Comments on: An Outsider’s Speculation on the Selma Snubs http://www.badmenagerie.com/an-outsiders-speculation-on-the-selma-snubs/ In Which The Menagerie Misbehaves Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:09:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.2 By: Akaria Gale http://www.badmenagerie.com/an-outsiders-speculation-on-the-selma-snubs/#comment-406 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:09:09 +0000 http://www.badmenagerie.com/?p=5091#comment-406 You make very valid points about both movies. I agree that The Butler is probably the better film because its subject material is less black and white. As a black person, neither of these movies are high on my viewing list. See, Hollywood looooooves to make movies about black people surviving slavery or overcoming poverty and racism. Then they shower awards and nominations galore on them and pat themselves on the back for being soooo progressive and post-racial.

I’m sick of it. I’ll watch a Fast & Furious franchise movie over any of these Oscar bait films any time. Show me a cast with people of color running a heist, saving the world, fighting aliens, etc. Give me Attack the Block rather than The Help.

While I understand that movies like Selma and the like are important, they also reinforce the idea that black people can only star in movies about Issues. Which translates to some idiot wondering why the black guy (who isn’t Denzel) is the star of a movie that’s not about racism.

The Theory of Everything focuses on Stephen Hawkings. What if three years from now there’s a similar bio-pic about Neil de Grasse Tyson that’s just as good? Would it still receive nominations?

]]> By: InMyBook http://www.badmenagerie.com/an-outsiders-speculation-on-the-selma-snubs/#comment-396 Sun, 25 Jan 2015 19:07:11 +0000 http://www.badmenagerie.com/?p=5091#comment-396 Thank you for tackling a very difficult subject. I had not considered that point of view, but it makes a lot of sense to me. I watched 12 Years a Slave and thought it deserved the awards it received. I was disturbed as I always am when considering the horrors of slavery. I cannot bear the reality that people were so abused, and I feel uncomfortable when I invariably question whether I would have taken an active role in fighting the injustice. I fervently hope so! I have not seen The Butler nor Selma yet, but I am motivated to seek these movies out. I will watch them with the viewpoint you brought up in mind. I anticipate it will be painful, since I am “guilty as charged,” being a member of the Baby Boom generation.

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