Children Movie Critique
The toy is an American comedy film made
in 1982 by Richard Pryor (Jack Brown).
Richard Pryor plays an actor in this film. He is a young black man who
is not too tall and not too short, his body is firm and muscular. His hair is
black and curly. He has a mustache. He is an unemployment journalist in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. He is in danger of
losing his house to bank. He is a funny and cute guy. Bates was a millionaire
and owner of the local paper. He was middle age man who was tall and big with
head of good hair, bright eyes and white skin. He was handsome and attractive
for his age. Jack Brown had a hard time to get a job. He found a job as a
cleaning lady for wealthy U.S Bates. Brown attempted to serve food there but
later on he got fired. He ended up being hired as a janitor of Bates department
store.
He was playing with a wheel at the
store when he met Eric Bates, the brat son of his boss. Eric was watching him without Jack being
aware. Eric was a young boy who had blond soft hair with white skin, beautiful
shiny blue eyes, and he was very handsome. He was studying in military school
and had come home one week for spring break to visit his father. Eric Bates has
been told he can pick up anything he wants in the store. This time Eric had an
especial toy in his mind. He picked Jack Brown in store’s toy section. His
father’s right hand man (Sydney Morehouse) was with him to visit the store. He
was a tall and fat guy with a big belly and white skin. He always looked elegant with suit and tie. Eric asked
him to Wrap up the black man (Jack Brown). Morehouse told him that human beings
cannot be owned but the brat boy was serious and put him under pressure.
Finally Morehouse, with a great financial incentive, could ask Jack to live
with Eric and be Eric's friend for one week.
Eric was emotionally separated from
his dad because he believed he did not care about him. He had everything he
wanted but he had lacked love from his father. Eric was attending to Jack but
still humiliated him with many pranks. After humiliation by Bate’s wife, she
introduced him as Eric’s new toy at a
party, Jack got frustrated and run away.
Eric got so sad and fussy and Bate offered Jack more money to bring him
back. Jack accepted because he could pay back the bank the mortgage for his house.
Jack started to teaching Eric how
friends supposed to treat each other. They became good friend and made a bond
with participating in fishing, mini- car racing and games. They started to have
a newspaper of their own. They published their newspaper with a lot of
difficultly and distributed in their city.
Bate offered Jack reporting job with
his newspaper and Jack accepted, but Eric is upset because he thinks Jack is
selling out. Jack explained to him that most men especially African- American
men need jobs and need to support their family.
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There was a outdoor party at the
Bates estate for fund-raising event for the Ku Klux Klan. People who were
invited were businessmen, politicians and senators. Jack and Eric decided to
screw up the party by golf cart. Bates was so upset and chased after Jack in
the golf cart but he fell down in the pool. Jack saved him. Bates forgave Jack
because he saved his life and he came back home to his wife.
The next day Eric and his father
were driving to the airport for military school, Eric runs off to Jack’s house.
He showed his love to Jack and asked Jack to let him stay with him. Jack asked
Eric to give his father chance and show him his love. Bates offered the
newspaper job to Jack and promised to Eric that he can stay with Jack one week
in the next year.
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My favorite part was when Jack asked
Eric, why he wanted to be close to him.
Eric responded that it was for laugh and that Jack talked to him heart
to heart and tried to teach him how to be a good friend and keep his friends.
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In parts of movie they show racism
especially at the party and when they show flags.
I really loved the movie because it
was heartfelt, funny and well directed. The movie brought back funny childhood
memories. I believe this comedy movie can teach children they cannot have
everything with force and power no matter how wealthy they are. The easy way to
find a friend is to be respectful and give love.
This feels like a nice start to your critique, but not finished because you only really have a summary of the film. You needed to write more about the observations and hidden messages and use outside resources to back up your statements. You did touch upon the confederate flags, but you also needed to address the blatant racism in Pryor basically playing a modern day slave. It was nice to read your comments about the lighter side of this film and the positive messages. However, there are deeper issues which make this film inappropriate for young children to view. See the links below please:
ReplyDeleteHere are some resources you could have used to complete your critique:
"Upon its release, The Toy was roundly panned by critics. At best, some felt that the movie was a waste of the comedic talents of Pryor and Gleason. At worst, others viewed Pryor's portrayal of an essentially modern-day slave as degrading. The film has also been called racist because of that reason and the fact that there are many hidden Confederate flags throughout the film (as it was filmed on location in Lousianna), making The Rotten Tomatoes Show to place it as the number one kids' movie inappropriate for children." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toy_%281982_film%29
"The Toy is the ultimate example of Hollywood's isolation from anything even remotely resembling the real world. Because sane people with a tenuous connection to reality would have noticed that the plot of the movie hinges on Jackie Gleason purchasing a black man for his son to play with. This film attempts to make slavery cute and adorable." http://www.cracked.com/article/178_the-5-most-unintentionally-racist-movies-about-racism/
"Is the film racist, yes. Does the film explore the worst of human behavior, yes. Does the film show an intelligent Black man, who could be doing something productive with his life, wasting his energy on the relationship between a Caucasian man and his son, definitely, yes! But the movie shows just how racist corporate America is, and for that reason alone it is worth taking another look at. It is also a reminder of how wealth was accumulated by the South under slavery, and while many Blacks remain at awe at how rich some Caucasians are, they conveniently forget that it was only because of free labor by Blacks, that such wealth was attainable. It is a fine film, but one that is difficult to watch if you do not like to think about racism and what you have to go through to make it in corporate America." http://www.blackperception.com/2012/01/toy-racial-commentary-and-office.html (this article is worth reading if you are interested in a deeper review)