Favorite Movie About Race Relations in the US?

mykevermin

mykevermin

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I'm putting together a syllabus for a course on Race and Society. Because everybody likes movies, and they (to my chagrin) tend to spurn conversation better than texts, I'd like to include a few (1-2) during the course. Any suggestions you have are appreciated, and all will be taken seriously (or so I hope).

For instance, I've heard many good things about "Crash," and I own it, thanks to Columbia House, but not watched it yet. Aside from that, I'm all ears (eyes, really).
 
[quote name='sblymnlcrymnl']American History X is excellent, and just about the only thing that comes to mind.



EDIT: The Believer wasn't bad either. If that counts.[/QUOTE]

American History X was an amazing comment on race relations. Much better than Crash.
 
I'll go with the flow and say American History X and Crash... and also, I just finished taking a philosophy course that included a segment on racism in America, and we watched the films 'Do the Right Thing' by Spike Lee, and 'A Day Without A Mexican' by Sergio Arau. Both sound as though they'd work in your case, although the former more than the latter. In any case, that's two more movies you might look into.
 
[quote name='seanr1221']The original planet of the apes.[/QUOTE]

Wait a minute...Statue of Liberty...

...

That was OUR PLANET!
 
Babel, perhaps? I haven't seen it yet, but it looked like it might be along those lines from the previews.

But other than that, and the ones previously mentioned, off the top of my head...

Mississippi Masala
Amistad
Haven
O
 
Do the Right Thing, without a doubt. Crash works as a quick and dirty bullet point if you need to say "hay guyse racism sux" but Do the Right Thing has a whole lot more to offer you in terms of depth.

This isn't anything you need immediately, right? I can probably come up with a few more in a day or so, if you'd like.
 
[quote name='modium']Do the Right Thing, without a doubt. Crash works as a quick and dirty bullet point if you need to say "hay guyse racism sux" but Do the Right Thing has a whole lot more to offer you in terms of depth.

This isn't anything you need immediately, right? I can probably come up with a few more in a day or so, if you'd like.[/quote]

Do the Right Thing was the first movie that came to my mind as well. Actually, most of Spike Lee's oeuvre comes to mind other than his recent mainstream commercial work (hey, everyone needs to make a buck).

Since myke specified racism/race relations in the US its gonna take a bit of thinking as nothing else is really coming to mind as quick. I'm getting plenty of movies dealing with racism outside of the US though like Ghandi, etc. :lol:
 
Here's another, To Kill A Mockingbird.

The Color Purple
Monster's Ball

Green Dragon (if memory serves me right about the asians in the internment camps).
 
[quote name='2Fast']Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
[/QUOTE] Ah! Completely forgot about that one. Caught it on AMC a few months ago. You really can't go wrong with Sidney Poitier. Of course it's a bit dated, now.
 
I don't think Monster's ball will be allowed.

Whatever you do, don't tell the students ahead of time, or you will have 1/3 of the class present AT BEST (Though I'm sure you know it.)

Race relations? What about Training Day? I think that relates.
 
My obvious choice is Do the Right Thing, too, but there's a special place in my heart for Jungle Fever, which takes it to a very intimate level.

"I'm a c-c-c-c-crackhead...I like to get high!"
 
Wow. Tons of great suggestions. Thanks everyone!

I suppose I'll have to go and rewatch AHX. I didn't care for it when I saw it the first time (though Fairuza Balk all dressed up as a byrd was rather nice), as I thought it was a completely inaccurate portrayal of skinheads as well as race relations. It wasn't John Singleton bad ("Higher Learning" is one of the most overcooked dramas I've ever watched in my life), but damn close.

So many good suggestions - makes me want to show clips of them. Birth of a Nation was jokingly suggested, but I think a historical perspective over race in film would be great - I could show the scene of the all-black congress in "Birth," something from "Guess Who's Coming," and continue through the 70's (as bawdy as Mel Brooks' stuff is, he really is using guys in roles that they otherwise wouldn't have been in).

Spike Lee is very good, and I forgot about Bamboozled, which was a phenomenal movie at the time, and now, as a frame through which we can view the Chappelle Show, probably a good selection also.

There's a book on race in film out there called "Screen Saviors," which has some good suggestions, but focuses on the "white savior" character in film, without whom some nonwhite civilization would crumble (Tom Cruise in Last Samurai comes to mind, and what's her name in "Dangerous Minds," as the numerous films of this sort that take place in Africa and the Middle East). It wasn't a very good book, and belabored an obvious point; nevertheless, it was a good resource for choosing movies. Shouldn't have permanently lent out my copy of it.

Thanks again; if anyone has any subtle suggestions (modern movies with poor casting for Asians, confusing Chinese with Japanese with Korean, whites playing as Latinos/Latinas, etc), those are even more fun to use.

