Episode 143 - Race and Nationalism in Film

This is a bit different than our regular show and we go into quite a bit of depth on our feelings about race and nationalism in film. The episode consists of an opening by Matt followed by an excerpt from our "Yankee Doodle Dandy" episode and the closes out with some comments by Matt. In our recent podcasts we have reviewed films that began the long and continuing journey to broaden diversity in movies. In our view this shift is welcome, overdue and needs to continue. In Episode 143 we have a discussion of the gradual shift in movie themes. Also, the recent podcasts have opened our eyes to the lack of diversity in the majority of films from the silent era through 1979. Our podcasts reach back from 1979 to earlier films and as we have watched many of these movies our perspective on them has changed. If we compare some silent era films to some films from the 1970’s we see a budding awareness of the rich and important fabric of people from different backgrounds and beliefs. However, the history of this change is certainly an area that is open to a variety of views and deserves serious discussions. This same history and journey is also seen in other aspects of life not just movies.