Oprah – Bitch Flicks

Oprah Winfrey Succeeds in a Tough Role in ‘The Butler’

Like the film, Oprah’s acting sometimes pushes the edge of melodrama, but also like the film, there’s great emotional payoff. In a film rife with occasionally distracting (although sometimes delightful) stunt casting, it’s a pleasant surprise that one of the most famous media personalities in the world is able to fade (although not quite disappear) into her character. To see the queen of elongated shouted introductions and epic inspirational content play a cynical, alcoholic who cheats on her husband and slaps her kid might smack of awards-baiting, but Oprah’s acting is actually up to snuff.

Only a few days after seeing it, I’m venturing to say that Lee Daniels’ The Butler* ranks among my favorite films of 2013. It’s about as subtle as Miley Cyrus, but personally, I don’t particularly mind that in a movie so engrossing and emotionally affecting (to wit: Black Swan is one of my favorite films of the past ten years). Condensing almost a century of history of the Civil Rights movement into slightly more than two hours is an impressive feat, one that may not have been possible with a lighter touch on the themes and message.

Oprah Winfrey as Gloria Gaines and Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines in Lee Daniel's The Butler — Oprah Winfrey as Gloria Gaines and Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines in *Lee Daniels’ The Butler*

The ambitious scope of The Butler is counterbalanced by its focus on one family, eponymous White House butler Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey), and their children, particularly committed Civil Rights activist Louis (a standout David Oyelowo). My Bitch Flicks colleague Erin Tatum’s piece on The Butler excellently explores how the Gaines family dynamic “chronicles the cross-generational struggle to define black identity and masculinity in a racist American society.” While the central father-son relationship between Cecil and Louis is fascinating, it unfortunately leaves Oprah Winfrey’s Gloria in a more typical beleaguered wife role.

Oprah’s performance, however, elevates Gloria. Like the film, Oprah’s acting sometimes pushes the edge of melodrama, but also like the film, there’s great emotional payoff. In a film rife with occasionally distracting (although sometimes delightful) stunt casting, it’s a pleasant surprise that one of the most famous media personalities in the world is able to fade (although not quite disappear) into her character.

Oprah Winfrey as Gloria and Terrence Howard as an extramarital paramour.

To see the queen of elongated shouted introductions and epic inspirational content play a cynical, alcoholic who cheats on her husband and slaps her kid might smack of awards-baiting, but Oprah’s acting is actually up to snuff. She plays the character convincingly while making her more compelling by leaning on her own abundant charisma. It’s always clear why Cecil loves Gloria despite the regular strain in their marriage, and that she is a good mother despite her personal weaknesses.

gloriawhitehouse — Gloria finally visits the White House when she and Cecil are invited by the Reagans as guests to a state dinner.

Oprah’s success in the role is even more important because Gloria is the only fully-realized female character in The Butler. A lot of the female characters don’t even speak, despite their significance to the plot and relatively high-profile casting. Mariah Carey plays Cecil’s mother and is raped for plot reasons but not given any dialogue. The blood on the stockings of Minka Kelly’s Jackie Kennedy get more screen time than her face. Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan is only present long enough for us to all have a good chuckle at that cheeky casting. (Yaya Alafia has a strong single scene as Louis”s cold-as-ice Black Panther girlfriend Carol, but it’s actually Oprah’s Oscar-clip moment.)

Oprah won an honorary Oscar for her humanitarian work in 2011. Hopefully she'll win another for acting one day. — Oprah won an honorary Oscar for her humanitarian work in 2011. Hopefully she’ll win another for acting one day.

I’ve mentioned several weaknesses in this review, but again, I very much enjoyed and admire Lee Daniels’ The Butler. And despite loving it all-around, my strongest feeling leaving the film was my wish that Oprah Winfrey would act more. I admire her choosiness about her roles (and her promotion of black cinema and artists), but I wish she was just slightly less choosy so we could see more of her on screen. For a woman so successful in other fields, it seems almost unfair that Oprah is such a gifted actress, but it’s even more unfair that we only get to see her in a major film role once every fifteen years or so.

*Lest you think the director of Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire just has a thing for unnecessarily long titles, note that Daniels’s name had to be appended to the film’s title after a bizarre challenge from Warner Bros. to protect 1917 comedy short by the same name. I’m also somewhat perplexed by the decision to forgo the additional s after the possessive apostrophe because Lee Daniels is a singular proper noun that isn’t Moses or Jesus, but the Chicago Manual of Style condones this punctuation for names ending in a z sound, so I’ll let it go. /perscriptivism

Black Masculinity in ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’

Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Written by Erin Tatum.

