Okay, we all get it -- blacks dealt with racism. Can we please move on from the sports/overcoming prejudice metaphor films???
I really thought the genre was played out when they made a movie about swimming (Pride), but now ANOTHER football film??
C'mon, enough.
From the makers of Scary Movie, Superhero Movie and Epic Movie etc, comes "Black Guy Over Coming Racism Movie".
Starring someone besides Cuba Gooding Jr. ....
....Yeah, enough was enough 5 years ago
Thankfully, no one said "stop making war films" after seeing "Platoon." Or "stop making boxing film" after seeing "Body and Soul" Or "stop making heist films" after seeing "Topkapi." The Ernie Davis story is worth telling because he endured and thrived in a culture that wasn't always kind to black athletes. If you don't know about him or what he accomplished (which was extraordinary), you may want to check it out. And... he did a lot more than confront racism...
He was a great football player and human being who happened to be "black" and play football well. Judge the movie about the person not his race.
shareI don't agree with the original poster, but Davis' race is the sole reason this movie exists. His race is mentioned in the first sentence of the plot, and it's what makes the story stand out. The movie isn't about a guy who "happened to be black"; the movie exists because the main character is black.
Chris J. Nelson
Exactly. Would anyone be making this movie if he was white?
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Face it, black people have had to deal with racism...it is not a reason for being... to say racism is black peoples reason for being is willowwear being ignorant... not all black people wake up and think of racism... i personally dont think of it until an ignorant person or ignorant people bring it up... also to the OP, enough with complaining, entertainment is entertainment... u dont hear me complaining saying enough with "white" sports movies, because some are still entertaining... but the OP doesnt bring up any of the fighting "bloodsport" movies of the 80s and 90s that were played out, starring "white" people that were horrible... bloodsport 2 and 3?? why god why is what i have to ask... there were prolly at least 500 bad fighting movies of the 80s and 90s that tried to capitalize on the success of less than 30 or 40, lol...
shareSave the last dance, white girl, inner city school, people hatin cause shes white, over comes and follows her dream.
In reference to the OP, do you complain about ww2 films? ww1 films? Vietnam war films? War of independence films? Films about suffragettes?
The struggles black people went through is a part of our history, this film in particular is about a very influential character of the period that started to see some change, I personally found it inspiring. The fact that Davis was the first Black man to win the Heisman trophy, and consequently died before having a chance to play pro makes it perfect for a film, im surprised this is the first.
I agree however the 'black sports person struggling against prejudice in modern times' films, like coach carter, are pretty annoying, as in my experience those times have long past. You are luckier nowadays to see a white athlete, and black people playing the 'isit coz im black' card or walking around with a huge chip on their shoulder are just pathetic.
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Do not pity the warrior, pity instead those who believe nothing is worth fighting for.
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You mean like Rudy?
shareYes! Haven't you ever heard of Lou Gehrig and the two films made about him called "Pride of the Yankees" and "A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story"? He was white.
Have you ever heard of Monty Stratton the Chicago pitcher who lost his leg in a hunting accident and came back to pitch? It was a very popular film in the 40's with James Stewart called the "Stratton Story". He was white.
Have you ever heard of the two film version of "Brian's Song" He was white.
Have you ever seen the tv movie "Babe" which told the story of Babe Didrikson Zaharias and her struggles to overcome cancer? She was white.
Did you ever see the tv and film versions of the movie called, "Bang the Drum Slowly" which starred Paul Newman and Robert DeNiro respectively, a fiction story about a friendship between a pitcher and his catcher who is slowly dying of cancer? He was white.
That's just from memory, I'm sure if you looked it up you could find a great deal more about white athletes. And here some people are complaining about one film about another great athlete who strives to overcome all sorts of adveristy from racism to terminal illness. Can't you appreciate the story? Or would another 27 sequels of Halloween, Rocky, Alien, Alien and Predator, etc, etc, adnauseum be better?
good response!! "KinOeye2" MOVIE WAS LONG OVER DUE!!! 80% of country never even heard of ernie davis!! sad!
shareThis has nothing to do with football and everything to do with blacks and liberals wanting to keep the racial hate alive.
share"black and liberals". Gee, that's not racist or hate-filled at all.
Grow up. We're all one people -- Imagine.
Gee, I wonder why there was an athlete better than Jim Brown who came out of the same school who I've barely heard about except in sports documentaries-- oh wait! They've made a movie about him!
No one says you have to see it. I still haven't seen Invincible (from the Disney sports movie factory) from two years ago.
FAVORITE BUMPER STICKER SLOGAN:
If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
"black and liberals". Gee, that's not racist or hate-filled at all.Only a true [closet] racist would assume that the very WORDS "black" and "liberal" came from a racist or 'hate-filled' mouth.
lol@flbroker
blacks and liberals don't have to keep racial hate alive...we'd be more than happy to put it to rest if it actually, you know, died out...the hate that is. I mean, hell, you're keeping it alive right now with a comment like that, all of you hating on this movie for the reason it features a storyline on fighting racial injustice in America are keeping it alive and well.
Obviously you don't think so, but to those of us who are not so fair skinned the idea of equality is a big deal and I'm sure all us dirty liberals would be so happy to put it all behind us...just as soon as we reach that goal of complete across the board equality.
I will say though that racism in America is played up far more than sexism is and I believe that the sexism in America is far worse and has been going on for a lot longer....sexism in the world actually, it's been going on pretty much from the time we all started walking upright (since God made Eve for those of you still hiding from evolution behind your bibles).
