![]() At Fisk, he joins the Black Panthers and takes up his role as a Freedom Rider. ![]() When given the opportunity to go to college, Louis chooses to attend Fisk University, a historically black university located in Nashville, Tennessee. Louis, unlike his father, Cecil, grows up in the 1960s while the United States is involved in the Vietnam War and does not value the subservient nature that his father has been trained to appreciate. When Cecil later assumes his job as a butler in the White House, the Major D tells him that when in the presence of political figures he must make himself unnoticed. This training in both obedience and subservience not only suggests that a life worth living is based on hierarchical systems of order, but also that there is no room for occupational dissent, especially if a black male hopes to keep his job. Smile with your eyes.” As his new boss explains to him, the only way to ascend the social ladder is to make whites feel non-threatened by black existence. When he leaves Miss Annabel and takes his new job in North Carolina, he is told to “See what they need. In The Butler, Cecil begins his work as a house nigger for Miss Annabel after he watches an overseer shoot his father. The relationships represented by Abraham and Robert as well as by Cecil and Louis suggest that there existed a generational divide in terms of how fathers and sons conceptualized their relationship to the republic. Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013) and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012) might appear to tackle vastly different themes on the surface, but one point of intersection they share is how they represent familial relationships, particularly those that involve fathers and sons. “I don’t think that God meant for people to not have a family.” – Cecil Gaines ![]() ![]() Deeps > Contemporary Film and the Black Atlantic > Familial and Community Relationships > Straddling Divides: Unpacking the Father-Son Relationships in The Butler and Lincoln ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |