Ten Films Every Bigot Should See
April 6th 2012 15:39
We live in the lucky country, and while that’s a grand place to be, it means that there is a certain amount of ignorance prevalent in our society, fed by cultural complacency and the dominant norms of patriarchy and Western superiority. Film has long been a medium for challenging social simplicity and prejudice – here are ten examples that have confronted their audiences.
To Kill a Mockingbird
In 1962, the adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel about one man who stood up to a town filled with hate and racial righteousness struck a cord with many, and is today considered one of the greatest films of all time. Atticus Finch’s quietly passionate and unwavering belief that everyone is equal and deserves to be treated fairly makes him a character not easily forgotten.
Boys Don’t Cry
Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Brandon Teena, who was bashed, raped and murdered at the age of 21 after his male friends discovered that he was biologically female. Hillary Swank won Best Actress for her portrayal of Brandon, which gave a heartbreakingly anguished account of life as a young transgender man in proletarian America.
Schindler’s List
This hard slog through the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust highlights the indescribable atrocities perpetrated under the Nazi regime and the outcomes of unchecked racist ideologies.
American History X
The story of white supremacy a little bit closer to the present day, which deals with the impacts of being raised amid fundamental racism. Edward Norton stars as a neo-Nazi who, after a period in prison, becomes disillusioned with the racist dogma he grew into.
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
A glimpse into the lives of three very different women as they each struggle with unsatisfying, unconventional or abusive relationships while seeking to regain or attain a meaningful sense of identity.
Rabbit-Proof Fence
A based-on-true-life film about the Stolen Generations, which chronicles the story of two Aboriginal girls who walk for nine weeks after escaping an internment camp in an attempt to return to their home.
Desert Flower
This biographical film depicts the early life of supermodel Waris Dirie. Dirie was subject to genital mutilation at the age of five then escaped an arranged marriage by crossing the Somalian desert alone in order to reach the nation’s capital and flee to London. She lived in a precarious state without home or legal status, before being discovered by a celebrity photographer and making a name in the fashion world.
North Country
Based on real life events that led to the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the US, this film follows the life of a woman who takes a stand against gender-based bullying, prejudice and abuse, in her personal life at home, and in her professional life working in the male-dominated mining industry.
Philadelphia
Even today, there are not a lot of films based around the themes of homophobia and HIV/AIDS, so this one caused quite a stir when it was released, almost twenty years ago. The film follows the story of a young homosexual man who has been wrongfully dismissed by his employer due to the discovery that he has AIDS. After failing to find representation, a lawyer who is homophobic and largely ignorant about AIDS has a change of heart and agrees to help him.
Little Bee/The Other Hand
This one is still in the works, but if the book is anything to go by, it should be a powerful film. The novel is told from the view points of a Nigerian asylum seeker and a British magazine editor. The two very different women find themselves bound together by a series of tragedies that expose the huge contrasts in their lives as well as their fundamental kinship.
How many times have you heard someone:
- Wax lyrical about ‘queue jumpers’ without a solid understanding?
- Dismiss Indigenous people as a collective group of wasters who can’t get over the past?
- Spout the phrase, “I’m not a racist, but…”?
- Become indignant over an apology to the Stolen Generations, claiming it’s all about getting more money for something ‘we didn’t do’?
- Defend assimilation practices as generous and altruistic?
- Justify a case of sexual assault or label someone who has reported an instance of sexual harassment in the workplace as a trouble maker?
- Vilify another due to their religious beliefs?
- Display fear, revulsion, mockery or hatred for a person who identifies as Queer?
- Discriminate against another because of age, appearance, ability, etc?
Have you recognised the bigotry that exists in the media? Have you been guilty of bigotry yourself at some point in your life? Not many people can say that they never have.
Has there been a film that has opened your eyes to unconscious prejudice? What films do you think have been important in confronting bigotry in our society?