It's also about how he tragically died, how he was of great character, and happen to be the first black player to win the Heisman. Gee, sorry racism is overplayed to you that you are blinded to the fact that Ernie Davis was also a great man regardless of his color.
shareDude, you're really prejudice. Why don't you go on the Transformers board and write a post about them stopping *beep* action movies with ridiculous budgets? At least this movie is based on a true story and a real person. This is besides the fact that I can already see from the trailer that the quality of the acting dwarfs Transformers, for instance (or any other ridiculous action movie).
The fact that you singled out 'black' sports movie and not just sports movies in general really says something about you. I hate cliched sports movies as much as the next person, but it's different when you're telling the story of a real person.
What if the original post said:
Okay, we all get it -- people fall in love. Can we please move on from the people/overcoming obstacles lyrical films???
I really thought the genre was played out when they made a movie about a wedding http://marriage.about.com/od/weddings/tp/weddingmovies.htm ,
but now ANOTHER love conquers all film??
C'mon, enough.
"Okay, we all get it -- blacks dealt with racism. Can we please move on from the sports/overcoming prejudice metaphor films???
I really thought the genre was played out when they made a movie about swimming (Pride), but now ANOTHER football film??
C'mon, enough."
I guess according to you we should edit and sanitize the past. All this guy did was wear the most ELITE number in Syracuse history(44),gave Syracuse its only National Championship in football(1959),first brown man to win the Heisman Trophy,was supposed to play with the legendary Jim Brown with the Cleveland Brown after a stellar career at SU and died of Leukemia before he got that chance.
Grow up s--thead.
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I'll admit I'm not a fan of all these sports films. When I actually look up the true story behind these films. I say well damn this should have been made a long time ago. Ernie davis was great student athlete, it was sad what happened. His life is worth another underdog movie. Do your research, for anyone thats hating.
shareFeeling a little guilty about the racism that white people put on blacks? Thank you for proving my point about being white privileged.
Run Forrest Run!!! Oh Lord He's Gotta Gun!!!
First off, I stand by my original post. I don't know what bothers me more, that Hollywood opportunistically embelishes these stories around racist themes, or that people buy into the terribly innacurate, formulaic writing.
First, some truths:
"Remember the Titans" - In nearly every interview done with the actual people involved with the TC Williams Titans, they say that racism wasn't remotely as bad as was illustrated in the film. Yes, racism was present -- after all, it was the early 1970's -- but that had anyone shown anywhere near the type of prejudice presented in the film, no one on the team would have tollerated it.
There were no opposing coaches calling the Titan's coach a "monkey", no protests on the first day of school and, in fact, ALL of the schools they played that season were ALREADY integrated six years earlier.
"Pride" - The film went out of its way to once again use race as a crutch and completely re-write history. Jim Ellis' actual team was not all black, but in fact fully integrated. I know it makes for such wonderful drama, but there wasn't some bigoted good ol' boy like Tom Arnold who was a racist opposing coach. Know why? THE OTHER TEAMS WERE INTEGRATED, TOO!! Pride, just like RTT, cheapens the real examples of racism by skewing history and making caricatures of white characters.
I am in no way discounting the impact racism has had on our country. It was and is real. But come on people, producers are just using it as a way to lazily create drama instead of developing their characters.
For those of you calling me racist: you're clueless. I'm actually trying to empower those of color. Wouldn't people of color love to see themselves portrayed without their ethnicity constantly having to be validated and justified? I would've been interested in seeing "The Express" if they hadn't predictably went back to the "he's playin' even though he's black theme." I find the talented young man dying far too soon, much more compelling and less stereotypical.
I state all of this from experience. I am a wheelchair bound standup comic and writer. I'm contantly battling in Hollywood to change the portrayal of the disabled from "very special After School Special" type of characters to just mainstream characters. Have the disabled overcome obstacles? Yes. But, my God, not every story needs to feature it. And not every sports movie needs to feature black characters overcoming "whitey."
First off, to compare the 400 years of African slavery and then segregation in this country and on this continent to you being a so-called disabled person is insulting to the hundreds of thousands of Africans who died during the middle passage. You also belittle that racism was not that bad. It is an insult to the white civil rights workers who gave their lives for a greater good, Goodwin and Schwermer, Violet Luizzo, etc. This is not a black movie. Under your definition any movie that shows a black person in a positive light is unnecessary and meant to prove white guilt. This has nothing to do w/ white guilt as whites also lost their lives in the civil rights struggle. You are judging a movie based on you own soulless, sorry excuse for an existence you obviously are not happy with and projecting it onto a race of people who have done nothing to you.
Sports is one of the few areas blacks made early entrance to. As a result, a lot of black sports heroes were also role models during a turbulant time in my country's history. Mr Davis was such a role model honored by both blacks and whites. This is history. Dramatized by Hollywood yes but so are the white hero movies. I hope people of all colors will go and be inspired. There is nothing in Mr. Davis's story to raise guilt but raise hope. I'm glad that people like you are upset. The coward that you are will spew your bile behind the anonymity of the blogs/internet but like all roaches will scurry when the light shines on them. This is a new day. The light is coming, the light is here.
Amen.
Apparently according to the OP, any film depicting historical battles or periods of importance are just lazy movie making.
Perhaps we should stop writing history books because they are just so repetitive?
Moron (I'm white btw, just so these morons don't consolidate themselves by thinking every post anti-OP is from a black person.)
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Do not pity the warrior, pity instead those who believe nothing is worth fighting for.