"Lee Daniel's The Butler" seeks to showcase the progress of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. However, during the New York press conference for the film, the cast and crew commented on how racial tensions linger. Latinos Post was present at the event.
The theme of wearing masks is of major concern throughout the film. One reporter asked the cast members and director Lee Daniels to comment on the masks that they have had to wear throughout their respective careers.
"As I grew in Hollywood I had to put on a face. I talked with a certain diction, I had to be a certain way, I had to dress a certain way, I had to present myself in a certain light so that I could get ahead," said Daniels. "It wasn't until I found myself that I could be myself and present myself. When Obama was elected, that is when I was able to be me and the two faces met."
Actress Oprah Winfrey begged to differ and stated that she has never had to hide her personality.
"I don't feel that way at all," said Oprah Winfrey. "I have made a living being myself. When I was 19 years old, I interviewed Jesse Jackson and he said to me then, 'one of your gifts is being able to be yourself on TV.'"
She then talked about moving to Chicago and being told that the only way she would beat the competition was by being herself.
"So I have made a career out of my own authenticity. I don't have one face that I present to the white world and the black world. I talk to my dogs the same way. It's always been the same for me. And I say that with great pride and homage and honor to the people who were the generation before me."
However co-star Cuba Gooding Jr. dissented and utilized his involvement in ice hockey as a means to support his argument.
"People generally think of ice hockey as a predominantly white sport which it is... I know that if I act the way that I act in the boxing gym which is predominantly black and Hispanic aggressive ... there is a different face that I put on in that environment. It is a very accountable environment where you have to watch what you say and how you speak or you will be held accountable," he asserted. "There is a certain face I wear [on the ice], there is a certain face I wear in the locker room around certain people who have very definitive opinions about black people," he says. "Then there's a very different face that I wear with my children at these very expensive schools that I have them in. There's a very specific face that I wear as a celebrity..."
Gooding Jr. also brought up the controversial Trayvon Martin case and noted that the slain youth could have saved his life if he had known how to behave in his fateful circumstance.
"The Trayvon Martin situation sparked another reminder that we do wear certain faces that represent a mentality indicative of our surroundings. Terrence [Howard] spoke very wonderfully about [this] yesterday that if Trayvon had recognized the face that he needed to wear at that particular moment, it might have been a very different outcome," said Gooding Jr. "Faces are a theme in this movie that can't be ignored or slighted and I think it's something that even though we all wish that we could be as open as certain personalities, we as African Americans still deal with this very real situation that are the many faces we are required to wear."
Terrence Howard initially gave the first response to the question and stated, "This is the face that we show the white people."
However, he later expanded on his response.
"As long as human beings are fragmented and not solid and whole within themselves and come to terms like Oprah has come to term with all that she is," he asserted. "Even white people have a face they show the white people. Everyone shows what they hope will gain acceptance into the world. But once you accept it yourself and recognize your connectedness to the entire being, to the universe and you're moving in a cooperative manner as exemplified by Cecil in the film... But until then. We will be fragmented and we will blame everyone when we see them have a false face or a false tone when it's the reflection of our own tones and our own falseness. So you know we're all playing games."
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