Christmas Time and Preparations for January

Merry Christmas to all! I hope the break treats all of my Wofford friends well. So what is this blog and, more specifically, my research all about? As best I can describe my intentions, my research in the humanities will be an in depth look at the place of race relations in films made about the American South during the Civil Rights Era. I will be looking at notable films such as To Kill a Mockingbird, In the Heat of the Night, and the Defiant Ones, as well as more obscure pictures like White Trash, Black Like Me, and The Liberation of L.B. Jones. In considering my options for a project in the humanities, I knew that I wanted to look at film and the American South. I was drawn to race relations and film because I found, with guidance from Professor Jim Neighbors, that the scholarly work on films in the American South has failed to delve into the responses to portrayals of race relations within film. More specifically, film studies have largely failed to compare the critical and cultural responses to these films within white and African-American communities-- both in film criticism and in mainstream response. In addition to viewing these films and doing some background reading on race relations and the Civil Rights era, the meat of my research will look at articles, essays, and primary sources that explore the reception and responses given to these films during their release periods-- which range from 1955 to 1971.  


As January approaches quickly, I realized today that I have much to do before I can truly dive into my research this Interim.  A welcome surprise was found under the fir tree today, as my mother purchased  Framing the South: Hollywood, Television, and Race during the Civil Rights Struggle by Allison Graham as a Christmas present for me-- and all the while not knowing that it was one of three books I plan on using for my research (and perhaps the most essential). While I am sure the temptation to get started on my research will lead me to peruse what is sure to be a great resource, I must prepare for my film watching and analysis by first reading Film: An Introduction by Ed Sikov. As I am merely a novice film watcher, my advisers and I felt that a preparation for film analysis would be a worthwhile prerequisite for my project. Hopefully it will arrive in the mail soon! Until then... I will glance at Graham's book and fiddle around with my new MacBook Pro, which is sure to be an invaluable resource that my technological incompetence will in no way make apparent during the coming weeks. I will let you know how my reading progresses in the coming days.