Frank and I went to see The Butler a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed the movie. It made me cry. The last movie where I cried so much was Gone With the Wind. This is ironic since The Butler chronicles the African-American quest for equality in the 1960’s through the life of the White House butler, Cecil Gaines (loosely based on the life of butler, Eugene Allen.)
Gone With the Wind relates the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War, and the decline of plantation life and its slave-driven economy. Funny how I can sympathize with Scarlet O’Hara losing her mansion and African-Americans gaining the right to sit next to white folks at the lunch counter, all at the same time. But when people’s lives are at stake, we care about them, especially if we know them.
As a fiction writer, I’ve learned to develop characters that my audience can connect with emotionally. Both of these movies portray characters to whom we can relate. A movie has succeeded when it makes me feel what the characters feel.
Ronald Reagan’s son, Michael, didn’t like the movie and wrote a blog about that. He was offended by how his father was portrayed. Ronald Reagan was shown as less than enthusiastic about the Civil Rights Movement. Granted, the movie may not have accurately portrayed Eugene Allen or Ronald Reagan. But I like to look at the positives. The movie helped me feel what African-Americans have experienced.
When I first started to do research for my book about a boy who runs away on the Underground Railroad, I read several biographies written by former slaves. Not only did I learn about Frederick Douglass’s harrowing escape to freedom, but I also got inside his head as he shared his pain and his dreams. Learning the mental and physical devastation that slavery had upon a people has helped me understand a little about how African-Americans feel. I appreciate any book or movie that helps me understand another culture, nation, or people. When history connects us with our past, it can help us determine our future. We can have a better perspective of our world and each other.