hey guys how are you doing I am good
thank you so much for asking hey hi it's
me Kim so obviously I'm gonna be talking
about Green Book last weekend Green Book
won the Academy Award for Best Picture
it also won an Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and
the Academy Award for Best Original
Screenplay that was weird anyway I like
to be fair I had already decided a green
book was a piece of trash before I'd
even seen it I'd only seen the trailer
and I saw clips and I saw interviews
with the filmmakers and the writer and
the star and they were so off-putting
but I like to be fair so yesterday I
watched this movie on bootleg yes I did
and I wanted to answer for myself the
question of is this movie as bad as
everybody says it is the answer is yeah
yeah it is let's talk about why okay so
opening scenes of films matter they
matter they're very important
they provide the context they situate us
in a world they tell us who to focus on
who we should invest our energy in and
the first 20 to 25 minutes of green book
are all about tony the white italian man
from new york we see his family we see
where he works we see more about his
personality we see that Tony lip is a
rough rapscallion Italian man from New
York probably Brooklyn because
everybody's from Brooklyn in these
movies and he has a temper he loves to
fight and we also see that Tony is
racist in those first 20 to 25 minutes
of a movie called green book we see
about two to three minutes of the black
man that's weird that's a little strange
this movie is called Green Book so why
are we barely barely seeing Don Shirley
in the first 25 minutes that's almost a
quarter of the film an important fact
that green book establishes early on is
that Tony Vallelonga and his community
of Italians somewhere in New York
probably Brooklyn are racist now we know
the racist because Tony is sleeping and
some plumbers come to his house and when
those plumbers come over while he's
sleeping a group of Italian man I guess
his wife's family they come because they
cannot trust two n-words "moulians"
which does not really mean eggplant or
does it mean another word okay I don't I
don't believe the little subtitle
says eggplant and maybe that's the
literal translation but that's not what
that word really means you know I've
watched enough Eddie Murphy stand-up
specials to know they're so racist that
Tony's wife lets the men drink out of
cups that he owns and he immediately
sees that they're drinking out of his
cups and later he takes those two
glasses and he puts them in the trash
that is how racist Tony Vallelonga is
and that's the foundation that we're
setting for this movie called Green Book
that is our foundation I also have to
say that a trope early on in this film
is Tony's a rabid racist and the
men in the family are racist but the
wife is magically not racist
she loves black people she even lets
them drink out of her glasses that is a
trope that we see in a lot of these
movies where the white women are
magically not racist but it's just the
men who are the nasty races finally we
do get a little bit of Mahershala Ali as
Don Shirley I have to say Mahershala Ali is just so attractive he's such a
good actor he's such a star I'm not mad
at him I have a lot of questions about
this screenplay that's why I am most
perplexed by that Best Original
Screenplay Oscar because the writing of
this movie is not it's not it's just
it's not
the first question that I wrote down was
they use in this movie the words black
and Negro and colored interchangeably
and that is not historically accurate
this movie is set in the late 1950s
people were black people we're not even
calling themselves black yet not largely
so white people definitely were not we
don't even see popular usage of the word
black to describe black people until the
late 60s mid to late 60s where we get
Black is beautiful and I'm black and I'm
proud and black power so y'all didn't
even do no historical research like that
really bothered me and it bothered me
when Tony was handed the green book
which oh my fucking god and he said the
words traveling while black
that's an anachronism like y'all just
transported contemporary vernacular back
into the late 50s that annoys the shit
out of me
yeah then do your research this is such
an important part of Black American
history that I was just mad at the way
that they use the green book the way
that it was introduced the way that it
was talked about I just didn't like it I
didn't like it but you have to know
about green book a movie whose title is
taken from this essential artifact of
black American history is this is a
movie about a white the first glimpse
that we see that the veil of racism is
coming down from Tony's eyes it's when
they're in the first hotel and Tony
looks across his balcony and seized on
sitting on his balcony drinking his wine
all alone and that's when we're supposed
to see that switch begin to flip in
Tony's mind the the racism switch is
being flipped to off mahalo Ali did such
a good job of pretending to play the
piano in this movie I'm like did he take
lessons didn't you already know how to
play those fingers we're moving
this is a movie about Tony Avella longa
despite the fact that it's called Green
Book what we get is Tony being this
complicated conflicted character and Don
Shirley
the esteemed piano virtuoso being
presented as almost I mean well
