As soon as I realized it was about Civil Rights, I got really excited and hopeful... But then it went on to appear as though the entire movie is about King and his efforts. I really hope I'm wrong. If the trailer is an accurate representation of the movie, then the only thing women do it act as wives, or as participants and supporters of the movement, but most definitely not as organizers. Ugh. Because I couldn't remember anything about marches in Selma, I looked in Freedom's Daughters to see what Olson had to say. The bit on the marches was in a chapter we didn't have to read (ch 20). And, no big surprise here, but women were a huge part of making the marches happen - including Diane Nash! Apparently, Nash and her husband were the ones who told MLK that Selma was a good place, and he eventually agreed. Anyways, here is yet another example of the dominant narrative prevailing in a situation where an amazing story could be told - one that includes everyone who worked to make change (I mean, how interesting would a movie be on the life of Diane Nash?!).
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
A Civil Rights movie! ... all about MLK
I went to a movie over the weekend, and saw this trailer:
As soon as I realized it was about Civil Rights, I got really excited and hopeful... But then it went on to appear as though the entire movie is about King and his efforts. I really hope I'm wrong. If the trailer is an accurate representation of the movie, then the only thing women do it act as wives, or as participants and supporters of the movement, but most definitely not as organizers. Ugh. Because I couldn't remember anything about marches in Selma, I looked in Freedom's Daughters to see what Olson had to say. The bit on the marches was in a chapter we didn't have to read (ch 20). And, no big surprise here, but women were a huge part of making the marches happen - including Diane Nash! Apparently, Nash and her husband were the ones who told MLK that Selma was a good place, and he eventually agreed. Anyways, here is yet another example of the dominant narrative prevailing in a situation where an amazing story could be told - one that includes everyone who worked to make change (I mean, how interesting would a movie be on the life of Diane Nash?!).
As soon as I realized it was about Civil Rights, I got really excited and hopeful... But then it went on to appear as though the entire movie is about King and his efforts. I really hope I'm wrong. If the trailer is an accurate representation of the movie, then the only thing women do it act as wives, or as participants and supporters of the movement, but most definitely not as organizers. Ugh. Because I couldn't remember anything about marches in Selma, I looked in Freedom's Daughters to see what Olson had to say. The bit on the marches was in a chapter we didn't have to read (ch 20). And, no big surprise here, but women were a huge part of making the marches happen - including Diane Nash! Apparently, Nash and her husband were the ones who told MLK that Selma was a good place, and he eventually agreed. Anyways, here is yet another example of the dominant narrative prevailing in a situation where an amazing story could be told - one that includes everyone who worked to make change (I mean, how interesting would a movie be on the life of Diane Nash?!).
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I IMDBed the movie and it appears Diane Nash does have a supporting role (she wasn't featured by name in the trailer probably because people do not know of her). We'll see in the movie how much involvement they show of women.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, Ava DuVernay, a black woman, directed it and has been nominated for the typically all white male directing awards this awards season (she's the first ever black female director nominee). That has been a very big deal that's been written about online, so that's some good news.
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/selma-director-makes-golden-globe-history-1201376993/