On My Mind: Embracing it All

Happy Birthday, America - Get Well Soon

On My Mind: From Charlottesville to Detroit to Durham

On My Mind: Do the Right Thing, Colin Kaepernick

On My Mind: Lady Ghostbusting Controversy

On My Mind: Blog Plans for 2016

On My Mind: Youth in Remission

On My Mind: T. M. I.

On My Mind: What Do You Say When You Know They're Listening?

On My Mind: The Art of Meta

On My Mind: The Incomplete List

On My Mind: The Furiously Unfurious Weekend

On My Mind: Females, Villains, and Female Villains...and Links

On My Mind: Changing Vantage Points & Links

On My Mind: Picking for 5 & Links!

On My Mind: Zzzzzzz

In a couple of these "On My Mind" posts, I gave Mrs. Dell some flack over her movie watching habits. Now, I have to expose an ugly truth about myself. One thing I've been known to do at the drop of a hat is fall asleep watching a movie. I know, kind of off-putting for a guy who loves movies and actually writes reviews on the ones he watches. And since I also snore, it can be off-putting for the people in the room. Or theater. So yeah, those peaceful little z's in the title of this posts should probably be replaced by whatever sound a buzz saw makes. Or the sound of...

a car with a busted muffler...

or a lawnmower chewing up rocks...

or The Cookie Monster ravaging a truckload of Mrs. Fields'...

or Darth Vader gargling a sand and salt water cocktail...

or anything entirely too damn loud.

On those occasions when I just couldn't keep my eyes open even though we were in a crowded theater, the good wife gets rather pissed at me. How pissed? Let's just say date night doesn't end with us having to lock the bedroom door to keep the kids out. I can't blame her, she probably should be upset. I've wasted all the hard earned money we plunked down on an exorbitantly priced ticket. Worse than that, I've embarrassed her in public. Strangers have cast sideways looks at her under the light of a gigantic screen. The less polite have even stood up and moved away. Some have even sighed loudly and rolled their eyes as they did. At least that's what she tells me.

How would I know? I was asleep.

At home, it's become something of an in-joke. Whenever we watch movies as a family, I'm almost expected to fall asleep. The wife still gets a little upset, you know, wanting to be cuddled by the great Dell, and all. However, she more often than not lets it slide. Sometimes she's not upset at all, but not letting it slide because I'm putting on a great show. Well, it's a show for her and the children. In my eyes, I'm putting up a valiant fight. These are the times when I'm working really hard to stay awake. Dammit, I'm going to watch this movie come hell or high water.

I start off these sessions by winning for the first twenty or thirty minutes. Then, the eyelids start drooping. Pretty soon, the head nodding begins. It drops, I snatch it back up. It drops again, I snatch it back up, again. This might repeat about a thousand times over the next two hours. Of course, no two nods are exactly alike, hence the entertaining quality of my effort to maintain consciousness. Sometimes, my entire body starts tilting to one side or the other. At other times, I'll snort myself awake. Occasionally, my head will fool me and tilt backwards as my mouth opens. This is usually when I mix in a solid fifteen or twenty minute nap. I often awake to the sound of my own family laughing at me.

Those cruel bastards.

But wait, I have excuses!

First of all, the weight of the movie watching world rests heavily upon my shoulders.

No?

Okay, I have more genuine excuses.

I actually have two things going on that work together. I guess that makes it one excuse, but whatever. Years ago, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Without getting technical about exactly what's taking place within me, just know that this is where the snoring comes from. The other factor is that I'm a night owl. So, other than family movie night, I don't sleep much. I've been known to go weeks at a time on four hours of sleep, or less.

You're probably wondering what I'm doing on all those long nights when midnight marks the first checkpoint of a long journey. I'm usually watching movies, of course. There's all those flicks that no one else in my house wants to see. That's not to mention all the movies I have to watch that I fell asleep on when the rest of the Dell clan filled the living room.

If you're wondering how this is possible, it's not really that complicated. Whenever I watch movies alone, I allow myself a lot more leeway in terms of my behavior. Therefore, I'm almost always doing something else at the same time. Maybe I have some paperwork to get in order. I might be putting together a post like this one for the blog. I've got a friend or two in different time zones I text back and forth with. You know there's that game I just downloaded on my phone. If all else fails, I might just watch standing up. I don't do any of these things when watching with others. I respect them too much. My focus is strictly on the movie at hand. Therefore, me falling asleep on movies when my family is trying to enjoy a flick together is to be expected.

I'm going into the war unarmed.