My experience going to see Lee Daniels’ The Butler made an impression on me even before the film started playing. I don’t think I have ever been to a movie where every single preview featured a protagonist of color. It reminded me just how whitewashed Hollywood is. Why are films about people of color only marketed through the platform of other films whose primary audience is anticipated to be people of color? Maybe I’m naive – I had forgotten how big of a factor racial demographics are for advertising. All of the previews were spectacular and left me wanting to see more. It’s a shame that these gems don’t get more publicity.

Lee Daniels’ The Butler is a tall order to say the least: it runs a staggering 132 minutes and spans eight presidential administrations with an all-star cast including Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey (blink and you’ll miss her), David Oyelowo, Terrence Howard, and Cuba Gooding Jr., just to name a few. It’s to the point where one article calls the film a “cameo roulette.” The amount of history covered is absolutely breathtaking in scope. The script can feel uneven at times because of this, especially in the beginning. You might spend 20 minutes in one year and then cover the next five years in 10 minutes. I applaud the tenacity of the casting director, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many cast changes to reflect characters aging. Of course it is a little ridiculous that 52-year-old Forest Whitaker plays Cecil from approximately age 25 into his 90s, but the magic of makeup does wonders. The attention to detail in this film is meticulous, from the clothing to the decor to the hairstyles. The differences and subtleties of each presidential personality are also captured thoroughly even if briefly. There is even a particularly funny scene where Dwight Eisenhower gruffly asks Cecil for… toilet paper assistance… as his beagles sit loyally by the toilet.

Cecil and Gloria.

At its core, the film chronicles the cross-generational struggle to define black identity and masculinity in a racist American society. Little Cecil learns that subservience is the best policy after his father is shot dead for uttering a simple monotone “hey” at the ruthless cotton farm owner, Thomas (Alex Pettyfer), who had likely just raped his mother. Thomas’ elderly mother (Vanessa Redgrave) takes pity on Cecil and allows him to become a domestic servant, where he quickly adapts to being neither seen nor heard. These skills come in handy when he leaves the South and begins serving wealthy white clientele at various DC hotels, leading to his recruitment as a White House butler. Before starting the job, he is reminded that “there are no politics in the White House.” He thus resolves to continue to be painstakingly neutral on any potential political conflict, even if he is explicitly asked for his opinion. His commitment to his career soon borders on obsessive as he works long days and nights, leaving his marriage to wife Gloria (Winfrey) in a perpetual state of decay. Although he watches her battle alcoholism and strongly suspects her affair with the neighbor, Cecil’s commitment to family values and tradition never wavers.

Gloria is unhappy and has an affair.

Cecil’s attitude of racial uplift through hard work starkly contrasts to the restlessness of his older son Lewis (Oyelowo). He is shown to be scornful of and perhaps embarrassed by his father’s position from the time he is a teenager, a disconnect that is all the more exacerbated when he begins to participate in nonviolent civil rights protests while in college. The scenes of the diner sit-in and the Freedom Rides are some of the most emotionally resonant of the film. You can actually feel the burning hatred of their attackers and a few well-timed close-ups ensure that you’re up close and personal to some of their most inhumane and humiliating tactics. One girl has ketchup smeared on her face. Lewis has hot coffee thrown in his eyes. On that note, I’ve never been more disgusted by saliva. You watch one of the attackers lean in and spit a loogie on the cheek of one of the girls protesting and it is vile. Lewis continues to participate in the civil rights efforts despite multiple arrests, much to his parents’ chagrin. Cecil remarks that he “doesn’t understand how Lewis can’t see that the president is going to make things better for us,” particularly after witnessing slow but steady changes in racial policy.

