Right after I left Rave theater I texted a friend this brief amateur review of Selma, "Stellar...A little misogynist, but timely and beautifully directed. The sixties felt REAL and RELEVANT."
Did you notice any overlap between our discussions of police brutality and #blacklivesmatter and events in the film. An old adage states that "the more more things change, the more they seem to stay the same" especially in state driven by gradualist politics. The turmoil in Selma is a legacy of plantation life and the creation of the system of racial subjugation that drove it. One Hundred years following Emancipation, Black citizens of Selma are live in a racial habitus that dehumanizes works to "break" rather than include.
Read any of the following articles and comment on the important points you think it makes in relation to your viewing of Selma. The New Yorker article is my personal favorite offering a complex contextualization of the moment. What systematic injustice do you notice in the film Selma? This film also plays with Historical Thinking in some fundamental ways that some call problematic and discrediting.
Use the articles below and your film experience (empathy) to comment on the utitlity of the film. I'm also really interested in hearing the way you see recent events stemming from your nations racial tensions and demonstrations against police brutality relating to the Film.
"The Color of Law" The New Yorker
6 comments:
I believe that Selma is very useful for people of this generation to connect to it. It shows the clear connection that the past wasn’t too far away. Both the protests in the film and the ones we have seen since Ferguson have many of the same features. People using their right to protest and the police using tear gas and even violence to contain them. Another important thing in the film and was mentioned in the article “Ten Things You Should Know About Selma Before You See The Film” was the local and federal governments conspiring to keep African Americans from voting. It really got the feeling across of powerlessness of their situation. You see that in the role of Annie Lee Cooper who no matter how hard she tried they would not let her vote. I also agree with Mr. Jobs is his view of the film being misogynistic, it makes it seem as though the women were of little importance as female civil rights activists don’t make much of an appearance. I thought the “Selma vs. History” article was interesting after seeing the film because I didn’t realize that Johnson was in agreement with King and I think they shouldn’t have added that in just for dramatic purposes. I understand embellishment but I don’t think you should change the facts. Overall I thought the movie was great, it got across the emotion of that oppression and it told the story in a beautiful way.
I thought Selma was such a great and powerful movie. It showed that some things that are going on today were still going on back then. It was a clear representation of history. I really was not aware of all the trials they went through and to see it surprised me a lot. Two things that really stood out to me was how the some whites actually came together with the African Americans and walked with them. Also, their reactions to the people being tortured by the police. Everytime I was taught about this there was never any talk about the white people who helped make a change in history. Especially those who lost their lives for it. Watching the African Americans get beat by the police really brought tears to my eyes. The movie had a strong emotional appeal, especially one scene where the family ran from the police and into a diner. When the police came in and beat on them and killed the son it was terrifying to me. To actually watch that happen really opened my eyes and made me realize how cruel people really are. And skin color really does matter to some people.
I think Selma is something everyone today can watch and interact with. Selma shows how we have made progress since then, but we still have a long fight to go. In Selma, there are protests that get out of hand, and people are injured or worse, killed. It makes me wonder how far we've come since then. Today there are peaceful protests, and we still have the protests that lead to violence and police brutality.
What Selma lacked to show iny my eyes, was that there wzs more to it then black and white. In the article,"Beyond Black and White: Asian-American Memories of Selma", it was recorded that other races were also in the march, including Japanese. Selma focused heavily on the idea of 'Black vs White'. When in fact there were other races besides blacks and whites.
Selma was an amazing movie. It was very powerful and it impacted me in a good way. It showed very well how Black Americans were treated. The amount of police brutality present during the marches were horrific. This act made me feel hatred towards a lot of the white people during the time. How can someone do such a thing? Was what I thought of so many times in the moving. How can their hearts be filled with that much hatred to be so brutal to innocent people? It broke my heart seeing passionate people getting murdered for fighting especially peacefully. A white male speaker in the movie stated to "bring back the laws of our fathers" and that reminded me of that law that stated all men are equal. But in the case of the event, that was definitely not the case. They were unarmed in the march and were attacked with whips, batons, and tear gas. Even other races that supported King got murdered. A White priest was attacked by other whites and was called "White Nigger". But despite the many dangers of fighting for what they believed in they still marched on, never giving up. Endo was influenced by the people's strong will of fighting. This should help remind us to never give up without a fight.
I personally thought that Selma was a great film. The film helped me learn even more facts about our history that I didn't know before. I thought the actions with the African Americans and the police related greatly to police brutality. In the movie, one of the major actors who persuaded the acts of police brutality was the governor. In the movie, just like today, the police abused their power to seriously injure innocent people who were peacefully protesting and getting away with it even on national tv. Police have no right to do what they do but of course because we look at them like authority figures they can get away with it, which is very unfair. I think the articles related to the movie especially the one that talked about the color of law. The article talked about a boy Jimmie lee Jackson who was a war veteran and was peacefully protesting with a group led by Martin Luther king jr and was protecting his mother and father. This related to the Scene in the movie where the guy tried to protect his parents in the restaurant after protesting and being chased by police. Like in the article, the boy died and at a very young age, too. There were a couple of forms of systematic injustice that was used in the film that I pointed out. One form that I pointed out was the police brutality and how they made sure that what they did was secretive, with tear gas or at night so hey could get away with everything they did. Another form I found was how they wouldn't let the African Americans vote or even register to vote. This was the setting for the entire film to get this law passed so that they could vote and also take part like the whites in the government and have some control too over their future. Like I said before I thought the film was great. I thought it was beautifully played along and it was beautifully filmed. The acting was excellent and I loved how they showed all the marches and killings and the torture so that we could really get a sense of what these African Americans were going through back then. Even though these parts were hard to watch and almost made me cry I thought it helped move the story along and kept the plot going.
Selma was very powerful. It furthered my education about history and what happened at the time. It showed police brutality and the way that Negroes were treated down in Selma at the time. Sadly, people have not improved themselves over the years. The police are still going mad with power and using police brutality.
According to "Beyond Black and White: Asian-American Memories in Selma, people of other ethnicities participated in the march. In the movie, Selma, only white people and black people participated.
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