BEFORE: You might have noticed this week's theme by now - around here, it's sort of my own twisted version of Black History week. I know, I know that's supposed to be in February, but I'm always busy in February showing Valentine's Day films - romance is always such a big category that it bumped my look at race relations all the way to September! I haven't really programmed films in my chain racially before (Note: This site is HONKY'S Movie Year, after all, so what the heck do I know about the black experience?) so this is perhaps why I've been feeling so disconnected from the subject matter lately.
I promise you this chain will make much more sense in the next couple of days - this leads up to eliminating possibly THE biggest omission from my list so far. Linking from "Precious", Sherri Shepherd was also in "Beauty Shop" with Octavia Spencer (last seen in "Never Been Kissed").
THE PLOT: An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African-American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through.
AFTER: Well, I'm flummoxed by this one as well - not just because it's about the plight of African-American housemaids, but this is both a chick flick AND Oscar bait of the highest order. I'm out on three counts - so it's another mulligan tonight. Really, I'm just watching this to see what all the fuss was about two years ago, and then I'll never have to watch it again.
Yeah, yeah, white people suck. I get that. And white women who are too damn entitled or morally superior to clean their own houses, they suck most of all. And keeping segregation going, making black people use their own water fountains and bathrooms, and all the antiquated laws about what blacks could and couldn't do in the American South - they all sucked. Nobody's arguing this point! Why do these points have to be driven home again and again?
But here's the thing. A job is a job - and most jobs suck, or at least have parts of them that suck. I have to kiss my boss's ass and tell him he's right when he's clearly wrong, and if I disagree with him, I'm out the door. That got proven last week when my co-workers chose to not work on a film that they didn't agree with, and were shown the door. So that sucked too. If your job sucks, you've got two choices - take it or leave it. No other options.
Well, I guess you can write a book about your experiences, changing all the names, which is a dirty sort of thing to do, but you'll still be within your rights. God knows I could do that. But in doing so, you risk your reputation, and burning all your bridges - that just goes with the territory.
Beyond that, I would imagine that a film about race relations would take pains to make sure that this complicated relationship between families and their servants wouldn't be so black and white, so to speak. This seemed like an over-simplification, if you ask me - surely there must have been some white people in Jackson, MS who treated their servants fairly? Perhaps even some cases where the maids were wrong about something and white women right? No, I suppose not.
Ah, perhaps I'm speaking too soon. I just read the plot breakdown of this film on Wikipedia, and it cleared up a few things. (Which leads to the question - why weren't these points clear in the first place?) The Celia Foote character is a good example of a white woman who treats her black maid with respect, and there is a point in the film where a maid is arrested for trying to pawn one of her employer's rings. I feel a little better about this now.
However, I've still got a problem with hiring modern actresses to narrate a film in that broken Southern dialect. Doesn't this come off as slightly racist? Anyone?
NITPICK POINT: The whole point of the film is that these African-American women are taken advantage of, made to work for very little money and their accomplishments are not recognized. So how come the most sympathetic character relies on her former maid to basically write her "homemaker hints" newspaper column for her, and does not offer her any money or recognition for it. Isn't this just more of the same, compounding the problem?
NITPICK POINT #2: The gag about the pie - isn't this just a spin on the film "The Prince of Tides", where the abused wife feeds her husband dog food, and he unknowingly eats and enjoys it? I can almost understand that, because meat (and meat-by-products) might possibly taste good - but how can you put THAT in a pie and still make it taste good? Does not compute.
Also starring Emma Stone (last seen in "The Amazing Spider-Man"), Viola Davis (last seen in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"), Bryce Dallas Howard (last seen in "50/50"), Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney (last seen in "10 Things I Hate About You"), Anna Camp (last seen in "Pitch Perfect"), Sissy Spacek (last seen in "Missing"), Cicely Tyson (last seen in "The Concorde: Airport '79"), Ahna O'Reilly, Chris Lowell, Mary Steenburgen (last seen in "The Brave One"), with cameos from Leslie Jordan, Dana Ivey (last seen in "The Scarlet Letter"), Brian Kerwin.
RATING: 5 out of 10 royalty checks
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