MovieChat Forums > The Squid and the Whale (2005) Discussion > white people problems

white people problems

posted 12 years ago by sundaymorning999
25 replies | jump to latest

I like to find movies dealing with divorce and family issues, because I had to deal with my parents' messy divorce since I was 10 and even to this day, I am conditioned a certain way because of circumstance and blah blah blah. But, I was expecting this movie to really tug on some heart strings, I thought it would be emotionally difficult to watch and stuff, but all I could think was, "man, these people have it easy." yes, I can sympathize and understand their problems, but I was expecting some bigger issues to be projected. Maybe I am just selfish for wanting to find a movie that ties closely to my own personal life, but I feel like there are a lot of these movies going around, especially currently, that depict "white people problems" rather than real, serious issues. Not to say that these are real or serious, but I just can't, I dunno, sympathize all too well.

[–] struggle67 12 years ago

true like breakfast club

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] taumpy_tears 11 years ago

I agree. I only watch movies about starving African children.

[–] schall1991 9 years ago

Aldous Snow???

[–] froggyandtoadie 8 years ago

This was great, thanks for the laugh man😂

[–] peachesNcream97 8 years ago

You're a retard

[–] Dejay 11 years ago

I agree that this isn't about a very traumatic childhood. BUT: *beep* like that piles up in our culture. How do we create persons that are whole and not cripples. Bernard, the father, basically teaches his son that he should not let girls get close to him. To exploit people and not expect anything from relationships. To rate everything on a scale from 1 to 10. I think it's very worthwhile for art to explore why there is a world full of idiots.

Also, children are different, and have different sensibilities. Many kids might have just seen through the daddy's *beep* and not have a problem at all.

[–] sfrsez 11 years ago

completely agree. useless film, filled with unlikable ugly idiots

[–] pillix 11 years ago

Well it's based on a true story and stuff happened to a wasp family. I am not black; still i love all Spike Lee films, even if "his" stories are not like mine.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] ethermusic1981 10 years ago

eye roll, muthaf-cka!

[–] cjvirnig-1 11 years ago

Far too films like this get made as it is. If someone wrote a script about the divorce of two black parents and the socioeconomic repercussions of their inner-city split, I'm guessing nobody would option that work. That's not being racist at all. It's being realistic.

Have you seen the crap Hollywood is green lighting these days? "Small" movies like The Squid and the Whale are becoming very, very scarce.

[–] wj-n3 11 years ago

Sounds like you have a story to tell. Perhaps you should write it down as a short story, a novel or even a movie treatment. Mighty oak tress can spring from tiny acorns but they need a bunch of dirt to grow in.

[–] kenny-164 10 years ago

Films about white people getting divorced are more common than of black people. The reasons are partly due to what people think will sell, which I agree is partly about racial attitudes, or racism if you prefer. But of course one must also add that there are more white people, and the demographics show that the percentage of black children raised in families where the parents get divorced in the teen years is relatively lower since the percentage of black children raised in single parent families is much higher (although the numbers are moving closer).

Having said that, this is an intimate film of the kind that the OP is off his mark criticizing. He'd be better off asking why more action films do not star or concern themselves with black people. There are too few of this kind of film being made in general.

And I don't even begin to understand what he means by white people problems. White people don't have problems?

I must be missing something.

[–] ValeriaMessalina 10 years ago

What he means by white people problems is "not real problems." Because you know, real problems like poverty, murder, war etc are strictly minority problems, there are no poor white people, no white people have lived and do live in war-torn zones, get murdered etc. OK, sarcasm off. Not every movie has to be about starving Africans, slavery, or the struggles of a would-be rapper to get out of the hood. It's okay to have movies about white people getting divorced too, you'll live (to OP).

[–] peachesNcream97 8 years ago

Your generalization of black films being solely about starving and slavery is ignorant.
When the OP says white people problems he's talking about the sort of problems that are much more easy to resolve than poverty and other struggles but aren't simply because people are too stuck up on themselves.

[–] neguys 10 years ago

not sure about the title of this thread but i really enjoyed this movie .... not sure what being white or black has to do with things..... even though i dont identify with New York City intellectuals i do identify with people getting divorced and how the families are impacted !!

[–] CoSMiGoNoN 10 years ago

The title of the thread is racist.