Brain Drain Blog

Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

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I still see things that are not here. I just choose not to acknowledge them.
- John Nash,?A Beautiful Mind

I?m your average Jane when it comes to movies. As a member of Netflix, I?ve opted for the one-movie-at-a-time-for-$6.99 package. The only technical film operation I am familiar with is filling my online movie queue, checking snail mail, and pressing “play.” Thank goodness for Richard Barsam?s guide, Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. Without it, the lexicon used both in the production/direction and analysis of film would be lost on me. The closest I have come to analyzing film technique, aside from story, is when I found porn in my genealogical research. Essentially, until now, I’ve prefered to see without really looking.

That said, and since?class didn?t officially have to write for today, I?m just going to wrap up Chapter 1, ?What Is a Movie? for myself. You?re welcome to read along.

To summarize ultra-simplistically, a film is both form and content inextricably intertwined on celluloid (unless it?s digital). That?s the easy part. It?s the myriad ways in which form and content can be manipulated that blows my mind:

• Through the camera lens (as both perspective and frame)
• Coexpressibility of time and space (parallel edits and montages)
• Lighting (chiaroscuro: a term that describes contrasts of light and dark which I?m thrilled to recognize from an oil painting class)
• Via the constructed illusion of realism and the opposite, or antirealism (fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers)
• Striving for verisimilitude: a convincing appearance of truth based on ?realistic? expectations as well as a filmmaker?s and audience?s mediation of conventional and innovative cinematic language (scenes, sequences, dissolves, etc.)
• Through a flexible dependence upon the conventions and overlap of genres and subgenres
  • Narrative or fiction (action, biopics, comedy, fantasy, film noir, etc.)
  • Non-fiction (factual, instructional, documentary, propaganda)
  • The conflation of both via historiographic metafiction (This note is my own written especially for Michael)
  • Animation (drawing, puppet or clay animation, pixilation, computer animation)
  • Experimental film (Un Chien Andalou ? An Andalousian Dog, as the book translates – is on?UbuWeb if you want to see it. The eyeball scene is a trip.)

In the end, it is all simply an illusion of movement ? but a complicated one at that. And so here we end where we’ll begin another day…

—-

FoYoInfo: English Department Visiting Scholar
Jim Collins Lectures on Film and New Media
April 8th, 7-9 p.m. in Saint Joseph Hall

Does anybody wanna go?
(The old Postmodernism gang perhaps?)

—-

PS: How odd to be reading?references to the filming of?Brokeback Mountain on the day that Heath Ledger was found dead.

Reposted from my Kenya blog, Alfajiri:

For days I have been able to do nothing more than hold my breath and watch the atrocities unfolding in Kenya as violent objections continue in response to the disputed election of President Mwai Kibaki. When it comes to news coverage, I want less of the dramatic “still smoking” violence and descriptions of how this looks at an international level and more about non-rioting families and what it means for them to be ?displaced.? The truth is, I have no clue as to what it entails, not on a level of daily survival. Where is the human interest? Why is it always the last detail to get covered? I despise the media’s limitations and, at the same time, am drawn to the stories like a moth to flame.

Yesterday I read “Kenya’s crisis spreads gloom over Africa,” a Reuters article in which journalist Barry Moody opened with:

Kenya’s sudden spiral into chaos after years as a regional anchor has badly set back Africa’s democratic progress and will strike a heavy blow against the economies of a wide swathe of neighbouring nations.

What troubles me most is that this statement pertains to Africa as a whole, as if an entire continent can ever be affected in one particular way by a single event. Skimming through Google or surfing a feed aggregate will reveal only a seriously flawed and over generalized assumption while missing the nuances involved. Sadly, these are the impressions that stick with people.

Interestingly, Moody ‘s argument lies in direct opposition to what his content suggests. Perhaps this is to create a sense of tension in his piece. Instead, it creates a great deal of tension toward the article for me. Although one quote backs his opening statement, the two most poignant quotes refute it by saying:

“The politics of every country in Africa are very, very separate. African politics are all local and all personal … I don’t think it has any wider implications at all,” said Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society.

Control Risks senior Africa analyst Chris Melville agreed: “While Kenya is at the heart of an unstable region, we do not consider that the current situation will significantly contribute to regional instability in the short-term.”

What I question is how a region so troubled could have been influenced by Kenya’s democratic process to begin with, particularly since this is not the first time that tribal issues have arisen over an election. Does Moody truly believe this? While I understand that Kenya’s economy is taking a serious tumble and that supplies and tourism are at a standstill at the moment, I tend to agree with Dowden and Melville. Politics and tribal relations have borders and, short term, economic factors will not likely create regional unrest. I suspect that the effects will have a broader reach only if the violence and turmoil continue for any great length of time. Obviously, the possibility exists – but we’re not there yet.

Aside from my concern, the current political situation has my family and friends understandably taking notice. Something happening half a world away seems surreal until you know someone with a connection, no matter how remote that connection is. All I can say is that I’m glad people are paying attention, regardless of the reason. Sadly, my greatest fear is that accounts of “uncivilized” people will tarnish some already suspect perceptions of those people worried for my safety. Must we always fall back on these words? These are a people in turmoil due to serious complications within their government. To call them uncivilized is too easy and has too many dire implications.

This is not to say that I’m not wondering what the violence means for both the country and for my trip. My first thought was that, although I?m standing by on purchasing airfare to Nairobi, ideally things will settle down before I travel and I can be of some help in restoring the daily functions within the already impoverished Kenyan villages of Kiminini and Kitaleto. Surely help will be needed there now more than ever. I have just learned that the NGOs affiliated with Village Volunteers have not gone unscathed by the violence and the effects of displacement. I hope against all hope that this isn?t so for the sake of Kenya and Village Volunteers, but if significant danger continues to exist over the next few months, my focus will have to shift to Ghana. Either way, I plan to go to Africa.

Postmodern Realities in the Film The Last King of Scotland

To examine Kevin MacDonald?s The Last King of Scotland, a 2006 film based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Giles Foden, is to explore the implications of historiographic metafiction?as well as its limitations. This film, in particular, offers an interesting vantage point having been produced for Western society while simultaneously popular within Uganda. To reach some determinations, I will begin by addressing the ways in which fictional Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan, helps to reveal the problematic Western representation of Uganda?s former president, Idi Amin, a dictator known as the Butcher of Africa during his rule from 1970-1979. I will also examine the repercussions of Garrigan?s insertion into the story and the ways in which his presence impacts the Ugandan nation?s sense of history. By doing so, I intend to make a case for the ethical handling of postmodern art in order to avoid further Western colonization.

This film?s popularity in Uganda is undeniable, as is the reason for it. According to the New York Times World Africa video, ?The Last King of Scotland Opens in Uganda? by Jeffrey Gettleman, nationwide accessibility to the DVD had been prevalent prior to the official release thanks to the influx of pirated DVDs from the Chinese underground. For the equivalent of 20 cents, as opposed to the inaccessible $5 admission to Uganda?s only theater, masses of people have continued to file into small huts lined with wooden benches to see their history (Gettlemen). National interest signals the grand scale of a Western cultural impact upon this African nation and the social effects are important to explore in order to avoid future erasure of Uganda?s historical heritage.