Other things that have been "On My Mind:"

Questions, Declarations, and other Verbalizations

A Not Happy Enough Ending

Morgan Freeman & the Magical Negro Dilemma

The Family Grades the Blog

Holiday Movies

The Good Ol' Days

On My Mind: Questions, Declarations, and Other Verbalizations

My family, my loving wife in particular, has been the inspiration for several of these "On My Mind" posts. Here she is again. As much as I adore her, there is one thing I would change in a heartbeat if given the opportunity: the way she watches movies. Watching with her means having a running conversation throughout the picture's run time. She's incapable of keeping her thoughts silent. Yes, she's one of those who talks to the screen as if the people on it can hear her. "Don't go in there." "Don't do that." "That was stupid." Of course, she's not always saying something negative. "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" "Go 'head!" "Yes!" Her conversating with the movie itself, however annoying, is rather innocuous. I can deal with her, or anyone, getting caught up in the emotion of the moment and being unable to contain themselves. That's part of the reason we watch movies. We want to be floored by the experience. Sometime, the excitement causes outbursts. I'm okay with that.

Far more bothersome, is the constant stream of questions. I'm not talking about the rhetorical kind she hurls at the heroes and heroines we're watching like "Why did you do that?" I'm talking about the ones she asks me and legitimately expects me to answer. For some reason, she's not content to let a movie explain itself. She has to constantly ask, out loud, about what's going to happen next, or what something that just happened means, or where someone is that hasn't been on screen in a while. I think she often knows the answers. She just wants me to confirm them for her. When she doesn't know, she's hoping I'll tell her so she can prepare herself for when it happens. Yes, she gets that emotionally involved in a film. My standard answer is "Watch the movie." She hates that. Another minute or two passes. She asks another question. If the questions start coming rapid-fire, I'll get annoyed and say "If you wait long enough, the movie will explain itself," in my perturbed-but-still-loving voice. At least, I think that's how I sound.

For the most part, I have learned to cope. Whenever I pop in a movie that we're going to watch together, I get into the needed state of mind and I deal with it. You, John and Jane Q. Public, are not ready. Therefore, it pains me to say that on those handful of occasions each year when we journey out to the theater it does not get any better. My wife tries to keep her volume level down, but the questions and comments still flow freely. My answer to all she asks remains the same. "Watch the movie." Occasionally, I'll caution her to lower her voice or even do something so indignant as to shush her, myself. Last weekend, we happened to be sitting in a fairly packed theater for a $2.25/ticket showing of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (review coming soon...ish). Despite my best efforts, we wound up sitting next to another couple, with her in the seat nearest the unsuspecting gentleman. He sat politely and quietly as my lady repeatedly leaned over to me with some inquiry or another. I felt sorry for the poor guy. Or maybe, my wife wasn't speaking as loudly as it sounds to me. Neither the father and son in front of us nor the family behind mine had anything to say or shot us any evil looks. Just in case, she we were disturbing any of you good people, I apologize.

I will give her some credit. My wife is getting a little better about the type of questions she asks. She used to ask open ended ones that invited elaborate responses. Or, she would begin the debate about the morals of whatever we're watching, or some other deep, philosophical discussion while it's still going on. I would immediately shut her down and let her know that that's a conversation that must wait until after the movie. At least now, when she formulates such thoughts in her head she keeps them to herself. Mostly. Instead of bringing the subject up directly, she issues me a warning: "When the movie's over, I have to ask you something." This has led to some really interesting talks about the movie we just saw. I'm grateful for those. She's not the film buff or snob that I am. She loves movies, to be sure, but she treats them almost purely as an escape while I'm more often looking into what they have to say, how well they're written, shot, acted, etc., and formulate my thoughts on those things into reviews. She doesn't. Usually. So I appreciate when a film transcends the screen and gets her wheels turning. I just wish she could hold all her questions until the movie is over.

Click here to read more of what's On My Mind!

On My Mind: A Not Happy Enough Ending?

On My Mind: Morgan Freeman & The Magical Negro Dilemma

The 8th and final day of Morgan Freeman Week!

(yup, 8)

It goes without saying that Morgan Freeman is a tremendous actor. With 50 years in the business and over 100 credits, nearly 80 of these are for movies, he has proven himself time and again. He has earned his place among the all time greats and made quite a nice living for himself in the process. Indeed, he deserves all of the respect and accolades that have come his way, and more. His voice is so widely known and recognized, he became the subject of a running internet gag. You might have seen one of these. It's just a picture of the actor with some text sprawled across it letting you know that you are indeed hearing the voice of Morgan Freeman as you read. And it works.

