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>scars praise
rop of morally-
movies
Dave
Johnston
columnist
k is Ihe Oscar gala has come and gone.
|i Hi; Actresses paraded the most bizarre
Esi outfits in California and producers
id j to keep the show running on sched-
10 [is always, the nominees are samples
his >llyv\ ood’s finest efforts, but they are
fatt examples of vulgarity and gore.
Estf religious weekly offered reviews of all
and Ims nominated for best picture this
i n and the reviews included sum-
b\v es of all the questionable material in
tap picture. The list is startling,
shut 1 summarize their list of offenses in
'e movies, there were close to a hun-
m profanities, several dozen obscenities, four sexual situa-
Esiei, several nude scenes (including several nude sketches), an
[m, ene gesture, several instances of bigotry, a few beatings, a
fe|! le of killings, a suicide, one cynical diatribe about working
\fel< ie government and frozen bodies bobbing in an ice-cold
I’Oi: n.
wiiL-ttfinly a movie does not have to be shocking to be good.
L . two years ago the Oscars-nominated films were much gen-
ve; nd J amily-oriented. A summary of the offensive material in
L; ilms then might read, “a few dozen vulgarities, a love scene
L s flefting nudity, a few suggestive scenes, a view of hundreds
f oohing Scotsmen and one urinating pig.” A much more
e list than this year’s tally.
i 1(s ichael Medved, a syndicated columnist and movie critic,
L lady comments on the downward spiral of American enter-
L nent. He particularly takes issue with Hollywood’s fascina-
L with bad language and bodily function. He admits that vio-
action films appeal to a certain segment of the population,
tlp ie also points out no one leaves a theater saying, “that film
Jidn’t have enough f-words.”
H r . f course, directors and producers insist they only give audi-
t l s what they want, but Americans do not really want their
L ing entertainment riddled with vulgarity and awkward con-
itions.
ledved researched movie profits over the last several years
, found movies with lower ratings had higher average box-of-
1 I mcdess. Despite the assertions of members of the movie in-
L‘ ry, more Americans will spend their money on a film with a
ting than an R-rating.
ollywood insiders continue to defend their creations, claim-
hey only reflect reality. Again, the argument seems disingen-
5. The same celebrities who say their films reflect reality also
is to suspend belief and view their films as an “escape.” Not
y people want to escape to a world so filled with foul-
ithad, amoral citizens.
liorrodticers and directors cannot expect a few seconds of nudi-
in make the difference between a box-office flop and the next
bat^fc.[American viewers will not stay home because an other-
insi in tie resting film lacked sufficient skin scenes, but nudity
Ly; drive away audiences.
L /bile Quentin Tarantino movies depict unconventional and
L, king scenes, the films are not box-office giants. Tarantino is
, j, ting his version of art, but his films are not appealing to most
Die. If Tarantino were trying to please audiences he would
. e very different films.
ilm is a unique industry where success can usually be mea-
d by profits. Excepting a few odd instances like Citizen Kane
; It’s a Wonderful Life, if a film achieves it goal of providing en-
1 ble entertainment, it will bring in money.
ertainly not all producers and directors are trying to appeal
| rrls wide audience. Spike Lee, for example, makes films to pro-
forie a cause, and he does a magnificent job. Lee's films cannot
idged by their audience appeal, but he realizes his message
reach more people if larger audiences are attracted,
he movie industry is not what it used to be. Theaters are
Hfi 1 with 90-minute plays lacking substance. Titanic made its
. ie by presenting a meaningful (and true) story in the tradi-
if of the studios decades past.
' erhaps the public’s encouragement will bring finer movies to
2 ; Dig screen soon.
ACADEMY
Dave Johnston is a senior mathematics major.
discrimination
Awards ignore minority contributions in film
J
night news
editor
"esse Jackson where are
you now?
Last year, his holiness
decried the lack of mi
nority representation in
the nomination list of the
Academy Awards. Even
though Cuba Gooding Jr.
took home the Best Sup
porting Actor trophy that
night, headlines where
made about the white
washing of Hollywood
and Oscar’s gold-dipped
finish was tarnished with the accusation of
racism.