Cecil and Gloria with Lewis (right) and Charlie (left)

What we are witnessing here is friction in the generation gap over ideas about the best means to achieve racial uplift. Cecil espouses the belief in assimilation through passivity and diligence. He grew up in an era where discrimination was benign and silence was survival. In contrast, Lewis believes that discrimination means disrespect and silence equates to, dare I say, emasculation. When Lewis’ generation came of age in the 60s, what was really at stake was the question of the reputation and respectability of black masculinity. Cecil views his way of life as making the best of the limited parameters available for the fulfillment of black manhood, whereas Lewis perceives such servitude as a shameful complacency with histories of racial power dynamics and as an insult to black integrity. In what is arguably one of the most dramatic moments of the film, Cecil snaps on Lewis and his hippie girlfriend Carol (Yaya Alafia) essentially for being apathetic flower children with no respect for the sacrifices of their parents, prompting Lewis to call him an Uncle Tom. This insult provokes an epic slap from Gloria and I must say Oprah has one hell of a backhand. The freeze between father and son becomes permanent and only deepens after Lewis fails to attend his younger brother Charlie’s funeral following his death in the Vietnam War.

Cecil confronts Lewis after he is first sentenced to jail.

Inevitably, the ideological rifts between them soften over the decades. Cecil finally gets the recognition he deserves when he successfully advocates for equal compensation and promotion opportunities for black White House employees during the Reagan Administration (it’s appalling that it took that long). The Reagans invite him and Gloria to the state dinner as guests, but something isn’t sitting right with Cecil and he finds himself increasingly dissatisfied with his job. He decides to patch things up with Lewis and joins him in protesting the imprisonment of Mandela, even getting a taste of Lewis’ life by being arrested and briefly incarcerated. As an old man, Cecil retrospectively feels a great sense of pride for Lewis’ contributions to the civil rights and black power movement. Masculinity is therefore reaffirmed as having the persistence to make your mark on society in the face of great adversity.

Things come full circle as Cecil and Gloria eagerly campaign for the election of Obama in 2008. Gloria passes away, leaving Lewis as Cecil’s last surviving family. Father and son watch the election results with tears in their eyes. Cecil is invited to meet the new president and is warmly greeted by the butler, who is also an African-American man. As Cecil walks stiffly but proudly to meet Obama, there is a definitive sense of collective triumph. Eight decades later, black masculinity is allegedly getting the respect it deserves. Although masculine privilege remains unquestioned and racial dynamics will always be a work in progress, the poignancy of the ending does bring a smile to your face.

Women of Color in Film and TV: Quotes of the Day: Essence’s Black Women in Hollywood Awards

Last Thursday, Feb. 21, Essence magazine held its sixth annual Black Women in Hollywood awards luncheon.

The honorees were:

Breakthrough Performance – Quvenzhané Wallis

Lincoln Shining Star Award – Naomie Harris

Visionary Award – Mara Brock Akil

Fierce & Fearless Award – Gabrielle Union

Vanguard Award – Alfre Woodard

Power Award – Oprah Winfrey

Nine-year-old Wallis, star of Beasts of the Southern Wild, thanked God, director Behn Zeitlin, and her on-set babysitters.

Winfrey said, of power:

“… for me is that it’s connected to a source that’s obviously greater than myself. Any time you can connect to the source and understand that that’s where all of your energy, your creativity, your joy and your triumph come from, I consider that to be authentic power.”

Union noted that she hadn’t always been “fierce and fearless,” and that she didn’t speak up against racism when she was younger and posed in photographs in ways that would “minimize” her “blackness.” However, she added:

“Real fearless and fierce women admit mistakes and work to correct them,” she said. “We stand up and we use our voices for things other than self-promotion. We don’t stand by and let racism and sexism and homophobia run rampant on our watch. Real fierce and fearless women celebrate and compliment other women and we recognize and embrace the notion that their shine in no way diminishes our light, and actually makes our light shine brighter.”

Brock Akil, writer and producer known for Moesha, Girlfriends, Cougar Town, The Game and Sparkle, delivered a tearful speech, saying:

“All I ever wanted to do was tell our story.”

The awards luncheon, held two days before the Academy Awards, celebrates the success of black women writers, producers, actresses and other Hollywood power-brokers. Actress Tracee Ellis Ross says, “It’s a beautiful afternoon where we’re celebrating each other and giving praise to women that don’t always get praised.”

This event by, for and all about black women in Hollywood serves as a celebration of the successes these women have had and as inspiration to the women who will come after them.

Who’s the "Hero" of the 2012 Oscar Awards?