Michaelie Clark
Image: Wikimedia Commons
In 1962, the adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel about one man who stood up to a town filled with hate and racial righteousness struck a cord with many, and is today considered one of the greatest films of all time. Atticus Finch’s quietly passionate and unwavering belief that everyone is equal and deserves to be treated fairly makes him a character not easily forgotten.
Boys Don’t Cry
Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Brandon Teena, who was bashed, raped and murdered at the age of 21 after his male friends discovered that he was biologically female. Hillary Swank won Best Actress for her portrayal of Brandon, which gave a heartbreakingly anguished account of life as a young transgender man in proletarian America.
Schindler’s List
This hard slog through the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust highlights the indescribable atrocities perpetrated under the Nazi regime and the outcomes of unchecked racist ideologies.
American History X
The story of white supremacy a little bit closer to the present day, which deals with the impacts of being raised amid fundamental racism. Edward Norton stars as a neo-Nazi who, after a period in prison, becomes disillusioned with the racist dogma he grew into.
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
A glimpse into the lives of three very different women as they each struggle with unsatisfying, unconventional or abusive relationships while seeking to regain or attain a meaningful sense of identity.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Rabbit-Proof Fence
A based-on-true-life film about the Stolen Generations, which chronicles the story of two Aboriginal girls who walk for nine weeks after escaping an internment camp in an attempt to return to their home.
Desert Flower
This biographical film depicts the early life of supermodel Waris Dirie. Dirie was subject to genital mutilation at the age of five then escaped an arranged marriage by crossing the Somalian desert alone in order to reach the nation’s capital and flee to London. She lived in a precarious state without home or legal status, before being discovered by a celebrity photographer and making a name in the fashion world.
North Country
Based on real life events that led to the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the US, this film follows the life of a woman who takes a stand against gender-based bullying, prejudice and abuse, in her personal life at home, and in her professional life working in the male-dominated mining industry.
Philadelphia
Even today, there are not a lot of films based around the themes of homophobia and HIV/AIDS, so this one caused quite a stir when it was released, almost twenty years ago. The film follows the story of a young homosexual man who has been wrongfully dismissed by his employer due to the discovery that he has AIDS. After failing to find representation, a lawyer who is homophobic and largely ignorant about AIDS has a change of heart and agrees to help him.
Little Bee/The Other Hand
This one is still in the works, but if the book is anything to go by, it should be a powerful film. The novel is told from the view points of a Nigerian asylum seeker and a British magazine editor. The two very different women find themselves bound together by a series of tragedies that expose the huge contrasts in their lives as well as their fundamental kinship.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
How many times have you heard someone:
- Wax lyrical about ‘queue jumpers’ without a solid understanding?
- Dismiss Indigenous people as a collective group of wasters who can’t get over the past?
- Spout the phrase, “I’m not a racist, but…”?
- Become indignant over an apology to the Stolen Generations, claiming it’s all about getting more money for something ‘we didn’t do’?
- Defend assimilation practices as generous and altruistic?
- Justify a case of sexual assault or label someone who has reported an instance of sexual harassment in the workplace as a trouble maker?
- Vilify another due to their religious beliefs?
- Display fear, revulsion, mockery or hatred for a person who identifies as Queer?
- Discriminate against another because of age, appearance, ability, etc?
Have you recognised the bigotry that exists in the media? Have you been guilty of bigotry yourself at some point in your life? Not many people can say that they never have.
Has there been a film that has opened your eyes to unconscious prejudice? What films do you think have been important in confronting bigotry in our society?
Michaelie Clark
| 77 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Chris Champion
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Money Whither
Comment by Chris Champion
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Money Whither
Comment by Chris Champion
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Money Whither
Comment by Bryn Tilly
Horrorphile
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
Pop Rock Factory
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
well done!
