{"id":2183,"date":"2013-09-05T21:57:59","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T21:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/?p=2183"},"modified":"2013-09-05T21:57:59","modified_gmt":"2013-09-05T21:57:59","slug":"the-butler-takes-audience-on-a-historical-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/2013\/09\/05\/the-butler-takes-audience-on-a-historical-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Butler\u201d takes audience on a historical journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Forest Whitaker and David Oyelowo in a scene from \u201cThe Butler\u201d Google Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Candace Chambers<\/strong>
\nStaff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything you are… and everything you have… is because of that butler,\u201d said Oprah Winfrey starring as Gloria Gaines, wife of the butler.
\nLee Daniels\u2019 \u201cThe Butler\u201d takes audiences on an emotional, educational, and historical journey through time. The movie traces the life of Cecil Gaines, a White House butler, who serves eight presidents during his tenure.
\nRooted from the cotton fields of Georgia, he learns to serve. Although he becomes employed in an esteemed place, he still endures unequal treatment, which over time molds his thoughts and views on life.
\nAccording to imbd.com, \u201cThe Butler\u201d earned $24,637,312 its opening weekend and has been #1 at the box office for three weeks. As of Aug. 25, the film has earned $51,760,625. Daniels\u2019 other works include, \u201cPrecious\u201d and \u201cMonster\u2019s Ball.\u201d
\nForest Whitaker stars as Cecil Gaines, whose life story is loosely based on Eugene Allen, an African-American White House butler for 34 years.
\nThe relationship of Cecil and Gloria represent the supportive love and compassion of African-American families. Cecil is also the father of two boys and works diligently to provide and support them.
\nThe film explores race relations over years of American history. From the Civil Rights Movement to Vietnam, Gaines is in position to positively interact with presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, as they make decisions on moving the nation forward.
\nWearing a tuxedo is only a covering of the despair Gaines experiences as many African-Americans did during that time of low wages, inequality, and little respect.\u00a0 Gaines\u2019 older son is involvement in the Movement and represents the vast youth involvement in Sit-Ins and protests of the time and the loud voice of change.
\nOther actors include Robin Williams (Dwight Eisenhower) and \u201cX-Men\u2019s\u201d James Marsden (John. F. Kennedy).
\nSome JSU students enjoyed the movie\u2019s themes and overall plot.
\nMary Thompson, a junior English major from Jackson, Miss. appreciated the themes of love and family portrayed by the characters.
\n\u201cI loved it [the movie]. It made me cry and when Oprah stood up for her butler-husband, I was especially proud to see that type of respect within a black relationship.\u201d
\nHenry Goss, a sophomore mass communications major from Jackson, Miss. shared similar views.
\n\u201cI thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Lee Daniels did a good job of portraying the various time periods, especially during the civil rights era. All in all, it was a good movie. I\u2019d definitely recommend it to a friend.\u201d
\nKaren Knox-Brady, a junior English education major from Jackson, Miss. said, \u201cThe Butler was a really interesting movie. The storyline moved across years of American history. I found Cecil\u2019s life to be really inspiring because he played the role of a subservient butler, but as a butler he quietly broke racial stereotypes.\u201d
\nI enjoyed the film, especially the vivid, historical portrayal of events. The story line was engaging and the characters were personable and represented viewpoints of the time. With the anniversary of key Civil Rights\u2019 events, this movie could not have been more timely.
\n\u201cThe Butler\u201d is a great movie for all ages to enjoy and learn more about the struggles of African-Americans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candace Chambers Staff Writer \u201cEverything you are… and everything you have… is because of that butler,\u201d said Oprah Winfrey starring as Gloria Gaines, wife of the butler. Lee Daniels\u2019 \u201cThe Butler\u201d takes audiences on an emotional, educational, and historical journey through time. The movie traces the life of Cecil Gaines, a White House butler, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-variety"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}