I find it grossly offensive that the guy who brought us Django Unchained has the unmitigated gall to criticize Roots for being somehow historically inaccurate.
Yes, Roots was a dramatized depiction of the family history of Alex Haley, but historians have agreed that it is a fair assessment of the era, with respect to the general limitations of broadcast TV. If one were to accurately describe the era of slavery, you can best be sure it can’t be done on network TV. Not then, now now, not ever. Accurate portrayals of rape, dismemberment and murder probably are probably in violation of of every FCC rule in print.
And no, I will not be seeing Django Unchained.
“Quentin Tarantino’s highly-anticipated Django Unchained hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but it’s already become the most controversial film of the season, with its central theme of slavery being mashed up with the extreme violence and humor of a classic Blaxploitation film. And though the film is already causing a stir, the film’s director, Quentin Tarantino, recently stirred up even more drama when he criticized the landmark television miniseries “Roots.”
Since its 1977 debut, Alex Haley’s “Roots’” has been considered a “complete” and definitive telling of slavery in America and it still ranks as the third most-watched miniseries of all time. But in a new interview with The Daily Beast, Tarantino says that Roots was inauthentic in its depiction of slavery.
“When you look at Roots, nothing about it rings true in the storytelling, and none of the performances ring true for me either,” said Tarantino. “I didn’t see it when it first came on, but when I did I couldn’t get over how oversimplified they made everything about that time. It didn’t move me because it claimed to be something it wasn’t.”
Django Unchained’s producer Reginald Hudlin also shared Tarantino’s distaste for Roots, saying that he preferred the Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman flick Glory instead.
“I liked the black characters in Glory,” said Hudlin, whose great-grandfather was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. “Didn’t see the point of the white ones. The true story was the slaves in the film. They should have been the main focal point of the entire plot. But somehow no one figured that out.”
Full story HERE
The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit https://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Tune into The Mo’Kelly Show Saturdays from 6-8pm PDT on KFI AM640 and XM 166 Saturdays and Sundays from 8pm-9pm PST. Contact Mo’Kelly at [email protected].
Follow Mo’Kelly
