Louis Pinnock (Travolta) is a hard-working, blue-collar family man in an alternate society where the roles of blacks and whites have been reversed. Blacks are well educated, have good jobs and are in the majority. Whites fill the inner cities, have less advantages and are in the minority.
Louis works in a candy factory owned by Thaddeus Thomas (Belafonte). Thaddeus is a rich man of privilege who is more than happy to spout his views regarding the white problem to his equally privileged black friends. Of course, Thaddeus doesn't think he's a racist.
As a favor, Louis delivers a package to Thaddeus's mansion, but he accidentally looks in the wrong window and sees Thaddeus's wife partially unclothed. When Thaddeus catches Louis looking at his wife, he gets angry and offhandedly tells the factory foreman not to send that "delivery boy" around anymore. This causes a chain of events that leaves Louis unemployed and he and his family evicted from their home.
In an act of desperation, Louis confronts Thaddeus about the firing and ends up taking him hostage. Louis brings Thaddeus to his lower-class world as the two begin to learn more about each other and the separate worlds they live in.
Writer/director Desmond Nakano has chosen an intriguing subject by switching the roles of whites and blacks in White Man's Burden. But while there are certainly moments of truth, the film has little to say about racism except that it's bad. (ouis Pinnock (Travolta) is a hard-working, blue-collar family man in an alternate society where the roles of blacks and whites have been reversed. Blacks are well educated, have good jobs and are in the majority. Whites fill the inner cities, have less advantages and are in the minority.
Louis works in a candy factory owned by Thaddeus Thomas (Belafonte). Thaddeus is a rich man of privilege who is more than happy to spout his views regarding the white problem to his equally privileged black friends. Of course, Thaddeus doesn't think he's a racist.
As a favor, Louis delivers a package to Thaddeus's
mansion, but he accidentally looks in the wrong window and sees Thaddeus's wife partially unclothed. When Thaddeus catches Louis looking at his wife, he gets angry and offhandedly tells the factory foreman not to send that "delivery boy" around anymore. This causes a chain of events that leaves Louis unemployed and he and his family evicted from their home.
In an act of desperation, Louis confronts Thaddeus about the firing and ends up taking him hostage. Louis brings Thaddeus to his lower-class world as the two begin to learn more about each other and the separate worlds they live in.
Writer/director Desmond Nakano has chosen an intriguing subject by switching the roles of whites and blacks in White Man's Burden. But while there are certainly moments of truth, the film has little to say about racism except that it's bad.(http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue21/movie.html)
Louis works in a candy factory owned by Thaddeus Thomas (Belafonte). Thaddeus is a rich man of privilege who is more than happy to spout his views regarding the white problem to his equally privileged black friends. Of course, Thaddeus doesn't think he's a racist.
As a favor, Louis delivers a package to Thaddeus's mansion, but he accidentally looks in the wrong window and sees Thaddeus's wife partially unclothed. When Thaddeus catches Louis looking at his wife, he gets angry and offhandedly tells the factory foreman not to send that "delivery boy" around anymore. This causes a chain of events that leaves Louis unemployed and he and his family evicted from their home.
In an act of desperation, Louis confronts Thaddeus about the firing and ends up taking him hostage. Louis brings Thaddeus to his lower-class world as the two begin to learn more about each other and the separate worlds they live in.
Writer/director Desmond Nakano has chosen an intriguing subject by switching the roles of whites and blacks in White Man's Burden. But while there are certainly moments of truth, the film has little to say about racism except that it's bad. (ouis Pinnock (Travolta) is a hard-working, blue-collar family man in an alternate society where the roles of blacks and whites have been reversed. Blacks are well educated, have good jobs and are in the majority. Whites fill the inner cities, have less advantages and are in the minority.
Louis works in a candy factory owned by Thaddeus Thomas (Belafonte). Thaddeus is a rich man of privilege who is more than happy to spout his views regarding the white problem to his equally privileged black friends. Of course, Thaddeus doesn't think he's a racist.