basically a magical Negro character Tony
is angry and he's violent and he's
always getting into stuff and we see Don
Shurley trying to coax him into being a
better man don't do that Tony don't beat
everybody up don't be on your knees
shooting craps with the black helpers
you're better than that be better Don
Shirley says it is interesting to me
that in this movie that is about the
white man Tony Vallelonga you do see
that the writers and the filmmaker are
trying to give us a few character
tidbits to grab on to regarding Don
Shirley he is this world traveled piano
virtuoso who can dial up the president
anytime he wants but no that's not
enough we need to know a little bit more
about Don so what do the filmmakers tell
us about Don Shirley so you know that
the writers of this movie were just
completely ill-equipped to handle this
subject because of things that I think
they thought that they were being
progressive when they did these things I
found them to be laughably racist to me
a laughably racist bit of this movie is
the fried chicken bit that that little
fried chicken tidbit that they were
trying to use that to illuminate Don
Shirley as this refined world-traveled
piano virtuoso in reality it illuminated
the racism of the people who wrote this
script first of all first of all the
idea that Don Shirley black man had
never eaten fried chicken never eaten
cut look how black people are not the
same right I know black people who don't
like fried chicken but
to put in this script a black man sang
to white man I've never eaten fried
chicken and then to have an extended bit
about the white man forcing the black
man to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken
that's an extended sequence in this
movie I don't know anything about Don
Charlie maybe he was the type of black
person who was like I'm not like the
other black people
I don't need Fried Chicken I don't need
collard greens I don't listen to that
race music maybe he was like that but we
don't trust well I as a viewer do not
trust that he was like that because I
don't trust the makers of this phone I
don't what I feel like happened is y'all
decided to rest on racial stereotypes
and play the muck for laughs that's what
I feel like happened and to be honest I
did laugh at the chicken scene probably
for a completely different reason than
what the filmmakers intended because it
was so absurd to me y'all really wrote
that this movie is very much about the
good racists versus the bad racists who
are the good racist
Tony Vallelonga is the good racist
they're not hurting anybody they're not
going to a bar and looking for our black
man to beat up they're just throwing
away glasses after a black man comes
into their home they're just sigh dying
black men as they're walking down the
New York streets those are the good
races the bad racists are the men that
we see in the bar when Don decides that
he wants to go to all a white bar in the
south for a drink and for some reason he
gets beat up by the white patrons in
that bar now look again I don't know Don
Shirley maybe this is a real story but
it just doesn't strike me as believable
that a black man familiar with the
racial climate a below the mason-dixon
line would wander into a whites-only bar
and sit down and think that nothing is
gonna have it just does not strike me as
believable but that's what they're
telling us happened okay okay
I don't have any proof it didn't happen
I just don't think it did
Don moseying on into the whites-only bar
gives Tony an opportunity to present
himself as the good kind of racist he is
not like the men who are gonna yoke Don
up and beat him up he's gonna save Don
good racist nothing particularly
interesting is said about race in this
movie what we get is Don Shirley
during the course of this film teaching
Tony but he is a part of the problem too
it's not just the mean violent racists
who are making it difficult for black
people it's not just the segregationists
in the South where the problem it's the
Tonys of the world and thank God thank
God Tony has done in his life so now he
can finally see the light another issue
I had with this movie is the way that
they handled Don Shirley's queerness it
was glossed over again in a way to make
Tony the hero Tony is the one who swoops
in and saves the day because he's
mysteriously not homophobic it is really
unbelievable to me that this man who is
super racist would not also be
homophobic but magically he has a race
problem but not a problem with gay
people ok the Don Shirley character in
this movie is so flat it is so flat it's
bizarre to me all we hear him say is
just these stiff platitudes like after
they're both arrested after Don gets
caught in a compromising situation when
Don says to Tony dignity always prevails
it's a caricature of what you think
Martin Luther King would say it
illuminates such a superficial
understanding of black interiority it's
so offensive to me to have Tony say to
Don I'm blacker than you you mean you
sat down in front of your final draft
software and
out for this racist white Italian man to
tell a black man I'm blacker than you
you did that Tony had the nerve to say
to Don I'm blacker than you because he
eats fried chicken out the bucket of KFC
and he listens to black music
there is no innovation in the script at
all
there is no self-awareness it is not
interesting or thoughtful and this is
how I know that the writers of this film
