Dee Rees's film "Mudbound" explores the complex relationship between race and class, with a moving story set in post-World War II Mississippi. The film skillfully captures the harsh realities and glaring inequalities of the era, emphasizing how these societal structures profoundly affect the characters' lives based on their race and economic status. The white McAllan family, who struggle with their own form of economic hardship despite being landowners, and the black Jackson family, who live in rural Mississippi, provide a vivid illustration of the intersection of race and class; Henry McAllan, the patriarch, purchases a farm in the area, highlighting his desire for social mobility and stability. But the difficulty of farm life and the pressure …show more content…
On the opposite side, Jamie McAllan returns from the battle scarred and guilty. Due to his experiences flying bombers, he is emotionally damaged and battles alcoholism. For a limited period, Jamie is able to look past the racist beliefs of his childhood because of his friendship with men of other races during the war. His friendship with Ronsel, which they developed via mutual respect and a shared trauma, is evidence of this altered viewpoint. But Jamie's attempts to heal the racial rift are violently resisted by his own family and community, which serves to further solidify the hazardous rigidity of the social structure. Ronsel and Jamie's wartime experiences both support and contradict their ideas on race and identity. Ronsel feels empowered to reject Mississippi's treatment of him as a second-class citizen because of the respect he earned in Europe. He directly challenges the status quo with his boldness and refusal to tolerate racial subordination. On the other hand, even in a very racist society, there is room for personal growth as seen by Jamie's compassion for Ronsel and his rejection of his family's racist
The book that i chose to do this speech on is Cowboy Ghost. Cowboy Ghost is about a boy named Titus who goes on a cattle drive through Florida in the early 1900s. The main character in this story is Titus. Titus Timothy MacRobertson is a small and weak 16 year old boy that wants to impress his father that kind of ignores him. His mother died giving birth to him and his father “blames” Titus for her death. His father (Rob Roy MacRobertson) is a strong, massive and hardworking man. His brother Micah is a 29 year old man that is described as being a second Rob Roy MacRobertson because of his strength and size, at the end of the book you find out that he was more like their mother. The cattle drive was going really good until seminoles (indians)
The stories that the author told were very insightful to what life was like for an African American living in the south during this time period. First the author pointed out how differently blacks and whites lived. She stated “They owned the whole damn town. The majority of whites had it made in the shade. Living on easy street, they inhabited grand houses ranging from turn-of-the-century clapboards to historics”(pg 35). The blacks in the town didn’t live in these grand homes, they worked in them. Even in today’s time I can drive around, and look at the differences between the living conditions in the areas that are dominated by whites, and the areas that are dominated by blacks. Racial inequalities are still very prevalent In today’s society.
During the summer of 1984, Calvin Johnson trudges knee deep through a swamp in the wetlands of South Georgia. As snakes brush past his legs, he marches in line with nine other men, each dressed in an orange jumpsuit, swinging a razor sharp bush axe in collective rhythm. His crew entered the swamp at dawn and they will not leave until dusk. Guards, armed with shotguns, and equally violent tempers, ignore the fact that the temperature has risen well above 100 degrees and push the men even harder. Suddenly, an orange blur falls to the ground and a prisoner from Wayne Correctional Institution lies face down in the swampy floor. As guards bark orders at the unconscious, dying man, Johnson realizes "the truth of the situation, and the force of injustice just incapacitates" him. It is then he decides he does not belong in the swamp.
Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" and George Tillman's box-office hit Soul Food explore the hardships and trials of black family life, and through the characters, setting, and theme of both the story and the film, the issue of class and the search for community is discussed.
Mississippi Damned is a fictional film based upon real life situations. Is it centered on a small urban town in Mississippi that has experienced issues from generations to generations. The film centers around three families who live in close proximity of each other. All three women are sisters who are either married or dating with live in boyfriends. There are also three young children who grow up with these families and are subject to experiences far beyond their years.
This quote from the book, Lone Survivor, shows the incredible resolve that the Author and protagonist of the story, Marcus Luttrell has. The book is all about the horrors that he endured in the Hindu Kush mountain region in Afghanistan when he went on a mission with 3 other Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, and Land), Danny Dietz, Matthew “Axe” Axelson, and Michael Murphy. The book, Lone Survivor was set in the mountains of the Hindu Kush, details the fight for survival against the Taliban, and has a theme of hospitality.
What exactly was the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi? It was a time during the 1960s that had affected people even up to this day, and had also initiated the formations of documentaries and cinematic material that were created to renovate events. It was a time when the privilege and opportunity of drinking from a publicly-used water fountain depended on your race and color of skin. A not so recent film, Mississippi Burning, was produced in order to show detailed happenings that occurred during this time period. The movie talks about many characters that actually existed throughout history. It was shocking to experience the way people were treated in Mississippi. People were murdered for racist reasons, organizations were created to pursue horrible deeds, and people that were looked up upon were a part of these organizations. This film reenacts certain situations and was talked about frequently when it was first released. Reviews stated that the movie was somewhat historically accurate. However there were also those who explained that the film was superficial in a way that abused what really did happen during that time. Mississippi Burning was historically factual in introducing characters who were actually alive during this time. However it failed to realistically demonstrate how actual quarrels took place, and included unnecessary, dramatic events for entertainment and economic reasons.
Urinetown was a humorous play at times with socially relevant themes. Kotis and Hollmann imagined a dark and disrupted community that was controlled by a corrupt government and eventually overthrown. Current social forces such as corruption, environmental issues, and corporate control may have shaped their feelings.
Mississippi serves as a catalyst for the realization of what it is truly like to be a Negro in 1959. Once in the state of Mississippi, Griffin witnesses extreme racial tension, that he does not fully expect. It is on the bus ride into Mississippi that Griffin first experiences true racial cruelty from a resident of Mississippi.
Coming of Age in Mississippi is an eye-opening testimony to the racism that exemplified what it was like to be an African American living in the south before and after the civil rights movements in the 50's and 60's. African Americans had been given voting and citizen rights, but did not and to a certain degree, still can not enjoy these rights. The southern economy that Anne Moody was born into in the 40's was one that was governed and ruled by a bunch of whites, many of which who very prejudice. This caused for a very hard up bringing for a young African American girl. Coming of Age in Mississippi broadened horizon of what it was like for African Americans to live during the 40's, 50', and 60's.
Faulkner uses the view point of an unnamed town member while he uses a third person perspective to show the general corrosion of the southern town’s people.
The social conventions that are set up in this book play out in a small black community in Ohio called "the Bottom." The community itself formed when a white slave owner tricked his naïve black slave into accepting hilly mountainous land that would be hard to farm and very troublesome instead of the actual bottom (fertile valley) land that he was promised. The slave was told "when God looks down, it's the bottom. That's why we call it so. It's the bottom of heaven-best land there is" (4), and on the basis of this lie a community was formed. Its almost as if the towns misfortune is passed down ...
shows an African-American family struggling to get out of the poverty line, which is stopping them
takes place in the south, where at the time, slaves were newly emancipated and things are
This film was written and produced in the middle of the Great Depression, and the depiction of the poverty and unemployment is very evident throughout the entire film.