The film I chose to watch was
Mississippi Burning, which was based on a true story that happened in 1964 in
Jessup, Mississippi. The main plot of
the movie is how three civil rights activists, two white men and one
African-American man disappeared while last scene driving on a road outside of
town. Two FBI agents were sent into town
to investigate. They were greeted with hospitality
from the community of white locals and fear from the black locals, who were
forced to live segregated on the other side of town. Both FBI Agents have different styles, but
work together in eventually solving the mystery of the three activists. These three activists were murdered by
members of the Ku Klux Klan. These
individuals were brought to justice and sent to prison. This film came out in
1983 and it’s appropriate because it demonstrates the many effects on how one
culture engages in communication with another culture in stereotyping one
another. Eventually it brings both
cultures somewhat together after realizing what happened to the three
activists. But overall, it displays the ugliness of segregation.
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| FBI Agent Ward in Burning Mississippi |
The concept I selected that
reflects this film is Segregation, which is a form of separation. According to
Martin and Nakayama, “segregation is a policy or practice of compelling groups
to live apart from each other.” (p.326). In segregation the dominant group
provides tremendous power over the non-dominant group and the lines of
Intercultural communication is little.
The dominant group sets the rules and the non-dominant group is fearful
in its line of communication.
A scene in the movie that
captures segregation was when both FBI Agents (Ward and Anderson) stop into a
diner in Jessup. Ward sees a seat next
to a young black man who is located in the back of the diner with the rest of
the colored folks. Anderson says you
don’t want to do that. Ward does it
anyway and the entire restaurant is silent.
Ward talks to the young black man in a friendly state and the young
black man says, “I don’t have nothing to say.”
The young black man then stands up and walks away. Later that night the same young man is
stopped for speeding and beaten up by a white police officer. This is the ugliness of segregation and the
film does a great job showing how the dominant group took control of a town. Also, the film showed the predictive
uncertainty of segregation. According to
Martin and Nakayama, predictive uncertainty stems from the inability to predict
what someone will say or do.” This is very evident in the film because the
dominant group reacts unpredictably at times because of their hatred. Meanwhile,
the non-dominant culture (blacks) is unpredictable in their communication
because of fear. Although, Mississippi
Burning is a film about segregation, it displays an unpredictable and
horrifying experience for African Americans that lived under intimidation and
fear.
FBI Agents Ward and Anderson confronts the dominant culture.
References:
Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural Communications in Contexts(6th ed.). Boston, MA, McGraw Hill.
I really liked the clip you chose. It adds another layer to your argument of how the film shows segregation. Specifically, when the two agents confront the man behind the desk about speaking to the sheriff, he scoffs at them and calls them "the Federal Bureau of Integration." This is a clear antonym of what the dominant culture wants, and probably why he is so rude to Ward and Anderson. The film you chose is also very multifaceted in the ways stereotyping work and how that plays into the dominant culture wanting segregation. The example you gave shows the minority in fear of trying to integrate or assimilate and careful about how they interact with whites.
ReplyDeleteChristian,
ReplyDeleteI liked your post because I had never seen this movie before. I completely agree, just from your summary of the movie, that it really shows people how badly segregation can by.
I have never seen this movie before but you gave a really good description. Segregation is the perfect concept to apply to this movie. Segregation is a big part of the American Culture, so it's interesting to analyze it from an intercultural perspective. I am glad you chose to analyze this specific movie, I haven't seen another analysis of this film yet and it makes me want to watch it.
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