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Black Americans of Achievement: Alice Walker
Product Group: Video
Studio: Schlessinger Video Productions
ISBN: 6302939208
EAN: 9786302939200
UPC: 753201662330
VHS Tape
Running Time: 30 minutes
SKU: 07120325
Condition: Very Good Very Good
Comments: VHS tape in very good shape. From library with usual library markings and plastic clamshell case. Original artwork inside clamshell case lining. Play-tested and has very good video and audio. Very nice tape.
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Customer Reviews
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Quite Timid
Rating  (3)
Date: 2007-02-03
Usually the Schlessinger series presents both female and male interviewees. Here, however, besides the griot in the introduction, there is only one man that makes a comment quickly; all other interviewees are women. Because of Walker's strong support of feminism, maybe the documentary makers chose only these interviewees purposefully.
You learn the basics about Ms. Walker here. Her eye was taken out by her brother; she won the Book Award for "The Color Purple," she champions numerous progressive causes, etc. Still, I felt that this work made her palatable to conservative audiences in questionable ways. Here are two quick examples. The work says she went from Spelman to Sarah Lawrence for college. Her authorized biography stated that she felt Spelman was rigid and bourgie, so she wanted to escape from there. I'm sure this Black History series didn't want to upset the powerful Spelman alumnas and faculty, so they said nothing on the topic. Alice Walker has been outspoken on having an abortion and helping her daughter get an abortion years later. Just as the movie "Disappearing Acts" avoided the abortion topic brought up in Terry McMillan's novel, it is erased here.
The work is ambivalent on sexual orientation matters. It says Walker fights for gay rights, but then stops there. It mentions domestic abuse as a theme in "The Color Purple," but says nothing about the lesbian and bisexual identities of the book's main characters. Still, this may be caused by Walker not truly coming out as bisexual until 1996 or so. At one point, the work shows a photograph of Walker embraced by her second husband on one side and a woman on the other. Perhaps this was meant to be the tacit, bisexual signifier.
While Walker's biographer Evelyn C. White writes exhaustively about her interracial marriage, this documentary tiptoes around the issue. At first, they don't show a photo of Walker's first husband. One interviewee said, "The 1970s were a difficult time in Mississippi, it really would have been hard on interracial couples." However, it never says that is the type of coupling in which Walker was involved. It is only when the work mentions her divorce does the viewer see a photo of Walker's first husband. Even then, the work doesn't say it's him. This work makes it easy for viewers biased against miscegenation to turn a blind eye to it here. The work shows several photos of Walker's second husband who is African American, in contrast. Biracial viewers and interracial families may have deep concerns about the timidity on the subject here.
The work includes Sonia Sanchez as an interviewee. It never says she is a famous poetess deserving of a documentary in her own right. This documentary would be great for young readers just learning of Alice Walker. However, it is not half as daring as the novelist herself.
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