Racist
themes, images found in ‘Brother’
Sabrina Parker
Student Columnist
>
February 16, 2001
Are you
a proud Southerner who can find humor in the Jim Crow South? I made
the mistake of going to see an exciting and entertaining blend of high
adventure, humor and heartfelt emotion starring George Clooney, and
found out, too late, that I was in the wrong theater.
Close your
eyes and place yourself in Mississippi in the 1930’s. What do you
see yourself doing? Are you wearing a big party gown or an old-time
suit with a pocket watch, attending a bluegrass concert and sipping
lemonade?
Maybe you see yourself on the less relaxing side of Mississippi under
Jim Crow laws, where lynch mobs kill black people in the middle of the
night and no punishment will be given for the deaths or beatings of
your family and friends.
O’Brother, Where Art Thou? Is a “comedy” based on Homer’s
Odyssey set in Mississippi during the 1930’s. It takes the audience
through a useless search for hidden loot led by Clooney (convicted for
practicing law without a license) who brings along his two severely
less intelligent chain gang buddies (John Turturro and Tim Nelson).
These three escape from prison and start on their journey where they
meet an old black man (I mean, “blind prophet”) pushing something
like a cart along the railroad who tells them “You will find a
fortune but not the fortune you seek.”
He forecasts
their entire journey down to the final scene of the film. They begin
to worry about his prophecy when Clooney’s character reminds his
buddies that they were listening to a blind “Negro” insinuating
that his information can’t be but so helpful “what does he
know?”
Okay I’ll
let the disrespect of black people’s opinions (or prophecies) go
because the convict’s response was historically accurate, but not
amusing.
Did I forget to mention that this movie is not only a comedy; it’s
a musical too. Several scenes were full of feet tapping bluegrass and
gospel songs. Apparently, nearly everyone can sing and fiddle in Mississippi.
As I began to figure out that this was the wrong film for me, it got
worse. The three amigos peek over a bush and find a choreographed Ku
Klux Klan rally in progress. This part is supposed to be amusing too,
because of the theatrical aspect — behind in my KKK research, I
missed the humor in this scene also. How was I to know the Klan doesn’t
march in formations? Not only was it not funny, it was longer than most
others. We watched the Klan dance and sing, then listened to an inspirational
message from the Grand Wizard (or whoever wears red) while the three
convicts beat up three Klansmen and stole their robes in order to save
their Negro friend’s life.
Oh yeah, earlier in the movie, they found a black guy who had just sold
his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar
flawlessly. Whatever. So here he is again, about to get lynched, hung,
or burned by the KKK and they interrupt the process by dropping a burning
cross on the KKK, but no one catches on fire. At this point in the movie
you realize that every white person they have met thus far, Chief of
Police, the Governor, a bible salesman and others are all members of
the Ku Klux Klan. Isn’t that funny?
Trying to explain this movie reminds me of how pointless it was, but
I’ll continue. The convicts along with their black buddy are a
huge singing group in Mississippi called the Soggy Bottom Boys, but
they don’t know it because they have no radio and are clearly on
the run. They recorded a song for another blind man and he gave them
a few bucks, then the song became very popular and no one knew what
they looked like or who the Soggy Bottom Boys were until the night of
the Klan rally.
After saving
their friend, the guys go to some meeting and perform their hit song,
the crowd goes wild and the Governor pardons them when he finds out
they are escapees.
Okay, the movie has several sub-plots, like Clooney’s character
is really trying to get his wife and seven daughters back and there
is no hidden money. There’s also a hateful prison warden chasing
them through the movie who catches one of the dumb guys, but the other
two go back and break him out again. I can say that the movie was not
funny, but some scenes did make me laugh.
Overall I would have to say that this movie was clearly geared towards
a certain audience that I am proud not to be a member of. They should
put a disclaimer on the door of the theater: These jokes may not be
worth the time for non-Bluegrass fans who do not enjoy images of the
Ku Klux Klan, references to lynching or pleasantries from the Jim Crow
South at all.
If you do decide to view this cinematic delight bring your Country Grammar
manual along — you’ll need it.
