2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
- 111,973
- 52,245
- 2,290
If we are going to ban movies in the past because they are racist in some way or another, John Nolte points out then that "Malcolm X," which is a truly racist movie, should go too.......
The point of this column is not to trash Lee’s masterwork, nor is it to declare “Malcolm X” racist. Moreover, I’m not here to defend producer David O. Selznick’s own masterwork, “Gone With the Wind” (1939), against charges of racism.
This post is instead a defense of art, artistry, and artists — something that should be unnecessary in America. But we are currently in the middle of a frenzied left-wing campaign to “fundamentally transform America,” which, as history has time and again shown, means a season of oppression, suppression, and censorship.
Filled with the sanctimony and self-righteousness that always comes with being part of The Mob, last week a major New York film writer, The New York Post’s Lou Lumenick, called for “Gone With the Wind” to go the way of the Confederate Flag — to be shunned and banned, consigned only to museums.
The problem with Lumenick’s fascist thinking (and those who agree with him) is that his rationale is based solely on emotion and personal bias. To prove this point, I’ll use Lumenick’s arguments for shunning “Gone With the Wind” against “Malcolm X.”
In many ways, as you will read below, the argument against “Malcolm X’ is stronger.
Lumenick’s argues that GWTW is racist, romanticizes slavery, romanticizes the Civil War, and is not historically accurate.
Let’s unpack these one-by-one.
RACISM
Throughout its entire 200 minutes, there is not a single sympathetic white character in all of “Malcolm X.” Not one. Every single white person is portrayed at best as a patronizing racist, at worst as a virulent racist. The closest Lee comes to a sympathetic white person is a college student who is turned down by Malcolm X after she offers her help to his cause. She still comes off as a bubbled-headed idiot.
In this respect, GWTW is superior. For all the flaws in their characterizations, the black characters of Mammy and Big Sam are at least sympathetic, and in the case of Big Sam, even heroic (Sam saves Scarlett from a mob).
There is no moral difference between a film that inaccurately and dishonestly portrays all blacks in a negative light and all whites in a negative light.
www.breitbart.com
The point of this column is not to trash Lee’s masterwork, nor is it to declare “Malcolm X” racist. Moreover, I’m not here to defend producer David O. Selznick’s own masterwork, “Gone With the Wind” (1939), against charges of racism.
This post is instead a defense of art, artistry, and artists — something that should be unnecessary in America. But we are currently in the middle of a frenzied left-wing campaign to “fundamentally transform America,” which, as history has time and again shown, means a season of oppression, suppression, and censorship.
Filled with the sanctimony and self-righteousness that always comes with being part of The Mob, last week a major New York film writer, The New York Post’s Lou Lumenick, called for “Gone With the Wind” to go the way of the Confederate Flag — to be shunned and banned, consigned only to museums.
The problem with Lumenick’s fascist thinking (and those who agree with him) is that his rationale is based solely on emotion and personal bias. To prove this point, I’ll use Lumenick’s arguments for shunning “Gone With the Wind” against “Malcolm X.”
In many ways, as you will read below, the argument against “Malcolm X’ is stronger.
Lumenick’s argues that GWTW is racist, romanticizes slavery, romanticizes the Civil War, and is not historically accurate.
Let’s unpack these one-by-one.
RACISM
Throughout its entire 200 minutes, there is not a single sympathetic white character in all of “Malcolm X.” Not one. Every single white person is portrayed at best as a patronizing racist, at worst as a virulent racist. The closest Lee comes to a sympathetic white person is a college student who is turned down by Malcolm X after she offers her help to his cause. She still comes off as a bubbled-headed idiot.
In this respect, GWTW is superior. For all the flaws in their characterizations, the black characters of Mammy and Big Sam are at least sympathetic, and in the case of Big Sam, even heroic (Sam saves Scarlett from a mob).
There is no moral difference between a film that inaccurately and dishonestly portrays all blacks in a negative light and all whites in a negative light.
There Is No Moral Difference Between 'Malcolm X' and 'Gone With the Wind'
So that there is no confusion, let me say this up front: Anyone familiar with my love of movies knows that I have long considered Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" |
www.breitbart.com