Having been subjected to bigotry and harrasment all my life, with examples ranging from the so called 'humorous', such as a niece making exagerated campy voice inflections and hand movements in front of me, and she was Jewish, you'd think she would understand a little more than others how that sort of behaviour can hurt, and then there were the threats of violence, name calling and rape, and the rumour mongering about gays not being trustworthy, and so it goes on and on...
Some of the loudest bigots in the world are the hate mongering christians, who are breathtaking in their hypocrisy...
I wrote a poem about it many moons ago, should try and dig it out.
cheers
fog
Comment by Michaelie Clark
Flick Wit
Foggy - yes, sad but true, bigotry is far ranging and can be both subversive and extreme. It's true also that some people who are often subject to bigotry themselves also display it. I've met gay men who are hostile towards lesbians, and people from one 'minority ethnic group' who are prejudiced against those from another.
I have also known some Christians who do not advocate equality. I guess this often stands out because of the contradiction with many Christian values. That said, I have also known a lot of Christians who really do believe in equality for all people, and have noted recently a number of people within the church who have stood against some of their counterparts to publicly declare support for things such as equal rights to marriage.
I imagine that takes some bravery, and a great desire to understand, accept and celebrate differences despite an upbringing and/or vocation that may fundamentally support a more traditional or ignorant ideal.
It all takes time and education, I suppose, and the drive to create change. Look at homosexuality - the WHO still listed it as a mental illness until the nineties. I think we've come a long way in the last 20 years, but there's still a long way to go. Things happen all the time that seem to set us back - terrorism for one. Hopefully in another 20 years we'll look back and see a lot more positive changes. And hopefully film will help!
Thanks again!
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
cheers
fog
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
Religion has played a major role in the dissemination of sexual bigotry against gays; from Judaism, Christianity and Islam, a couple of thousand years of persecution has flourished due to those hypocritical organs of bias and hatred.
Of course, originally, even before the advent of Christian influence on the Roman Empire, Romans looked down their noses at the Greeks because of their tolerance of open homosexuality and bisexuality.
Yet, even the Romans, particularly the rich, indulged in bisexuality and homosexuality, within the walls of their grand houses, their servants sated their lusts, and also in the public baths, (I’m currently researching Ancient Rome and Greece for a film script).
I marched in the third Sydney gay rights march, (before it tuned into the Mardi Gras pageant farce it is today), and as we made our way up Oxford Street towards the Paddington Town Hall, red neck A-Holes screamed hatred at us from behind a line of police holding them back, stretching from Hyde Park to Taylor Square, where we finally heard some voices of support called down from the gay clubs’ windows, where old drag queens hung out the windows yelling support. They were greeted with “Out of the clubs and into the streets!” by many of the marchers, some of whom booed them, as they were not brave enough to march, I found that annoying actually.
However, today, anti-gay sentiment is alive and well, in religions and in national laws; one just has to look at Africa, which has the largest group of anti-gay nations on one continent.
I’ve known many African gays, who have had to hide behind pseudonyms online because, if they were identified, they would be persecuted and beaten by members of the public, arrested and beaten again by police, then gaoled and then beaten and raped, if not killed.
Then, of course, there is Asia, which is rife with anti-gay laws and sentiment, but, it has the odd wonderful exception, like the Phillipines.
Until there is real global equality between straights and gays, and until religions are forced to adhere to anti-discrimination laws and remove their bigoted opinions from their teachings, I believe the Sydney Mardi Gras has a moral responsibility to return to its roots as a protest march only.
Each year, after reminding the world of which nations and religions still persecute gays or disseminate bigoted concepts about them, then they can attend their Bacchanal Mardi Gras party afterwards.
And I, for one, shan't attend a parade until they do!
cheers
fog
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Michaelie Clark
Flick Wit
Enjoy your time off
Comment by The Rusty Can
Everything
It's saddening how there are people who are hostile toward those whose sexuality/faith/culture/... are different to their own. So much fear without reason.
Glad you're back, Mich. Hope you've been well too!
Comment by Lara M
Love Speaks
Food Slate
Hope you're well.