are racist because racist still say that
if you are a black person who has had
any sustained interaction with white
folks particularly in a suburban setting
a corporate setting whatever you've
probably had a white person say to you
earnestly I'm blacker than you or or say
it and dress like it's a funny thing to
say I'm blacker than you racists love
that and for the writers of this film to
insert that line they're telling on
yourselves this is what we don't get is
an interrogation of how this racist
Italian man from New York probably
Brooklyn how is it that he's very
comfortable consuming black creativity
and black cultural products based on
racist that would be interesting that's
an interesting conversation to have why
didn't we have Don Shirley
and Tony get into that oh yeah
you love Chuck Berry and you love Little
Richard
but you racist as fuck now how did that
happen there's so much potential in the
parts of this story particularly the
dogs surely part of this story that it
is truly a travesty that this is the
film with God
for example there's like a about a
minute there's not this minute scene
where Don is yelling at Tony in the rain
and he talks about all of these parts of
his identity his blackness his gayness
the fact that he's a PhD piano virtuoso
the fact that he is in some ways
separated from the community that he
comes from that is it that I was
watching
like oh that's an interesting story
there was a lot to explore there that's
why to make this movie called Green Book
about a racist Italian man from New York
probably Brooklyn that's why this is
such a travesty because Don Shirley
story is so ripe with something that
we've never seen in cinema before but
instead of getting that interesting
story that vibrant unique story that
would have actually added something to
our cultural conversations about race
relations in this country what we got
was this Disney pied mess that's why I'm
so annoyed by this what a waste what a
waste of a magnificent story and what a
waste of a magnificent actor in mahalo
alley I always have to say I don't know
a lot about Don Shirley story don't know
him I just don't trust what's being
presented about him here another thing
that I don't trust is the idea that they
decided to do this southern tour in
order to teach white people about racism
I think that in the white imagination
white folks think that black people do
everything we do to teach them a lesson
to help inform them or educate them so I
just did not believe when the Russian
bass player or whatever was saying he
could be in New York right now playing
for Maharaja's but he's doing this to
show white people that he's an equal how
about that I don't know about that the
end of this movie where there's that
confrontation and Don Shirley can't sit
in the restaurant and Tony gets mad and
they decide they're not going to play I
wrote down how many times are we gonna
see racism explained this way when we
portray the southern nasty
segregationist as the most damaging and
virulent form of racism that lets
everybody else off the hook and I
stand why if you considered it yourself
if you identify with Tony the good
racist why you would want to put so much
emphasis on that it's just not helpful
how many scenes like that have we seen
we've seen so we've seen that so many
times that exact thing you're not gonna
let me eat at the lunch counter you're
not gonna let me sit in this restaurant
I'm gonna storm out indignantly I think
that there might be some validity to the
idea that Don Shirley might have felt
disconnected from black America or the
black community in some way because of
his status and his money or whatever I
would have loved to see that explored it
felt like they kind of tried to hint at
it toward the end of the film where Tony
and John have to go to a segregated bar
because Don can't eat at the whites-only
restaurant and he gets on the piano and
he doesn't play the classical music he
plays the race music the Blues or
whatever and it's that's supposed to be
I guess his moment of free connection to
this community that he's separated from
but you know after an hour and a half of
bullshit you know I can't take that that
minor gesture seriously I just couldn't
the politics of Green Book are horrible
okay or replay awful but the film itself
is not a terrible movie
all the parts are there they're there in
the right order you know if you're not
offended by how trite and racist the
dialogue is and some of those platforms
are then I can see how you would self
that was a well made film in fact that
last scene we're done drives Tony home
so that he can be home in time for
Christmas Eve and then Tony invites Don
up for their Christmas dinner the very
end the last line
of this movie is good all the pieces
were there all the ingredients were
right it just happened that the
ingredients made a shit pie shoutout to
the help you know so when I think about
that I understand why this would win
awards
it is appealing to people who believe
themselves to be good racist or who
believe their family members who are
Trump voters to be good racists very
appealing the politics of this movie
were very old-school and look I say this
is somebody I love for his gum Forrest
Gump is one of my favorite movies but if
somebody made Forrest Gump and 2018 we
would have a problem because that's
obsolete we're done with that we've done
