He had no funny storys about presidents, guests, etc
This movie has so much potential and all we got was racism. Cant be thad bad working in the white house since he worked there 20 years.
What the f##k is funny about being oppressed? You
need to get your ignorant a$$ away from the computer!
I'm guessing you are black?
I have something to tell you...it's going to blow your mind...
You're not oppressed.
I realize this might come as a shock.
First of all, you need to get off of the computer. Secondly, I was not born until after the civil rights movement and "The Butler" is not a depiction of my life. Thus, I never said I am DIRECTLY oppressed. You only need to type your ignorance when the computer is in OFF mode. END OF DISCUSSION!!!!
shareFirst of all, you need to get off of the computer. Secondly, I was not born until after the civil rights movement and "The Butler" is not a depiction of my life. Thus, I never said I am DIRECTLY oppressed. You only need to type your ignorance when the computer is in OFF mode. END OF DISCUSSION!!!!
You totally missed the point.
I think the movie' s intention was to tell the story about the development of the treatment of black people in the USA from slave to president and the butler's story was just used as a frame narrative... It was never meant to be about the butler.
I reckon I was also mislead by the title, for I really thought it would be about the butler's life in the White House, his different interactions with the Presidents of the United States, for once that a film can be set entirely in the White House and feature so many Presidents at once, it was kind of a missed opportunity. Naturally, I expected the issues about racism to be tackled but not to occupy the main frame of the narrative. I don't know if it really hurts the film, but in terms of originality, I'm sure most viewers expected something about the butler's life a sort of mix between "Forrest Gump" and "The Remains of the Day" and instead, it's "another-film-about-racism", "The Help", "The Color Purple" or even the film they talked about "In the Heat of the Night" also dealt about racism but they had a specific theme each one of them : women's place in Black community, black nannies, a detective investigation, "The Butler" is definitely a film about racism, plain and simple, it's not a bad film, but it doesn't give you much insights about the butler's life (something on the same vein than "The Remains of the Day" precisely.
EDIT: or maybe, after a second thought, the title was intentionnally made to mislead the viewers, if it implied that the film would mainly deal with racism, the film would have had less viewers. You come to expect a film about a butler, but what you have is no less interesting/impacting, so maybe it was a clever move from the director.
"Darth Vader is scary and I The Godfather"
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I saw this as the story of the Civil Rights Movement in America, as seen through two different but connected lives. The father represented "old school" mentality - people may change but it's going to take a LOOOONG time, meanwhile I'm not gonna be part of it. The son represented "new school" mentality - go out and get what should rightfully be yours, MAKE people change because they never will do so unless you challenge them.
In the end, each gets to a place where they realize that BOTH styles were necessary. MLK tells the son that responsible domestic workers tear down walls by disproving the stereotype that blacks are lazy and ignorant. While JFK tells the father that the freedom riders actually changed his heart by making him realize how bad things have been for black people in this country. Yes, those were overly-dramatic scenes, but they made their points.
Where the movie fails (a little bit) is that it tries to make one family experience all the woes that black people ever experienced in America due to racism. In that respect, it is reminiscent of Forest Gump. But Forest Gump was not supposed to be taken seriously. This movie is. So it bends credulity a little bit to have the son be involved in every major civil rights event. I also found the beginning scene difficult to fathom. It basically looked like slavery was still in place but it was 60+ years after the end of slavery. Yes, I know that white people got away with pretty much anything for a long time. But I just kept saying to myself, "It's 1926, not 1864!"
I think what I noticed the most was how good the father's life was by the 60s. As far as he was concerned, he had already achieved a landslide more than he ever thought he would - his own home, wife didn't have to work, could send his son to college, great job, etc. He couldn't have dreamed of any of that when he was a kid. But there was his son, wanting to "stir up trouble" to make even more radical changes. When it was all said and done, though, he saw phenomenal changes in his lifetime.
That's a big part of the message of this movie. As difficult as it was to watch, 1926 to 2008 was basically one man's lifetime. The progress in society towards racial equality was astounding - it's still not perfect, but it's light years better.
Except the story was about the Butler.
Basically, his oldest son Louis looked down on his father for "being" a servant to the white house, but the irony is the story shows that the presidents change their tunes based on liking Cecil and seeing his go through the pain of not knowing whats going on with his son.
That said, the movie failed because they simplified waaaay too much American history down to Presidents feeling bad for Cecil. It just didnt really work. There were some powerful moments they displayed that they missed opportunities with. (I was waiting for Jackie Kennedy to say something profound covered in blood, but she just walked away.) They didnt show the funeral with her wearing the gown. MLK was really just a cameo appearence. Movie was a missed opportunity. Not the worse thing ever made, just blah.
Then they should have said that in the previews because they touted this film as being the life story of the Butler - which is what I wanted to see. His real story!
shareThe idea was to illustrate the evolution of civil rights in the United States over 80 years. What were you expecting? Gossip? Diana's visiting the White House?
For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco
In fact we got gossip, there are short scenes that can be seen as gossip, the scène in the kitchen with Nixon, the scène in the room With JFK. The movie is too much About racism, there could be Some more balance About his job
shareThis movie has so much potential and all we got was racism.
He had no funny storys about presidents, guests, etc
Even Then there must be Some Nice stories to tell
shareHe's just like Obama in "Dreams of My Father". I had to put that book down: everything was done through the lens of race. Couldn't stand it. And this movie was crap.
shareLefties, especially the black ones, are flat obsessed with race. It's all that matters to them.
shareMaybe you don't want to face the reality of race that's why it comforts you to deny like it's a shield from facing reality. Don't worry you are apart of a racial group that can afford to do that with no consequence.
share