The reason for this film?s popularity is the disparity of historical knowledge that spans the generations. Seemingly not addressed for the youth by their education system, it appears that Ugandans are using this film to fill in their historical gaps, many referring to the ability for children to learn about their country (Capturing Idi Amin). According to the Washington Post article, ?In Uganda, ?Last King of Scotland? Generates Blend of Pride and Pain Crowds Flock to Oscar-Honored Film About Idi Amin,? Timberg explains why this film is so important to them:

For Ugandans too young to have clear memories of Amin?s reign, ?The Last King of Scotland? gave them a welcome dose of insight into their own national history… After seeing the movie, said Alice Mwesigwa, 32, ?it was, ?Wow, this is real.? (Timberg)

Anyone over twenty remembers Amin in some way. Mwesigwa has her own experience to compare with the film and comes to an interesting determination about reality. But is this real? Does this film constitute Uganda?s history? The answer to that question is not so clear.

Reference to the story as ?real? is problematic in that?certain elements of the story are obviously not real. While contamination of reality is inherent in any narrative, this particular?process begins with the novel. In the interview ?Giles Foden, The Last King of Scotland? conducted by BoldType, the English author (who spent a portion of his early life in Africa) is asked whether his portrait of Amin is based on ?research, memory, imagination, or a combination of all three.? Foden answers:

All three, but trying to keep the research at bay was a problem. I kept discovering these amazing things about Amin which I wanted to put in the book. This was disturbing, as I felt like I was being ?dictated? to, or suffering the kind of demonic possession that Amin believed existed. Still, I guess I must have pulled through: mainly I tried to hang onto to the idea that this was a story. I wanted to make people turn the page. (Boldtype)

Foden embraces the stereotypical ideas surrounding the dictator, those of his disturbing behavior and belief in demonic possession, and applies them to the research process itself, as if the unearthing of facts is somehow unearthing Amin?s power and forcing Foden?s hand in what to write. This interpretation reveals the lens through which Foden performed his research, indicating his own biased making of meaning through his processing of facts. Foden also reminds us that his novel is?ultimately a story designed to sell and entertain, a process that allows him to distill Amin?s?many advisors down to the fictional Dr. Garrigan. Screenwriters further distill Foden?s entire novel down to a screenplay where the collective influence of the director, producers, actors and editors departs from the novel and adds their own impact to the film.

When Ugandan viewers make meaning of the final product based on their own cultural experience, they seem to confuse the film The Last King of Scotland with history and reality. This confusion is understandable and reflects the concerns of theorist Frederic Jameson. As stated in Postmodernism or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism:

The new spatial logic of the simulacrum can now be expected to have a momentous effect on what used to be historical time. The past is thereby itself modified… the past as ?referent? finds itself gradually bracketed, and then effaced altogether, leaving us with nothing but texts. (Jameson, 18)

Jameson blames the postmodern, in this case historiographic metafiction, as?having foregone the signposts that had traditionally signaled the difference between?fiction and reality. Furthermore, Jameson would argue that the filmmakers are referring to a history that never happened, a simulacrum, a copy with no original. History has been replaced by the likeness of history.

In response to Jameson?s disapproval, one must question whose telling of history gets privilege. History has generally been the tale of the victor or dominant culture. Theorist Linda Hutcheon in The Politics of Postmodernism offers an alternative position in relation to Jameson?s argument:

Such a clashing of various possible discourses of narrative representation is one way of signaling the postmodern use and abuse of convention that works to de-doxify any sense of the seamlessness of the join between the natural and the cultural, the world and the text, thereby making us aware of the irreducible ideological nature of every representation – of past or present… postmodern fiction does not, however disconnect itself from history or the world. It foregrounds and thus contests the conventionality and unacknowledged ideology of the assumption of seamlessness and asks its readers to question the processes by which we represent ourselves and our world to ourselves and to become aware of the means by which we represent ourselves and construct?. (Hutcheon, 51)

Although the business of reality and historicity appears convoluted up to this point, to apply Hutcheon?s theoretical definition of historiographic metafiction allows for the elevation of the fictional Dr. Garrigan to the status of a useful tool used to explore the multi-faceted Amin and allowing for new interpretations. James MacEvoy who plays Garrigan says of his role:

This film is not just about Idi. It?s not just about Uganda. It?s about the way that Britain, and maybe the rest of the world… looked at Uganda because I?m very much Britain?s looking glass in the film? (MacEvoy, Capturing Idi Amin).

MacEvoy, through his character, reflects back the full spectrum of how the British government has played a part in Amin?s dictatorship. Garrigan has access to Amin in ways that Amin?s friends, family, government, subjects and the international community never have. Many individuals saw only the side that Amin wanted them to see. The British media saw only what they wanted. Garrigan sees all.

The most widespread information about Amin?s dictatorship consists of a collage of stereotypes. Jon Snow, a well known journalist in the United Kingdom with former access to Amin says:

In the early 1970?s there was still a lot of racism about and I think Amin appealed to a racist stereotype of Africa. If he hadn?t existed we would have had to invent him. He was a perfect kind of larger than life, ogreous, you, know, people eating monster of a dictator.? (Snow, Capturing Idi Amin)

The problem with this statement is that Amin was not always perceived as a ?monster of a dictator.? In fact, he began as a loyal soldier of Britain, escalating in status from mess hall duty to commander and eventually president. He was initially known as a charismatic and gregarious man by the British government. So what brought about the change? If the movie teaches us anything new about Amin, it is that he was largely invented by the media through a dance of push and push-back.

MacDonald, Whitaker and McAvoy met with journalist Jon Snow to better understand Amin?s relationship with the press. As MacDonald recalls from their interview:

[Jon] had got to know Amin very well when he was a young journalist? he talked very interestingly about how Amin had seduced him, how he had seduced all the press corps. So even when people went to Amin to ask tough questions, to say ?I?m going to find out what?s really going on in this country? I?m going to put him on the spot about his murders that we?ve heard about,? they would come away laughing. They would come away feeling that Amin was a decent guy. He was funny, and also the news desks back home would be saying, ?Give us more of that footage of Amin dancing, or footage of Amin in his kilt. We love that. It?s so funny.? And Jon Snow says that he still feels guilty about that, that the press betrayed Uganda or let them down, at the very least. (MacDonald, DVD Commentary)

At the very least, the press failed to represent an accurate portrayal of Amin?s wrath and fury but that is not the least of it. Because the media played a significant role in suppressing all but Amin?s folly, they essentially created the caricature he had become and drew a stereotypical shield of protection around a madman?s murderous activities. This stereotype became a veil used by Amin himself. Amin?s character became a Saturday Night Live skit. Song parodies surfaced. On the ?Sucks or Rules? website posted in November 2007, Amin?s image battles for votes against a picture of Bob?s bitch tits from Chuck Palahniuk?s contemporary film Fight Club. That this legacy of buffoonery continues today is lingering evidence of the enormous impact of 1970?s media.

This passage also reveals the reciprocal mastery of Amin?s personal representation, even at the time when his paranoia was out of control and there were international rumors surfacing about his massacre. He gave the press what they wanted and they settled for what he fed them, the ?charming fool.? While journalists had no direct hand in Amin?s slaughter, they cannot be exonerated from playing their part. Snow may feel some remorse about the veil that media cast over the truth, allowing the world to giggle throughout the massacre of an estimated 300,000 people, but he appears to have little understanding of the media?s own bloodstained pen if, in 2006, he can say that the media would have created Amin had he not existed.

