Then not only do you have questionable cinematic tastes, but you're also probably just a tad racist. http://www.thecriticalcon...com/2009/09/21/ts-blind/ (don't shoot the messenger)
Off topic: enjoy The Blind Side trailer?
- Thread starter jakldawg
- Start date
movie critic: In other words, the trailer begs us to feel sorry for black people and feel grateful that there are white people in the world who can take of them.
A story like that dehumanizes black and white people alike. It irons the complexity out of life and replaces it with a simplistic lie.
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sorry i didn't see that in the trailor... I saw this from another poster
I haven't seen the trailer, so this is based on what I know from the NYTimes story the book was based on. I can't really comment on what the trailer is selling, but I wanted to pipe in that the true story is exactly the opposite of what you saw in the trailer. It's about the act of a single person (or family) to help another single person, without trying to get all arm-wavy about race and class.
This family didn't help this kid because of big picture concerns about race and class. They helped this kid because they were driving past him one day when he was walking to school in the winter without a coat, and the mother thought it was unconscionable to drive past a particular person that she could help in a particular way. What followed was compassion creep as the family realized they couldn't think of one good reason not to help someone that they could help. All motivated out of their deeply held religious beliefs.
It's what I call the Gospel of the Sandwich. You don't tell someone who's hungry "That's a shame. I wish you well." You give them a sandwich first. As a Christian, you are expected to give those in your immediate vicinity the help you can provide.
The family took a huge amount of **** from their neighbors and fellow "Christians," not the least of which was rooted in the scary notion that this big black man would be sharing a house with their teenage daughter. The mother handed back a helping dose of "Bless your heart" (read as "%*#% you" for any Yankees who may be reading) as only a well-bred Southern woman can.
So that's all I had to say. This really is the story of the particular helping the particular. I hope the trailer doesn't ruin that.
A story like that dehumanizes black and white people alike. It irons the complexity out of life and replaces it with a simplistic lie.
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sorry i didn't see that in the trailor... I saw this from another poster
I haven't seen the trailer, so this is based on what I know from the NYTimes story the book was based on. I can't really comment on what the trailer is selling, but I wanted to pipe in that the true story is exactly the opposite of what you saw in the trailer. It's about the act of a single person (or family) to help another single person, without trying to get all arm-wavy about race and class.
This family didn't help this kid because of big picture concerns about race and class. They helped this kid because they were driving past him one day when he was walking to school in the winter without a coat, and the mother thought it was unconscionable to drive past a particular person that she could help in a particular way. What followed was compassion creep as the family realized they couldn't think of one good reason not to help someone that they could help. All motivated out of their deeply held religious beliefs.
It's what I call the Gospel of the Sandwich. You don't tell someone who's hungry "That's a shame. I wish you well." You give them a sandwich first. As a Christian, you are expected to give those in your immediate vicinity the help you can provide.
The family took a huge amount of **** from their neighbors and fellow "Christians," not the least of which was rooted in the scary notion that this big black man would be sharing a house with their teenage daughter. The mother handed back a helping dose of "Bless your heart" (read as "%*#% you" for any Yankees who may be reading) as only a well-bred Southern woman can.
So that's all I had to say. This really is the story of the particular helping the particular. I hope the trailer doesn't ruin that.
but since he's black, it's not... I mean there are poor uneducated white people out there. To assume that all of that was due to him being black, not due to him being poor, uneducated, etc. is itself racist.
Optimus Prime 4 said:
i wouldn't say that enjoying the trailer makes you racist, but the way they are going about it is just kind of a joke. the scene where sandra bullock (the sassy, tough woman who goes against the grain to do whats right) goes up to the "thug" and threatens him is laughable and by no account has ever actually happened. to me the way they approach it just takes away from any attempt at social commentary and instead just reinforces the new thought that a little love from rich people every now again can change the world.
urethrafranklin said:
2 things:
1) The movie isn't going to be accurate, and it's going to play up LeighAnne's role more than it should simply because Sandra Bullock is playing that role. They are going to make her role a bigger part of the story than it really was, but that's just the Hollywood way of doing things. She played a big role, but it'll be bigger.
2) The part about LeighAnne confronting the gangbanger after Oher beats him up for making a comment about his mother is a twist on a real story. The real story is the story of Antonio Turner making the comment about LeighAnne and Collins I believe, and Oher beating the stew out of him for it. They show the same thing, but they have to replace Turner with a gangbanger because I'm assuming the movie focuses on his high school life, which wouldn't include the incident with Turner. Either way, it's meant to show how much Oher cared about LeighAnne like his own mother. Basically, that story is a fictional representation of a nonfictional occurrence.
yeah, but both of the things you mentioned usually wind up making a terrible movie. and i would argue that the idea of that being a "fictional representation of a nonfictional occurence" is a bit of a stretch seeing as the part they play up is her going and talking to him, maybe more of an inglourious basters-style representation. i just can't stand how hollywood does that sort of thing because there was clearly no racism in what happened, but based on what i've seen there is pretty clearly a sense of white paternalism (in this case maternalism) involved which i can already see causing some (small) issues whenever it comes out. they just cheapened everything to the point of a farce.
urethrafranklin said:
I don't disagree, and I think the movie has a very good possibility of being another cheesy sports movie that twists the real story into something it's not. They're taking a good number of liberties simply because I'm sure part of the deal to get Bullock was to play up her role. She's going to probably be a bigger character in the movie than Oher himself judging by the trailers, and that's not the way it should be if they're going to try to depict the real story. Real stories usually aren't interesting enough or compact enough to fit into a 2 hour window and keep an audience's attention. That's why movie makers typically end up bastardizing true stories, and when they don't bastardize the story, it usually ends up being a 3.5 hour movie with reviews complaining of a slow developing plot line.
just saw the trailer on tv, if this is innappropriate just do a public reprimand, don't ban me ok. so here goes, after watching the trailer, does anyone else think Oher was hitting his new mommy. and i don't mean with his fist.
i say a quiet prayer that the earth would open up and swallow oxford and all that is in it including the red pants. now i am going to say the same prayer for all of the retard ole miss douchebags that cant wait to go see this movie.
J
JimHalpert.nafoom
Guest
Plus, people are talking about how excited they are that it premieres the Friday before the LSU game. 17 that noise. I feel sorry for people that would rather go to the movies than party on the Square the Friday before LSU.
gonna get mediocre reviews, with most critics bashing it but still pulling in a decent enough amount of money to warrant making the movie in the first place. It will leave the theaters and quickly go straight to DVD and become yet another Hollywood throw-away. It has Sandra Bullock in it for Christ's sake.
then your taste in film is far worse than "questionable." It looks like an abysmally crafted motion picture that is no doubt destined to fill a spot on UM grads's favorite movies section on Facebook for the next twenty years, while simultaneously being ignored and forgotten by everyone else in America before it even arrives in theaters for its debut weekend.
Granted, I would have had a bias against it to begin with for its dual function as UM propaganda. The Rebel bedsheets almost made me vomit. But then again, that Faulkner fellow wrote pretty good, even with his disappointing links to Oxford. Good material can overcome. And cameos by Houston Nutt and Nick Saban aren't helping matters.
Granted, I would have had a bias against it to begin with for its dual function as UM propaganda. The Rebel bedsheets almost made me vomit. But then again, that Faulkner fellow wrote pretty good, even with his disappointing links to Oxford. Good material can overcome. And cameos by Houston Nutt and Nick Saban aren't helping matters.