Billy Crystal: He’s gilded and swooping in to save the 2012 Oscars

I’m one of those old-fashioned people who enjoys watching the Academy Awards every year. Movies, spectacle, the opportunity to throw a party complete with Oscar Bingo and a contest to see who can best predict the winners — I love it for all of these reasons. Even knowing that the awards are essentially a political campaign, in which the studios/production companies/actors with the most money (and thus the most visibility and power) typically win, and even though the films/performances that I’m rooting for are often not even nominated, there’s still something important about the show (I’ve previously talked about why here): it reminds us of the film industry’s power structure and what kinds of films are supposed to be culturally important.

Let me be more specific. The New York Times ran a piece titled “Billy Crystal Is Gilded as Hero of Oscar Night” which discusses the Governors Awards ceremony, held on Saturday, November 12th, honoring the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner and honorary Oscar winners (which were previously part of the televised ceremony, but removed this year to “to speed up the telecast and give more personal attention to their winners). Because we wouldn’t want to take televised time to honor people who have made a significant contribution to film, or anything, am I right?

But what dominated the piece — and the ceremony, if we can trust what Michael Cieply wrote — is the fact that Billy Crystal is now hosting the Oscar Ceremony. Or, as the article states, he “swooped in to save the Academy Awards.” Um, okay. I imagine it was just like that.

See, you might have missed it (if you don’t closely follow these things), but the person producing the show this year, Brett Ratner, said some pretty awful things, and when he resigned, the person he’d picked to host — Eddie Murphy — decided he would follow suit and pulled out of the gig. A new producer was selected, and he chose Billy Crystal, who has hosted the show eight previous times.

Am I old-fashioned, or is that simply how I’m made to feel by the Academy?

Now, I have nothing against Billy Crystal. He seems like an overall pretty good guy, and I enjoyed When Harry Met Sally back in 1989, and thought City Slickers was pretty good back when I was eleven years old. I know he’s been in movies since then, but he’s not really on my personal radar as a Current Film Star. (Neither is Eddie Murphy for that matter, though I think he would’ve proven at least an interesting host, and would have improved on the Academy’s abysmal track record of including African Americans — at any capacity — in the program.)

Back to that “old fashioned” idea. This year, the Academy at least showed its awareness that younger people were often alienated by the show when they shrewdly hired James Franco and Anne Hathaway as hosts, a move that backfired, mostly due to Franco phoning it in (I can’t be the only one sure he was stoned) and Hathaway trying her best to make up for her near-comatose co-host. According to the NYT article,

That it should be Mr. Crystal who saved the day met little disapproval from those who gathered on Saturday night, even if it means that the Academy’s quest for youth and a more diverse audience will yield once more to a neo-vaudevillian who is often compared here to Bob Hope, who holds the record as the 19-time host of the show.

Maybe I’m not old-fashioned; maybe I’m stupid for continuing to tune in to programming that doesn’t give a damn whether I watch or not. Or, even worse, maybe they’re just assuming they have “female viewers” (because we’re a silly monolith) because, you know, OMG Pretty Dresses.

Oprah Winfrey wins the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

There’s something else, though, that I can’t not notice about the NYT article: In the entire 1,187-word article, only about 200 words (3 paragraphs) were devoted to one of the highest honors and most controversial moments of the night: Oprah Winfrey winning the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. She’s the first Black woman to win the award (Quincy Jones won in 1995, the only Black man to win it), yet her win has been called “boneheaded” and “a shameless bid for a ratings boost,” largely because her contributions to the film industry are seen by insiders as lacking. Further, according to NWFCC chair Armond White,

Is the Academy kowtowing to the silly complaints that no black actors were nominated this year?” says White. “The Oscars are supposed to be about the works Hollywood admires, not a score-keeping mechanism for ethnic and racial equality. By that standard the Oscars fail Native Americans, Asians, Africans, Scandinavians, and Latin Americans every year. I’m afraid those complaints were just media hype, an attempt by some to hold the Oscars hostage to political correctness.

Yes, the Oscars do fail African Americans, Native Americans, Latin Americans, and many more marginalized groups every year. But it isn’t “political correctness” at work in pointing out these gross injustices. It’s a privileged group of people (members of The Academy) who willfully ignore contributions in film by people of color–especially women of color–and an industry operating with a severe case of institutionalized racism.

The night’s other two winners, James Earl Jones and Dick Smith, got two paragraphs and one paragraph, respectively, in the NYT piece. Jones has appeared in over 50 films, yet is even more of an afterthought than Winfrey.

So, what does this single article tell us about the Academy, the Oscar Awards, and the New York Times?

Do I really need to spell it out?