Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwyer
You didn't really miss out on anything.
The first episode was interesting but the second episode was just a 2
hour display of low level human behavior from both of the races.
Kunta Kinte is portrayed as having a full blown eye for an eye, tooth
for a tooth, Islamic Mandinka Warrior complex, and encourages his young
daughter's male house slave friend to harbor thoughts of murder and
revenge against their masters. It is mentioned that Kunta's young
daughter, Kizzy, is an Atheist.
The entire Plantation white family, except perhaps their young daughter
who befriends Kizzy, is portrayed as mean, petty, adulterous, and cruel.
Fiddler was perhaps the only decent character but in the end even he can't forgive those who have trespassed against him.
The whole emphasis and message of this version of the Roots story is not
a good one; so far it's all about vengeance and hate for the other and I
don't think I'm going to spend much more time watching it.
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A few things.
The role of Islam was ambiguous. A lot of times Muslims were go-betweens
retailing captured pagan slaves to whites, other times Muslims were
sold by other Africans. Almost never did whites venture to the interior
to capture slaves.
As for idea that Kunta would not be whipped until he renounced his name
because he was "valuable property" -- balderdash. As a fresh from Africa
slave it was especially important to break him. Keep in mind also that
slaveholders knew just how much punishment they could inflict without
doing permanent damage.
As for being set on revenge, I would describe it as keeping alive their
dream of freedom. And why would the slaves forgive? The masters
certainly don't feel bound by Christian morals and they used
Christianity as a weapon of oppression.
As for showing white people as evil, why not? A lot of them were. A lot
of them tried to be kindly but were still part of an evil system and
they could turn on a dime if they felt offended by a slave, i.e. one who
didn't keep up the keep up the pretense of being part of a happy
family.
Tom Lea, on the other end of the spectrum was probably not typical but also not unrealistic.
Besides, by my reckoning it would be perfectly moral to for anyone to kill anyone who tried to enslave him. "Live free or die."
A lot of things totally unrealistic:
All the slaves hanging around their cabins during the daytime. Slaves
worked sunup to sundown six days a week, sometimes a half-day on
Sundays.
Kizzy would not of been allowed to be friends with the white girl past the age of 6-8.
All the shouting and shoving matches between masters or overseers &
slaves. No backtalk would be tolerated and no slave who laid hands on a
white person would be killed or sold away.
The massacre of black Union soldiers; there were only a couple such
incidents during the war although they often were given "no quarter"
during the fighting.
I'd like to find "The African" the book Alex Haley plagiarized to write Roots.
Jun 3, '16, 3:58 am
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by didymus
A few things.
The role of Islam was ambiguous. A lot of times Muslims were go-betweens
retailing captured pagan slaves to whites, other times Muslims were
sold by other Africans. Almost never did whites venture to the interior
to capture slaves.
As for idea that Kunta would not be whipped until he renounced his name
because he was "valuable property" -- balderdash. As a fresh from Africa
slave it was especially important to break him. Keep in mind also that
slaveholders knew just how much punishment they could inflict without
doing permanent damage.
As for being set on revenge, I would describe it as keeping alive their
dream of freedom. And why would the slaves forgive? The masters
certainly don't feel bound by Christian morals and they used
Christianity as a weapon of oppression.
As for showing white people as evil, why not? A lot of them were. A lot
of them tried to be kindly but were still part of an evil system and
they could turn on a dime if they felt offended by a slave, i.e. one who
didn't keep up the keep up the pretense of being part of a happy
family.
Tom Lea, on the other end of the spectrum was probably not typical but also not unrealistic.
Besides, by my reckoning it would be perfectly moral to for anyone to kill anyone who tried to enslave him. "Live free or die."
A lot of things totally unrealistic:
All the slaves hanging around their cabins during the daytime. Slaves
worked sunup to sundown six days a week, sometimes a half-day on
Sundays.
Kizzy would not of been allowed to be friends with the white girl past the age of 6-8.
All the shouting and shoving matches between masters or overseers &
slaves. No backtalk would be tolerated and no slave who laid hands on a
white person would be killed or sold away.
The massacre of black Union soldiers; there were only a couple such
incidents during the war although they often were given "no quarter"
during the fighting.
I'd like to find "The African" the book Alex Haley plagiarized to write Roots.
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True.
Slavery is an evil which still exists today.
No amount of whitewashing will make it moral or good.
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Jun 3, '16, 5:22 am
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
One thing, I'm curious how they got away with
staging the cockfighting scenes what with all the animal rights groups
on the lookout.
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Jun 4, '16, 10:57 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomerang
There is a remake of "Roots" coming out.
