I knew that Baldwin was a homosexual. I didn't know that Hughes was. My girlfriend rented this movie and I watched it with her because she was curious about it. We both ended up enjoying the movie. I think that the writer/director does a bit of a disservice to the Harlem Rennaisance artists. Instead of stressing how it was about black artists finding their own voices, he goes overboard with the angle of equating black oppression with gay oppression.
I hear that. I think he was trying to make his point RE Black gay idenity politics and left a lot out. Additionally, as an independent filmmaker on a shoestring budget there was only so much he could do. But telling this contrasting stary was/is very important.
“When a man gets too fancy, his luck runs out.” Raymond Chandler.
You missed entirely the point of the film. The filmmakers we suggesting (perhaps you disagree) that gay oppression and black oppression are the same thing - or at least very similar.
shareYes. I disagree. You can spot a black person a city block away. You KNOW when you see a black person. You only know about someone's gayness if they want you to.
shareOr by the subtle differences when you work closely with them...or live next to them...etc etc.
Prejudice comes out very fast in those situations; I get your point, but to deny that bigotry is not similar to bigotry against black folk is silly.
To be clear, 'gayness' is not supposed to be compared to 'blackness', it's the discomfort and discrimination that bind the two together.
It's not similar and the comparison is offensive.
share..just because you think something, does not make reality go away.
Any 'group' of people, mistreated, marginalized, maligned, because of something the majority finds, JUST LIKE YOU, as "offensive", have that in common.
There is no debating, or patting you on the shoulder saying "it's ok to discriminate against someone as long as you are not discriminated against" because that's 1)Ludicrous, 2) Selfish, 3) Ignorant, 4) an Injustice to human rights.
Get over it.
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See the problem with some of the comments here is the assumption that to be gay is to be white. This is the problem with the current gay movement in America it is white dominated and that is a serious problem. There are gay people of colour that exist whose stories tend to be ignored.
This movie should of done a better job exploring the lives of black gays and lesbians.
Yes Langston Hughes was indeed gay BUT he did his homosexuality due to fear of losing his black heterosexual audience. Go to the library and read biographies on Hughes life and his poetry. The homoeroticism is well known in Hughes poetry.
Comparing being black with being gay is offensive? tell that to Wallace Thurman, Richard Bruce Nugent, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jame Baldwin and many more. One person said it well - the oppression is what is similar. Of course there are differences but bigorty is still bigotry. Why is it offensive? Unless you're homphobic and see being gay as a bad thing.
share