Film Analysis: The Butler

John F. Kennedy had a major influence on civil rights and over 70 percent of African-Americans voted for him (“Civil Rights Movement”). Many people had high hopes for his presidency as he furthered progress on civil rights (“Civil Rights Movement”). John and Robert Kennedy led a personal intervention to secure Martin Luther King Jr.’s release after he was arrested protesting in Georgia. In response to the demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, John F. Kennedy sent thousands of troops and sped up the progression of the civil rights bill (“Civil Rights Movement”). He “led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement” (“John F. Kennedy”). Kennedy had more African Americans in federal government positions than any other president before him. He had 40 senior federal positions, among these were five federal judges (“John Kennedy and Civil Rights”). The civil rights crisis was, as Kennedy stated, “a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for, and in meeting it, I ask the support of all our citizens… this nation for all its hopes and all its boasts will not be fully free until all its citizens are free,” being denied entrance into public spaces was “an arbitrary indignity that no American in 1963 should have to endure, but many do”

In his teens, he leaves the plantation and his mother, who has been mute since the incident. One night, Cecil breaks into a hotel pastry shop and is, unexpectedly, hired. He learns advanced skills from the master servant, Maynard, who, after several years, recommends Cecil

After reading The Maltese Falcon, By Dashiell Hammett and watching the film, By John Huston, there are many differences that are in reference to Sam Spade’s dialogue between the two genre’s. One specific scene that had caught my attention was within the exchange of money for the black falcon.

During the 1960’s , americans underwent an era of critical issues in the United States. Throughout this time, the United States was in a stage of racial issues where racism was still openly accepted of society. The struggle by African-Americans to achieve rights equal to those that white people received was also known as the Civil Rights Movement. That included having an opportunity in employment, voting rights, having access to public facilities, education and housing and the right to be free from racial discrimination. In the film “The Help”, it gives us a better view of race, class, and gender inequality in the South where these issues were extensive and deep seated.

The movie The Butler takes place in the 1900’s during times of segregation. In the beginning of the movie, main character Cecil Gaines leaves the cotton plantation to be a houseman. During this time, it was extremely difficult for people of color to get jobs like these. Cecil ends up taking a butler job at The White House where he faces many hardships. His son, Lewis, had just left for college where he would become an extreme activist for the Civil Rights Movement. There are major disagreements between Cecil and his son as he participates in these movements because of how dangerous they are. Cecil cuts off all ties when his son becomes a member of the Black Panthers. As time passes by, there are more laws passed in order to make blacks and whites equal. In the end of the movie, Cecil get to meet President Barack Obama. This serves as a major symbol of change. This movie does a spectacular job visualizing the Civil Rights Movement and just how bad segregation was. Four sociological terms we have discussed in class that are seen in the movie are Biological Racism, De Jure Segregation, De Facto Segregation, and White Privilege.

Bong Joon-ho once said “I regard remaking a film as creating something again”. In cinema the production of a “remake” retells a previously successful story. This concept of altering or rather “remaking”is used in reference when a new cinematic motion picture is based on an earlier version and is then used as the source of inspiration. Often times a remake will posses a different title, contain an altered narrative structure, and may even be remade in a different language. One well-known motion picture, The Departed, is an example of this concept of a cinematic remake. The Departed (2006), by director Martin Scorsese, is a very literal adaptation and remake of the Hong Kong crime thriller, Infernal Affairs (2002), by director Andrew Lau. Scorsese's

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film by Orson Welles, who was its producer, co-author, director and star. The film is about news reporters following the death of a publishing tycoon, they scramble to discover the meaning of his final word that he spoke: “Rosebud”. Citizen Kane won the title as the greatest film ever made when it topped the 1962 Sight and Sound poll. It held the top spot for 50 years until it fell to second behind Vertigo (1958). The film is commonly praised for its intricate plot, filled with flashbacks that shuffle the chronology of Kane's life, its extraordinary performances, its marvelous technical stunts, and its deep-focus photography. The story telling technique is one of the techniques that made this movie different

The camera descends from a picture-perfect blue sky to a bed of red roses before a white picket fence, opening with the lush colors of America. A fire engine rolls down an idyllic suburban street as the firemen wave in slow-motion, a crossing guard directs schoolchildren, and a man waters his front lawn, all to the tune of chirping birds and Bobby Vinton’s romantic “Blue Velvet” song. This could be the opening sequence to a convincing infomercial inviting American families to suburbia, until something bizarre occurs. We close in on the man’s hose mysteriously gargling and tangling, and we witness him collapse from a brutal stroke. The camera then penetrates the slick grass and reveals the teeming and voracious insects chewing away at a saturated version of small-town America.

A Beautiful Mind (Grazer, Howard, & Howard, 2001) is a film about the life of John Nash Jr. John Nash was a mathematician studying at Princeton University on a Carnegie Scholarship in 1947. The film portrays Nash’s academic journey, career, and personal life. As an adult, John Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is classified as an emotional or behavioral low-incidence disorder disorder (Smith & Tyler, 2010, p. 234). According to Smith and Tyler, about 1% of the general population is diagnosed with schizophrenia by 18 years old (2010). According to Mental Health America, “someone with schizophrenia may have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is imaginary; may be unresponsive or withdrawn; and may have

Romero (the movie) is a biopic movie released in 1989 American biopic which depicts the life and death of the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who led peaceful protests against a violent military regime and made sure the people knew the truth, even though this ended up costing him his life. He is portrayed in the movie by Raul Julia.