Stories like these make for interesting entertainment, but old wounds
never heal when they are constantly picked at. There have been a lot of
slavery movies and TV lately. This can't help but to foster more
feelings of guilt and resentment and that is not healthy for a society.
At some point you have to let go of the 'bad old days' and move on.
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I like Snoop Dog's take on this remake and other movies about
slavery. I don't have the link but I am sure you can find it. Something
like we need to be looking at achievements by African Americans today
and not feeling victimized by the past.
__________________
You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb.
(13) when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was
there----you saw me before I was born. (15) ~~~Psalm 139
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Jun 13, '16, 6:35 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomerang
There is a remake of "Roots" coming out.
Stories like these make for interesting entertainment, but old wounds
never heal when they are constantly picked at. There have been a lot of
slavery movies and TV lately. This can't help but to foster more
feelings of guilt and resentment and that is not healthy for a society.
At some point you have to let go of the 'bad old days' and move on.
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So we simply stop talking about history because it might make people feel uncomfortable?
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Jun 13, '16, 6:46 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gracepoole
So we simply stop talking about history because it might make people feel uncomfortable?
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There is a fine line between learning history, which appeals to
the intellect, and sensationalizing it, which appeals directly to the
emotions and encourages hatred and violence. As I recall, the first time
Roots was broadcast, there were many instances of gangs of blacks
assaulting whites at random while screaming "Roots! Roots!" We already
had one Roots. Do we really need another? We have also recently had
"Twelve Years a Slave" which was nothing but torture porn in my opinion.
The violence depicted in that film wasn't even in the book, it was just
added for gratuitous sensationalism. This is way beyond simply learning
history.
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Jun 13, '16, 6:56 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomerang
There is a fine line between learning
history, which appeals to the intellect, and sensationalizing it, which
appeals directly to the emotions and encourages hatred and violence. As I
recall, the first time Roots was broadcast, there were many instances
of gangs of blacks assaulting whites at random while screaming "Roots!
Roots!" We already had one Roots. Do we really need another? We have
also recently had "Twelve Years a Slave" which was nothing but torture
porn in my opinion. The violence depicted in that film wasn't even in
the book, it was just added for gratuitous sensationalism. This is way
beyond simply learning history.
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This approach dismisses in total the value of fictional accounts
of historic events. One might read a history of any period of suffering
and oppression. Doing so would certainly provide a factual education. In
contrast, however, fiction helps to make meaning of history. The same
is true in film.
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Jun 14, '16, 1:15 am
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gracepoole
This approach dismisses in total the
value of fictional accounts of historic events. One might read a history
of any period of suffering and oppression. Doing so would certainly
provide a factual education. In contrast, however, fiction helps to make
meaning of history. The same is true in film.
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Did "Noah" or "The Last Temptation of Christ" help make meaning of
Holy Scripture? History and fiction are not compatible. Sorry.
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Jun 14, '16, 7:47 am
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomerang
Did "Noah" or "The Last Temptation of
Christ" help make meaning of Holy Scripture? History and fiction are not
compatible. Sorry.
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So the entire genre of historical fiction should be eliminated...
You're going to have to do away with memoir, too, since it incorporates
figurative language. So there goes texts like Elie Wiesel's Night,
which by Wiesel's own admission includes partially fictionalized
content. Survivors of atrocities clearly shouldn't write and share their
own testimonies then. All because, as you've claimed, those not
discussed in such texts/films might feel uncomfortable.
Again, meaning isn't created in a historical treatise. Names, dates, and
factual accounts don't assist readers in understanding the human
quality of events or in placing themselves in another human's shoes. To
do away with fictionalized accounts entirely is to place history out of
cognitive and emotional reach of all future generations.
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Jun 14, '16, 11:47 am
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gracepoole
So the entire genre of historical fiction
should be eliminated... You're going to have to do away with memoir,
too, since it incorporates figurative language. So there goes texts like
Elie Wiesel's Night, which by Wiesel's own admission includes
partially fictionalized content. Survivors of atrocities clearly
shouldn't write and share their own testimonies then. All because, as
you've claimed, those not discussed in such texts/films might feel
uncomfortable.
Again, meaning isn't created in a historical treatise. Names, dates, and
factual accounts don't assist readers in understanding the human
quality of events or in placing themselves in another human's shoes. To
do away with fictionalized accounts entirely is to place history out of
cognitive and emotional reach of all future generations.
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Go ahead and read fictionalized accounts of historical events if
it makes you happy. It doesn't make me happy. I want to know what really happened. Not someone's juiced up version of it.
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Jun 14, '16, 12:00 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomerang
Go ahead and read fictionalized accounts
of historical events if it makes you happy. It doesn't make me happy. I
want to know what really happened. Not someone's juiced up version of it.
