Lee Daniels produces a film titled “The Butler” that focuses on an African American man that served some of the presidential families in the 20th century. The movie starts with one of the racially oppressed eras in the 20th century where President Eisenhower was the president. Given that African Americans have been forced into slavery in America and later racially segregated from the community because of their phenotype, the movie shares a limelight of the civil rights revolution in America and the Black Power Movement (Kilgore 17).
It is crucial to note that the civil rights movement mark as a liberating time for the African Americans. Given that the African Americans had been oppressed for more than a decade and that were dehumanized in that they did not enjoy constitutional rights as the white Americans, the 1950s and 60s became an era for African Americans to demand their rights and freedom (Haygood 87). However, the butler in the white house known as Cecil Gaines is depicted as a butler who wants a good fortune by serving the presidents at the white house. Ironically, his son Louis is shown as one of the Civil Rights activists who take part in defying laws embedded by the white Americans.
The movie indicates that the Black Panthers were one of the radical African American movements because they fought back unlike the peaceful movements (Anderson 32). Historically, most activists believe in the idea of peaceful demonstration where when one hits the right cheek, turn to offer the left cheek. This was not the case with the black panthers. Black panthers defied all the laws and created a bold statement through their attire and afros. They had had enough of the oppressive laws. Thus, this film shows some of the revolutionary times during the civil rights (Chen 10).
The film also shows the freedom rides and lunch sit-ins in Mississippi as a way of fighting for equality among people despite race or gender. The civil rights movement is an important facet to the greater community because African Americans managed to fight for equality and the right to vote (Burr 13). This contributed greatly to not only the African American race but also to women who were marginally segregated from the greater society. The movie illustrates how volunteers from Northern Part of America took freedom rides to Mississippi to participate in sit-in as part of peaceful demonstration to pursue social justice.
The Butler shows explicitly some of the racial violence that African Americans had to go through while fighting for equal rights and freedom (Owens 13). The freedom summer in the 1960s depicts African Americans stand up against the cruelty of people in the South who could not stand the thought of a person of dark phenotype should be treated as an equal. The stereotypical America, especially in the South led to racial violence in the 1960s.
This movie, The Butler, illustrate some of the African American civil rights history that fought for social justice for all (Strong 127). The racial cruelty in America that racially oppressed a given set of people because of their phenotype shows the level of inequality among Americans. Also, the movie shows that freedom rides were also taken by white people who believed in social justice for all. Thus, the civil rights era marked a revolution in America. Democracy for all was advocated by the civil rights movement.
Works Cited
"US History Serves Up Oscar Bait Lee Daniels' THE BUTLER." Daily News 8 Nov. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-348493217.html?>.
Anderson, John. "'Lee Daniels' the Butler' Movie Review." The Washington Post 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-35020669.html?>.
Burr, Ty. "WHAT THE BUTLER SAW ; Lee Daniels's Star-Studded Film Examines Civil Rights History from a New Perspective." The Boston Globe 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-35017763.html?>.
Chen, Ju. "Lee Daniels to Garner Recognition at the 17th Annual Hollywood Film Awards." Entertainment Close-up 9 Oct. 2013. Print.
Haygood, Wil. “The Butler”Wiley Publishers. New York, 2013.Print
Izzo, David. The Era of Post-Racial and Neo-Racist Cinema. New York: Rowman & Littlefied, 2014. Print.
Kilgore, Camille. "'Lee Daniels' the Butler': More on the Man Who Inspired the Movie." The Washington Post 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-35023219.html?>.
Owens, Patrick. "Filmmaker Lee Daniels Revisits Us Civil Rights History." States News Service 14 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-339665600.html?>.
Strong, Danny, and Lee Daniels. Lee Daniels' the Butler: Screenplay. Print.
Strong, Danny, and Lee Daniels. The Butler. Print.
