Open CallOpen Call: Pitch Reels
The Race For the President (2:53)
Chad Simmons - Portland, OR
Note: A sample of my more finished work, which offers a better representation of what I can do, can be seen at www.break.com/chadarad or at www.youtube.com/chadsimmons
The Pitch:
Any discussion of race is fraught with political peril. It is a sensitive subject which is difficult to analyze and understand. The mainstream media has been certain to broach the surface of the subject considering the obvious historical significance of candidate Barrack Obama.
And yet deeper discussion is a hot potato that no media outlet is willing to handle. America has a racist legacy that is impossible to ignore which makes the issue of race a central issue in this election.
The elephant in the room no one wants to discuss is this: Are democrats asking too much of white America by nominating an African American?
I am not looking for the extreme right wing's take on this issue, but at the same time I think that racism is an underlying aspect of the American mainstream culture that doesn't show it's face although it is ever present.
My pitch is this: I seek to find intelligent people who can articulate their reasons for not supporting a candidate based solely on race. I am also interested in voters who plan to vote for Obama based solely on the fact that he is African-American. I am specifically targeting white people but responses from anyone to my questions will be considered.
Watch my trailer to view the questions I am asking.
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"elephant in the room" or non-issue?
"The elephant in the room no one wants to discuss is this: Are democrats asking too much of white America by nominating an African American?"
Well the nomination isn't exactly sewed-up yet, so the question is hypothetical.
More than that, I suspect you here of resurrecting or imposing a racial division or issue where there might not be one; I'd expect a question like this to be posed on FoxNews.
What the query totally ignores is that the majority of people support Obama are in fact White. So you'll either have to abandon this notion of "White America" (what do you think differentiates 'White America' from 'Black America'?), or you'll have to start talking about specific segments of the population and how the articulations, promises, and policies of the candidates effect them.--At which point, you wouldn't really be talking about "the race problem" at all, at least not as you've defined it here (apparently, as an "ever-present" social edifice and psychological reality that is never talked about but that significantly influences every aspect of American "culture".
"I am not looking for the extreme right wing's take on this issue, but at the same time I think that racism is an underlying aspect of the American mainstream culture that doesn't show it's face although it is ever present."
Please correct me where you see fit, but I don't think this assertion is correct: I think Racism recieves TONS of attention and shows up quite frequently on headlines and major media outlets, but that most of the attention is distorting, confused, and, takes the shape of spectacle. This is an unfortunate state of events that I don't think some of the questions you pose will do much to change.
After watching the trailer and looking at your post--and please point me in the direction of what i've missed--I'm of the opinion that you've falsely asserted that Race is never talked about, and then proceed to talk and ask about it in a way that it is always talked about.
I think the most lively and fruitful part of your film will be where you find people who can articulate why it is that they won't be voting Race.
But, even then, I think it'd be a reductive approach-- note how you use the phrase "solely about Race", as if Race is so simple that it deserves to be prefaced with a negative qualifier ("only Race", "simply Race", "not just about Race", etc).
Race isn't simply about complexion, it's about groups that've historically been denied access because of that complexion. It's also about symbolism: You can vote "Black" without voting for a Black Man.--Exhibit A, Bill Clinton. In other words, within the scheme of Racial archetypes, people can find perfectly rational reasons for voting for Obama "just" because he is Black.
very thought provoking
very thought provoking stuff. i'm interested to see what you come up with!
potential voters
Let's see if this video can be made regarding a black candidate for president. Sounds like a great idea to me.