I have not seen any of Charles Burnett's movies yet (did see some clips from I think To Sleep With Anger in a doc about indie film). His movies sounds interesting. On the To Watch list. Here is a little bit of an interview from Sense of Cinema, published in '03, with Burnett, conducted by Nelson Kim:
" CB: Hollywood has this psychology—there's this whole plantation mentality where it's all about power and someone trying to impose their values on you. It's nuts, they'll tell you how to tell stories about people they never really came into contact with. Executives, story readers, development executives don't interact with people other than their kind so how would they know what's acceptable to people of color? It is not about and never has been about supplying a diverse look at life. It is all from and for a white audience. And because of that fact this group of people who determines what the world sees have no idea, not a clue as to reality. It is a product of arrogance and power. Input from you is viewed as a personal attack. If you try to go beyond stereotypes and reflect real people who share the same concerns as everyone else, you're told that your characters aren't “black” enough, or to use more curse words because the language isn't “real” enough. You have to have drugs and gangsters. Some person who saw To Sleep With Anger said, “I didn't know that black people had washing machines!”..."
Read the rest here, very interesting.
- Sujewa
" CB: Hollywood has this psychology—there's this whole plantation mentality where it's all about power and someone trying to impose their values on you. It's nuts, they'll tell you how to tell stories about people they never really came into contact with. Executives, story readers, development executives don't interact with people other than their kind so how would they know what's acceptable to people of color? It is not about and never has been about supplying a diverse look at life. It is all from and for a white audience. And because of that fact this group of people who determines what the world sees have no idea, not a clue as to reality. It is a product of arrogance and power. Input from you is viewed as a personal attack. If you try to go beyond stereotypes and reflect real people who share the same concerns as everyone else, you're told that your characters aren't “black” enough, or to use more curse words because the language isn't “real” enough. You have to have drugs and gangsters. Some person who saw To Sleep With Anger said, “I didn't know that black people had washing machines!”..."
Read the rest here, very interesting.
- Sujewa
