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Good documentaries on the history of minorities in US films?


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I'm doing a film literacy class with my daughter, and would like to find some documentaries (preferably on Netflix/Amazon Prime ;) ) addressing the way that US films have portrayed minorities over the years. We're currently watching a good one on Native Americans ("Reel Injun") that I just stumbled across and I'm finding it a nice addition to our section on Westerns. Anyone have suggestions?

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TCM (Turner Classic Movies) did some specials on this. You could check their site to see if they have it up or if you can see it somehow.

 

http://www.tcm.com/t...tion.html

 

 

 

 

Dig around, because I know they did a series of interviews with black producers and actors on the topic.

 

 

http://www.tcm.com/m...ians.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first of the asians in film series. Fascinating stuff!

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I am not sure about documentaries, but for some film history look at D.W. Griffith's silent films, The Birth of a Nation (1915) to see a disturbing portrayal of African Americans. and Broken Blossoms (1919) which features an Asian character who is addicted to opium. They are on youtube. I hope my links work, I am not very internet savvy.

 

The Birth of a Nation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iEznh2JZvrI

 

Broken Blossoms : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=g1NbA_eO7Es

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I am not sure about documentaries, but for some film history look at D.W. Griffith's silent films, The Birth of a Nation (1915) to see a disturbing portrayal of African Americans. and Broken Blossoms (1919) which features an Asian character who is addicted to opium. They are on youtube. I hope my links work, I am not very internet savvy.

 

 

Unfortunately, bad examples abound. We've watched some of Birth of a Nation, as well as a documentary on DW Griffith, which did put a fair amount of focus on the way he portrays African Americans. My main spine is the American Cinema series through the Annenberg Foundation http://www.learner.org/resources/series67.html, along with The Complete Idiot's Guide to Movies, Flicks and Film, so we have a good amount of overall film history. I also point out specific examples of various things in the movies we're watching. I'm just hoping there might be some additional documentaries out there dealing with the issues for other groups in a similar way to "Reel Injun"---in a more focused manner.

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There is "Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People", which I have never seen but I am assuming is similar to Reel Injun (which I have seen). And "Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans and the Movies", but I haven't seen it either.

 

 

Thanks! I found both of these on Youtube and will check them out.

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