The Butler Film Essay

Overview/relevance Lee Daniels’ The Butler is relevant to society because the events depicted in the film actually occurred. The film portrays the civil rights movement and the events that took place during the movement to obtain racial equality. The oppression of African Americans is still a current issue in today’s modern society. African Americans are still discriminated against on the Meso- and micro- level. Society has advanced some, however, African Americans are still not completely equal to whites
Lee Daniels made this film to portray the callousness and violence of the whites during the protests that took place during the civil rights movement. Daniels wanted to show the extremely segregated and discriminatory events that took place …show more content…
According to the reader “beyond the double blind”, double consciousness is defined as the two-ness one feels by “always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.” Maynard told Cecil that they have two faces, their own and the own they have to show the white folks. Cecil is also told by Annabeth Westfall and Freddie Westfall that “the room should feel empty when he’s in it.” Cecil constantly has to perceive himself from the eyes of the white folks while serving. Cecil realizes the two faces that they have when he is invited to dinner by Nancy …show more content…
I thought the movie was great overall, and it also has good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, Netflix, and IMDb. I think history classes should show this movie to the students when learning about the civil rights movement and racism. I would suggest people keep in mind that there is some explicit, disturbing, and violent content. For example, the movie shows two African Americans lynched and forgotten about. Another example is the freedom bus explosion. Although these images and clips may be violent and disturbing, it is what happened in the American society less than a hundred years ago. I would also suggest people keep in mind the recency of the events depicted in the