Amin intentionally re-represented this stereotype repeatedly to the press, in part because his reality had become terrorized by it and, in part, because the exertion of terror at his hands had exceeded it. According to MacDonald:

Amin wore a distorted mirror reflecting back to the colonial masters in Britain what he had learned from them. He took ideas like bagpipes and kilts and imposed them into a completely inappropriate world? In some horrible way he was like a sort of puppet who has come to life. He was like a plaything of the Empire that turned around and said, ?boo.?? (MacDonald, Capturing Idi Amin)

Like Hutcheon?s example of the marionette in Lady Purple, Amin becomes the puppet of the Empire, a dually constructed reality as both the stereotype and the representation of that stereotype. In this sense Amin is himself postmodern, somewhat illusory with his multiple costumes and cultural allusions, a fractured identity representing something beyond explanation and yet harkening toward something familiar.

More than that, the very tactics the British taught him as a soldier in their colonizing army, using the power found in the barrel of a gun, are the tools Amin used to shape his own national and international identity. Which is Amin?s real identity, clown or tyrant? His is neither under the constraints of the small box of meaning he is placed within and both simultaneously. In revealing the construction of the real by the press and by Amin, we reach a new understanding that representation becomes its own reality.

In The Last King of Scotland, although Amin addressed the press with complete composure and charm, Garrigan allows us access to the extreme rage and paranoia Amin unleashes behind closed doors, as well as his genuine struggle, confusion and cries for help to his advisors. Whitaker says of researching his role of Amin through countless interviews with those who knew widely varied sides of him:

I wonder if we can look at Africa without the context of intervention? There is a schism in African history, and Amin was a big product of it? He?s not Satan? He?s not the devil. My search was to find the reasons he made the decisions that he did. (Haygood, 1)

Through Garrigan, we learn the secrets that Amin?s advisers kept while in fear of their lives during his rule. Amin felt betrayed by the British. Once embraced and empowered by the country that flat out ignored his first massacre while in their service during Uganda?s colonization, the country had finally turned its back to him at the time of Uganda?s independence. This is the information that Whitaker refers to as having fallen into ?history?s schism.? This interesting phrase implies a failure on the part of history in general, one that Garrigan?s story helps to supplement by revealing Amin as a multifaceted human being, lifting the veil from the limitations of media stereotyping and historical representation.

Although this new multifaceted representation of Amin is interesting, it does not come without a price. Regardless of the attempt to create a composite of Amin?s advisors through Garrigan, this character influences Amin?s decisions within the film and impacts storyboard situations that never actually happened. These events, in turn, fictionalize Amin?s story. Director Kevin MacDonald defends this by saying:

We have taken liberties, as the novel does and I think one of the reasons we feel happy doing that with Amin in particular is because there is something about [Amin] that is almost more fictional than it is real. You never really can pin down what the historical reality is. (MacDonald, Capturing Idi Amin)

This is Hutcheon?s point as well. One might consider this a small price to pay for the revelation of history?s limitations, and perhaps this is true in the case of the film?s attempt at respectful representation of Amin as a person. In other aspects of the film though, liberties are taken too far.

The story of Kay, one of Amin?s many wives, is as mythical and mysterious as Amin?s. Some suspect Amin killed her for being unfaithful, although, in Time Magazine?s 1977 article ?Big Daddy in Books,? Kay?s most probable story is summarized in a review of Amin?s former health minister Henry Kyemba?s novel, A State of Blood:

For once, Kyemba exonerates Amin: “I do not believe, as I first did, that Amin had a direct hand in Kay’s death.” Instead, he writes, she died during an abortion that was being performed by her lover, a doctor. Kyemba speculates that the doctor dismembered the body in an effort to hide it, but then changed his mind; he committed suicide a few hours later. When informed of his former wife’s death, Amin requested that the body be sewed back together; at the funeral, he raged to her assembled family about her unfaithfulness. (?Big Daddy in Books,? 2)

In the film, there is a departure from this story. Kay and Garrigan have a one night stand and consequently conceive a child. Garrigan asks permission to use the presidential hospital to perform an abortion in order to spare Kay and himself a torturous death at the hands of an angry Amin. When Dr. Thomas Junju denies them access to Amin?s hospital, Garrigan asks, ?What other choice does she have, some back street job in a village somewhere?? Thomas replies, ?It?s the only choice you?ve left her. But I don?t expect it had crossed your mind here to wonder, a white man with a black woman. What does she need with such things? (The Last King of Scotland). Junju brings up a new colonizing aspect to Kay?s story that had never existed prior.

This interpretation is not simply new, it is riddled with a new sense of conflict, invoking global dichotomies from black/white, masculine/feminine and colonizer/colonized to the ultimate life/death situation. MacDonald explains his intentions:

The man with the black woman was kind of like the racial, political element which has not really been a part of the story so far. And suddenly we see it all from a different perspective. We see him as the white man who has come in to rape and pillage the country in a way and to use a woman in a way that, you know, was the old colonial manner of doing things. You see Garrigan in a different kind of light.? (MacDonald, Director?s Commentary)

Kind of like? does not begin to describe the message MacDonald is sending. Kay is not Garrigan?s first Ugandan conquest, although she is the most important. Garrigan had been scooping up resident women as he pleases since his arrival in Uganda. As Amin and Garrigan?s relationship grows close and they enter a love affair of sorts, Amin?s wife Kay becomes the outlet for Garrigan?s sexual manifestation of that love. Although Amin shares a great deal with Garrigan, Kay is something Garrigan takes without permission, violating not only the Ugandan leader?s trust, but by ultimately destroying Kay?s well being. The resulting child, a symbolic zygote of cultural fusion at the most basic human level, is aborted before it can see the light of day. For her infidelity, Kay is dismembered; her limbs positioned in a gruesome and unnatural position, and put on display at the city morgue by Amin, an adulterer himself. The film?s message here is that, while men enjoy freedoms not afforded to women, women who don?t remain in their place will suffer the gravest of consequences. This is the ideology that is being consumed and reinforced in Uganda for mere pennies a viewing.

That the filmmakers struggled with the inclusion of the dismemberment scene offers little comfort. The only available commentary sympathetic to Kay?s cinematic plight is that of Forrest Whitaker:

Idi Amin kills her, takes the body, cuts her up and sews the parts on differently, which is one of the most gruesome images in the film. And I think that image will stick with people really strongly. And that?s, that?s not true. (Whitaker, Capturing Idi Amin)

With his consuming interest in bringing authenticity to Amin?s role, Whitaker?s tone here is remorseful, as if he finds this a tragic failure within the film. On the contrary, the actress who played Kay, Kerry Washington says:

There are things about [Kay?s] life that people are very sensitive about. People that remember her get very upset when they remember her and while it?s true that she did have an affair behind Idi?s back and she did become pregnant and seek an illegal abortion, she did not have an affair with a white man, which is, you know, I guess, dramatic license. (Capturing Idi Amin)

Washington?s remarks are flippant at best. In the case of Producer Andrea Calderwood, the same holds true when she says, ?We just felt it was such a powerful moment to dramatize Idi?s frame of mind ? we weren?t just being gratuitous about it? (Capturing Idi Amin). An awareness of the decimation of Kay?s memory exists on some level for these women, but not at the level it should. Amin and Garrigan are the prime focus, perhaps in part due to their gendered coding and internal acceptance of the message.

In the end, Garrigan is seen for the traitor he is to Amin and tortured. Hung from meat hooks through his bloody, pale, white chest with arms limply outstretch in the air, the imagery is strikingly Christ-like. Garrigan refuses to scream as if taking on the sorrow of the hundreds of thousands of slaughtered Ugandans, refusing to give Amin the satisfaction of watching him suffer the way he enjoyed watching his people suffer. Dr. Thomas Junju, the man who refused to help at the hospital, cuts Garrigan down and helps him to escape the country at the risk and eventual realization of his own peril. When Garrigan asks why Junju helps him after refusing to at the hospital, the Ugandan says,?Go home and tell the story to all. People will believe you because you are white” (The Last King of Scotland). This statement can be read in two ways, as a tool used to sell the film to Western audiences or as a commentary on how the world refuses to recognize the plight of Africans unless told by whites. These interpretations are not exclusive to one another. Although this is the case, in this instance the director offers a frank assessment of reasoning behind this telling of the story. According to an article in the Washington Post, ?[MacDonald] didn’t want a movie that fictionalized the story to the point where the white character becomes a heroic figure. ?It’s unfortunately the economics of moviemaking,? he says? (Haygood, 1). While meaning and interpretation of the film?s message essentially comes from within the text itself, it is difficult to ignore the operation of capitalism working to direct the tale in order to generate ticket sales.

With the film?s break from Amin and Kay?s lived experience, I return once again to the questions ?Is this real? Is this Uganda?s history?? It appears that the answer is no on the most literal level, yet, on a subversive level, the film wholly reifies dominant cultural realities. Theorists Horkheimer and Adorno, in Dialectic of Enlightenment specifically address the medium of film as a form of entertainment, calling out its false promise of cinematic escape from societal pressures while codifying the audience into believing existing social norms are okay and resistance is futile.

The ways in which this operates can be demonstrated through the specific relationship between Kay and Garrigan as outlined above. Horkheimer and Adorno explain:

In every product of the culture industry, the permanent denial imposed by civilization is once again unmistakably demonstrated and inflicted upon its victims. To offer and deprive them of something is one and the same? Precisely because it must never take place, everything centers on copulation. In films it is more strictly forbidden for an illegitimate relationship to be admitted without the parties being punished than for a millionaire?s son-in-law to be involved in a labor movement. In contrast to the liberal era, industrialized as well as pop culture may wax indignant at capitalism, but it cannot renounce the threat of castration. This is fundamental. (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1232)

This film?s message, not only of forbidden sex but of the forbidden combination of black and white, is imprinted upon both Western and Eastern cultures, reinforcing the ideology of cultural separation and domination of one over another. In this way, cinematic entertainment allows for now escape. ?The culture industry tends to make itself the embodiment of authoritative pronouncements, and thus the irrefutable prophet of the prevailing order? (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1234) We, as a newly global audience in this world of accessibility, do not confine our national ideologies within our own borders. While Western films offer the forbidden to reinforce that its attainability comes with sharp consequences, this Western message now dominates the globe.

What careful analysis of the film?s depiction of Amin reveals is that, rather than being a departure from contextualized history, or what?Jameson calls ?a ?revolutionary? break with the repressive ideology of?storytelling generally,? (Hutcheon, 47)?this film decenters the ideological notions of authenticity and subjectivity of film itself. In the handling of Amin, it demonstrates the power of news media?s influence of news media while simultaneously revealing that British news broadcasts offered no more objective truth than does this piece of fiction. Hutcheon would remind us that this is not an issue about media per se. Baudrillard?s theory of simulacra and media?s neutralization of the ?real? assumes that there was a ?real? to begin with. She instead counters that??there is nothing natural about the ?real? and there never was ? even before the existence of mass media? (Hutcheon, 31). Ultimately what we must understand is that narrative, whether in the form of historical record, journalism, cinematography or fiction, is inherently powerful in its representation but also has limitations.

For The Last King of Scotland, this is where the power of historiographic metafiction ends. Through the seduction and consequential murder of Kay as well as the depiction of Garrigan as the white savior of Uganda, the film becomes Western film culture?s colonization of Ugandan history working to reinforce the power of white dominant culture. Horkheimer and Adorno see the only ability to transcend made available through true art. This art:

certainly cannot be detached from style; but it does not consist of the harmony actually realized, of any doubtful unity of form and content, within and without, of individual and society; it is to be found in those features in which discrepancy appears: in the necessary failure of the passionate striving for identity. (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1232)

What Horkheimer and Adorno call for here, in essence, is the work of the postmodern. Like Hutcheon, they describe the kind of art that truly wrestles with and de-doxifies ideology in order to reveal its power and flaws. As The Last King of Scotland proves, the power of historiographic metafiction is reduced dramatically when it is centered on the laws of capitalism. Its ethical power to expose and inspire revolution against powerful ideologies can only be unleashed when art is produced for art?s sake and not for profit.

Annotated Bibliography

“Big Daddy in Books? TIME Magazine. Time Inc. Sep 19, 1977. October 24, 2007 This article covers breaking news of Amin in the 70?s as well as the rise in film and books addressing topics to do with the dictator. The review of A State of Blood, written by Amin?s former health minister, Henry Kyemba, is addressed in the majority of the article. This is where I pulled my information on Kay?s death from in order to compare it with the film?s version. Kyemba is an interesting author to cite since he acted a part in the film as well.

“Capturing Idi Amin? Special Feature Documentary. The Last King of Scotland. DVD. 2006. Two Step Film/BBC Scotland. 2007. Asking a question similar to my own, this film explores the implications of inserting fiction into reality. This is helpful in gathering many Ugandan viewpoints in reaction to the movie as well as what the people hope it will accomplish within their own country. It also provides access to Amin?s Minister of Health, and others who remember Amin.

The Last King of Scotland. Dir.Kevin MacDonald. Perf. Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Simon McBurney, Gillian Anderson. 2006. DVD. Fox Searchlight, 2007. Primary text.

Horkheimer, Max and Theodor Adorno. ?From Dialectic of Enlightenment From The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.? Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent Leitch. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001. 1223-1240. Horkheimer and Adorno?s theory says that the culture industry, specifically that of film, functions as more than a form of entertainment. They call attention to its false promise of cinematic escape from societal pressures and expose the ways in which it codifies the audience into believing existing social norms are okay and that resistance is futile. I specifically use the description of forbidden sex, offered and revoked within the film as a lesson for life.

Haygood, Wil. ?This Role Was Brutal: Forest Whitaker Tried to Humanize Tyrant Amin.? Washington Post. October 1, 2006. December 1, 2007 <http://www.washingtonpost.com> This article addresses all the ways in which Forest Whitaker educated himself on Amin in order to bring him to life. The portions useful to my thesis are where Whitaker says Amin has fallen into the ?schism? of history, a useful commentary about the limitations of history in general. It also depicts how Director Kevin MacDonald envisioned the story. MacDonald states that the ?economics of moviemaking? requires a white heroic figure. This falls in line with my use of Horkheimer and Adorno?s theory to prove that this film provides a certain cultural reality.

Gettleman, Jeffrey, Adam B. Ellick, and Courtenay Morris. ?The Last King of Scotland Opens in Uganda.? New York Times. February 21, 2007. October 26, 2007. <http://video.on.nytimes.com/> This video highlights the film?s premiere in Uganda and the reception of this western production within the country. There are several references to the accuracy of Whitaker?s portrayal of Amin and a young man who brings his young brother to learn Ugandan history. The most pertinent piece of information is the widespread DVD underground allowing nationwide access to the film. It demonstrates the grand scale impact of Western culture upon the Ugandan nation.

“Giles Foden, The Last King of Scotland.? Boldtype. December 1998. October 25, 2007 <http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1298/foden> This interview with Foden explains his consolidation of Amin?s cabinet into the character of Garrigan and his process in selecting facts to include about Amin. This, in conjunction with Hutcheon demonstrates the fluidity of meaning surrounding facts in history and fiction.

Hutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2002. Hutcheon explains historiographic metafiction which, through dedoxification and self-reflexivity, reveals the power as well as the limitation employed by the medium of narrative. I use this theory to defend the insertion of fictional Garrigan within the history of Idi Amin as the character provides a new view into Amin, the man.

Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press, 1992. Jameson?s points about the postmodern confusion of fact and fiction and the lack of lived history being identifiable is one way to look at historiographic metafiction. With the loss of the referent, this explains the Ugandan?s conflation of fiction and history. It also contrasts nicely with Hutcheons? positive analysis of the postmodern as performing a very specific task.

MacDonald, Kevin. ?Director?s Commentary? The Last King of Scotland. 2006. DVD. Fox Searchlight, 2007. MacDonald provides the back story on filming with Ugandan extras, experiences with Amin research and representation, and the western viewpoint of Ugandan culture. There are too many ways to list in which this information influenced my writing. Suffice it to say that the impact is immeasurable.

“Man Boobs vs. Idi Amin.? Sucks or Rules. DWLyle. November 4, 2007, November 24, 2007 <http://www.sucksorrules.com/battles/detail/people/156911/man-boobs-vs-idi-amin>. This website pits one image against another and allows members to vote on which one sucks or rules. Although the point is unclear, what is interesting is that Idi Amin, a postmodern butcher of a dictator is pitted against Meatloaf?s man boobs from Chuck Palahniuk?s Fight Club. Amin continues to infiltrate pop culture.

Timberg, Craig. ?In Uganda, ‘Last King of Scotland’ Generates Blend of Pride and Pain.? Washington Post. February 27, 2007. October 26, 2007 <http://www.washingtonpost.com> This article covers the ways in which Hollywood?s Oscar buzz surrounding the film impacted Ugandan?s in Kampala. He mentions that there are drastic differences between Amin, Foden?s novel, and finally the film and compares the film with others about Africa that have been successful in Uganda. The last paragraph was most useful, highlighting the reactions of a realistic view of history through this piece of film fiction.

?

The?following is a rambling research proposal of sorts.

In my paper, I?ll be examining the film “The Last King of Scotland.” The?movie is about a?1970′s real?Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin,?whose life is exposed through his relationship with?the main character, a?fictional Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan. Garrigan, although based on the collective real men in Amin?s council, varies in cultural origin and significantly influences several less-than-real events within the film.?Through this main character, the?film moves away from historical representation at the same time it attempts to provide access to it.?Reacting to the film’s powerful story, a?Ugandan extra on location interviewed in the DVD special features says he is glad that Ugandan children can watch this film and finally learn about their national history. But is this history? What are the implications of historeographic metafiction?in a culture?beyond the borders of?America, and what are it’s limitations? (Real thesis to come.)

To answer, I’d first like to brush Jameson’s??Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism? up against Ugandan reactions to the film?s release, examining the postmodern as a means of political and capitalist consumption of culture in Third World countries. When Hollywood, in the name of profit, represents ?history? through a predominantly white, fictional lens, what are the implications? Are there limits to what historiographic metafiction can or should responsibly do? To pick out the problems within the actual production, it will be interesting to watch the movie twice more, once strictly for content and once with the director?s commentary switched on. More on this later…

The other side of the coin is Hutcheon?s point that history has always been representation, and true access to reality has only been an assumption. In this regard, historiographic metafiction has the?ability to reveal more than the victor?s historical narrative. According to an interview with the film?s director, he suggests that the fictional Scottish Doctor allows a more personal window into dictator Idi Amin, a man who has traditionally been known more-so through mythical stories than fact all along. (I?ll have to watch again to get the exact quote.)

Amin is an interesting problem unto himsef. It is known that, during the time of Amin?s rule, journalist access was limited to panel interviews with this man alone. His?account was the sole authority of the state of his country. Witnesses to Amin?s slaughter within the country were unreachable and outsiders were unsure whether the mass killing was real. Amin also presented his own personal limitation, offering one side of himself to the press and exhibiting quite another behind closed doors. Fiction certainly provides more perspective into Amin as a character, but this not to be mistaken?for reality.

Considering these varied ideas, has historiographic metafiction offered distorted interpretation or greater understanding? Preliminary research has already produced a quote pertinent to Jameson?s point. According to “In Uganda, ‘Last King of Scotland’ Generates Blend of Pride and Pain Crowds Flock to Oscar-Honored Film About Idi Amin” By Craig Timberg
of the Washington Post:

For Ugandans too young to have clear memories of Amin’s reign, “The Last King of Scotland” gave them a welcome dose of insight into their own national history.

“After seeing the movie,” said Alice Mwesigwa, 32, “it was, ‘Wow, this is real.’ “

More appropriately phrased, this movie is merely a believable representation of the real.?Mwesigwa’s reaction is problematic in that?the?story is not “real.” According to Jameson, this form has?foregone the signposts that had traditionally signaled?fiction from reality.

According to ?Absolute Power, A chameleonic Forest Whitaker dominates an awkward Idi Amin biopic? by Ella Taylor of the Village Voice:

The Last King of Scotland deals with real events filtered through Giles Foden’s 1998 novel, in which Garrigan serves as a composite of numerous white advisers with whom Amin surrounded himself, then mercilessly cut off when they no longer served his purposes.

To unpack this description is to reveal the multiple layers of removal from the real:

• Actual events as they happened
• Distillation of Amin?s?advisors down to the fictional Dr. Garrigan
• Foden?s narrative process
• Conversion from novel to screen play
• Collective influence of director, producer and actors
• Further editing
• Viewer interpretation

Contamination of the real is inherent in any narrative, yet this particular?process is influenced by a great many people who had never personally experienced Amin?s regime.

An interview in Boldtype ?Giles Foden, The Last King of Scotland? reveals the tricky process of narration prior to the further imposition of film placed upon the real. Although the English author spent much time in Africa as a child, witnessing bodies in the rivers and other horrific sights, he had no personal access to Amin.

BT: Is your portrait of Amin based on research, memory, imagination, or a combination of all three?
GF: All three, but trying to keep the research at bay was a problem. I kept discovering these amazing things about Amin which I wanted to put in the book. This was disturbing, as I felt like I was being “dictated” to, or suffering the kind of demonic possession that Amin believed existed. Still, I guess I must have pulled through: mainly I tried to hang onto to the idea that this was a story. I wanted to make people turn the page.

While Foden?s research lends authenticity to the narrative, his selection of facts shapes what is told and, in the end, he reminds us that this is?ultimately a story designed to sell and entertain.

At the end of “The Last King of Scotland” there is a scene where the fictional Dr. Garrigan, viewed as a traitor, is being tortured by Amin. He gets hung on what look like meat hooks through the chest and, as he hangs, the imagery is similar to Christ hanging on the cross. In fact, he refuses to scream – as if he is taking on the sorrow of the thousands Amin had slaughtered and refusing to give Amin the satisfaction of watching him suffer. Garrigan is eventually rescued as Amin’s attention is distracted and when he asks the man who takes him down why he did it, the Ugandan says that if Garrigan escapes, perhaps the story of the Ugandan people with finally be heard, particularly because?Garrigan is white and has the power to draw the attention of nations who can help. In the end, the implication is that Uganda is rescued by the white savior.

Is this a tool used to sell the film to American audiences or is it a commentary on how the world refuses to recognize the plight of Africans unless told by whites? I can see how both are plausible. Perhaps this is where the power of historeographic metafiction offers a view into the untold and unheard story of those people slaughtered. At the same time, it reinforces the power of the dominant culture.

According to the New York Times: World Africa video, “The Last King of Scotland Opens in Uganda? by Jeffrey Gettleman, much care has been taken by the film crew to portray events as authentically as possible. Filming within the country and using Ugandan extras allowed Forrest Whitaker to speak with the people about their memories.?In his portrayal of Idi Amin, Whitaker’s?accent and actions?also provide?a certain amount of authenticity, according to Jingo,?a native?actor and American movie translator in Uganda. Many have remarked that Whitaker had become Amin. (Quotes to follow.)

Gettleman’s article, “A Film Star in Kampala, Conjuring Amin?s Ghost,”?also reveals that the representation may not be far off the mark:

?This is not a bad attempt at history,? said Henry Kyemba, the author of ?A State of Blood,? a book he published in exile in 1977 about his years as a minister in Amin?s government.

Kyemba, having been a minister to Amin, is probably the best barameter of the films success in?capturing any similarity to the real. His experience lends an authority that most viewers can only imagine. Still, he is but one man with one perspective in an organization of many who had a deadly impact upon an entire?nation.

The film’s significant social impact is obvious as Gettleman’s?video references the prevalence and popularity of the illegal pre-release thanks to the DVD underground. Nationwide accessibility is available for 20 cents as opposed to the inaccessible $5 admission to Uganda?s only theater. Although it is difficult to?gauge?the widespread social impact, the only thing known for sure is that postmodern globalization is merging cultures and overwriting that which it erases. Perhaps, while this is inevitable, it can be handled respectfully and responsibly as “The Last King of Scotland” attempts to do.

Side note:
While?the above?reports put a positive spin on the film’s?reception and acceptance in Uganda, it will be interesting to see?whether I can find a different angle or if I?ll be?forced to read?between the capitalist glorification of American publications.

So much for the seedling? as I wrote, the darn thing continued to grow. I can picture Dr. Middleton rubbing her hands together with a satisfied and somewhat sinister smile saying, “This was my plan all along.”

In class, some postmodern themes, concepts and questions we?ve applied to fiction involve:

• the power structure of the subject/object relationship
• the question of veracity in representation and history
• the failure of language and it?s limitation on thought
• capitalism as an inextricable driving force in postmodern art

Available on Amazon

Postmodern?photographer?Cindy Sherman demonstrates?the ways in which?these issues also infuse her medium, effectively challenging?the traditional assumption that photography is a true representation of the real. MoMa.org summarizes Sherman’s first collection,?Untitled Film Stills:

The sixty-nine solitary heroines map a particular constellation of fictional femininity that took hold in postwar America?the period of Sherman’s youth, and the ground-zero of our contemporary mythology.

Sherman poses herself as if she were a film star and then snaps the shutter. As the photographer, she is the subject capturing what appears to be a realistic depiction of?her object, creating a?glimpse into the life of a starlet. At the same time, she is standing in as that object, an actress acting the part of an actress. The result is a representational copy of a starlet who has never existed, the perfect simulacra,?calling?attention to?the problematic subject and object, and?the assumption?of real or historic?photographic representation accentuated by her use of black and white photography.

In reference to?Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #3 (1977. Collection The Museum of Modern Art, New York) MoMa.org says “the protagonist is shown preening in the kitchen.” The question then becomes, who is the protagonist? It could be?the actress being portrayed, the artist herself, or the idea of a woman preening in order to present herself a certain way. In essence, all three?possibilities require?acting and the lines blur as to where one ends and the others begin. Also,?in?Sherman’s choice of a?kitchen setting, this woman seems out of place. even in her apron. She is too glamorous?to be surrounded by typical?household items and, against the barren walls, she becomes the only?aesthetic thing of?beauty?in the room. While the surrounding items do little to help define?who she is, they do tell who she is not. Or perhaps, to read it another way,?the items do define her everyday life?while?being a celebrity is not her true self. The one?truth that holds fast for all possibilities is that it is impossible?to know who this person really is.

With?this one, Untitled Film Still #16. 1978. Collection The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the same questions are called into play. As a posed object, the camera control is in Sherman’s right hand,?revealing?more directly that she is also the subject.?Point of view shifts to the floor here, offering a more?voyeuristic?peek into the domestic life of this celebrity. She looks away, denying that she is posing for the camera when she is obviously controlling?all that?is seen. We sit at her feet looking up in awe at her?formally centered placement, perfect posture?with one leg slightly in front of the other. The casual grip of?her cigarette suggests that?her stiff feminine posturing is a forced picture of casual relaxation and she holds this pose under the watchful eye of the formally posed?man on the wall. Each are confined within the social definitions of gender during this particular era and the message is?reminiscent of Cixous’ argument that language is structured around dichotomies that allow for no areas of overlap. As the creation of this collection drew to a close, Sherman said she had run out of clich?s to represent, reminding us also of Winterson’s reference to clich?d language and it’s limitation of our thoughts.

Sherman continually explores these themes in her later photography making?a more blatant attack on the assumed “realism” in representation. In Untitled #225 (1990. Color photograph. Collection Philip and Beatrice Gersh, Beverly Hills.) this disturbing?model appears to be a well dress?aristocrat from another century wearing a great deal of make-up and a wig.?It becomes difficult to identify where the artificial parts of this woman end and the real begin. The unreal appearance of the head and the more obvious artificial breast makes one question, is this even Sherman posing??The figure?is also a mother, offering her?artificial breast to an unseen child as if to say motherhood is only one aspect of a whole woman, not her full identity. Wealth, jewels, a fine wig and clothing are not reliable identifiers either. As they are nothing more than commodities, does the woman in wearing them then become a commodity herself?

Moving away from?reference to?realism altogether, Sherman’s woman becomes fully artificial, as does she, each replaced by?the same?doll. The pornographic and exposed positioning of Untitled #255 (1992) equates the “reality” of sex mags to that of posed plastic. The lack of reality is as exposed as the model itself and yet the demand for such “recreations” of sexual events inspires vigorous?capitalist reproduction. This replacement also calls into question the authenticity of the artist’s role?in representation, drawing attention to the lack of realism that occurs when objects are selectively chosen for representation. The model looks away from the camera to?demonstrate, once again, a denial of the artificial situation.

Interestingly,?using a doll as an unrealistic representation of a human being, although it seems to be a drastic difference of subject/object?from the first pictured above, is no different in concept.?Sherman brilliantly exposes photographic?”realism”?as equally flawed in all.

*Brain Drain is an affiliate of Amazon.com.

