Should Black Women Boycott ‘Red Tails?’
There is a good conversation on Clutch magazine’s website about the interracial gender politics of Red Tails, George Lucas’upcoming Tuskegee airmen movie. One of the primary tenets for those who study the politics of popular culture is that audiences (or “publics”) receive, process, interpret, and circulate ideas on their own terms. Of course, there aren’t any number of corollaries and complications to this argument. But, the basic idea is that populism “matters”; once a “text” is out among the public, part of our work as critics is understanding the “why’s” and “how’s” of their investment (or not) in it.
I reviewed Red Tails months ago. There, I made mention of one aspect of the story–the romance between a black airman and a white Italian woman–that I thought was superfluous to the plot and could easily be left on the cutting room floor. I did not read this plot point as subverting the overall story, or as being deeply symbolic of the state of the family and love relationships in the African American community in the twenty-first century. Moreover, there were many love and sexual relationships between black GI’s and European women in all theaters of World War Two. Given the “historical” nature of Red Tails, a wink to this fact would not be out of order. Ultimately, my observation was based on efficiency in story telling. It was not some deep aversion to the idea that a young man far from home would find comfort in the arms of a beautiful woman.
Populism can be empowering. It can also be confusing, distracting, and lead to any number of interpretations–some of these are cogent and compelling, others much less so. What strikes me the most about the comments on Clutch magazine’s site is not how some readers (in a vacuum not having seen the movie) are making impassioned claims, but how short the leap is from Red Tails the World War Two action film, to “black women in Hollywood are misrepresented all of the time and hated by the mass media,” to “black woman are unloved by black men and Red Tails reinforces this fact,” to “Red Tails should be boycotted because there are no black female love interests.”
It would seem that there is much pain in parts of the black community, where the seemingly trivial and benign are interpreted as the significant, the poignant, and the meaningful.Thus, I must ask: Are matters really this dire?
Just finished listening to Joe Madison’s radio show “The Black Eagle”. A daughter of a 93 yr old POW Tuskegee Airmen called the radio show. Very interesting discussion regarding the viewing @ the white house and how her dad was dis invited @ the last minute. The daughter went on to say her father told her that boyfriend-girlfriend relationship btw a Tuskegee Airmen and an Italian lady was unrealistic, things like that didn’t happen. The men were kept in closed quarters are “watched”. Like i posted before Emett Till’s father a soldier in WWII was court martialed and publicly hung for allegedly “raping” an Italian prostitute. I chose not to view Redtails because i hate the way holly wood twists and turns history. I had the oppty to view the film for FREE @ the CBC legislative conference in which the actors were in attendance and I chose not to see the film. In addition I do not have to go see “Redtails” to be learn about Black History. I read about Tuskegee Airmen when I was in 5th grade, parents need to encourage their kids to read and not rely on hollywood to teach “our history”.
Last question, why was it ok for Black men to complain that “Saving Private Ryan” excluded black men?
Black women lets do ourselves a favor and stop worrying about black men. I mean really what power do they really have? High prison rate, dropout rate, “deadbeat dad rate” (must i go on). I often wonder why white women would want to marry them.I mean often times we feel stuck with them, but white women have choices, since their “beauty” is revered around the world. Im so through with trying to force black men to respect us. Calling us gold diggers, how that be possible when we marry 92% of us marry black men, who have an abnormal unemployment rate and college graduate rate!
So Ms.Prina,Have read that book by Professor Ralph Richard Banks “is marriage for white people?”.It did my soul will to read your comment….The black men that complain
about “Saving Private Ryan” were asleep during 5th grade history class…!
Keep the iron in your words & Soul….Have a great day…Once more THANKS….!
To all of you guys who believe black women. should not have been included in Redtails: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/22/us/tuskegee-airmen-first-couple/index.html . Maybe a few us female writers can get together and work on bringing this beautuful black love story to film. This would be a great independent film!
a wonderful story! thanks for posting.
that is a movie i’d go see!
Red Tails is about the lost history about men of color fighter pilots in world war ll, not about black women in a love seen. Why do some us think negative of it is what it is. I am so glad we only have a few who think like the ladywho talked about a man of color pilot have a romance with a white woman.
Im sorry but bw on the whole seem to be nutz-blk ppl, hell ppl in general-but blk women are by far the worst..they promote IR relationships more than any other group thru blogs, vlogs, mags, books, movies and then pull this shit lmao..completely hypocritcial nut cases