Red Tails: A Review

So, I saw the movie.

Once more, George Lucas has done the impossible.

This time, he has taken a story and legacy fraught with tension and complexity; drama and pathos; heroism and patriotism and rendered it pedestrian and banal.

The Queen is now ready to be marched to the Gallows by the African American community.

Lucas said that he wanted to make a story for fourteen-year-old boys. Well most fourteen-year-old boys that I know like a little plot, and character development to go along with their fight scenes. To be fair, I do think the plot and execution could be summed up as a middle-schooler’s hastily-created-the-night-before book report:

“It’s about the Tuskegee Airmen. They were black. They didn’t let them fight in the war. Then they did. The white soldiers didn’t like them, but then the Airmen saved them. So then the white soldiers liked them. And they got a lot of medals. The End.”

Also to be fair, Lucas is only the Executive Producer of Red Tails. That is to say, the one who gets the money from all the black people that he coerced into seeing this by basically saying that if we don’t, then the Future of Colored Cinema is at stake. The fact that it was directed and written by three brilliant black artists, Anthony Hemmingway (Treme, The Wire) John Ridley (Three Kings) and( Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks) is even more bewildering.

I could literally write a dissertation on why Red Tails fails first as a piece of cinema, and second as a fitting tribute to the heroes it claims to honor; but Wesley Morris (who will be joining me on the march to the hangman’s noose) does an excellent job articulating many of the issues I have with the piece. However, there are a couple of points I would like to make. If I didn’t, what sort of opinionated Gay would I be?

• If you know little or nothing of the history of the Tuskegee Airmen before seeing the movie, you will not learn more by watching it. Despite the countless examples of exposition replacing badly needed action, the literary device is poorly used in telling us why this unit was formed.
• Mr. Lucas apparently never shared with Mr. Hemmingway, Mr. Ridley and Mr. McGruder the reason that all good stories in general, and Star Wars in particular work: strong characters whom we care about. Instead of rich, complex characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, we get yet another set of one-dimensional archetypical black men.
• A story that is based on systemic racism barely explores it in any substantive way—preferring instead to paint it in broad, primary colors. According to the movie, all you gotta do is save one white boy’s ass, and suddenly all white boys will respect and “get” you.

In the spirit of full disclosure, there were a couple of times when the audience with whom I saw the movie cheered lustily and loudly…and even clapped at the end. I, however, am enough of a Pompous Arts Snob to declare the response Pavlovian in nature: my people will clap for anything that has one of us in it.

I hope that the film does very well. I want the major studios to clamor for black movies. That way I can pitch a film that really tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen. A story of fathers and sons, husbands and lovers, brothers and uncles, which actually explores what it’s like to show true courage in the face of blinding adversity.

You can take me away now, bitches.

Courage Has No Color

The Queen is going to be very candid with you:

Regardless of the hopeful and ebullient way he may seem to approach life, he is quite jaded. It is hard to find black males past the age of, say, ten who aren’t.

In interviews for his movie, George Lucas has talked about how difficult it was to get Red Tails made. No major studio would back it because it had no bankable stars who were White. He had to use much of his own money to get it produced.

I truly appreciate Mr. Lucas’ efforts, and believe his reasons for making this film are grounded in respect and sincerity. I plan on supporting it during it’s first weekend to do my part in affecting box office gross. But I couldn’t help thinking to myself as I watched his interview with Jon Stewart: “That’s all very well and good–you husky, sexy silver bear–but the bottom line is that you hope to make a lot of money off of this.” It’s still a white person profiting from the story of another culture.

The bottom line, however, is that I’m supporting this film for its subject matter. The Tuskegee Airmen are legendary heroes in the African American Community, and deserve a place in the collective consciousness of America. Just as they blazed trails over the skies of Europe, they did so in the hearts and minds of a people desperate to believe in their worth and patriotism.

It is no secret that the Black community and American culture in general has struggled with gay people. The nation as a whole is grappling with issues of equality, choice and acceptance when it comes to homosexuality. However, the Black culture in particular seems to lean farther to the right than most. Of the thousand or so Airmen who earned their wings, some of them HAD to be gay. I have often wondered what additional strength they had to draw from in order to deal with both racism and homophobia?

I know I come from a legacy of people who faced severe adversity, and triumphed. Yet I know that there is much to do. I pray that we as African Americans–and more importantly: as simply Americans–can honor these heroes by courageously blazing new trails of acceptance and understanding.

They needed another Diva in that Great Jazz Band In The Sky

Thank you Ms. James. For everything.