As a favor, Louis delivers a package to Thaddeus's
mansion, but he accidentally looks in the wrong window and sees Thaddeus's wife partially unclothed. When Thaddeus catches Louis looking at his wife, he gets angry and offhandedly tells the factory foreman not to send that "delivery boy" around anymore. This causes a chain of events that leaves Louis unemployed and he and his family evicted from their home.In an act of desperation, Louis confronts Thaddeus about the firing and ends up taking him hostage. Louis brings Thaddeus to his lower-class world as the two begin to learn more about each other and the separate worlds they live in.
Writer/director Desmond Nakano has chosen an intriguing subject by switching the roles of whites and blacks in White Man's Burden. But while there are certainly moments of truth, the film has little to say about racism except that it's bad.(http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue21/movie.html)
MY THOUGHTS
I chose to use this movie for my 5th media blog because during most of the class we talked about and read about white being the oppressors and basically being the majority and having white privelege but this movie clearly shows a reversal and shows how things would look in reverse. I
The scenes the most stood out for me in the movie was John Travolta's daughter in the movie when she wants to get a "Black" doll and basically every image on television and in stores in black. John Travolta doesnt want to get her the doll and wants her to want toys that look like her instead. I think the scene stood out because it shows that whoever is in power whether white, black, asian or whatever if given the power to change television and the images it portrays that people perceptions would change reallyeasily. And even though in this movie the roles were reversed I think that if the black images on TV far outweighed the white than the economic structure would change and more black products would be used. This relates to whats Johnson was saying about Capitalism and that at the end of the day money is the deciding factor more so than race. And because the Travolta character was a single parent who just lost his job he resorted to drastic measures which anyone would do in his position which to me proves that given the situation that any race would turn out like most blacks living in single parent homes with no jobs and on welfare would do. The movie shows whats going on now which is the rich outweighing the poor which is another fight we are in.
But i also found that the movie still had racial stereotypes when it came to the poor whites and rich blacks. In the movie that blacks were seen wearing african attire and the poor whites had factory jobs and was seen as hillbillies and i think the way they acted in the movie even though it was still reversal of which race had the most power there was still strong stereotypes. This movie also relates alot to Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" in which he recalls moments in his life that he lives and situations he was in that he couldnt do anything about because of the color of his skin which was similar in this movie. The scene when John Travola is caught supposedly looking at the black mans wife and instantly fired is somewhat similar to when Wright explained about getting fired from the factory because he tried to know to much and tried to move up which was exceptable for blacks.This movie actually relates to alot of the reading we have done in class but i think its one of those movies that was just looked over because for the most part it was safe. The movie wasn't as gritty and hardcore as movies like Roots and The Color Purple but I think that was do to the tables being turned and maybe white people wouldnt have taken well to whites been battered, beaten and belittled from another race on camera so this movie definitely kept it to a movie and that is where the movie failed. But it was a great concept overall. This is a good movie and I suggest anyone go out and watch it if they get a chance.
But i also found that the movie still had racial stereotypes when it came to the poor whites and rich blacks. In the movie that blacks were seen wearing african attire and the poor whites had factory jobs and was seen as hillbillies and i think the way they acted in the movie even though it was still reversal of which race had the most power there was still strong stereotypes. This movie also relates alot to Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" in which he recalls moments in his life that he lives and situations he was in that he couldnt do anything about because of the color of his skin which was similar in this movie. The scene when John Travola is caught supposedly looking at the black mans wife and instantly fired is somewhat similar to when Wright explained about getting fired from the factory because he tried to know to much and tried to move up which was exceptable for blacks.This movie actually relates to alot of the reading we have done in class but i think its one of those movies that was just looked over because for the most part it was safe. The movie wasn't as gritty and hardcore as movies like Roots and The Color Purple but I think that was do to the tables being turned and maybe white people wouldnt have taken well to whites been battered, beaten and belittled from another race on camera so this movie definitely kept it to a movie and that is where the movie failed. But it was a great concept overall. This is a good movie and I suggest anyone go out and watch it if they get a chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment