Comments on: Flags of our [White] Fathers? http://cwmemory.com/2006/10/25/flags-of-our-white-fathers/ Where History, Heritage, and Education Intersect Mon, 21 May 2012 18:06:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Kevin Levin http://cwmemory.com/2006/10/25/flags-of-our-white-fathers/#comment-4007 Kevin Levin Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:00:14 +0000 http://cwmemory.com/2006/10/25/flags-of-our-white-fathers/#comment-4007 <p>Keith, -- I guess we would first need to know to what extent Eastwood was even thinking about race during production. I have no way of answering this question. In the case of the move Cold Mountain whose opening sequence included a re-creation of the battle of the Crater there were also glimpses of United States Colored Troops. Black soldiers played an important role in this battle, but you wouldn't know it from watching these scenes. In the DVD version a separate disk containing deleted scenes includes a very disturbing sequence which shows a severely wounded black soldier shot at point blank range. The scenes deletion can probably be explained in terms of concern about race. </p> <p>I don't know what viewers would walk away with if they were confronted with a more accurate picture of the American force on Iwo Jima. After all, this was the "greatest generation," but it was also the generation that went home and continued for the most part to support segregation. This is not intended to diminish their bravery or what they fought for during the Second World War, but as a reflection on our broader history.</p> Keith, — I guess we would first need to know to what extent Eastwood was even thinking about race during production. I have no way of answering this question. In the case of the move Cold Mountain whose opening sequence included a re-creation of the battle of the Crater there were also glimpses of United States Colored Troops. Black soldiers played an important role in this battle, but you wouldn’t know it from watching these scenes. In the DVD version a separate disk containing deleted scenes includes a very disturbing sequence which shows a severely wounded black soldier shot at point blank range. The scenes deletion can probably be explained in terms of concern about race.

I don’t know what viewers would walk away with if they were confronted with a more accurate picture of the American force on Iwo Jima. After all, this was the “greatest generation,” but it was also the generation that went home and continued for the most part to support segregation. This is not intended to diminish their bravery or what they fought for during the Second World War, but as a reflection on our broader history.

]]> By: Keith Demko http://cwmemory.com/2006/10/25/flags-of-our-white-fathers/#comment-4006 Keith Demko Wed, 25 Oct 2006 20:18:38 +0000 http://cwmemory.com/2006/10/25/flags-of-our-white-fathers/#comment-4006 <p>Though I didn't mention this omission in my review, this is definitely a very valid point ... What makes it even more irksome is, that as the troops were being addressed on ship right before the battle, he flashes for one frame to a small group of black faces ... And after that, they are never seen or heard from again ... I'm sure Eastwood would defend himself by saying they weren't central to the story, but what he would really be saying was they weren't central to HIS version of it</p> Though I didn’t mention this omission in my review, this is definitely a very valid point … What makes it even more irksome is, that as the troops were being addressed on ship right before the battle, he flashes for one frame to a small group of black faces … And after that, they are never seen or heard from again … I’m sure Eastwood would defend himself by saying they weren’t central to the story, but what he would really be saying was they weren’t central to HIS version of it

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