Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich
Movie Monday
I had nothing, nada, zilch for today until I saw Melvin Van Peebles, Classified X in the very early hours of yesterday morning.
Wow! What a coalescence of racism, unbridled capitalism, and general hypocrisy as it exists in the US and is portrayed through Hollywood. It's a 53 minutes long film made in 1998 and it's just Pebbles and clips from other movies and documentary footage. He laughs at the indictment of The Birth of a Nation (1915) as a low point in America with its portrayal of blatant racism and shows all the other Hollywood films after BoaN depicting blacks as dumb-asses or villains. Among other clips, Van Peebles shows the scene in the toted first talking movie from Hollywood, The Jazz Singer, 1929, where Al Jolson is getting ready to perform in vaudeville by smearing on the black face makeup and facing the camera with the stereotypical big, white lipped smile. But then Hollywood is like that; the whole country is like that; you put up one straw dog to beat up on while you continue your business off camera.
For any person, either too young, too ignorant or too new to the US who thinks: Why are minorities always grousing, that's past history? take a look at Classified X. From the footage of the smiling faces looking up at lynched blacks or the screaming white girl reacting to a black entering a previously segregated school, you'll see the hatred that is, unfortunately, still palpable today. (Anyone remember the yahoo carrying the Obama labeled monkey toy to a McCain rally?)
As a special bonus, you'll always get the lowdown on how Hollywood works. I've written about how Hollywood controlled the message during the 1930s Depression. Peebles talks about how Hollywood still controls the message. Perhaps not as completely now since the rise of the indies (and a mean excellent indies, not cheap bodice rippers or mysteries) but he points out that they still control access since they control distribution. (Trivia quiz: How many excellent indies can you name that died on the vine because no one could see them since they were never in theaters near you?)
So in Black History month watch this movie. You'll also get a lesson is US history. It ain't pretty.
Wow! What a coalescence of racism, unbridled capitalism, and general hypocrisy as it exists in the US and is portrayed through Hollywood. It's a 53 minutes long film made in 1998 and it's just Pebbles and clips from other movies and documentary footage. He laughs at the indictment of The Birth of a Nation (1915) as a low point in America with its portrayal of blatant racism and shows all the other Hollywood films after BoaN depicting blacks as dumb-asses or villains. Among other clips, Van Peebles shows the scene in the toted first talking movie from Hollywood, The Jazz Singer, 1929, where Al Jolson is getting ready to perform in vaudeville by smearing on the black face makeup and facing the camera with the stereotypical big, white lipped smile. But then Hollywood is like that; the whole country is like that; you put up one straw dog to beat up on while you continue your business off camera.
For any person, either too young, too ignorant or too new to the US who thinks: Why are minorities always grousing, that's past history? take a look at Classified X. From the footage of the smiling faces looking up at lynched blacks or the screaming white girl reacting to a black entering a previously segregated school, you'll see the hatred that is, unfortunately, still palpable today. (Anyone remember the yahoo carrying the Obama labeled monkey toy to a McCain rally?)
As a special bonus, you'll always get the lowdown on how Hollywood works. I've written about how Hollywood controlled the message during the 1930s Depression. Peebles talks about how Hollywood still controls the message. Perhaps not as completely now since the rise of the indies (and a mean excellent indies, not cheap bodice rippers or mysteries) but he points out that they still control access since they control distribution. (Trivia quiz: How many excellent indies can you name that died on the vine because no one could see them since they were never in theaters near you?)
So in Black History month watch this movie. You'll also get a lesson is US history. It ain't pretty.
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