If this isn't evidence that the man is an icon, I don't know what is. However, even icons are not perfect. JFK has The Bay of Pigs, Jay-Z has "Kingdom Come," LeBron James has the 2011 NBA Finals. Morgan Freeman has The Magical Negro. If you've poked around here a bit, you may have come across that phrase a time or two. For those unaware, I'll explain. The Magical Negro is a trope invented in American literature and has since crossed over into the cinematic universe. It's typically an African-American male character with some sort of special ability, often but not always supernatural, whose sole purpose is to aid the white male protagonist. He never saves the day (or gets the girl), but paves the way for the hero to do so. Many times, paving the way means sacrificing his own life so that the hero can go on to glory, or become a better person. This is a variation of the 'noble savage' archetype. According to Encyclopaedia Brittanica, the noble savage is "an idealized concept of uncivilized man who symbolizes the innate goodness of one not exposed to the corrupting influences of civilization." Though The Magical Negro is usually not depicted quite as primitively as to be called savage, the underlying idea of someone being wise despite their own heritage remains.

The Magical Negro is a character Mr. Freeman has played many times in his career, though usually not the supernatural type. Let's take a look just at some of his characters from movies I've reviewed this week. [SPOILER ALERT!] As Red in The Shawshank Redemption, he was the guy who was able to get things no one else could. These 'things' made it possible for Andy to escape prison. What else do we know of him? We know all about the crime Andy is convicted of and what he did for a living before prison. We get a pretty clear picture of his life prior to being incarcerated. In Oblivion he plays the leader of the human resistance. Again, he does what no one else can. He gets Jack Harper to understand what's going on. He also sacrifices himself for the cause without the benefit of having a clone like Harper does. Again, what else is known of this man? As Det. Somerset in Se7en, he's a unique cop pretty much dragging his partner, Det. Mills, along the whole time. It is almost always his work that gets them anywhere on the baffling case they're working. This work entails doing things no normal officer would even dream of. However, yet again, when the climactic scene rolls around, our focus is on Mills. Like the others, we don't really know much about Somerset either, other than he was once married. In Olympus Has Fallen, Freeman plays the Speaker of the House whose ascended to the presidency due to events that find both the President and Vice-President in a bunker being held captive by some very angry North Koreans. Here, he is a guiding voice for the hero. And that's pretty much it.

After reading the above paragraph, some of you might wonder what the problem is? On the surface, each movie features and black man in a heroic role. True. It is far more agreeable to have a black man pigeon-holed as one of cinema's good guys, instead of only playing gang-bangers, pimps, drug dealers, and the like. However, The Magical Negro is still a cardboard stereotype with underlying racist implications. The easiest of these to spot is the tokenism that usually takes place in movies that make use of this particular trope. Again, think of four movies I mentioned above. Also think of other Freeman movies such as Driving Miss Daisy, Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty, The Bucket List, Invictus and yes the entire Dark Knight trilogy. In most, if not all of these, he is the singular black character of note. He is also much less developed than his white counterpart, also lending to the idea that he is merely a token. And yes, he has some sort of special ability that is put to use by our hero in every one of these.

When this type of character is the only representative of his race, it lends credence to the idea that only those who are obviously exceptional can contribute to this world. Cultural critic Toure put it best in a Time Magazine article about the re-election of Pres. Barack Obama in 2012, himself occasionally labeled a Magical Negro. Toure wrote "While some may think it complimentary to be considered 'magical', it is infantilizing and offensive because it suggests black excellence is so shocking it can only come from a source that is supernatural."* Think about it. Almost none of the white characters have any sort of special ability. They are often allegorical characters, an Everyman, if you will. They are normal.

Another issue with The Magical Negro is that for all his ability, it's still a character that is subservient to the white protagonist and normally underdeveloped. Go back to something I said early on. He never saves the day, or gets the girl. Regardless what he is capable of, it's used mostly in service to the hero. If you had the power to save the day yourself, wouldn't you just do it? Why all the time and effort to get someone else figure it out when it could already be done? Aside from those questions, what do we know about these guys? I said as much about Freeman's characters in some of the movies I've reviewed this week. What about Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight trilogy? He can make any damn thing Bruce Wayne wants while simultaneously running Wayne Enterprises. Where the hell did he come from? Does he do any damn thing besides coming up with cool crap? By the way, I mean in the movies, not his comic book history. Even God is only there to help Bruce and Evan become better people. Of course, some of these characters are more rounded than others. However, these are the exceptions, not the rule.

