(c) R2C2H2 Tha Artivist/Ronald Herd II
Memo To Spike: Right War, Wrong Battle
Recently, accomplished filmmakers Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood got into a Hollywood tussle and dust up over the supposed accuracies or supposed inaccuracies of Eastwood's latest award winning WW 2 flicks, "Flags of Our Fathers" & "Letters From Iwo Jima"...
I am not going to regurgitate what was said word for word by these Film making Titans with egos too big to put in Special Collector DVDs...
You can find much commentary detailing the entire debate online...
However, I would have to give Clint Eastwood the benefit of the doubt on this one...Eastwood is a person who is known as a true supporter of the preservation of Black people's contributions to American culture and heritage (after all he did the films "Bird", a biopic about jazz hero Charlie Parker, and executive produced the wonderful "Straight No Chaser" documentary about jazz great Thelonious Monk)...Also Clint Eastwood, an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of live jazz, produces the highly acclaimed annual Monterey Jazz Festival which draws tens of thousands of devotees from around the world to appreciate America's Classical Music up close and personal...
Anybody who has been alive the last 30 years knows Spike's unique contributions to film history, Black culture and heritage as well...His movie "Mo Better Blues" is in my opinion one of the best jazz movies ever made and also counts among his finest works along with "Malcolm X" and "Do The Right Thing"...It would have been nice to see his version of the biopic "Bird"...
It is a known fact that Hollywood makes a hefty profit distorting history..."The Birth Of A Nation" anyone???
Especially when it comes to Westerns and War movies, movie genres that Clint Eastwood's true legacy and acclaim as an actor and director is built on...
So this shouldn't be a surprise...But I will give Clint the benefit of the doubt this time around for the following reasons...
I am not going to regurgitate what was said word for word by these Film making Titans with egos too big to put in Special Collector DVDs...
You can find much commentary detailing the entire debate online...
However, I would have to give Clint Eastwood the benefit of the doubt on this one...Eastwood is a person who is known as a true supporter of the preservation of Black people's contributions to American culture and heritage (after all he did the films "Bird", a biopic about jazz hero Charlie Parker, and executive produced the wonderful "Straight No Chaser" documentary about jazz great Thelonious Monk)...Also Clint Eastwood, an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of live jazz, produces the highly acclaimed annual Monterey Jazz Festival which draws tens of thousands of devotees from around the world to appreciate America's Classical Music up close and personal...
Anybody who has been alive the last 30 years knows Spike's unique contributions to film history, Black culture and heritage as well...His movie "Mo Better Blues" is in my opinion one of the best jazz movies ever made and also counts among his finest works along with "Malcolm X" and "Do The Right Thing"...It would have been nice to see his version of the biopic "Bird"...
It is a known fact that Hollywood makes a hefty profit distorting history..."The Birth Of A Nation" anyone???
Especially when it comes to Westerns and War movies, movie genres that Clint Eastwood's true legacy and acclaim as an actor and director is built on...
So this shouldn't be a surprise...But I will give Clint the benefit of the doubt this time around for the following reasons...
Right War, But Wrong Battle & Movie...
Spike Lee is actually 10 years too late in his accusations...He should have attacked another great filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, for the same thing he accused Clint of doing: whitewashing history...
In his film "Saving Private Ryan", the first 30 minutes of the film portrayed the D-Day landing or the Normandy Invasion, a pivotal turning point for the Allied Forces in WW2... Spielberg left out any presence of Blacks in the historical event unless you count Vin Diesel (???)...This is a gross misrepresentation of history...For a film which was critically acclaimed for its "realism" it wasn't so realistic after all...
1.2 million African Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War 2...Many of those brave soldiers including my grandfather, Arthur "Soldier Boy Grip" Taylor, were on Normandy Beach getting shot at along with their White comrades...Another native son of Mississippi, future Civil Rights Movement Hero Medgar Evers, was also present braving hell home and abroad "to make the world safe for democracy"...
It's like the same thing when people or "experts" said how "realistic" Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of Christ" was as if they were there to witness the Crucifixion of Jesus...Although that movie was depicted in a place where you will find dark people of color, there were hardly any people in the movie that were darker than the color of the sand...Hmmm...
Where was Spike 10 years ago??? Where was the outrage??? Maybe because he didn't have his own WW2 movie coming out then as he does now...Hmmm...
So is this just a smart pr move by Spike Lee??? Regardless, this incident raises some great points that we should all consider and never forget...Also it makes one realize that it is important to tell your own stories, if one doesn't want to be just another marginal or invisible footnote in His-Story...
In his film "Saving Private Ryan", the first 30 minutes of the film portrayed the D-Day landing or the Normandy Invasion, a pivotal turning point for the Allied Forces in WW2... Spielberg left out any presence of Blacks in the historical event unless you count Vin Diesel (???)...This is a gross misrepresentation of history...For a film which was critically acclaimed for its "realism" it wasn't so realistic after all...
1.2 million African Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War 2...Many of those brave soldiers including my grandfather, Arthur "Soldier Boy Grip" Taylor, were on Normandy Beach getting shot at along with their White comrades...Another native son of Mississippi, future Civil Rights Movement Hero Medgar Evers, was also present braving hell home and abroad "to make the world safe for democracy"...
It's like the same thing when people or "experts" said how "realistic" Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of Christ" was as if they were there to witness the Crucifixion of Jesus...Although that movie was depicted in a place where you will find dark people of color, there were hardly any people in the movie that were darker than the color of the sand...Hmmm...
Where was Spike 10 years ago??? Where was the outrage??? Maybe because he didn't have his own WW2 movie coming out then as he does now...Hmmm...
So is this just a smart pr move by Spike Lee??? Regardless, this incident raises some great points that we should all consider and never forget...Also it makes one realize that it is important to tell your own stories, if one doesn't want to be just another marginal or invisible footnote in His-Story...
For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/
Buy Soldier Boy Grip Gear Now @ http://www.cafepress.com/r2c2h2
No comments:
Post a Comment