When I first saw the trailer for Red Tails I was more focused on the handsome black men in the movie than anything else. I was not concerned with the meaning behind the movie or what this movie was going to mean for the future of black entertainment in Hollywood . Even though I have grown up in the United States, the first time I heard about the Tuskegee airmen was during a conversation with a fellow Organization of Black Students member in college. My dad, who is Nigerian and my mom who is Mexican probably do not know who these men are and if they did, they would not see or feel the importance they had to the African American community.
However, my opinions about this movie began to change as I started reading article after article claiming seeing Red Tails is about supporting African Americans, especially African American men and black people in the movie industry. Then I ran across this article on Clutch.com, that that brought up numerous issues with black women supporting these issues. While some of them were a little out there, I felt the discussion that was taking place was a reversal of what we have seen in past generations of black women. One commentator stated that there is no reason why we as black women should support black men when they never support us. As someone who goes back and forth with their ideas of black men, this resonated with me. It also made me think of the black power movement where we saw numerous black women support black men in the name of black empowerment, sacrificing their own notoriety, safety, and pain for a greater cause.
While one movie should not equate to the entire black power movement, I think the fact that our current generation of women does not feel a necessary loyalty to black men even for the smallest causes, speaks volumes about who we are becoming as a race and as people. Another commentator said that none of the black men in the movie would even be caught dead with a black women, which was a sting for me, but something I thought about and contemplated in regards to me going to see other movies. While I will do another post on my feelings towards interracial relationships this is about everything Red Tails was supposed to embody and whether or not I should support it
The school I work at was able to have our entire network of schools go see the movie for free, so I was excited to go see if this would be a movie I would actually enjoy watching in the theatres. During the movie I felt that if this movie was supposed to empower the black movie industry, then I think it has failed to do so. My first issue with the movie is the poor acting and directing and lack of emotion. If this story is supposed to capture the racism, the problems, the issues, the pain the Tuskegee Airmen experienced while fighting in World War II, then they have failed miserably. If this movie was supposed to provide a basis for teaching younger and future generations about their history, then they have failed. I am 23 years old and I was bored by the movie. I was bored and put off by the minstrel acting and the Star Wars directing. After leaving the theatre I continued feeling like I was missing something. I was missing the backstory and the history as to why these men decided to come fight in World War II. How was the military different, how was it better or the same? I just continued questioning what was the point.
On the surface, I am happy I did not personally pay to go see Red Tails for the sheer fact that the movie is not my kind of movie and I thought the script sucked. The actors lacked depth and emotion and the directing was semi-questionable. Some storylines were not essential to advancing the plot and I question some of the decision-making. However, I am sad that I am forced to feel like a traitor for not supporting black cinema when in reality I do not think everything black needs to have my dollar going towards it, especially considering the movie was made by a white man who will be receiving most of my money anyway. There is also something to say for the fact that just because it is black does not mean that it can be second rate. African Americans deserve depth and character development, not to mention a real story line. In some ways, settling for Red Tails to make a point about the future of black cinema is really settling as a people, don’t you think?
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