that let it go in the facts that America
or the mainstream wants to continue
having race 101 conversations in this
way it just really highlights for me
that I don't know if we're ever gonna
get where we want to get you know we
might need to adjust our aim we're going
to be forced to continue having 101
conversations we're not ever going to be
allowed to evolve past that so we just
got to leave those people behind and
keep it moving there's been a lot of
controversy about this film a big part
of the controversy is Don Shirley's
family saying that they weren't
consulted that they got the story wrong
now look I have conflicted feelings
about this because I think that they're
half right I think that the white
filmmaker Nick Vallelonga who wrote
this about his father is half right and
I think that the Shirley's are half
right I do believe that Don Shirley was
probably at least for a time
alienated from his family now why do I
believe that because he was gay
I've just I've seen how old-school black
folks respond to gay family members up
close and personal you probably have to
how do your grandparents feel about gay
people how do your aunts and uncles feel
about gay folks so that's one of the
reasons why I believe that there was
probably some alienation do I believe
that that alienation extended forever I
don't know that still doesn't excuse for
me the writers of this film making a
case for they didn't reach out to the
family at all they didn't know the
family existed no no no that's not
that's not good enough that's not good
enough I think that this movie is very
comforting for people who feel like all
you have to do to be a good person to be
a non racist person is to have a single
black friend as long as you can call up
your one black friend consult your one
black friend you're good I believe that
after that long trip with Don Shurley
Tony's feelings about Don Shirley were
completely changed and he liked Don
enough to invite him to his home for
Christmas Eve dinner but do I believe
that after that long trip traveling
through the south that Tony's views of
black people as a whole were transformed
no no that's the that's the problem it
is not enough to have one black friend
and the forces that make life so
terrible for black people and for black
queer people in particular because
that's who Don Shirley was it's not just
about are you nice to me it's are you
contributing to systems that oppress me
so yeah you're friends and you're
inviting me over for Christmas Eve
dinner what are your feelings on the
police what are your feelings about
segregation what are your feelings about
voter disenfranchisement I mean it's
like and then to try to mask it with
well this is a true story
girl I do not
care I'm not care about your dead racist
father I don't the Academy Awards should
be ashamed not only for the Best Picture
but for Best Original Screenplay really
that to me is a travesty but what makes
it even worse is that the writers of
this film and the director of this film
are so obviously racist they're so if if
they had made this film with old school
politics and they had come out espousing
new interesting progressive views about
race some people might have been able to
say oh okay well maybe I'll give you the
benefit of the doubt but the fact that
oh the filmmakers and the star Viggo
Mortensen keep saying this all lives
matter stuff that they have a history of
saying racist things of doing things
that are sexually inappropriate of
minimizing the concerns the very valid
concerns that black people and critics
have brought up and that they address
them in the most disrespectful way
possible the fact that during the
Academy Awards
mahalo Ali was the only person to say
Don Shirley's name we don't trust you
you're untrustworthy it is disgusting
and despicable that you saw fit to tell
this man's story in this way it is wrong
cuz you're racist we should not have to
entrust the stories of black people with
racists they should not ever be placed
in your hands
I'm a Martin Scorsese fan I am a fan of
Francis Ford Coppola The Godfather part
1 and 2 are my favorite movies so I
don't have a problem with films about
racist Italians my problem is when you
try to make a film about a racist at
calling in from New York and make that a
race film and have the audacity to name
a green book and relegate the story of
this brilliant black queer man to the
background to serve the interests of the
racist Italian man y'all tried to sell
me something that this movie absolutely
was not and that is not okay at all
everyone involved in making green book
deserves every bit of the backlash that
they got and I hate to say it Octavia
Spencer was a producer on this movie and
you know Mahershala signed up to be in
this movie in like you know I'm sure
times are hard for black actors whatever
but if you didn't see the problem with
this script with that extended Fried
Chicken sequence I I have questions
about your judgment I do every single
about every single person involved I
questioned your judgment so that's all I
have to say about that
thank you guys so much for watching this
video obviously there's a patrons only
video up right now the companion video
it's me talking about Twitter feminists
and Twitter feminism and the good and
the bad of that to go over there and
watch that obviously it's breaking only
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bye
