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<DIV><STRONG><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=4>Hm. I personally thought
this was a very toughly-told story of change and
redemption; a man goes thru a series of experiences, both
shattering and revelatory, that lead him to examine his life and actually choose
to renounce it, then to take a path in some ways a polar opposite to his
previous life. </FONT>Not the most profound film I've ever seen, but at
the end hopeful about the capacity of people to change and to
forgive. It sounds like you just didn't think that story
was very believable: to take a character with racist attitudes and
show that character changing and in the process capable of a caring
response to a person he would likely have held in contempt
before. I didn't see the character as being "glorified" for being
able to grow. </STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>But actually, there was a message in "Monster's Ball" I picked up
on that I didn't like...the message that it was somehow natural and good that a
woman should be in desperate need of some man to "take care of her": not to help
her thru tough times, to be a support to one in need, but very specifically, to
care for her as a dependent. I got that loud and clear especially towards
the end, and I resented the casual sexism, so unlike the film's confrontational
approach to racism. </STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>original Message ----- </DIV>
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<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=BrownBingb@aol.com
href="mailto:BrownBingb@aol.com">BrownBingb@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=lbo-talk@lists.panix.com
href="mailto:lbo-talk@lists.panix.com">lbo-talk@lists.panix.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, March 30, 2003 11:43
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Monster's Ball </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">I<BR>
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TYPE="CITE">From: joanna bujes <<A
href="mailto:joanna.bujes@sun.com">joanna.bujes@sun.com</A>><BR><BR>I
posted a note about this movie's racism a couple of days ago, which drew
<BR>some nods and some questions, so let me say first that I don't think it
was <BR>overt but unconscious racism; I don't think the filmmakers meant to
make a <BR>racist movie. <BR>But OK. Let's start with the
plot.<BR><BR>-clip-<BR>I mean, why not just get a sledgehammer and whack the
viewer <BR>over the head a few times: LOOK viewer this racist slob is
willing do <BR>"demean" himself by going down on a black woman and then is
SO sensitive <BR>that he comes back up to check that she's OK....So, you see
he's not <BR>racist, he's not a misogynist, he's the fucking GREAT WHITE
HOPE.<BR><BR>So, that's why I thought it was racist. My nine-year old
daughter just <BR>thought it was a bad movie. She liked the little black boy
the best and <BR>didn't understand why he was made to
disappear.<BR><BR>Joanna</FONT><FONT lang=0
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FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #3dffff"
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF">********<BR><BR>CB: Thanks
for the summary, Joanna. Now I don't have to go see it.<BR><BR>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. <BR><BR>Whose the "monster" in the title
? Its use almost suggests the author is aware of this "deep structure"
implication.<BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #3dffff"
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