Summary Of The Book Gifted Hands
Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:19:38 +0000
I already was prepared for whitewashing after reading the book and knew what segments would be hammed up and what poetic license would be taken (for instance, the part about Michael not knowing how to play football). And Michael Lewis is a gifted writer.
But I shared none of this with my wife before seeing movie. And, odd, she was struck with the racism reflected in the film — all the typical stereotypes, the totally white audience in the theater, etc.…
Some questions, though…
…the stereotypical black characters… …real life is more complex than simple caricatures… …though this is par for the course for Hollywood productions, and it is sept so much into our consciousness, we fail to even take notice anymore…
…what if Oher didn't possess awe-striking football playing ability? What he have been received as well at the school and quartered by the Touhy family.
…on screen, not much attention given to Papa Touhy (though a bit more in book), owner of fast food franchises, he himself living an affluent life while employing hundreds of workers with not enough pay for their own homes? No, not an assault on free market capitalism here, just a recognition of weird offsets — for instance, major league baseball giving $1M to Haiti even though NY alone siphoned billions from taxpayers for stadiums and MLB was the recipient of cheap labor baseballs for years…
Some elements of the movie were quite redeeming. But I just kept conjuring up this MLK quote…
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. ~MLK
