Kerry Washington was probably ill-suited to play Anita herself. Something about Washington is too unsubstantial in appearance and sound to play Anita Hill.
Washington seemed too short in a suit too big and when she tried to talk softly and slowly, as Anita Hill actually did, it came off sounding like baby talk instead of like a medium-deep voice speaking in light tones. Washington's hair being shaped rather like a 1960s school marm created an effect I didn't like even if it was intentional
Something about the physical presentation of Anita Hill in this movie made Hill seem like turnip that fell off the back of the truck and wound up lost in the big city. I wasn't looking for "strong black woman," but I was expecting somebody more substantial and three dimensional than I got in "Confirmation"
If I had made "Confirmation,"
1) I would have begun with initial reactions to Thomas' nomination in the black community.
I'd have showed the cautious joy that a completely unknown black man would replace Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court -- cautious because someone from the party most comfortable for the KKK to be a part of, nominated him.
Black faces in positions of power in the 1990s that a lot of day-to-day black folk are completely indiscriminate about who they support. And I'd have shown black community support for Clarence Thomas first -- how it wavered, then re-settled on Thomas as a black man that must be protected.
2) Only then would I have showed --as Kerry Washington's version did -- Anita Hill in Oklahoma deciding not to get involved in Clarence Thomas' nomination and subsequent confirmation.
3) That's when I would have presented the white female investigator in Ted Kennedy's office asking about rumors of Clarence Thomas having sexually harassed female employees, then going out to find Anita Hill. This comes too early in Washington's "Confirmation"
4) And once Anita Hill was found and reluctantly dragged onto the scene, I would have showed the black community's varying degrees of support, dismay, and barely concealed hatred of Anita Hill for talking about sexual harassment (defined as "boys will be boys" at the time) and attempting to stop the ascendance of a black man
5) Most importantly, instead of having real 1990s clips of mostly white news anchors reporting their impressions of what was going on in Hill v Thomas, I would have shown various reactions what these anchors were reporting.. I would have shown black elite reactions (Black Caucus, NAACP), everyday black and brown folk's strong reactions for or against Hill, and everyday white folks reactions.
I whole heartedly congratulate fellow feminist Kerry Washington for getting this important historical story to the big or little screen. But I would have centered the story very differently even if it meant I lost a predominantly white audience.
In other words, at the center of this controversy there as a black story because the two people at the center are black EVEN THOUGH this story was about sexism and NOT racism. Thomas successfully redirected the hearing into the race arena with his "High Tech Lynching" speech, but this story, this hearing was about the sexual harassment by Thomas, the sexism of the White Senators, and the sexism in the black community.
As far as intra-racial black history goes, the Hill v Thomas fight represents one of the black community's worst moments. Even Maya Angelou supported Clarence Thomas at the time.
Black people, black experience, and black reaction, should have been the center of a film about Anita Hill vs Clarence Thomas. Everything bad but mostly good that happened as a result of the hearings, nationwide, should have rippled outward from that black center
Part 2: The Anita Hill Effect We're Living In Nowhttp://thankherforsurviving.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-anita-hill-effect-were-living-in.html
By the way, the Grandma Mose of film is me
30 years in the future
No comments:
Post a Comment