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Cecil Gaines: You need to go.
Louis Gaines: What?
Cecil Gaines: Get the hell out!
Louis Gaines: Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Butler. I didn't mean to make fun of your hero!
Gloria Gaines: Everything you are and everything you have, is because of that butler.
Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for
the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil
becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a
butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the
decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining
momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with
her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide
whether he should take action in his own way. - Written by Kenneth Chisholm
LEE DANIEL’S THE BUTLER & OSCAR SNUB DEBATE – 1-17-2014 1-17-2014 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts – Journalist/Film Reviewer
FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - David Velo Stewart – Editor – HHBMedia.com
One of the hardest thing a Black filmmaker can do in my opinion is create a theatrical
dramatic film that not only grosses over $100 Million at the Box Office but also wins
many Oscars. Lee Daniel’s The Butler can take solace that it accomplished the first
David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • [email protected] • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart
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of those two goals. But should we as Blacks folks be tearing our weaves and afros out
over the fact that Lee Daniel’s The Butler did not garner a single Oscar nomination.
And as surprising as it might sound from my pro-Black film centric minded self I have to
agree that the Oscars got it right by giving Lee Daniels’s flick no Oscar love. I say this
not because Lee Daniels did not try to make an Oscar worthy film, but because Lee
Daniels tried to blatantly hard to make an Oscar worthy film. I have no proof but just my
gut feeling that Lee Daniels and the Weinstein Co. thought they would mine Oscar gold
for just the subject matter alone of having made a major civil rights film that showcased
landmark and historically accurate scenes like the school integration in Little Rock, the
Klu Klux Klan attacking Freedom Riders, the fight over segregated lunch rooms and
public places, the rise of Black Power movement, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
King, the FBI’s war with the Black Panthers or even the anti-apartheid movement
against South Africa. But also add on that Lee Daniels was also trying to document the
lives of seven U.S. presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan. What a daunting task for
even the most experienced white filmmakers and producers to even undertake. So I
give much credit for Lee Daniels making the most of a rare and “precious” opportunity to
direct and produce a big budget drama with many lead African-American actors.
Where Lee Daniel’s The Butler effort to win any Oscars stopped being credible and
believable was Lee Daniels’s many decisions to stray every chance he could from the
real life events of Eugene Allen, who was the real white house butler; who’s fascinating
life is chronicled in Wil Haygood’s The Butler: A Witness To History. In my opinion
films based on true events and especially iconic historic events that go on to win many
Oscar nominations and Oscars only hold up to scrutiny when there are minor changes
to past events. Not the case with Lee Daniel’s The Butler for Daniels wanted his Cecil
Gaines to be like the Bible’s Job and go through hell and high water before he becomes
the Butler. Did the real Eugene Allen grow up on a plantation and become a house boy
to a white family like Cecil Gaines did. Yes! But did the Eugene’s mother get raped by a
David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • [email protected] • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart
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white overseer and his father then shot dead by that same white rapist for dare trying to
defend his wife. No! That whole scene was made up to give Cecil’s character more of a
bigger back story and truly powerful childhood to overcome. Did the real Eugene Allen
ran away from his plantation home and have to steal food before being hired to be a
waiter. No! It would have seemed to boring for Cecil to just go as the real Eugene did
and apply for a job as a waiter at a hotel in Virginia and get hired without any special
circumstances. Eugene Allen did not have any bad or tragic scenes with the whites he
grew up with or worked with as a waiter. Did Eugene like the film’s Cecil get personally
picked by a racist White house staffer because Eugene had the unique and much
sought after passive, magical “Negro temperament” to “grin and bear” or “shuck and
jive” when serving or catering to racist whites as a waiter. No! Eugene on his own heard
about a job opening at the White House and on his own got hired to work in their pantry.
A few years later he was promoted to the Butler staff. But, oh no, Daniels needed his
film’s lead to be hand-picked for his magical temperament of diffusing complex and
embarrassing racial moments. Again this never happened and was only done so that
later on Cecil can reflect about his life and feel bad that he—like many Black domestics
had to wear a mask to hide their true feelings from whites and white presidents in the
White House. I never believed that Cecil Gaines could get anywhere close to working at
the White House in the 50’s if he did not have a normal upbringing and boring domestic
work history like Eugene Allen. There must have been something wrong with Daniels
having a lead Black character that did not have a deep and dark reason to hate whites
or had to learn how to be an Uncle Tom to get an important job at the White House. And
don’t even get me started on the fact that Daniels creates a fictional son Louis Gaines
(David Oyelo) that Eugene never had to be this “universal super civil rights activists”
who was everywhere and did everything from the 60’s to 80’s. Without Louis Gaines
constantly getting into trouble fighting there would be no way for Daniels to compare
contrast Cecil working at the White House. So at least 75% of Lee Daniel’s The Butler
is based on fake emotionally manipulative Oscar appealing events. And even the one
true fact that Eugene’s lone son Charles did serve in the Vietnam War as changed.
Daniels kills Cecil’s son that went to Vietnam, just to give Cecil another serious, sad and
made-up dramatic moment to further reflect on his life Daniels also wanted Oprah to get
a Best Supporting Actress nom by making Cecil’s wife an alcoholic and an adulterous
even though Daniels knew Eugene’s real wife was not a mental and moral train wreck.
I am certain that Lee Daniels would have never agreed to do The Butler without taking
many liberties with Wil Haygood’s The Butler. And after The Butler was released there
were multiple news stories comparing the real life of Eugene Allen and The Butler’s
Cecil Gaines. Google ‘em if you don’t believe me. These stories became an anti-Oscar
campaign and it meant that tons of film critics stopped taking Lee Daniel’s The Butler
seriously as an early Oscar favorite. And to me Oscar voters were not going to give Lee
Daniel’s The Butler nominations on a historic story based on many false and contrived
civil rights scenes that never happened to Eugene Daniel or Eugene’s wife and son.
David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • [email protected] • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart
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David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • [email protected] • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart
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David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • [email protected] • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart
