PLACE AND RACE:

REPRESENTING LOS ANGELES AND RACIAL AUTHENTICITY

Week 8

Gina MengPatricia Olaivar

CRASH COLLECTION

Crash (2004)

Co-written, directed, and

produced by Paul Haggis Caucasian Canadian (London, Ontario) Moved to Los Angeles at the

age of 22

2006 Academy Awards:

Best Picture

Best Original Screenplay

“A provocative, unflinching look at the complexities of racial conflict in America.”

Narrative is driven by racial and cultural conflicts

Idea that people do not have to deal with racial differences unless they “crash” into one another

The notion of white privilege, which means that race is not an issue if you are privileged enough to stay away from race

The U.S. longs to distinguish itself as a nation consisting of diverse identities The movie demonstrates that there are also negative sides to

being so diverse

Evident that it takes place in a post-September 11 U.S. References aimed towards the Iranian store-owner in the gun

store “Yo, Osama! Plan the Jihad on your own time..” “You’re liberating my country and I’m flying 747’s into your

mud huts incinerating your friends?”

Races depicted in Crash

Caucasian, African American Iranian Latino Asians

- Human traffickers, bad drivers, do not speak proper English

- Stereotypes were not challenged at all

- “Stereotypes on steroids”

Last 3 groups were not developed as complex characters, unlike the various Caucasian and African American protagonists

Goals of movies about race

To challenge the views, ideas, and beliefs of viewers To make viewers examine themselves

and their own prejudices through the

eyes of other people

“A good movie about race would be

one where white viewers walk out

angry, confused, and frustrated

because for once, they would get a

chance to look at the world from a

non-white perspective.”

Crash as unrealistic

Crash belongs to a nameless genre, in which Americans from various backgrounds are ultimately forced to interact in order to “acknowledge their essential connectedness”

Claim to tell authentic stories about race

Throughout the movie, characters speak their minds about race and make a variety of racial slurs

Gives audiences an insight into exactly how each person is thinking or how they feel about certain people

In reality, people usually keep these thoughts to themselves and do not say anything out loud

The movie tries too hard to elaborate and represent a compelling view of racism, which is such a complex issue

“... Full of heart and devoid of life; crudely manipulative when it tries its hardest to be subtle; and profoundly complacent in spite of its intention to unsettle and disturb.”

Viewers as critical Be aware of the issues behind in the movie without getting

caught up in the narrative and the acting Be careful not to confuse the characters as “actual human

beings”

Many critics had the opinion that Paul Haggis was not the right candidate to create this type of discourse on race because he is Caucasian

“Simple white guilt”

What do you think about the movie and the

way Paul Haggis tried to talk about the issue of race through Crash?

Did you find it realistic or trying too hard?

Terse Conclusion

This article discusses Crash as a post 9/11 film intheir representationso f race (Asian, Black, Latino, White, Middle Eastern). Two ideas that I found interesting in this collection where the ideas that the crash is the point in which race enter discussion in society, as well as the idea that race films allow audiences to look at the world from a non-white perspective.

“MOCK FEMINISM:WAITING TO EXHALE”

B. HOOKS

Past idea of black films Movies by African American filmmakers Focused on some aspect of black life

More current idea of black films Movies written and produced by Caucasians Seem/claim to display genuine representations of African

Americans and their lives

These operate as marketing and publicity techniques to help sell the movie

Waiting to Exhale (1995)

Film adaptation of a novel by Terry McMillan

McMillan helped in the screenplay writing

process, protecting the movie from negative criticism

about the authentic representations of

blackness that it portrayed

Hooks’ opinion is that “just because writers

and directors are black does not exempt

them from scrutiny” Does not mean they will create realistic

portrayals of African American life

Waiting to Exhale is a stereotypical and degrading version of the novel

Portrayals of African American characters in the movie differed from the book

Example: James leaves Bernadine (Bernie)

No longer about love, the meaning of partnership, and marriage; more about materialistic ideals and competition with other women

“... took the novelistic images of professional black women concerned with issues of racial uplift and gender equality and turned them into a progression of racist, sexist stereotypes that features happy darkies who are all singing, dancing, fucking, and having a merry old time even in the midst of sad times and tragic moments.”

