In-Class Write

1. After watching Lee Daniels’ The Butler, it is obvious that the film contains many real issues that were faced in the history of our country. America has had a long struggle with racism ever since it was founded, then a war even derived from the issue, the Civil War. This caused ripples all throughout the entire nation as people wanted everyone to have equal rights as stated in the Constitution. It deals with simple discrepancies in freedoms such as work hours and salaries differed between white and black employees. After watching and researching this film, I can see that this was the highlighted issue and the Civil Rights Movement was a common theme following the entire movie. This was the case simply because some people in America had the thought in their minds that one race was superior to another; this was due to White Supremacy. An article on NPR.org stated that The Butler is not a movie - “It’s A Movement.”

Lee Daniels was the focus of this article as he went over some of his experiences he had during the filming and how it made the actors and himself feel. It was not his initial intention to dive straight into the Civil Rights Movement as he did, making one of the main characters, Cecil’s son Louis Gaines, an integral member of the Black Panther Party and an associate founder. Scenes like the bus scene where Louis was younger and a part of the Freedom Riders and they were taking a trip to Birmingham, Alabama. They came across a community of KKK members in the road who were very violent and angry. During this scene, Daniels mentioned that he tried to yell cut, but no one could hear his voice: “the kids were really fighting for the soul of our country… the heroes I could never be.”

2. Parts of this issue that were not played out in the film include the general aftermath of this story. One African American man, like Cecil Gaines, worked for the most important people in the country for thirty four years. While researching to gain more information on this topic, I came across an article about President Reagan on Hollywoodreporter.com. His son Michael spoke to these people and gave his opinion on the film, which was not the best: “The real story of the White House Butler doesn’t imply racism at all. It’s simply Hollywood liberals wanting to believe something about my father that was never there.” This is referring to the arbitrary racial turn taken in the film as President Reagan’s wife invites Cecil and his wife Gloria to a state dinner as guests. They seemed genuine and kind, though Cecil later went on to state that he realized the truth behind their invitation was that it simply for show.

Similar to this one part left out, the modern day status of this was almost forgotten. At the very end of the film Cecil is walking into the White House to first meet the first African American President of the United States, Barack Obama. We never saw this interaction which was a bit of a let down. We did see a glimpse of where his son Louis ended up, a former member of the Black Panther Party who then became a congressman. This provided a snapshot of where the characters finally settled to, but the film could have better relayed a message regarding the status of the issue of racism in the nation towards the end.

3. This film obviously had a large impact on its audience having a lasting appeal around the country, but it could have been more. The way the film started and ended with Cecil Gaines sitting in the White House narrating his story set a good vibe throughout the plot. At the very end when he is walking down the hallway of the White House to see new President Barack Obama, it is possible that filming could have continued. As it was portrayed, the whole story was obviously in the past told by the man who experienced it himself. If he had gone to sit in the office that he had served in for so many years and just had a drink speaking to the first ever President that was the same race as him, a nice touch of an epilogue could have been added. The relationship of those two men or just the simple campaign process President Obama went through could have added this perspective. Cecil’s thoughts and emotions could have been better exclaimed by this and a common feeling throughout the nation could have been more widely understood. I believe this would have been interesting and continued to keep the audience’s attention as I know I wanted to view this interaction. It would add the bit of modern flare to the movie to put it just a little higher in popularity than it already was. This film was not like any other I had ever seen, I gained so much new insight into the realm of civil rights in our nation that I had a no idea the complexity of before. I am glad I made this decision and highly recommend this film to any others who would like to learn of this incredible story, or even simply be entertained.