Racist Movie!

Rating: 6/10 (9 October 2004)

I have just seen Friday Night Lights and I must say that it depicts blacks in a very unfair way. Where shall I start? 1) The most obvious, Dallas-Carter is portrayed as a butch of mean thugs in the movie. They took cheap shots and were very flamboyant when scoring TD's (one scene had the QB flick the ball in a defenders' face as he crossed the goal line), however, this behavior was NEVER portrayed in the book. SHAMEFUL!!! 2) Carter-Dallas jumped out to a commanding 18-0 lead in the movie, however, they beat Pernian 14-9. In fact, Pernian scored first. Why must the movie give the stereotype that blacks are bigger, faster, stronger athletes? Why must it be a "white vs. black" thing for "all the marbles" (ie: State Championship) when in fact this game really took place in the semi-finals. Were they trying to create a "Great White Hope" attitude among the audience? It wouldn't surprise me since the dirsector played "The Great White Hype"...strange coincidence! 3) The movie never portrayed the racial tension in Odessa, however, when Boobie got got (in preseason) it is a fact that the town turned on him...one even said "That n***** got what he deserved". That NEVER took place in the movie. 4) The coach (Gaines) was portrayed as being racist in the book and seemed way to nice in the movie. He even had Boobie and his Uncle over for supper, which never took place in the book. Is this the movies way to convey that the whites are catering to the blacks? That they are civil ones in the movie? This scene NEVER took place, so why is it in the movie? 5)In the scene where the two sides meet to negotiate a place to play, the blacks seemed like the aggressor when getting "the right colored referees". While they were demanding on a black crew, the whites made a clever statement "Zebras have the same amount of colored and white stripes", almost like race is no issue to them and that they are the level heads at the table. Made the blacks look like they were pushing the race card too far.
The unfair stereotypes are overshadowing in this movie. Yes, race plays a role in the book, but it was unfairly shown "one-sided" in the movie and I am afraid that the blacks got the short-end of the stick. It was an entertaining movie and made the 2 hours go by very quickly, however, when you reflect upon the racial overtones in the movie...it is a movie that is poorly depicted. Don't mess with history, because when you do, you may mistakenly portray the story an entirely different way. I would love to watch a movie that has the "TRUE" story and not the story "HOLLYWOOD" wants you to see.