The Green Book

1578 Words4 Pages

The movie The Green Book, despite its awards and accolades, faces criticism and praise like any movie that wishes to survive the test of time. It covers the relationship between Donald Shirley and Tony “Lip” Vallelonga and their journey through the Jim Crow South for the piano tour that Donald Shirley was on with Tony Vallelonga as his driver. The film touches on race, sexuality, and the notorious “The Negro Motorist Green Book”. At this time, Shirley was a successful and wealthy African American Pianist. This means if he were a white man he would be able to stay in a far better place but compared to his higher taste the areas he is forced to stay outlined in the green book –a book that was in circulation from 1936 to 1966 made to guide African …show more content…

Further proving that the scene in which Lip introduces Shirley to “real black music” was not needed and is blatantly inaccurate in its portrayal of Shirley's character and his and Lips' relationship. Despite the film awards and the views of critics, the film The Green Book delicately portrayed how historically The Real Green Book and the atmosphere of the South affected black travelers regardless of the film's overall inaccuracies regarding the portrayal of both the main characters. This film's cool demeanor and emotionally moving scenes truly entrap an audience and make for a memorable watching experience. Covering harsh realities like Sundown towns, segregation, police brutality, and homophobia in a way that is balanced and accurate to the time, a balance that tends to be difficult to achieve with the film either oversimplifying history like in the movie The Blind Side or verging into the territory of Black Trauma Porn –A phenomenon in media where film and shows are made with the trauma of the black experience as the central exploitive plot line– like the show

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