Monster's Ball

[BrownBingb at aol.com]

I
> From: joanna bujes <joanna.bujes at sun.com>
> 
> I posted a note about this movie's racism a couple of days ago, which drew 
> some nods and some questions, so let me say first that I don't think it was 
> 
> overt but unconscious racism; I don't think the filmmakers meant to make a 
> racist movie. 
> But OK. Let's start with the plot.
> 
> -clip-
>  I mean, why not just get a sledgehammer and whack the viewer 
> over the head a few times: LOOK viewer this racist slob is willing do 
> "demean" himself by going down on a black woman and then is SO sensitive 
> that he comes back up to check that she's OK....So, you see he's not 
> racist, he's not a misogynist, he's the fucking GREAT WHITE HOPE.
> 
> So, that's why I thought it was racist. My nine-year old daughter just 
> thought it was a bad movie. She liked the little black boy the best and 
> didn't understand why he was made to disappear.
> 
> Joanna

********

CB: Thanks for the summary, Joanna. Now I don't have to go see it.

Sounds racist to me.  At the deep structural level it has the old theme of 
the American ,white slaveowner raping Black, slave women, but the Thomas 
Jefferson/Sally Hemmings variation where they fall in love, but of course 
with the woman being under a certain duress to fall.  

Whose the "monster" in the title ? Its use almost suggests the author is 
aware of this "deep structure" implication.

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