Films on Race Relations

I remember seeing that one - I thought it was excellent.

No kidding?

James McDaniels, Lt. Fancy from NYPD Blue, starred in a movie I caught on cable awhile back about an African-American educator teaching at a high school on an Indian reservation. It was very interesting, exploring the culture and the pitfalls of the people and how he relates to them, and vice versa. This is a movie that littlek would like for her teaching library, i believe.

Edge of America

I'm pretty sure (not entirely) that Amigo is taking about the stereotypes of the day. Not using them for his argument. In other words, he knows (I think) that black men aren't necessarily all well hung. At the same time, he knows that white society generally thought they were. Another generalization is that all women like well-hung men. Not true either. But, again, it's a stereotype.

I think that given that Superfly was novel (not sure anything like it existed before), I'd say it was a good thing. All the other blacksploitation movies that came after have no good excuse.

And thanks for the newly added titles!

Here's hoping that's the case little k but, it sounded to me like he's swallowed the stereotypes, hook, line and sinker.

Here's my final question for Amigo...
Are you talking about the original movie made in 1971 by Melvin Van Peebles or the "Making of" documentary done in 2003 by his son Mario Van Peebles?

I can't believe y'all went seven pages without a mention of the Academy Award winner two years ago "Crash." Although I found it emotionally gripping in certain scenes and situations, I thought it was overrated as far as exposing the current state of racism. It was really another experimentation based on Altman's "Short Cuts" which came off to better effect in "Magnolia."

You're right. How did we not mention Crash? But we are talking film for school-age kids and that movie was pretty heavy at certain points so...

You did qualify it was elementary schools kids but there's not much out there that is appropriate, even though those kids are now pretty precocious. I think "Crash" would communicate more to say, junior high school kids to high school. However, it is rated "R." There's been more films accused of being racist aimed at that age bracket, beginning with "The Three Caballeros."
"The Defiant Ones" is likely over-the-edge for the elementary crowd but also a powerful film. "In the Heat of the Night" is one of the best but could the young ones even be able to approach that film?

"West Side Story." I'd like to add "Bronx Tales" but the language is much too raw for high schoolers even. If I were a teacher, i wouldn't show it.

I guess you could say that the Kung Fu series is about race relations, along with a lot of annoying mumbo-jumbo.

I could never see the racism complaint towards "The Three Caballeros," my favorite Disney short and the first to combine animation with live action. It's something to do with the José Carioca and Donald Duck, I guess.

that's why i didn't mention it

I googled "movies on race", then I went through the very long list that appeared, and picked out just the ones I have seen myself, believed had a significant message related to race relations, and could still remember clearly enough to comment on…

American History X, 1998 - Edward Norton undergoes a change from skinhead to caring citizen through his experiences in prison. Says some good stuff about the universality of human experience.

Bamboozled, 2000 - Spike Lee bitterly parodies the entertainment industry. A pair of black men in black face make a show they believe to be a ridiculous minstrel show just to make a point, but it ends up being a national hit.

Barbershop, 2002 - Ice Cube surprised me by showing a black community that was not monolithic in its politics or culture, and he did it with style and humor.

Brian's Song, 1971 - The true story of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers - running backs for the Chicago Bears in the 1960's, and friends across racial boundaries

A Bronx Tale, 1993 - DeNiro's directing debut. Realistically shows the absurdity of race hatred, and how love is blind.

Crash, 2005 - I thought it had many useful glimpses at race relations in modern America.

Cry Freedom, 1987 - About Steven Biko, a freedom fighter in apartheid-torn South Africa (Kevin Kline plays too large a role, IMO)

Dances with Wolves, 1990 - The first time I saw Native Americans treated with respect cinematically. Made me like Kevin Costner.

Do the Right Thing, 1989 - Spike Lee tries to look down the barrel of raw race hatred from different perspectives.

Driving Miss Daisy, 1989 - A lot of people thought Morgan Freeman was "selling out" to play this part, but I liked the aspect of the movie about lasting friendships.

Finding Forrester, 2000 - This is a powerful and moving movie about stereotypes, and using potential, and friendship, told in the story of the unlikely friendship that develops between a reclusive writer and a precocious black teenager.

Glory, 1989 - One of my favorites - made me feel a little more part of America.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 1967 - A little naïve I thought (even after re-watching it recently), but a real attempt at saying something useful about why we should all just "get along".

Hotel Rwanda, 2004 - The Rwandan tragedy as seen by a courageous hotel man. The worst kind of racism leads to genocide.

I, Robot, 2004 - I thought this movie dealt with racism in a fresh way - this time, the "others" are robots.

In the Heat of the Night, 1988 - Sidney Poitier was still pioneering new ground with this portrayal of an unbending and determined black detective in racist southern America in the 60's.

Jungle Fever, 1991 - Interesting commentary by Spike Lee on curiosity about the "other race".

Malcolm X, 1992 - Important story about an undisputed American Icon.

Othello, 1995 - the portrayal by Lawrence Fishburne is excellent. The jealousy and hatred of Iago may or may not be race related, but there is definitely intrigue around the interracial thing between Othello and Desdemona.

A Patch of Blue, 1965 - A beautiful story - a struggling blind white girl helped by a black man who is a professional in NYC.

A Soldier's Story, 1984 - A famous play made into a movie. One of Denzel's first screen appearances, and a good military story about race.

To Sir with Love, 1966 - One o' my favorites - makes me cry every time. Poitier being almost too godd to be true as a teacher in a rough English school.

White Man's Burden, 1995 - An ironic look at race in a parallel universe, where whites are the oppressed minority.

Zebrahead, 1992 - Oliver Stone does a look at interracial dating - interesting.

All of these I thought had potential usefulness if someone was trying to convey some meaning about race relations to youngsters. It is a matter of personal choice about which ones would be too strong, or inappropriate.

Hotel Rwanda! It took me years to face that movie, I would show it to upper high schoolers, maybe. But, snood, thanks for coming and putting the time and thought into your compilation.

we should watch 'Sometimes in April' - which is even better than Hotel Rwanda. And I have the "Last Just Man" documentary on Romeo Dallaire, the general of the UNAMIR in Rwanda and his struggle with the UN and the U.S... It's a sad commentary on global racism. I think that would also be suitable for higher grades (maybe 8th grade only, or high school).

http://www.hrw.org/iff/2002/traveling/last-index.html

Snood, which movies on your list would you show to children in elementary school? High school?

Go by the ratings -- I don't think there's a GP in that list and I don't know if anything mentioned on this thread would be elementary school level but several would be high school level. Maybe this is an implausible question? There aren't really any GP movies that approach racism.

Probably none to Elementary, 'cause I don't think they would understand or appreciate the wisdom there, generally. I'd show all but a couple to High Schoolers - I probably wouldn't show Jungle Fever to them, for instance - just because the attention might be on the prurient part...

sure there are......... somewhere.

Don't limit yourself to "Hollywood" films. There are plenty of documentaries out there, especially ones produced by PBS, that are quite suitable for young kids. The PBS ones often also have teacher's guides to be used in conjunction with the documentary.

It is the film forum, not the TV forum, the parameters of the question have been enlarged to take in high school, and this could include at least the last grade of junior high school, of films which would benefit by seeing a lot of the films on snood's list. I tried to search in Google for films addressing racism for elementary school and found none. IMDb's search engine is not always reliable but I think I'll try a Google "search this site."