Musical Parody

A joke on students of English: this is a parody of a tune you will recognize. To understand all of the lyrics, try watching it more than once. Enjoy!

The Mammy and Aunt Jemima Cover-Up

Gone with the Wind is a film that gives a distorted picture of slavery that is conveyed to a great extent in the depiction of Scarlett's Mammy, played by Hattie McDaniel.  Janell Hobson writes about the contrast between this fantasized Mammy and the real-life situation of being sexually subjugated by white men in Ms. Magazine's blog, "The Fantasy of Mammy, the Truth of Patsey" (March 5, 2014).

Muscle Shoals, Rock & Roll

This documentary film explores ground-breaking recordings of Soul and Rock music in the 1960s and 1970s in a small Alabama town.




Andrew Martin, writing in a blog for The New York Review of Books (February 28, 2014), offers a critical account of this film, as well as some of the music it inspired.

The Secret Life of Bees

Lily takes refuge with the Boatwrights.

Franco-American Visit

This is a bit outside the normal run of this blog, but it seems unfair to let some great film footage of the French President's visit to the United States go unmentioned. In this selection you can understand why President Obama and President Hollande found it so symbolic to visit Monticello together. Vive l'amitié franco-américain !  Happy Valentine's Day to French-American friendship.

 


The photo below of the White House Dinner is from the Nouvel Observateur and posted also here.

Precious

Go past a few stereotypes while watching this film.

The Butler

If you saw the movie Lincoln, you'll also want to see this film, which makes a brilliant follow-up.

On The Road

The American continent is known for its highways and automobiles. The 1950s became the decade when many people were able to purchase their own car. This changed the face of American society forever, giving rise to a new genre: the road trip novel or film.

The Lorax

Children never tire of Dr. Seuss, and it's a bit surprising that his complete works are not yet in film versions. Here's the latest.

Harvey Milk

What happens when a gay man runs for political office?