If only the reverend had waited a year, he
would really have been able to cry foul.
A glance at this year’s nominations proves Hol
lywood isn’t as color blind as it would like to think.
A Klan rally cannot claim to be as ethnically
pure as this narrow spectrum of actors ranging in
shades as pasty white as Kate Winslet to the bot
tled tan of Burt Reynolds.
Most notably absent from the list is Eve’s Bay
ou, the story of a African-American family in the
1950s. Critics have heaped the praise on this dra
ma. Roger Ebert took time out from his busy
schedule of shoving donuts down his throat to
make Eve’s Bayou his pick for favorite movie of
the year.
It was the most successful independent re
lease last year. Although not raking in the bucks
Titanic is seeing, it still is turned a mighty nice
profit for a film that was rejected by every major
studio, further evidence of Hollywood’s narrow
mindedness, before being picked up by Trimark,
a studio more known for its flicks about homici
dal leprechauns than its dramatic fare.
Oscar handicappers were predicting at least a
nomination for best original screenplay, while
most were including cast members in die list. How
ever, when rabid movie fans woke up early two
months ago to watch the nomination ceremony,
the words “Eve’s Bayou” were never mentioned.
It is not as if Hollywood forgot to make ethnic
film’s this year.
How could anyone forget the media blitz be
hind Amistad, directed by the Oscar wunderkind
Steven Spielberg.
Even if voters forgot the movie, I’m sure the
Oscar’s resident African-American choreograph
er Debbie Allen, who produced Amrstad, would
have been able to drop hints during rehearsals
for last night’s ceremony.
Ironically enough, the only major nomination
the film got was for Anthony HopWns, an admit
ted white person.
The nomination should have gone to fellow
cast member Djimon Hounsou. His heart-
wrenching delivery of the line “Give us free!,” left
audiences in tears, but the cries fell on the deaf
ears of voters.
Hopkins wasn’t the only white nominee
from a cast honored by other awards for its
black actors.
Relative unknown Robert Forester got a
nod for his sleepy portrayal in Jackie Brown a
film that had Travolta-like comeback role for
Pam Grier. Also of note was Samuel L. Jack
son’s role in the same movie. Jackson sub
mitted two performances both worthy of Os
cars this year only to be snubbed by a voting
pool which still includes Nancy Regan.
Wesley Snipe’s role in One Night Stand
won him the acting prize at last year’s
Venice Film Festival but went absolutely ig
nored even in the pre-Oscar fanfare.
One film this year can boast a “victory” for
African-Americans. 4 Little Girls, a documen
tary directed by Spike Lee tells a story about
the civil rights movement.
However, this film is buried in the Best Fea
ture Documentary category, not a award that
generates screams from audiences when the
envelope is opened.
African-American’s are not the only group
being ignored by Oscar. Some critics point to
Jennifer Lopez’s performance in Selena which
garnered her a Golden Globe nomination.
Racism is not the only accusation being
leveled at Oscar.
Homophobia kept Chasing Amy from re
ceiving any nominations as well as prevent
ing Rupert Everett’s scene-stealing antics in
My Best Friend's Wedding from being recog
nized as a best supporting actor material.
The Oscars of old are gone. Hollywood
can no longer pay lip service to their sup
posed open-minded philosophy. The not-
to-distant memory ofWhoopi Goldberg’s
victory and Tom Hank’s tearful acceptance
speech after winning his first Oscar for his
role as a homosexual AIDS victim in
Philadelphia are the Academy’s token of
ferings to minorities.
After parading John Singleton around
the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as the first
African-American director to be nominat
ed, they quietly relegated him to the back of
the auditorium along with other visionaries
such as Spike Lee and the Hughes brothers.
Recently an explosion of quality films
have been about African Americans made
by African-Americans marketed to
African-Americans.
Eve’s Bayou just marks another in a long
string of ignored films and it is time to ac
knowledge that African-Americans have
evolved from the days of A1 Jolson in black
face in The Jazz Singer and Mammy in Gone
with the Wind.
re
r
Aaron Meier is a junior political
science major.