The film that is being critiqued is The Help. The Help was released in the theaters in 2011 and is based off the book written by Kathryn Stocketts. This film is set in Jackson, Mississippi, a segregated society, in the 1960s. The main character is a 22 year old Southern society girl, named Skeeter, who is determined to become a writer, coming back from college. Upon her arrival, she notices that her family maid is gone. After a multitude of events take place, she decides to write a book about the relationship between black maids and society. The movie shows how the town reacts to the release of the book and the lives of many of the black maids and the families they served. Throughout this movie, there are many stereotypes, images, and representations of gender, class, and race and demonstrate intersectionality. This paper, will outline these categories are portrayed throughout the film.

The Scarlett Letter, is about a young mistress named Hester Prynne. In 1666, after moving to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England to await her husbands arrival, Hester beings to fall in love with the town’s pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale. Roger Prynne, Hester’s husband, and all other passengers of an English ship are presumed dead in the aftermath of an attack. After she and Arthur consummate their love, Hester finds herself pregnant. Hester soon becomes the subject of idle gossip among the colonists after she shares her radical thoughts and views on the Bible and the Puritan way of life. Two of the other mistresses in the colony also witnessed Hester become ill on two separate occasions during the morning hours, so she is called to appear before the Elders of the colony to be accused of Heresy, Fornication, and Adultery. Hester is then arrested and imprisoned for her indiscretion. On the day of giving birth to her bastard child, Pearl, Hester is humiliated in front of the entire town and made to wear a red “A” for adulterer on her chest and to also followed around by a drummer boy that bangs his drum wherever she goes in public. Roger Prynne resurfaces and was never actually killed by the Indians, but was captured and held prisoner. After learning about the scandal of his wife, Roger joins the colony under an alias, “Dr. Roger Chillingworth”. Roger eventually scalps and kills a male colonist that he thought was Arthur, and blames the murder on the Algonquian Indians, which prompts the declaration of war on the Indians by the colonists. Roger commits suicide for his wrong doings, Hester and Arthur abandon the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the scarlet letter to set out for Carolina to start a new life.

The 2013 film The Butler, directed by Lee Daniels and starring Forest Whitaker, draws upon significant generational differences among Black Americans throughout the most violent and tumultuous times in American history. The idea of generational differences is explored through the eyes of both a father, and a son, and their reactions to racism sheds a light on how and why the change was acted upon by each generation. The film was lauded by critics for its ability to weave social justice into the storyline of family and support, and won 18 awards and was nominated for 52 awards the year it came out. The plot of the film spans from the 1920s until President Barack Obama’s historic election in 2008, the whole time following the life of the

Wes Anderson is one of the greatest illusion-makers of all time. He doesn’t create movies but entire worlds with his distinct sensibility and dazzling visual style. The 48 year old Texan is one of the few filmmakers in modern cinema with the ability to articulate such idiosyncratic visions. Every frame of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is so Anderson one can spend hours dissecting each and every shot. The film is a colorful and delicious confection to watch that at times you may have the urge to lick the screen. The film opens to a young lady visiting a courtyard, gazing up at a statue of “The Author” whilst holding his memoir entitled, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” We start out in 1985 in a grey sky post-Communist town. “The Author” is shooing away is grandson and recalls the time in the late 60’s when his younger self (Jude Law) stayed at the title hotel. At the time of his stay, the legendary hotel was falling into obsolescence. As time goes on he becomes acquainted with its elegant and mysterious owner, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham). Law is curious as to why the immensely rich Moustafa chooses to accompany alone on his visits and insists on sleeping in a room no bigger than a closet. Moustafa, acknowledging “The Authors” own work with great respect decides to invite him to dinner to satisfy his curiosity. Over the course of the meal, Moustafa reminisces about his first days at the hotel where he worked as a lobby boy under the direction of Monsieur Gustave H (the impeccable

All throughout the history of the United States, a major problem that had plagued Americans, most specifically African-Americans, was racism. As a result of the oppression due to racism, the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1900s helped to fight for equality and integration among all states for blacks. After the American Civil War, which was fought between 1861 to 1865, all the slaves were freed and became citizens if they were born in the United States. Even after naturally born blacks became citizens, and were given all the rights that the title has in 1865, they were still being treated unfairly and like unequal to whites for the next hundred years. In an attempt to mandate equality, both white and black political leaders took a stand against inequality with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and U.S President John F. Kennedy at the helm. Dr. King believed in nonviolent protests that would allow gradual integration, while Malcolm X had a radical, militaristic view of civil rights and did not want blacks and whites to integrate. President Kennedy wanted to put legislation in place to end public and educational segregation and increase federal protection of voting rights. These three men were assassinated in cold blood for their beliefs in an attempt to weaken the civil rights movement, however, their deaths only helped to strengthen the cause and create a sense of unity in the United States rather than disorder. Between 1960 and 1970, the assassinations of John F.