The Butler Reflection

The film Lee Daniel’s The Butler chronicles the life of a black man named Cecil Gaines and his transition from living in poverty in the south as a youth to becoming a Butler at the White House. In the film Cecil recounts his his story. The film states in the 1920s when Cecil was a young boy living with his parents who worked and lived on a plantation in Georgia. One day on the planation, Cecil’s mother is raped by the plantation owner and when his father confronts him, he is shot dead. Not only did Cecil lose his father, but the death of his father and surely the rape deteriorate his mother’s mental state. The owner’s grandmother takes it upon herself to train Cecil to become a house servant. At the age of eighteen, Cecil leaves the plantation

When Charlie dies serving in Vietnam, he does not attend his funeral. These were views and feelings that were shared among those in the anti-war movement. Louis also had a run-in with the Klu Klux Klan who were against the civil rights movement. Although the encounter was in the 1960s, since the resurgence of the Klu Klux Klan in the 1920s their white supremacist views had resurfaced with that clan. As mentioned in class, singer Bessie Smith also had an encounter with the Klu Klux Klan, however, it was in the 1920s. The Klu Klux Klan is an example of an obstacle regarding the civil right movement. The scene in which Louis and Carol are having dinner with the Gaines family is an example of the feminist movement. Carol is seen wearing a shirt without a bra, being outspoken, and belching at the table. This leaves Gloria appalled, however, I believe it was portrayal of how far women had come throughout the years from the ideal woman being portrayed as a doubting housewife in the 1950s. When Cecil discussed the fact that blacks have not received raises or promotions after working there for years showed the racial inequality between blacks and whites. It reminded me of “hate-strikes” where workers protested their black college receiving wages and promotions. The film ends with Cecil being at the white house to meet President Barack Obama. I believed this was a great way to end the film seeing that race played a big factor throughout. To me, it seem as if everything that had gone on, all the struggle, had led up to being able to have a black