American the Beautiful

I just finished watching Jim Sheridan's In America. I remembered when this little film got three Oscar nominations back in 2004 (Best Actress for Samantha Morton, Best Supporting Actor for Djimon Hounsou and Best Screenplay for Sheridan). At the time I was like WTF? because I had never heard of it (it made $25 million at the box office, which is kinda impressive because I don't know anybody who saw it). I was intrigued primarily because of Hounsou's Supporting Actor nod (like Denzel Washington's Glory character Trip, who "ran for President," Hounsou didn't win).

Well, I just saw it and it is a remarkable little film. Both the acting nods were well deserved and, frankly, Paddy Considine should have been nominated for Best Actor as well for he carries much of the movie.

Hounsou's performance is problematic because it is the archetypal "magic negro" role. I won't spoil the ending for you but you know what happens to magical negroes, don't you? (They win Academy Award supporting actor and actress nominations).

Also, the Irish immigrant family embodied by Considine, Morton and the wonderfully guileless Bolger sisters, Sarah and Emma, seem to land in a pastel-colored, magical-realist New York City. Sure, times are hard and they live in a tenement, but the girls roller skate on hardwood floors, attend Catholic school and walk unmolested to an old fashioned ice cream parlor run by African immigrants.

Still, the movie is full of wonderful little grace notes and is worthy of all the awards it won.

~rave!

The Cult of the Trick-less Magician

Word is Djimon Hounsou and Hayden Christensen are going to take the lead in the film adaptation of Lee Falk’s Mandrake comic strip. I am a fan of Falk's The Phantom (which is why the Phantom Limb character from The Venture Bros is such a hoot) but I always had problems with Mandrake the Magician primarily because of the Lothar character. Lothar is Mandrake's best friend and crime-fighting companion. Mandrake first met Lothar during his travels in Africa.

Lothar was then "Prince of the Seven Nations", a mighty federation of jungle tribes. He passed on the chance to become king and instead followed Mandrake on his world travels, fighting crime and villains from all over the world (and the rest of the universe as well). Lothar is often referred to as the strongest man in the world.

In the beginning, Lothar was little more than Mandrake's servant. He spoke poor English, wore a fez, short pants and a leopard skin. His muscles far exceeded his mental abilities. When artist Fred Fredericks took over in 1965 (after original artist Phil Davis had died), Lothar was modernized; he began to speak correct English, and his clothing changed, although he still often wears shirts with leopard-skin patterns. (Abridged from Wikipedia).

There are several things that leap out at me from the Wikipedia article (and my nagging discomfort with these characters)- the parallels between Lothar and both Punjab (from Little Orphan Annie) and Marvel's Black Panther. What is this eagerness of obviously superior, well-born people of color to willingly subjugate themselves to a person of obviously inferior character, intellect and ability? In Lothar's case, why would he give up a chance to become King of the Seven Nations in order to become the man-servant of a "trickless" magician. I mean, this would be tantamount to Barack Obama giving up the Presidency to become David Blaine's valet.

I believe these stories offered balm to white readers who, in every facet of their lives - their maids, their chauffeurs, their elevator men - saw people who appeared to be endowed with so much more than they, serving them. It was but it did not compute - unless you accept the odd, curious and convenient notion that black people like serving white people. In fact, when given the choice between ruling or serving they will invariably choose to serve. Why? It must be in their DNA.