked. Just read it. Very good! Thanks. And the comments were also interesting. 8936. Trillium - 11/24/2013 7:33:58 PM I live in the South. There are random separatists here...
Just like in California, Texas, Quebec, Catalonia etc. but nothing I would consider significant.
Much more significant in numbers are elderly emigrants from the North who retire here because real estate, taxes, and cost of living are much lower.
I moved out of NYC after 20 years because I had young children and the schools there were unusable due to violence and lousy curriculum. I still have relatives and friends up there.
Many of the NYC schools are de facto segregated. The city also has its share of hate crimes. Right now there are complaints of people being knocked out by "youths". Orthodox Jews are sensitive to hate crimes against them and have actively protested the assaults in Borough Park and elsewhere. This isn't really something new, but a spike in the number of assaults has drawn protests. 8937. Trillium - 11/24/2013 7:42:41 PM About the judgment of (black?) people, Arky-- I don't think "black" people necessarily have better judgment than "white" people. Judgment isn't a race thing -- but judgment is very much an emotional thing, powerfully affected by cinema and art.
After "Jud Suess" was shown in the 1940s, there were riots in some places. That movie, by the way, has a very interesting history. It was specifically designed to stoke economic and ethnic hatred, but it used respectable actors and was loosely based on a historical story that was "rearranged".
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