Morality in the Movie Box

Dimension: Race

I just returned home from Miami and the American Black Film Festival (ABFF). A great festival with a lot of amazing talent on the horizon. We only walked out of one film because the plot twisted more than a pretzel and made absolutely no sense. We applauded many more for the characterization, cinematography and acting. Still, I and others were struck by the reoccurring themes of most of the films--incest, violence, drugs, closeted gay/lesbian lovers concomitant with devastating homophobia, and abortion. These are strong themes and I imagine filmmakers, (I am not one), look for strong themes to evoke feelings and emotions from their audiences. These themes do evoke feelings that unfortunately often work with the psyche to lead us to believe that violence, incest, and abuse are cultural norms in the black community.

One festival favorite, Blue, was loaded with violence and more murders than a season of The Sopranos. I liked the movie very much but was disturbed by the absence of any moral voice. The conflict that the characters experienced had nothing to do with right or wrong but more with their personalized ethical norms based on individual needs and wants. Maybe it was too much to ask for a little hint of universal morality...after all it was just a movie.

I found it ironic that the same audience gave a standing ovation to Pastor Brown, a likable but very predictable story of a family's redemption, particularly one character, a strip dancer with a theology degree (yes, there are strip dancers with divinity degrees; you must know a least two or three). She later contemplates taking over her father's large congregation in Atlanta which causes quite a stir and, of course, presents the basic conflict of the story. Pastor Brown had all of my favorite gospel songs and the audience had a virtual sing-a-long. Remind you...the same audience that applauded and laughed at the murders and cheered the numerous f..k you and m.f. (sorry I still can't even write out the words) of the previous films.

Pastor Brown evoked a great deal of emotion from the audience (my sister actually cried and my husband thought it was the best film of the festival). I must admit I am a little confused how we, as Blacks, can be the most religious folks (defined as church going) yet there seems to be a disconnect between the message and the themes that are so often applauded in other films and sadly has come to be known as characteristic of the black culture (I know it is in other cultures as well, but I am just talking about my people now).

Films tell a story--one that is often compartmentalized. But life is not neatly categorized in a genre and morality cannot be either.