ERSPECTIVES
■Elementary school offers chance to honor A&M founder
Donny
Ferguson
columnist
!or a state so
-H steeped in
ii| tradition
pd reverence for
ir Confederate
;roes, the fact a
gnificant part
fits history was
jiritten by freed
'avis may seen a
{ |t odd.
( All Aggies
/DOW of
f / ( rwrence Sulli-
fin Ross’ contributions to the Univer-
r tmd Texas history books chronicle
<e work of Governors Mirabeau B.
imar and Miriam “Ma” Ferguson in
[olfling modern education in Texas.
H< >wever, in the flood of Jim Crow
r^ws and anti-carpetbagger propagan-
i which followed Reconstruction, a
to! our history was lost, and now the
v yan-College Station community has
1 opportunity to recapture it.
This June, the Bryan Independent
phhtbol District will begin construction
d its sixteenth elementary school, to
be located in the Austin Colony subdi
vision. The school has yet to be named
and BISD is accepting name sugges
tions of prominent Texans until April
15. While “R.C. Slocum Elementary”
and “George Jones Elementary” are ter
rific ideas which will undoubtedly be
submitted, one Texan has gone for over
120 years without due recognition.
BISD has been given a unique op
portunity to name their newest school
after a local figure, whose dedication to
education and perseverance in the face
of adversity make him a significant
contributor to education, a central fig
ure in the establishment of this com
munity and a badly-needed role model
in an age of disillusioned children.
To recognize the achievements of
black Texans after the Civil War, and to
pay homage for his role in the estab
lishment of public universities in
Texas, BISD should name the new
Austin Colony School the “Matthew
Gaines Elementary School.”
Gaines, a minister and former
slave, became the first African-Ameri
can to represent Washington County
in the State Senate. In 1869, thou
sands of freed slaves elected Republi
can Edmund J. Davis as governor and
sent a Republican-controlled legisla
ture to Austin.
The new chief executive and legisla
ture worked together to establish a
public university system in Texas under
the federal Land Grant College Act
(Morrill Act), sponsored by Congress
man John Smith Morrill, a Republican
from Vermont.
Gaines and his black colleagues in
Austin introduced a bill in 1871 to es
tablish the “A. and M. College of Texas”
which provided for a black college as
well, if state officials chose to segregate
blacks and whites.
Democrats in the legislature viewed
educating blacks as both a waste of tax
payer money and a loss of good field
hands. It was through hard work, over
the opposition of white supremists and
Democrats, that Gaines and the 12th
Legislature created what are today
known as Texas A&M University and
Prairie View A&M.
We students and the Bryan-College
Station community as a whole are the
heirs of Gaines’ dedication to educa
tion. Had it not been for the passionate
support of Matthew Gaines, the A&M
system would never have been created,
College Station would not exist and
Bryan would be nothing more than a
few houses and bluebonnets alongside
a railroad track.
Clearly, Gaines and his black col
leagues deserve recognition and
grateful thanks from our community,
and nothing would serve as a more fit
ting monument to his belief in the
power of education than an elemen
tary school bearing his name.
Campus organizations such as the
College Republicans have worked to
erect a statue honoring Gaines on
campus, but the $200,000 price tag
proves troublesome.
An elementary school in his name re
quires no additional costs, however. The
Matthew Gaines Elementary School
would not only honor the achievements
and work of Gaines, but it would also
honor the memory of other prominent
black Texans in the 12th Legislature who
fought for the passage of the A&M cre
ation bill, despite the resistance of white
racists and Reconstruction Democrats
opposed to public education
We at A&M and in the Bryan-College
Station area owe the existence of this
school and community to a former
slave who fought for the Texas A&M
University system on the floor of the
Texas State Senate, in an era in which
black lawmakers and public education
were often met with harsh resistance.
The least we should do to show our
gratitude to a man who overcame in
credible odds to give the gift of educa
tion is to grace his name upon our
newest school.
Hopefully, in a time where racial ten
sions are high and role models are hard
to come by, especially among minori
ties, children filing into the Matthew
Gaines Elementary School will be in
spired by his story and someday impact
the history of our great state, just as
Matthew Gaines did.
Donny Ferguson is a junior political
science major.