“Three standing ovations given Push’s test run at Sundance convinced some of the business people that although white audiences might decline to support films that show cerebral blacks, The Great Debaters, in which Denzel Washington plays the great black poet Melvin Tolson, or Spike lee’s Miracle at St. Anna, which shows heroic blacks, they would probably enjoy a film in which blacks were shown as incestors and pedophiles.
White audiences continuing to give the film standing ovations and prizes and critical acclaim indicates that when Lionsgate’s co-presidents for theatrical marketing, Sarah Greenberg and Tim Palen said of Precious, “There is simply a gold mine of opportunity here, “they were on the money. It was Geoffrey Gilmore, director of the Sundance Film Festival, who enhanced the sales potential by providing the marketers led by Ms. Siegel with another selling point. In an interview he said that Push might hit “a cultural chord” because of all of the discussion about race prompted by the election of President Obama.” – Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Reed joined us this afternoon to discuss Precious, The Color Purple and the Eugenicist Politics of Film. Ishmael Reed is an internationally known author, poet and musician whose work can be found at his online magazine Konch. He joined us by phone from his home in Oakland.
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Not being a typical “white audience” member, I would not be the slightest bit interested in films showing African Americans as pedophiles or any other degrading stereotype. Enough of all that. “Cerebral blacks” are more likely to bring new ideas and ways forward to the table, so that is where my interest lies. I heard Cynthia McKinney speak at a SF rally a few years ago and delighted as she listed country after country–the hits just kept on coming–where the US retains military bases to this day. So I voted for her, because I learned something based on her cerebral attention to detail, rather than Obama, who doesn’t appear to be leading anyone anywhere. As a teen, the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott radicalized and inspired me toward solidarity and intellectual curiosity about what is truly effective. Gratefully, that remains with me. I have just opened a book on my shelf titled, “Black Writing from Chicago: In the World, Not of It?” The sub-title is thought provoking, like most all of the writing. Nothing is boring. I read voraciously to experience what is real. Not for stereotypes, but for courage; not for facile answers but for questions, like ‘In the world, not of it?’ Same with films. There’s a short flck now circulating on the internet about Dock Ellis, a black baseball player, who pitched a no-hitter while on LSD. His self-analysis is fascinating. pebbles trippet