{"id":550,"date":"2017-02-08T19:51:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T19:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/?p=550"},"modified":"2017-02-08T19:51:42","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T19:51:42","slug":"precis-to-redream-the-dream-of-white-playwrights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/2017\/02\/08\/precis-to-redream-the-dream-of-white-playwrights\/","title":{"rendered":"Precis – To Redream the Dream of White Playwrights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 8 of the book Oscar Micheaux and his Circle<\/em> is titled\u00a0“To Redream the Dream of White Playwrights: Reappropriation and Resistance in Oscar Micheaux’s\u00a0Body and Soul. \u00a0Body and Soul<\/em> was a film that puzzled scholars and was left often overlooked due to its complexity. \u00a0This chapter, however, attempts to analyze it for the power it held.<\/p>\n

Body and Soul<\/em> is hard to analyze largely for its narrative structure, or lack thereof. \u00a0It’s narrative seems to lack logic, which frustrates the scholars for its departure from some of Micheaux’s other films. \u00a0To account for this, some scholars argued it must have been altered by censorship, but that argument is largely unfounded, as many of the signs of censorship are left missing. In comparing\u00a0Body and Soul<\/em> with\u00a0Within Our Gates\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Symbol of the Unconquered<\/em>, it is easier to see Micheaux’s style, particularly his use of flashbacks\u00a0and dream sequences, which could account for the confusing narrative structure.<\/p>\n

Its plot focuses on two twin brothers, both played by Paul Robeson, one being an inventor and the other a criminal turned pastor, who are both in love with the same woman and live in the same small town. \u00a0Body and Soul\u00a0<\/em>serves as the reworking and critique of three plays,\u00a0Roseanne, The Emperor Jones,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0All God’s Chillun’. \u00a0<\/em>These plays were written by white playwrights about black life, and in\u00a0Body and Soul<\/em>, Oscar Micheaux takes these depictions of black life and works to show them as ridiculous. \u00a0However, one would need to be familiar with these plays to understand Micheaux’s point.<\/p>\n

Roseanne\u00a0<\/em>served as the key source for\u00a0Body and Soul<\/em>, in which Roseanne was “one of those fine types of negro still to be found in the South” whose world was turned upside down by a corrupt pastor, Cicero Brown, similarly\u00a0to the actions of the pastor of\u00a0Body and Soul<\/em>. \u00a0Because pastors serve as a focal point of the community, it is profound to have them depicted as being corrupt. \u00a0In\u00a0Emperor Jones<\/em>, an escaped convict moves to a black town and creates a supernatural identity for himself, which has direct plot parallels with\u00a0Body and Soul<\/em>. \u00a0Because the two plays that served as a basis for\u00a0Body and Soul\u00a0<\/em>are so similar, their plots show us white America’s racial ideology.<\/p>\n

O’Neill, the writer of\u00a0Emperor Jones<\/em>, liked to portray his characters in a negative light and took liberties with his depictions of black characters, including using the word “nigger” and having black actors say it in regards to other black characters. \u00a0As a white man, O’Neill was taking liberties with his depiction of black characters, so when Micheaux reworked these stories, he wanted to highlight the characters’ ridiculousness and the way it made black people look primitive. \u00a0He even cast Robeson, who was the lead in the three source plays, as the lead in his movie, which in a sense attacked Robeson along with the plots of the plays. \u00a0Micheaux used superficial admiration to hide his serious critique.<\/p>\n

Scholars are amiss in analyzing\u00a0Body and Soul<\/em> in the same realist framework as any other movie. \u00a0The film itself is different from Micheaux’s other movies and it\u00a0shows that Micheaux was willing to risk financial loss and offend popular taste to point out important issues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 8 of the book Oscar Micheaux and his Circle is titled\u00a0“To Redream the Dream of White Playwrights: Reappropriation and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}