DJANGO UNCHAINED

[The Griot]

We gave a Black Science Fiction film festival yesterday (Feb. 7) at Georgia Tech which was very successful (we've been invited back for next year). Afterwards we had a panel with the film creators. Steve Barnes was in attendance. One of our questions was 'With the success of Django Unchained, what do you think this will mean for future black films?' The discussion was lively, with  Steve sharing insights on the movie, but the consensus was overwhelming; everyone loved the movie.

[Reginald Hudlin]

Congrats on your event and Steven Barnes is The Man.

[The Griot]

Thanks, and yes he is. Y'all should get together and do Lion's Blood. Just sayin' 

[michaelintp]

When he shot Candie... I said, "Bravo, Dr. Schultz, Bravo!” He enjoyed it... savoring in the moment. 

Dr. Schultz, German? Jewish or Yiddish? lol

Dr. King...? lol

Dr. King Schultz was German. Certainly no suggestion he was Jewish from the way he spoke. However, here is an interesting tidbit:

Actor Christoph Waltz's first wife is Jewish. One of his sons is an Orthodox Jew studying in a yeshiva in Israel. I've read that the son is a rabbi.

[APEXABYSS]

 Cool, Chris is that dude! Yep, The Torah, Tanakh & Talmud can have that affect on people.  i can dig it!

[Metro]

Should there be more historical fiction in film?  Lincoln will certainly inspire more biopics about other presidents (didn't FDR have a film this year, too?).  A Washington film could be epic, but a Jefferson movie about his legacy would be as powerful as Lincoln was.

As for Django, I can't see how other filmmakers will follow up on Reg/Q's creativity.  The combination of blaxploitation/western is cool, but I'd like to see more like it developed through HBO or PBS.

Maybe the Wayans will do a compilation historical film spoof that attracts a PG-13 audience while raising important questions and new interpretations subtly between the slapstick jokes ... retrospective on films like Color Adjustment, Down in the Delta, Harlem Nights with elements of Hangover/Bridesmaids?   Could be a blockbuster...

[Battle]

Should there be more historical fiction in film?  Lincoln will certainly inspire more biopics about other presidents (didn't FDR have a film this year, too?).  A Washington film could be epic, but a Jefferson movie about his legacy would be as powerful as Lincoln was.

I agree, however, there are many, many  Hollywood movies out there that tell stories about our American Presidents.  Nick Nolte played President Jefferson in "Jefferson In Paris" for example, Thadie Newton played Sally Hemings.

[Metro]

I agree, however, there are many, many  Hollywood movies out there that tell stories about our American Presidents.  Nick Nolte played President Jefferson in "Jefferson In Paris" for example, Thadie Newton played Sally Hemings.

"Jefferson in Paris" was terrible on multiple levels.  Jefferson deserves more attention for his actual historical contributions (and limitations) rather than the nuances of his personal life.

[Battle]

I agree, however, there are many, many  Hollywood movies out there that tell stories about our American Presidents.  Nick Nolte played President Jefferson in "Jefferson In Paris" for example, Thadie Newton played Sally Hemings.

"Jefferson in Paris" was terrible on multiple levels.  Jefferson deserves more attention for his actual historical contributions (and limitations) rather than the nuances of his personal life.

Speaking of historical contributions, is it true that Jefferson's most common philanthropy he was noted for "...life, liberty & the pursuit of property. " was changed after the 1860s?

[Metro]

Speaking of historical contributions, is it true that Jefferson's most common philanthropy he was noted for "...life, liberty & the pursuit of property. " was changed after the 1860s?

Not sure what you mean by "philanthropy?"

He is often credited with adapting John Locke's ideas into the political formulation of "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence.  The evolution of "pursuit of happiness" into the Constitutional guarantee of the protection of private property is a longer story and involves hundreds of people (notably John Adams).

[Battle]

Speaking of historical contributions, is it true that Jefferson's most common philanthropy he was noted for "...life, liberty & the pursuit of property. " was changed after the 1860s?

Not sure what you mean by "philanthropy?"

He is often credited with adapting John Locke's ideas into the political formulation of "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence.

Disregard what I asked about the word "philanthropy"...

The evolution of "pursuit of happiness" into the Constitutional guarantee of the protection of private property is a longer story and involves hundreds of people (notably John Adams).

Tell the story here at HEF from your point-of-view. 

I'd love to read it.

[Metro]

You're most kind and gracious, Battle.

Here's a link to an interesting reading of primary sources that connect the popularity of the phrase "pursuit of happiness" to a fictional Abyssinia.

http://hnn.us/articles/46460.html


In addition, a very distinguished historian (Stanley Katz) discussed Jefferson's fixation on the protection of private property in an article titled "Thomas Jefferson and the Right to Property in Revolutionary America" (1976).

I'll try to excerpt it later and discuss the implications for understanding the Constitution today.

[Battle]

I'll try to excerpt it later and discuss the implications for understanding the Constitution today.

Thank you.

EDIT:  Ah!   Here we go!

From the article:

“The pursuit of happiness” is the most famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence. Conventional history and popular wisdom attribute the phrase to the genius of Thomas Jefferson when in an imaginative leap, he replaced the third term of John Locke’s trinity, “life, liberty, and property.”  It was a felicitous, even thrilling, substitution. Yet the true history and philosophical meaning of the famous phrase are apparently unknown.

In an article entitled “The Pursuit of Happiness,” posted at the Huffington Post July 4, 2007, Daniel Brook summed up what most of us learned in school: “The eighteenth-century British political philosopher John Locke wrote that governments are instituted to secure people's rights to ‘life, liberty, and property.’ And in 1776, Thomas Jefferson begged to differ. When he penned the Declaration of Independence, ratified on the Fourth of July, he edited out Locke's right to ‘property’ and substituted his own more broad-minded, distinctly American concept: the right to ‘the pursuit of happiness.’ "

[The Griot]

If we're talking about historical fiction, how about Frederick Douglass? A man born in slavery and who became one of the greatest abolitionists and orators in America? And nobody has done a good movie about Harriet Tubman yet. Talking about exciting if done the right way. Tons of stuff hiding in plain sight.

[Battle]

If we're talking about historical fiction, how about Frederick Douglass? A man born in slavery and who became one of the greatest abolitionists and orators in America? And nobody has done a good movie about Harriet Tubman yet. Talking about exciting if done the right way. Tons of stuff hiding in plain sight.

I know, right?

I remember just a few weeks ago, that there was some criticism about the historical accuracy in the biographical motion picture, "Lincoln",  that Conneticut politicians didn't agree to abolish the 13th amendment at all but none of those critics bothered to mention in the movie the absense of Fredrick Douglass,  a former slave that recruited Blacks for the Union army and who was also President Lincoln's main confidant. 

How do you tell this story without him?  Where is the outrage there?

Oh, TheGriot, I agree...   we've got a lotta stories in Hollywood to tell that are hiding in plain sight.   The best is yet to come!