From the start I face palmed my entire time seeing the trailer for once again while White audiences are given Superman and Thor, Black audiences are graced with yet another Black maid/servant movie. Now don't get me wrong the movie seems to have a solid cast and I would give anything to bet one of the Black cast members will be rewarded with an Oscar for being a maid or butler. While watching the movies trailer on YouTube I couldn't help but to look at the comments to see what others were saying about the film and one comment posted was that stories like these need to be told. While I agree to a certain extent I still beg the question how long will this story be told? Is this the only story Black Americans have to tell? Are moving stories from the Black mind only about being some "dignified" Black servant for White America?
The character of the Black servant be it historical or fictional has been a character that Hollywood has had no problem marketing. From Gone with the Wind in 1939 to The Help in 2011 to The Butler in 2013 the character of the black servant is slowly being reintroduced in modern society. All these films seem to tell the movie going audiences that no matter how bad Black servants where treated during these time periods Black maids and butlers didn't care and saw some type of dignity in what they are doing. On top of that you throw in a few "Good" White people to let both white and black audiences know that not all Whites were bad doing this time. To many times we get into the habit of believing these stories are true simply because there was a time when these things did happen and that somehow these films are good to the black mind to see what we know to be untrue to suddenly become true because "good" white people are behind it.
When it comes to historical movies about African-Americans the only movies that are successful are Black servants films but movies depicting African-Americans as heroes like in Red Tails or a messiah type character like in Malcolm X seem doomed to fail. Why? Because it is my opinion that Black people have been conditioned only to see themselves in a certain way. White audiences are given the images of themselves as Superman, Iron man, and Thor but Black audiences are given Precious and The Help and I believe that there is a reason for this. How many movies have been made on Abraham Lincoln? How many World War 2 films have been made? How many American western films are made? My point in saying this is these films are Historical films yet they all showing different sides of White American history. When it comes to Black American history or The World history of Black people we are only given one side of the story as if our history begins and ends in a state of servitude. Where are the epic films on the Nubian Pharaohs of Africa? We seem to have hundreds on the "great" accomplishments of the Greeks and Romans!
Films like The Butler may be true stories and may move hearts, but I believe those are stories that white audiences are comfortable seeing and Black audiences are conditioned to accept. Anything beyond that territory will ultimately begin to wake up the hearts and minds of black people.
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