Post 24                                                                                                                            

By Darrell J Banks Cr 2014

It’s  officially Oscar day. And on such a day don’t believe what you see. For as the gowns that march down the red carpet hide many a body flaw. Like the films, actors and screenwriters nominated today they merely reflect the same images we give Hollywood’s greatest award.  It’s a trick, a marketing trick to ensure you buy more tickets.  Eighty five thousand dollar gift bags, Dior, Armani maybe, but today we have Tom Ford and designers I would have to Google to determine their current trendy status. Ouch…. Secondly,  never believe too much, what you see in a movie.  Especially in Oscar season.  I watched disk 2 of Mary Poppins, and it informed me that Emma Thompson was not in London when Walt Disney inquired of her Mary Poppins story. She was in New York City.  So the writer or director changed  something, a necessary change to reflect the true nature of a writer. But they that’s entertainment.   A rule you should always follow when writing fiction ( plays, screenplays  or short stories.) is that the real truth rarely matter unless you are the subject of the film.  Yesterday I saw Long Walk to Freedom. As a young person whose group home was in attendance  hollered out at the screen Mandela is a player.  That was the imagery used by the writer and director to show the relationship between Mandela  his women and country.  While with his first wife,  Mandela was shown seducing and being seduced by many women. The analogy also applied to his country. He was a successful lawyer who did not need any more clients. But his best client was South Africa as he transformed from a pacifist to a warrior to one growing tomatoes and triumphantly emerged as a person of peace.

When you write a biopic, it is often best not to have a living subject. It’s also important they you maintain the image of those who seek more of the hero’s pixie dust.  I hope when they shoot MLK that they focus more on the message and not his  human flaws.

As a character study watch Gandhi from and then watch Long walk to freedom. There are extreme differences in each approach. I think the Gandhi way is better approach when you try to secure the rights from the family members or subject of your biopic.