Comments on: Too Tough To Watch? The 10 Lines From Armond White’s ’12 Years A Slave’ Review That Make The Case https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/ Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: dahlia https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43290 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43290 as I said, after seeing the film:
http://thisisdahlia.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/12-years-a-slave-torture-porn-and-the-unfortunate-problem-of-american-apathy/

]]> By: Jason https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43291 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43291 don't people realize that actual slavery was far far worse than what McQueen depicts in 12 Years? Slavery WAS horror after horror, every day. Much more "graphic" than anything on the screen.

]]> By: DB https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43292 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43292 I thoroughly did not enjoy movie because there was no story line to follow. Instead there was one violent scene after another culminating to … I walked out after 90 minutes. Yes, great acting. Yes, I imagine accurate depictions of deplorable slavery but for me movies need story, characters, plot, and in a period piece with someone to root for as he/she overcomes something.

]]> By: Scott https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43293 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43293 It says something about the state of film criticism when a blogger (not a professional writer, mind you) feels that an article about one of the few dissenting voices in film is warranted for the simple purpose of ostracizing someone for not conforming to popular opinion.

I find it sad that having an opposing viewpoint is considered controversial, especially in a world (film criticism, the indie film world in general) populated by people who enjoy striking false poses of defiance, platitudes about free speech, and liberal ideas that are so empty as to have nothing below the surface.

So why is it wrong to go against popular opinion?

]]> By: M https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43294 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43294 The fact that most actors hired in Hollywood are white, and that blacks are only portrayed in a stereotypical light takes this country back 175 years… where this movie should be trashed.

]]> By: Jackson https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43295 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43295 Whatever. Everyone knows at this point, that whatever White hates, must be good, and he knows people think this way. He may think he knows everything there is to know and like about film, but he is the only one. He is just an overpaid troll. He makes himself look stupid with his reviews like this, so nobody needs to bother trying to do it for him.

]]> By: Lee https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43296 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43296 If it is a work that inspires to end slavery that still exists around the world then it is good.
If it is used just to inspire more racial hatred against whites then it is bad.
If it shows that owning slaves is a cause of insanity and mental disorders then it is good.
If it is just for shock effect carnival ride like the Saw horror movies then it is bad.

I can see no new truths being revealed from the reviews.
I will hope that finally a film shows that even good people turn mentally ill once they own a slave but I doubt that.
Maybe that is something that will only be shown in a film about slavery in the present times.

]]> By: dearleni https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43297 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43297 Lol, making the case against Armond because he said Taken 2 was better than Zero Dark Thirty? Not sure about Taken 2, but Zero Dark Thirty was political trash. Thank god for a critic like Armond who may hide behind ridiculous exaggeration, but uses it to slip in the truth from time to time.

]]> By: Donella https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43298 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43298 12 Years a Slave is based upon a true story… a narrative written by the title character Solomon Northrup.

It's Solomon Northrup's history, not something that McQueen or Gates or Ridley created for personal amusement.

Or does Armond White also have a complaint to file against Solomon Northrup for writing attention-seeking torture porn?

If so, then he's REALLY not going to like the Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, or any other slave narrative for that matter.

]]> By: Angel https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43299 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43299 Who gives a crap what this idiot thinks. As someone who has done extensive research on slavery in America (more than three decades), reading narratives, finding those little known (often destroyed and hidden) facts about what happened to my people during the 17, 18 and early 1900s, Steve McQueen is doing all of Black Americans a huge favor. it's time we stop pretending that this did not happen. It's time for White America to give up the facade that slavery wasn't that bad and if it wasn't for slavery we would still be living in huts. I want all Black people to see this. I want all Black children to know what happened to their ancestors. I want Black people to wake up and see the lies that have been told about them for centuries. It's time for all Americans to admit the truth. Thank you Steve McQueen. Unfortunately it took a Brit to tell this story, because Americans, both Black and White are cowardly and don't have the guts to tell nor deal with the truth of our history.

]]> By: Glenn Kenny https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43300 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43300 White doesn't "make the case"—he makes a know-somethingish reference to McQueen's British-art-world roots with the Hirst comparisons, and then he makes a lot of nonsense noise. White is the Trent character in "Shock Corridor" recast as a film "critic." This piece promoting him is a disgrace.

]]> By: AZ https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43301 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43301 Racist, ignorant bull…Would anyone dare say the same of holocaust movies? It's not that people already know the story, more like they don't wish to be reminded of the history that culminates in the established world many of the white, liberal class enjoy to this very day. At the end of the holocaust the Nazi's were humiliated, destroyed and tried, the culmination of slavery is far murkier and it's structures became much more internalised in the nation's psyche – we still live with many of the patterns and effects to this day. No wonder some folks are feeling uncomfortable, I say feel uncomfortable, but don't you dare try find other excuses for your discomfort.

]]> By: Lauren https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43302 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43302 I can't stand ignorant and snarky reviews like this. I'm sorry he feels the film is shocking just for the sake of being shocking, but there's no toning down the truth. People don't like to be faced with their own shame, and like it or not, the history of slavery is the history of America. Sure you read about it in a textbook and it made you feel bad, but you were able to push it aside and say "it's the past". The past informs the present.

]]> By: Marbles https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43303 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43303 White's review is another way of saying, "I already know all that stuff, so I don't need to see it"–but said at greater length, and with a pretentious attempt to justify the author's own discomfort with the subject matter.

]]> By: DJ https://staging2.theplaylist.net/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-20131016/#comment-43304 Fri, 13 May 2016 08:49:33 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2013/more/uncategorized/too-tough-to-watch-the-10-lines-from-armond-whites-12-years-a-slave-review-that-make-the-case-92562/#comment-43304 It's true, White might come across as a blowhard at times – with sensitivities unpredictable and peculiar to boot — but he knows film history and context and in this, speaks truth:

"Some of the most racist people I know are bowled over by this movie…"

And some of these folks comprised the NYFF audience, their visceral "denouncement" masquerading the ultimate elitist pathology: smug detachment.

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