It’s been a couple of months since I wrote about the racially charged contraversy surrounding the?Jena Six.?My?writing was nowhere near timely?as precipitating events and racial tension in this small community began more than a year ago?with arrests made as far back?as December,?but the story was just then beginning to?percolate above ground. Coverage came from independent media sources such as Democracy Now! while mass media outlets wouldn’t touch it.

Yesterday, 20,000 activists marched in an act of civil disobedience through Jena, LA. People across America who could not make the journey wore green and black in support. And aside from one instance of “aggravated ignorance,” where nooses were displayed in neighboring Alexandria, LA, the result was impressive.

Today the media is BUZZING. “The Jena Six” is now a household phrase.?One can only hope that?increased knowledge and awareness will allow these boys to be treated fairly.?

America is watching.

Luciano Pavarotti passed away on the 6th of this month and, although I didn’t know him, it saddens me.

One of my favorite memories about being a flight attendant was a 1998 trip?to Italy. Pavarotti was seated in first class.?The famous tenor’s?manager had arranged with our airline?to provide?a special?meal on board. Once in the air,?Pavarotti stepped into our galley to be sure that his request?wasn’t causing any trouble. A jovial man, he made us laugh, broke out into song, and suggested we take a group photo. He was?singing as?he posed with some of our crew.?

Before the month was out, I just wanted to?recognize?Pavarattoi’s much appreciated good will and cheer that will not soon be forgotten.

photo: apathy by DiscoWeasel

APATHY
NOUN: 1. Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.
- American Heritage? Dictionary

In the past two days, the number of visitors to this ridiculous little blog?has been?impressive.?”Nooses in the White Tree,” received 103 recorded hits as of this morning. This number is a bit elusive as it does not count additional feed stats or?hits?that aren’t?”post specific.” The much increased traffic brought the rank of Brain Drain to 81 on yesterday’s Blog of the Day. In a sea of 1,184,970 WordPress blogs, that means something… Or so I thought.

For a brief moment, I thought I was raising awareness. I thought people might be incensed at the in-your-face racial discrimination against the young black boys known as The Jena Six. I thought more people would find black boys accused of conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly participating in an unarmed school fight to be ridiculous. I thought people would be outraged that the school fight stemmed from three white students hanging nooses in a shade tree?reserved for themselves. I thought people would?object to those?whites weilding a beer bottle and sawed off shot gun to beat and threaten them. I thought people would be inspired to ask the Department of Justice to investigate the vindictive DA who published a threat to?the boys prior to trial, the?defense lawyer who called no witnesses and cross examined no witness for the state, the white judge and all-white jury made up of the DA’s friends. I thought the link I provided made it easy enough. I thought one click wasn’t too much to ask. I thought sending the post to family and friends would result in comments of dismay and?horror. I thought I could join forces with those who responded, that we could, at the very least,?organize a letter writing campaign in support of?justice for those boys and their families. In my wildest imagination, I hoped somebody would care enough to act. Boy, was I an ass.

According to the stats on internal blog activity, stats which tend to be a bit more accurate than external hits, one person clicked the transcript?I added on?Democracy Now! and one clicked the collection of articles on AfroSpear. Several looked at some pictures. That was it. Not one single comment was left. My email produced zero personal replies. What is most disappointing is that the link to the DOJ petition was never clicked.

Maybe I should have been more passionate than factual. Maybe I didn’t pick the most compelling quotes to transcribe from Democracy Now! — even before their official transcript was posted. Maybe my writing sucks when blinded by emotion. If any one of those reasons is the sole cause of getting nearly zero response, so be it. Unfortunately, I think the real problem is that the majority of people just don’t care.

People who care DO something.

Please read, share and do your thing, whatever it may be. Just DO something.

photo: Jena Six (1 of 6)
by whileseated

Jena, LA – It began when a black high school freshman, Justin Purvis, asked permission to sit in the cool shade of his school’s courtyard tree, one that?only white kids usually sat under.?The school told him to do what he liked. The following day, three nooses hung from the tree in school colors. The school superintendent dismissed the nooses as a prank and gave the three white students who hung them?three days suspension. Parents were never told.

(The?majority of this post comes from my?notes on two Democracy Now! segments:?The Case of the Jena Six: Black High School Students Charged with Attempted Murder for Schoolyard Fight After Nooses Are Hung from Tree?and “A Modern-Day Lynching” – Parents of Jena Six Speak of Injustice, Racism in Sons’ Prosecution.)

Robert Bailey, 17 year old safety receiver for the football team and one of the “Jena Six” facing life in prison, explained his reaction to the nooses:

It was in early morning I seen them hanging. I’m thinking the KKK hanging nooses, they want to hang somebody…. We do little pranks. Toilet paper, that’s a prank. Nooses hanging? Nooses ain’t no prank.”

Caseptla Bailey, Robert’s mother, found out a week later. To her, the nooses meant? hatred.

It meant that ‘we’re going to kill you. You’re going to die.’ You know, it sent a message. ‘This is not the place for you to sit. This is not your damn tree. Do not sit here. You are to remain in your place, know your place and stay in your place.’

According to her, the sheriff, the police department, and the superintendent said one incident had nothing to do with the other. Not everyone agreed. Parents congregated and contacted political leaders. The entire black student body staged an impromptu and civil demonstration, standing?under the tree a few days later. For this, the school called the police and the district attorney. According to Michelle Rogers, one of the few black teachers at the school, DA Reed Walters called an assembly, “held a pen in his hand and told those kids ‘See this pen in my hands? I could end your life with the stroke of a pen.’”

Anger escalated. In October,?Robert Bailey?was beaten for?attending a party after asking permision to enter. Later that month, a young white?man pulled a sawed-off shotgun on a group of black students at a gas station claiming self defense. The black students wrestled the gun away and called the police only to be charged with assault and robbery of the gun. The white man was?charged with nothing. In November, someone tried to burn down the school, an unsolved crime. On December 4th , a white student was allegedly attacked in a school fight. The victim was taken to the hospital, released with a concussion, and was well enough to attend a school function that evening.

The school fight required discipline. Six black students were charged with attempted second degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder on charges that leave them facing 20-100 years in jail with bonds set at $70-138 thousand dollars. When the local paper published the story as fact, DA Reed Walters published the following statement, “When you are convicted, I will seek the maximum penalty allowed by law.” Robert Bailey has no criminal record, the only weapon claimed to be used in the fight were a pair of sneakers, yet he?sat in jail for two months until his mother was able to raise bail.

Mychal Bell?, another promising student and a football player with scholarship opportunities, also faced charges. Mychal’s lawyer put?his father, Marcus Jones, on the witness list. The judge instated?a gag order,?preventing?Jones from speaking to the press?or asking for help.?Jones was never asked to testify. Further, Mychal’s lawyer never contested?an all white jury. He didn’t call?any witnesses. Nor did he cross examine the state’s witnesses. He?told Mychal?to plea bargain. Mychal refused, believing he would appear guilty in such an emotionally charged town. Today, Mychal?was convicted of 2nd degree aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit same for his role in?the unarmed school fight. Mychal’s father says this will teach Mychal “what it means to be black now.”

When?Robert Bailey?sustained a head injury from a beer bottle at?a party before the December 4th school fight, his white assailant received a “simple battery” charge. In Louisiana, simple battery is a misdemeanor. Comparatively, Bell faces 22 years in prison.

The family is unable to hire another lawyer at this time.?Democracy Now! posts that financial support can be sent to:

The Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO BOX 2798
Jena, LA 71342.

They also need legal volunteers and activists to demonstrate locally. According to Caseptla Bailey, those members of Jena?s white community who are in support of justice for the Jena Six are afraid to come forward.

While this story is not prominent in mainstream media, AfroSpear: A Think Tank For People of African Descent has compiled a vast collection of facts and resources.?They also provide an update and more documents here. These families need our help. Please educate yourself, spread the word, and?add your name to the following petition:

To: Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice

We respectfully request that the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice review events surrounding the prosecution of six Black students in Jena, Louisiana, to determine whether the civil rights of Jena residents have been violated.

In a May 20, 2007 Chicago Tribune article titled “Racial Demons Rear Heads,” Howard Witt reported that the six students faced prosecution for charges including second degree attempted murder — and possible prison sentences of up to 100 years — for allegedly participating in an unarmed school brawl that resulted in no serious injuries. The alleged brawl followed months of racial tension after hangman’s nooses were hung from a tree at the students’ school.

From the same Chicago Tribune article:

?There?s been obvious racial discrimination in this case,? said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who described Jena as a ?racial powder keg? primed to ignite. ?It appears the black students were singled out and targeted in this case for some unusually harsh treatment.?

The prosecution of these young men represents a gross miscarriage of justice, punishing Black students for opposing segregation of their schools while ignoring the threatening and provocative acts of those engaging in segregation.

We respectfully request that the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice launch a full investigation into events in Jena, Louisiana, beginning with the noose incident of August 31, 2006, and culminating in the alleged fight of December 4, 2006 to determine whether the civil rights of Jena residents have been violated.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

NPR – Searching for Justice in Jena 6 Case
?News & Notes, July 5, 2007 ? Six black teens have been charged with the beating of a white high school student in the rural town of Jena, La. Jordan Flaherty, a journalist living in New Orleans, and Caseptla Bailey, the mother of one of the defendants, give an update on the case.

The Jena Six
? Michael David Murphy, 2007
This video was made with audio, video, photographs, and scans of court documents on June 25, 2007, in Jena, Louisiana.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za4B4KhIVTE]

We aren’t watching the fireworks this evening due to rain, but they certainly flew in the car on the way home from the theater this afternoon. Tim and I went to the Spectrum to see Michael Moore’s latest documentary, SiCKO.?I left with my blood boiling.

This was one of our most patriotic moves, one where we spent a good hour and 53 minutes educating ourselves on the American people’s dependence upon the whim of profiteering HMOs and pharmaceutical companies. Sure, I laughed at the part where Bush said, “Too many OBGYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” I also cried for those murdered at the hands of the greedy. To call unnecessary loss of life anything less is unthinkable.

This movie was, at the very least,?an upsetting reality check. I think most people understand that health care in America is in dire straights, but this is the first time the?larger picture has been revealed. Many of the alarming facts in Moore’s movie are posted on his website. More personal accounts are available on SiCKO’s blog.

The question I’m left with is, “What are our nation’s family values?”?Can somebody show me?some evidence?demonstrating that?we have?any? The government certainly doesn’t support families when health care is privatized to the detriment of providing care, when daycare costs equal every cent people make at work, when many of our schools are in a state of disrepair and offer substandard learning, and when secondary education sends students deep into debt before entering the workforce. Ultimately, isn’t our government supposed to be “by the people and for the people?” What does this say about what Americans think of themselves? We need to stop being sheep and lead the fight, to believe that we are worth more than the value?an insurance industry?places upon us. When will we?take back our country? Let’s walk the “family values” walk and claim that right for ourselves once and for all.

I?sincerly hope SiCKO inspires people to stand up, to research and support the National Health Insurance Act. House Resolution 676?has been?introduced by Reps. John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott and Donna Christensen and needs our support. This system is already been proven to work in England, France, Canada and, I dare say…?Cuba. It can work here too and we can?do it one?step better, although the HMOs and pharmaceutical companies are paying government officials a lot of money to convince us otherwise. We’ll surely be hearing a well funded rebuttal?campaign from the profiteers in an effort to discredit Moore too.

In my opinion, there was one?comment in?SiCKO which was presented in a somewhat confusing fashion. An ex-insurance investigator whose?job was to look for pre-existing medical conditions and use them to disqualify people from coverage claimed that his duties?were not considered illegal?in several states. This was certainly true during the years he was working in the industry, but it has since been rectified on a Federal level by?The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act? of 1996.??HIPAA says of pre-existing condition exclusions:

• The law defines a preexisting condition as one for which medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment was recommended or received during the 6-month period prior to an individual?s enrollment date (which is the earlier of the first day of health coverage or the first day of any waiting period for coverage)
• Group health plans and issuers may not exclude an individual?s preexisting medical condition from coverage for more than 12 months (18 months for late enrollees) after an individual?s enrollment date
• Under HIPAA, a new employer?s plan must give individuals credit for the length of time they had prior continuous health coverage, without a break in coverage of 63 days or more, thereby reducing or eliminating the 12-month exclusion period (18 months for late enrollees)

It took a lawyer to point this out to me, but this one small hiccup should not distract from the ugly truths the film unveils. The man in the interview was speaking the truth in regard to his experience, recalling how this type of work made him feel and fully disclosing that he had gladly left the industry years ago. Moore, illustrating the?time line of health insurance, was right to include this portion of history. I just think it could have been more clear that, thankfully, the definition of “pre-existing condition” has changed.

On a personal note, what has my panties in a bunch is learning that my former dentist is a hack.?Experiencing?the pain of my tooth being ground out of my head?after 6 shots of Novocain,?and?having subsequent pain and pressure?ever since, I’ve learned from my new sedation dentist (a necessity after acquiring a sudden fear of my former dentist) that my cap?fails on three separate levels:

• a gap exists between the root and cap allowing for decay
• the bite is completely wrong
• and the cap itself is too large to fit.?

What’s more, my former dentist said last month that my newly broken molar required another cap. Funny. My newly consulted ?sedation dentist?said a filling would suffice. I’m beginning to understand how my former dentist paid for his high end, office-wide renovation.

It’s almost more painful to hear that?”the top of the mouth is easiest to numb” than to experience the fact that?it wasn’t, and now I’m supposed to?pay $800 to have?the cap?recast.?That’s right. The?burden of the full amount falls on me. We have no dental insurance. How do you like that? A job in the state’s health care bureau doesn’t even get you dental coverage for six months. It’s ironic and infuriating.?The fact that we can afford?to fix my face?isn’t the point. The point is that far too many people can’t. I’m experiencing something akin to survivor’s guilt knowing that my pain will eventually subside as surely as theirs never will.?

The finale of the fireworks is?sounding off in the city. It’s as distant as the dull echo of?the promise I vaguely remember, the one?granting life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Oh right. We’re allowed to “pursue” happiness. Apparently, a very wealthy and powerful minority believes we just aren’t allowed to achieve it.?According to SiCKO,?they aren’t?allowing for?life or liberty either.

Michael Moore speaks on behalf of H.R. 676 at the Capitol
Thursday, June 21st, 2007
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/DYnadAE685o]

Michael Moore Denied Entry into NYSE
June 29th, 2007
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcuw-_AOk6g]

CNN Gets Blitzed by Michael Moore
July 9th, 2007
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKoN40K7mA]