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March 25, 2014 at 1:53 pm #297Hannah KingsleyParticipant
To adress Megan’s points, I don’t agree that the Catherine’s father is acting out of good judgment and concern for her. Although I think we can all agree that he was a manipulative, self-interested man, I think the characterization of him as a misguided father is too generous. He frequently insulted his daughter, and despite a plethora of evidence to the contrary, he continued to forbid the marriage and react to Catherine’s choices with contempt. I don’t think he was worried about a man taking advantage of Catherine based on reasonable suspicion–I think he couldn’t understand why a man would be interested in her, and personally disliked Townsend.
I was also initially confused by Catherine’s character. Her awkwardness and lack of initial dynamic characterization that went beyond a shy, subservient girl actually led me to believe that she was not going to be the hero of the narrative, despite the fact that the story was told from her perspective. I was actually expecting her father to ultimately undergo personal growth and take on that role. (This perception may have made me overly harsh in terms of my ultimate perception of his character, because I was constantly looking for personal growth). I think her uncomfortable mannerisms were a part of her character, and not just a quality particular to the actress, as they really complimented her background and personality. Her transition into a jaded, but still competent, person was very well developed, as it was something that really seemed almost impossible at the beginning, and I believe that the continuation of the awkward acting and mannerisms was a fantastic choice, as it made it clear that she still had the same troubled past and personal problems, but had nevertheless developed into a more self-aware and assertive person. Her personal journey was very well articulated, both in narrative and acting choices.
March 4, 2014 at 4:48 pm #276Hannah KingsleyParticipantI think Glory really bordered on the “white hero” narrative, where he was responsible for being the savior for his regiment. Although it’s true that African-American soldiers in this period needed a white spokesperson to help bring them to a place in the military where they could achieve what they wished to, I was really uncomfortable with seeing a man who has an African-American man throgged in front of his regiment (half-way through the movie) ultimately hailed as the hero of the narrative. I thought it was unbelievable that he could bounce back from that public racial deprecation so quickly in the eyes of his regiment by his future (and admittedly noble) actions. Maybe it was because of poor acting on Broderick’s part (I may be biased as I’ve never liked him), but I honestly had trouble discerning whether his later actions were ever really for the sake of the men fort heir own sake, or out of a combination of patriotism, pressure, and white guilt. He adheres to a very “othering” perspective throughout the film, even when praising them
I may be judging unfairly, but, even though he follows the correct character arc, I personally had a hard time haling Shaw as a hero in this film on principle, even though I don’t necessarily see him as an inherently bad man in his time.
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