‘Butler’ backlash could spell trouble for future black films
theGRIO REPORT - Hailed a renaissance year for black films, backlash over Lee Daniels’ 'The Butler' suggests rhetoric surrounding current racially charged movies remains as divisive as ever, and could cause further angst with upcoming features...
“There will be both white and black resistance, and when has there never been this?” He comments. “Recall the criticisms that The Color Purple and Precious received…In the southern city I live and teach in, the audience at my screening was mostly white senior citizens, and they applauded at the film’s end.”
Reid respects The Butler’s journey, acknowledging the images of African-Americans opposing injustice.
“If there was an Uncle Tom, it was certainly the butler in Django Unchained, not Cecil Gaines,” he notes.
Other experiences were not so amicable.
In her column for PolicyMic, writer Angel Evans, an African-American, described attending a screening with mostly “elderly white couples” that stared at her when she entered and clapped when Louis was chided for joining the black power movement.
She thought the story fell short of surpassing stereotypes and pushing the “comfort zone of a racist.”
On that note, The Wrap deemed the movie a “mass-audience-friendly portrayal of racism’s legacy.”
Yet as Foundas points out, at least there wasn’t a white savior coming to the rescue.
He observes, “The one thing The Butler gets around, which has been the trap of a lot of movies about race like The Help and Glory, is that it doesn’t have a white protagonist.”
Will backlash hurt further releases?
Neither Reid, Foundas nor Amkpa anticipate there will be issues driving audiences to upcoming releases like 12 Years a Slave or Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom due to this backlash.
Reid says both films are “safe and easily digested.”
“12 Years a Slave is in the far past, and Mandela will be embraced by all but a few,” he believes. “The election of Barack Obama as the U.S. president mirrors the sociopolitical trajectory of Nelson Mandela. Additionally, Nelson Mandela is about to cross to the other side, and is well respected by most regardless of their politics and national identities.”
Expanding on that point, Amkpa says any disagreement will only inspire more artistic initiatives.
After all, Americans do love controversy.
“The very things that promise violence and resistance to change will be the stimulants for more work by artists,” Amkpa says.
Support from unique demographics helps
Beyond publicized clashes, films like The Butler and Fruitvale Station are reaping support of a variety of social groups.
The Butler has benefitted specifically from interest in the black churchgoing community, a demographic targeted by the studio’s marketing team.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, African-Americans purchased 39 percent of tickets in its opening weekend, a large part of which were believed to be from church groups.
Marketers went so far as to create “a faith-oriented trailer” aimed at relating Cecil’s life to “authentic Christian lives.”
And though the Zimmerman verdict brought attention to Fruitvale Station, it was lauded at Sundance by audiences and critics well before the trial reached its pinnacle.
A renewed call-to-action in the cinema
Groundbreaking or stereotypical, movies like The Butler have undoubtedly boiled the water for racial discourse in cinema this year.
They add to the aroused racial climate of the country, as well as the changing landscape surrounding blackness, whiteness, and all that falls between.
“The current atmosphere, from the supreme court rulings, to tea party activism, to congressional and other formal resistance to transcending the history of African-Americans, will stimulate and not deter the makings of such films,” Amkpa argues. “The boldness with which filmmakers approach these matters, and the education they offer us by their interpretations is what makes our culture dynamic.”
Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @CourtGarcia