Terry McMillan seemed to forget the meaning behind her original novel through the process of writing the screenplay

She ultimately helped to write a movie that produced negative representations of black womanhood Sold as realistic portrayals

Done for entertainment purposes and to make money

Bottom line: Terry McMillan sold out

Think about the following quote:

 

“Masses of black women could be cajoled by mass media coverage and successful seductive marketing... to embrace this cultural product was a primary indication that this is not a society where moviegoers are encouraged to think critically about what they see on the screen.” (p. 53-54)

Do you think this quote is true? Are we being influenced too much by mass media coverage and not being critical enough as viewers?

What are some ways that we can think more critically about the movies we watch?

Terse Conclusion

This article looks at how the use of a black production member is used in ‘black works’ to give a greater sense of authenticity to a work. In the example of Waiting to Exhale, she argues that this ‘input’ on the script was little more then a token attribute to help generate another market for the film.

Who Gets to Tell a Black Story?

The 4th article of the series - How Race Is Lived In America

The series seeks to capture some of the troubling challenging issues American

A White Journalist Wrote it.

(David Simon)

A Black Director Fought to Own it

( Charles S. Dutton)

Clip: The Cornerhttp://youtube.com/watch?v=Uz9MrqiHjoM

The misnieries was critically acclaimed and won several Emmy Awards in 2000, including that for best miniseries.

Charles S. Dutton won for his direction of the mini series.

David Mills and David Simon won Emmys for their writing. The Corner was also nominated for Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

The rise and buzz

"The Corner" would not need a mass audience on HBO, because HBO did not make its money off commercials. What HBO wanted was attention and

buzz.

The Crew is too White

people tend to work with the same people they've worked with for 20 years. These are the relationships these people have. You can't argue with that. But don't do a black story and have the gall not to hire any black people. The few diverse crews I've worked on, I've had the most fun. There's more to talk about. The creative energy rises.

The director of "The Corner" and accomplished actor leads off a conversation on getting African-American stories told in Hollywood -- the obligations, the frustrations, and the possibilities for change.

Black Stories, Black Storytellers

The black culture's story and the white culture's story are as different as night and day. We share the same sky, the same county and the same air But our human experience has been as different from one another as you can get.

There's a tough stone wall in Hollywood. You don't control the distribution, or the number of theaters where your movie's released. That wall puts a ceiling on how much money you can make.

Few opportunities for Black Projects and Directors

No matter how major the star or the director, no matter how famous the story or the historical figure, big-budget black pictures are almost never done. If it's about a president, or a white military figure, you see those movies all the time. But if a black filmmaker brings a project about a black figure, it's like the industry says "You guys had your historical movie come back in 20 years and maybe we'll do another."

Terse Conclusion

The challenge would be getting our white subjects to speak honestly -- white people having figured out long ago that the most profitable course was to keep their mouths shut when it came to race. Mr. Simon was far more comfortable with race than most white people.

The Corner chronicles the life of a family living in poverty amid the open-air drug markets of West Baltimore. It is a powerful mini-series that delivers a ruthless, depressing, and depraved view of the lives of drug abusers and dealers. Told semi-narratively by a documentary crew, the viewer is delivered into the bowels of a hellish neighbourhood in America. Being based on a true story only serves to rattle the viewer further.

Who gets write about race? (discussion)

Do you think white Hollywood has the responsibility to make black or other minorities groups positive in the movies ?

Thinking one of your favourite movie, and do you love it because of it has represented the reality of race?

Living Dangerously: Identity Politics and The New Cultural Racism

Cultural difference => culture collapse (e.g. culture shock)

Prime-dominant & dominant culture struggle for social rights (e.g. political & ideological landscape

“Politics of citizenship” take a role

Identity politics => leads the way how dominant culture was challenged by pre-dominant culture

New rights which as the derivative from the identical politics, it forms many social powers different from or against the dominant social power

Identity politics of avoiding self-blame for feelings of powerlessness & anomie

Representation difference & the new politics of race

Old racism -> old colonicalism & modern slavery compare with dominant regimes -> cultural stereotypes

Events: pop cultural revolution

1960s feminist reception postmodernist & postcolonicalist discourses

1970s development of critical popular cultural forms in 1980s

1990s new ethnicities with their challenges to liberl pluralsim

The movement of politics of difference based on the identical culture perspective, in some place, such as Los Angeles, the people used to lable with color, or ethinc reached on the mainstream of society

Given the present-day reality of the various modes of contact and interaction negotiated by many different people living, working, teaching, and learning within and bound the “urban landscape,” what is required is a rigorous examination of the modes of representation employed by dominant culture. He has rightly identified the need for what he calls a critical pedagogy of representation and a representational pedagogy (P41)