Goin' to the Movies

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.
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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:
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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.