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OK, movie fans, grab your popcorn and step with me into the Hollywood scene, for just a little while. We love a good movie. Movies aren’t always just for entertainment. I’m always reminding myself of how hugely important and influential, and indeed a good piece of art, or a beautiful song, or a well done movie, or a lovely dance can be to make us think or rock the boat a bit.
The 93rd Oscar winners were announced on Sunday, April 25. This year, those nominated for Academy Awards represented ethnic groups other than white. Women directors were well represented. And I have to point out that one of the winning actors is 83 years old. The field included a much more diverse group than usual. 
A Few Oscar 2021 Winners
I’ve been a movie buff for years. I remember when many of the actors who played Native Americans were white people lacquered up with a lot of dark makeup. It was pretty awful. Not to mention that the ethnic group portrayed was almost always feared – a group hated and inherently bad.
I grew up in the West. So many of the assumed Native American traits, characteristics and practices were grossly inaccurate. No Native American I have known says “How” for hello, or “Me Broken Feather.” In fact, I don’t think that any of my Native American friends even have a name like “Broken Feather.” Good grief. You’d never know it from many film representations, but not all Native Americans lived in tepees. Some lived in pueblos, some in mounds of earth, and so forth. I’ve often wondered if John Wayne and others ever really looked back on those movies and cringed. Probably. Brian Young, a Navajo filmmaker talks about the dilemma faced by Native American actors even now. “Why I Won’t Wear Paint and Feathers in a Movie Again” is an eye-opening story. When I was a young mother with tiny kids, I remember taking my three little ones in our station wagon, to the drive-in to watch "Gone With the Wind." Well, I watched, they slept. The slave portrayals seemed contrived, patronizing and foolishly childlike. But somehow in 1939, Selznick wasn’t found guilty of offensive cultural stereotyping. Not then. 
They barely got away with the handsome Clark Gable saying, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” in 1939. THAT was enough to raise eyebrows in those days. But, not stereotyping. It's only in the clearer light of today that the film is finally being scrutinized.*
Anyway, movie nerd that I am, I am happy my viewing choices are a little more thoughtful, respectful, and humanely portrayed. It took the Academy of Motion Pictures an awfully long time to wake up. And, it still has a long way to go. Learn more about Black representation in film and television throughout history in these brief, but informative videos: The Evolution of Black Representation in Film The Portrayal of African Americans In Television and Film TCM Original Production: Blackface and Hollywood – African American Film History Documentary (12:46)
* Interestingly, Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Academy Award for her portrayal of Mammy in 1939's "Gone with the Wind." Her father was a freed slave.
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 Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman The recently released film, Harriet, about the life of Harriet Tubman, was beautifully done and certainly worthy of the awards it received. Harriet Tubman's life is probably our richest source of information about the details of the flights of enslaved persons. Even in her own time, she was known for her remarkable work and bravery. As the film tells the story, Harriet's first flight to freedom, done partially with help from the pastor of her home church, she did alone. At a time when most slaves either escaped in small groups or were young men fleeing alone, Harriet did not let her gender keep her from freedom. It seems almost unbelievable that she went back so many times to help others escape. It was such a perilous undertaking. I am amazed this remarkable woman survived.  The movie does help us understand some little known ways and methods used to aid fugitives. Early in the film, Harriet decided to return for her husband and children and is told that she might get help from men who made the journey back and forth on boats, helping people where they could. It was with their help that she reconnected with her husband. I will not be a spoiler. You will have to watch to learn what happens next.
Harriet, who had been known as Araminta Ross when a slave on the plantation, had actually grown up, as many did, along with their white master’s children. Some of those relationships over those years, were deep and true, despite the differences in stations. Harriet Tubman, called the Moses of her people, never learned to read. But, some slaves did because of the close relationships that developed with the children in the household. Nancy Kendall speaks of one such young woman. The 25-year-old woman arrived at the Kendall home one night exhausted and cold. Nancy asked her why she was being so heavily pursued. The woman explained she had been a house "girl" for a family with two young daughters. The girls thought highly of her and taught her to read. When their father found out his house "girl" could read, he made plans to sell her for $1000. Apparently the ability to read added to her "value." The two young daughters, who were 16 and 18 at the time, warned their friend of what was about to happen, and she fled. Nancy Kendall writes, "When I See the Intellect that Girl Seemed to have it Was too bad and unjust for any one to Say they are not Capable of learning an Couldent manage business."* Nancy asked the young woman if she would write to her from Canada to let her know she was safe. "About a Month After She Was here I got a letter from her," Nancy writes.* Cynthia Erivo plays Harriet Tubman in the film. As with most life stories on the big screen, the timeline of events and a few of the side stories are not completely accurate. But film has a wonderful way of making us feel part of something bigger. And, making us want to know more. * Spellings and wording as transcribed from Nancy Kendall's journal. |
Nancy JeanNancy Jean is a woman of several lives and careers, including school teacher, homemaker, parent, amateur musician and writer. Read more... Archives
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