MovieChat Forums > Lilies of the Field (1963) Discussion > Cultural Significance in the USA

Cultural Significance in the USA

posted 18 years ago by torential
11 replies | jump to latest

I recently viewed this movie after decades since I had seen it as a child. What struck me about the film was how the characters were portrayed. All were depicted with dignity and respect, which went against stereotypical Hollywood portrayals of blacks, latinos, and Germans (thanks to the Nazis). Back in the early 1960's, prominent latino characters were portrayed as inarticulate buffoons (e.g., Cisco Kid and Pancho, Zapata and other bandidos and Bill Dana's famous, "My name is Jose Jimenez.") I felt like this was a "healing" movie. Anyone care to comment?

[–] turtletommy 18 years ago

Yes I was also struck by how the minorities and others were portrayed against type. Their situations or status (particularily the Hispanics) didn't seem to be shown in an unreal, glossed over way either (i.e. Cosby's The Huxtables showcase black family). I think most viewers, especially now, would have expected more of a cool reception by the locals to Poitiers black man passing through. I'm thinking of when he stopped by the gas station/cafe and started ordering breakfast. Even the initial meeting with the white contractor who he ended up driving a bulldozer for didn't seem to have much racial overtones if any- maybe in the audiences minds but not onscreen. It's interesting how we look for all the typical clues and signs of race relations that reflect our society in a film like this. Obviously that was the filmmaker's intent I believe and when we encounter little of this it is sort of perplexing and later refreshing. Too bad this movie seems so untypical in that way.

Yes showing people with dignity and respect no matter where they are in society's pecking order is a good description of the film.

[–] snakehandler 17 years ago

what the hell are you talking about???

Even the initial meeting with the white contractor who he ended up driving a bulldozer for didn't seem to have much racial overtones if any- maybe in the audiences minds but not onscreen.

the construction owner called him "boy" then talked poorly of him to the nuns calling him "shiftless and irresponsible....you know the type" yet still wanted to hold his job for him..

and why is the cosby show unreal and glossed over?

[–] SimplySteve 17 years ago

I think the original post words show be altered slightly.."All were depicted with dignity and respect"....Most of the time. I agree with snakehandler. The white contracter comes out the most shallow and racist when he calls him "boy". However, Smith goes right back at him by calling HIM "boy", putting him in his place. Having said that, the contracter eventually comes to his senses, by offering the foreman job to Smith. Other than these scenes, the movie is respectable to all, with a beautiful message. Sydney is simply one the greatest actors in American history. Right up there with Pacino, Hoffman, Freeman etc, etc, etc.

[–] turtletommy 17 years ago

Ha thanks for your kind rebuttal. You know I was mistaken about that scene I was going from memory and I had forgotten about the "boy" comment and Poiter's response. I stand corrected. I guess the filmmakers had to show some example of what Poiter and blacks had to deal with every day and also how the guy's attitude eventually changed some to being more respectful later on.

I remember the Cosby Show at the time had its critics for the way it seemed to play down the family's blackness in depicting this successful, well-to-do American family. A black Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best for that age. I seem to recall some critics were from the black community. Of course any criticism along those lines ignores the many "white" shows like 90210 that depicted a rather fanciful and certainly not average American group of kids and families. Of course I think I know what Cosby was after, he wanted a show featuring blacks that wasn't based in a junkyard or ghetto and maybe living in a "normal" way that blacks and other minorities might want to aspire to- just like whites and anyone else. Many probably did at the time, maybe not quite as well-off as the Huxtables but middle class at least but TV wasn't showing that reality. I personally thought the show was a little too overboard and precious in the same way Leave it to Beaver was decades before so that's where the unreal and glossed over (about reality) were about.

[–] activista 12 years ago

@turtletommy

I'm black, and me and my family LOVED the Cosby Show back in the day. I grew up in the suburbs (and,no,we were not rich by any stretch of the imagination) and knew a couple of black families who lived in nice homes and had families like them. Just because the show wasn't realistic to you doesn't mean that it wasn't someone else's reality. It was certainly uch closer to my reality than any 'hood show would have been at the time. And, yes, all black people don't grow up in the same inner-city 'hood--I didn't, but I have lived in some since then.

[–] boxerrebellion 11 years ago

I grew up in the suburbs of DC, and many of the families of my black friends lived the same type of life as the Huxtables. Closer to that than I did to the Walshes of 90210.

[–] jayrussell1993 11 years ago

Yeah! Homer calling the white contractor "boy" was classic. I remember the audience in the movie theater cheering for that one.

[–] Salads 17 years ago

One of the more interesting lines was one that I actually almost missed. While drinking with the workers, Homer laughingly calls one of them a gringo, and adds that he doesn't know if that's better or worse than some of the names he's been called.
It's great that a film in 1963 portrayed racial relations so positively without glossing anything over.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jayrussell1993 11 years ago

Maybe it was a healing movie, but media always lies about everything anyhow. You can watch old movies see blacks portrayed as eye-rolling survile extremely-frightened uneducated clowns and latinos in a similar light, etc., if they are portrayed at all. We place too much reliance on media in popular culture. Today, the media is forever going over-the-top to portray blacks & latinos as such paragons of virtue that their characters cannot be developed.

[–] Foster1486 (633) 8 months ago

Boy, that's the truth