There are a few things that cause The Magical Negro dilemma. Becoming an exception is one way. There have been some excellent movies utilizing this stereotype. Shawshank is a great film and Se7en is one of my all-time favorites. I am also a huge fan of The Dark Knight trilogy and a number of other movies where the trope is employed. All of these movies subvert the trope in some way. In Shawshank, after Red's ability to get stuff helps Andy get out, he then sacrifices himself by not uttering a word about how Andy might have done it. Following this, Andy actually shows some special ability of his own and essentially saves Red's life. In Se7en, no matter how knowledgeable Det. Somerset is, he actually can't help Det. Mills save the day. In those Batman flicks, well, it's right there in the hero's name. Batman does indeed have special abilities. Aside from that, it's a series built around the idea of him sacrificing himself. While it's true, he needs Fox to make things for him, he really has no clear cut victories, except possibly in Batman Begins, the first of the three. Therefore, The Magical Negro is like many other devices used in story-telling. They are often better when the rules governing them are skillfully broken, things turn out better.

Finally, Morgan Freeman himself is part of the dilemma. Should African-Americans be up in arms with him for playing such characters? Maybe. Should we demand he stop playing them? No. As I said earlier, he's made a nice living doing what he does. Who are any of us to tell him he's done it wrong? It's a career that's given us so many wonderful performances its hard to count them all. And if there are levels of Magical Negroes, he certainly plays the ones on the higher end of the scale. He's not playing gifted imbeciles like Michael Clarke Duncan (R.I.P.) did in The Green Mile, or half-beast buffoons like Brandon T. Jackson does in the Percy Jackson movies. Other than God in the ...Almighty flicks, he's not portraying a supernaturally magical being. For the most part, he's playing highly intelligent and authoritative men. And he's playing them like only he could. Morgan Freeman brings an uncommon dignity to his roles. It's that dignity which makes me proud even if I wish he were in more movies where it really was all about him.


* "The Magical Negro Falls to Earth". TIME. Sep. 26, 2012

Click here for more Morgan Freeman Mania!

On My Mind: The Family Grades the Blog

I'm an old-school sort. No, I'm not one of these dinosaurs that doesn't know how to turn on a computer, much less use one. I may not be able to run anyone's I.T. department, but I'm definitely tech savvy enough to survive. However, there are still certain things I prefer to do the way we did them "back in the day." Writing is one of those things. About ninety percent of the posts on this blog were written out long-hand on a piece of paper first. Ironically, this is not one of them. I also write a lot more than just movie reviews.This means if you spend some time in my home on a regular basis you'll get quite used to the sight of me scribbling in my notebook.

My children know that sight well. They are also very aware that Daddy has a movie blog. All three of them have been known to pick up the notebook I write reviews in and flip through it, looking only at the scores I give. Generally speaking, they disagree with them. After I hear the rustling of a few pages, I'll inevitably be asked "How could you only give THIS movie a (low number), but you gave that a (high number)? THIS movie is way better than that one. What were you thinking? If I actually try to explain what I was thinking, I am met by a glazing over of the eyes and/or a rolling of them. Often, I'm told I like boring movies. Occasionally, this little family brouhaha spills online. No, my kids don't take to bashing me on social media or anything. Yet. However, when they see this site on the screen, they'll ask me to scroll through it, if they haven't peeked in my book recently, Of course, the same scene plays out. They only see the scores, don't read a single word, and question my sanity. As much as she disagrees with me about nearly every score, I can't help but be most amused by my youngest daughter. Without even trying, she musters an overwhelming sense of cuteness as she spots the titles of the movies she's seen, the corresponding scores, and almost invariably tells me "You shoulda gave that a 10."

I actually watch most of the movies I review, alone. After all, I'm a bit of a night-owl and most titles are either inappropriate for the kids or is something they're not interested in, anyway. Still, on the weekends we usually watch a movie or two together. Knowledge of this blog has led to a few comments during, and certainly immediately after, one of these viewing sessions. A typical comment is "I bet Daddy's gonna give this like a 2." And this isn't just the kids. The wife gets in on this, too. She typically agrees. Not only are they trying to gauge my tastes, it's morphed into a way of calling me weird. By that, I mean the way they say it feels like "Us normal people like this movie, but Daddy doesn't."

They can also sense if I like what we are watching, they think. Maybe, it's how intently I am looking at the screen, or how dismissively I shush them when they address me. On these occasions, they might wait until the credits start rolling and just flat out ask what I'll give it. I remember all the snide remarks and cross looks. For that, I take the smallest measure of that candy known as revenge. I fix my mouth into the most evil smile I can manage and say "You'll just have to wait and see."



Click here to see what else has been "On My Mind."