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Then you'll be educated about events but not why they matter.
'Cause you won't make meaning of those events by reading history books.
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Jun 14, '16, 12:00 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomerang
There is a remake of "Roots" coming out.
Stories like these make for interesting entertainment, but old wounds
never heal when they are constantly picked at. There have been a lot of
slavery movies and TV lately. This can't help but to foster more
feelings of guilt and resentment and that is not healthy for a society.
At some point you have to let go of the 'bad old days' and move on.
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Really! So what are you saying? Just forget history, don't teach
it or watch movies that depict it? This is the one piece of history
(slavery) we should not forget. We must never forget the stain of
slavery. You can never loose site or let go of the bad old days. I'm
glad this movie is out. The African American experience in this country
has never been fully depicted. I say, more, more, more of these kinds of
movies.
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Jun 14, '16, 4:29 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by seaton2005
Really! So what are you saying? Just
forget history, don't teach it or watch movies that depict it? This is
the one piece of history (slavery) we should not forget. We must never
forget the stain of slavery. You can never loose site or let go of the
bad old days. I'm glad this movie is out. The African American
experience in this country has never been fully depicted. I say, more,
more, more of these kinds of movies.
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Did I say to just forget history? Did I? No, I did not. I am
saying that incessantly sensationalizing an already sensational past
only fuels the flames of hatred. Do you really think there is not an
undercurrent of hatred in this country? Just read the news! Take a look
at this article from "The Root":
Quote:
Hello, white people. Thanks for stopping by and reading!
As many of you may already know, during the Memorial Day holiday, the
History Channel began airing a four-part remake of Roots*—the iconic
miniseries tracing a black family’s history starting in West Africa,
through American chattel slavery and up to the present day. As you can
imagine, watching a depiction of the centuries-long capture,
enslavement, rape, displacement, torture and murder of our ancestors can
be a pretty harrowing and emotional experience for black people. And
I can imagine that the fact that this capture, enslavement, rape,
displacement, torture and murder was done at the behest of some of your
ancestors is probably quite awkward, especially when you’re interacting with your black co-workers the morning after a Roots episode.
With this in mind, I’ve decided to give you a helpful guide on exactly how to do this.
Just don’t. This is the safest bet. Of course, we (black people) are not
stupid. While the effects of slavery linger—and probably always will in
America—we realize that the events depicted in the story happened
hundreds of years ago. We also realize that you don’t own any slaves and
that there’s even a chance that none of your ancestors did, either.
Again, we know this.
But the morning after we just watched Kunta get his foot chopped off …
or whipped into accepting “Toby” as his name … or have his daughter sold
away is not the best time to ask us about when we’re going to finish
that late TPS report. Or stop past the cubicle to ask about Memorial Day
weekend. Or send us a Paperless Post invitation to your family’s annual
deep-woods potluck. Or use the word “picnic” in any context.
Because while we are very aware that you personally didn’t do any of what happened, there’s
somewhere between a 47 and 92 percent chance that Roots-watching
residue might make us hate white people for the next 24 to 144 hours. So
it’s in everyone’s best interest if you just keep your distance for a
little while. Maybe even use a few of those paid-time-off days and come
back to work when we’re not fantasizing about choke-slamming overseers.
(And yes, since none of us personally know any overseers, the
protagonist in those fantasies may very well be you.)
If you must interact, don’t bring up or reference Roots. Or 12 Years a
Slave. Or slavery as an institution. Or racism. Or Clarence Thomas. Or …
you get my point.
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The black author of this post is admitting that watching "Roots", "12
Years a Slave", "Django Unchained", etc, etc, etc, makes black people hate
white people. And he admits the hatred is irrational. He knows white
people today are not responsible for slavery, yet that hatred is fanned
like pouring gasoline on a fire. There is no learning history going on
here with these kinds of movies. There is only fanning the flames of
hate and resentment. The scenes he refers to ("we just watched Kunta get
his foot chopped off" and "whipped into accepting “Toby” as his name")
are works of fiction. Slavery was real. These inflammatory
stories are fiction designed not to educate, but for generating ratings
and revenue. I do not want anyone to be forced to tiptoe around angry
black people because they just got done watching "Django Unchained." Do
you?
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Jun 14, '16, 4:31 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gracepoole
Then you'll be educated about events but
not why they matter. 'Cause you won't make meaning of those events by
reading history books.
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My, aren't we presumptuous? 
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Jun 14, '16, 4:42 pm
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Re: Anybody watch Roots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomerang
My, aren't we presumptuous? |
Not at all. Just educated on the different functions of different forms of writing and their different outcomes.
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