greatest generation

Were African-Americans at Iwo Jima? →

Sixty-three years after U.S. forces vanquished the Japanese and planted their flag on Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi, the remote outpost in the Volcano Islands is the focus of another pitched battle. This time, acclaimed film directors Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee are engaging in verbal warfare over the verisimilitude of Eastwood’s two films about the epic clash, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Lee has claimed that by soft-pedaling African-American contributions to the battle, Eastwood is misrepresenting history.

A look back at the Spike Lee-Clint Eastwood spat over Eastwood’s decision to ignore the contribution of African Americans in the Pacific with Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. If I remember correctly, The Pacific and Band of Brothers also failed to include references to African-American soldiers.

While all four productions have an out because they tell the story of soldiers in segregated units, we can’t escape the fact that the two three most recent films to include African-American storylines, Red Tails, Miracle at St. Anna’s, and Hart’s War, were extremely weak. 

I would agree with Eastwood that it is wrong to placate current sentiment by messing with historical fact, but Hollywood could do a much better job of telling a broader “America-at-war story” in general.

What do you think..Why is Hollywood missing the mark?

1. pyrolatry liked this
2. theticketthatexploded answered: It’s a complicated question, requiring a complicated answer. Lee’s one contribution to WWII filmmaking was not good.
3. foxychocolatelady reblogged this from greatestgeneration and added:

   story of history

4. bradleyamerica answered: George Lucas’ recent interview on The Daily Show touched on this pretty well. Read it here! tinyurl.com/7vxjvcw
5. the-sundancekid answered: Because you can’t do shit nowadays for the sake of being ‘politically correct.’
6. greatestgeneration posted this