As for "defining race," I consider it to be a purely social construction, and one that changes historically, as groups come into social prominence and require a more nuanced view (the variation with which we discuss Muslims and Middle Easterners), and as groups become assimilated into others (why whites no longer express disdain for Irish/Poles/Hungarians/etc to the degree that existed at the beginning of the 20th century).

And since someone mentioned "Black Like Me," I'm wondering if something as absurdly shocking as "Soul Man" would work, because it's both somewhat modern and blatantly racist?
 
[quote name='Tromack']Do the right thing
American History X
The fox and the hound[/quote]

Ahhh I saw the title of the thread and instantaly thought of The Fox and the Hound, but you beat me to it. So I will see your, The Fox in the Hound and raise you one Milo and Otis.:bouncy:
 
Any class discussing race relations and film HAS to show Birth of a Nation. I teach Modern US History at the college level and I used to show films outside of class. Birth of a Nation is one of them. I teach in Mississippi and the majority, well maybe not but close, of students are African-American. They came up to me later and said they were glad they watched it.

I also highly recommend To Kill a Mockingbird. Not only is it a great flick, but it goes deep into depression era race relations. It also has a lot to say about gender in the period. It's Gregory Peck, so you can't go wrong.

The original King Kong can work too, but there's also a lot to be said about it being an allegory for the old world meets new world paradigm.

If I can think of anymore I'll come back. But for the love of God, do not show Crash. The movie is over the top and not that good. If you want your kids to think, then this is not the movie. If you want your kids to be told how to think, then this is the movie. Sort of the same way with American History X, but I think that is a way better film than Crash.
 
Talladega Nights.

I really had no idea of the suffering these people go through, and I was moved by the plight of one particular frenchman who managed to overcome prejudice and race his way to glory. A very moving, insightful, and edumacational documentary film on race.
 
What age group are we talking? Because American History X is fabulous, but if it's a younger crowd, it's a MUCH more intense movie than Crash. An older flick like Boyz in the Hood can also speak to the fact that not much has changed in terms of urban areas. You could do some nice comparison/contrast stuff with it. Ghosts of Mississippi too.

I've done some assignments where I take the harder movie, more complex, show it in class, talk about it, write smaller assignment on it. Then I have THEM rent a movie off of a list, and they have to do essentially what we'd done as a group.

It's a chick flick, so I love it, but Joy Luck Club has some parts where one gal's future in-laws think she's Vietnamese--in the 70s--and don't like her because of it. Another gal brings home a white guy who goes against every cultural more in the Asian familial hierarchy. That movie is very easy to show small vignettes of.
 
american history x ,

do the right thing,

school daze( deals with the rift between diff class and kinds of black people ),

Rosewood ( this one is the true account of a wealthy black town destroyed by a lie told by a white woman hundreds of blacks were killed because of it and the town was destroyed)

Remember the Titans,

Imitation of Life( both version though the B/W version had a better story but the color version had a sadder death scene)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner ( kind of an annoying film since if the main character hadnt been a successful black man he wouldnt have been as easily accepted)

In the Heat of the Night ( the movie and the tv show)

Someone above mentioned Bamboozled which is an awesome film and in light of some of dave chappelles humor rings true.

And as Far as Black Like Me goes the movie sucks the book is where its at. Ive read that book a number of times and it never gets old.

another great race book is Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry


There was this tv show too with 2 girls who grew up during racist times it had that chick from ghost busters in it ........ it was called Any Day Now.
 
American History X is what came to my mind as well. Although I can see what munch is saying on it.

Alien Nation is actually a pretty interesting suggestion. Might be good for an unexpected one to throw in. Although if you are only going to throw in 1-2, maybe not.
 
[quote name='doho7744']What about Alien Nation? It introduces a new minority into the us and has James Caan.[/QUOTE]

I was going to suggest this, but you should to with the miniseries movie premier episode. More race relations, less blowing stuff up.
 
[quote name='2Fast']Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
[/quote]

Agreed. That is what I was going to say also.

[quote name='javeryh']I can't believe no one has mentioned Trading Places yet. It's a classic.[/quote]

That's a great film, but I think it is about class more than race.
 
For mixing up asians in movies, go with Memoirs of a Geisha. They have Chinese actors playing Japanese people.

Gangs of New York can show a small view of first or second gen Americans treating the immagrants like shit when their parents or grandparents were in the same position. They were used for the war, for votes, for sweat labor.
 
Guess Who.

Probably the most racist movie I've ever seen.

Plot Outline: A sarcastic father (Mac) has plenty to say about his daughter wanting to marry a white boy (Kutcher).
Click to expand...

You have to see it to believe it.
 
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