Well, actually the Mammy figure is a great favorite of mine, particularly Hattie McDaniels...
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Camille Page:
Well, actually the Mammy figure is a great favorite of mine, particularly Hattie McDaniels brilliant performance in "Gone With The Wind". I really am distressed with a lot of the tone of recent African-American scholarship. It tries to say about the Mammy that her large figure is desexualizing, degrading, dehumanizing. And this seems to me, so utterly wrong. Where the large woman is a symbol of abundance and fertility - is a kind of goddess figure. Even the presence of the Mammy in the kitchen, seems to me, has been misinterpreted. Oh, the woman in the kitchen is a slave, a servant, a subordinate. Well, my Grandmothers, my Italian Grandmothers, never left the kitchen. In fact, this is why I dedicate my first book to them. And Hattie McDaniel in "Gone With The Wind" is a spitting image of my Grandmother, in her style, her attitude, her veracity, and so on. It brings tears to my eyes
Well, actually the Mammy figure is a great favorite of mine, particularly Hattie McDaniels brilliant performance in "Gone With The Wind". I really am distressed with a lot of the tone of recent African-American scholarship. It tries to say about the Mammy that her large figure is desexualizing, degrading, dehumanizing. And this seems to me, so utterly wrong. Where the large woman is a symbol of abundance and fertility - is a kind of goddess figure. Even the presence of the Mammy in the kitchen, seems to me, has been misinterpreted. Oh, the woman in the kitchen is a slave, a servant, a subordinate. Well, my Grandmothers, my Italian Grandmothers, never left the kitchen. In fact, this is why I dedicate my first book to them. And Hattie McDaniel in "Gone With The Wind" is a spitting image of my Grandmother, in her style, her attitude, her veracity, and so on. It brings tears to my eyes
Full Transcript
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Well actually the mammy figure um
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is a great favorite of mine
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particularly Hattie McDaniel's
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brilliant performance in Gone With the Wind
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I really am distressed with a lot of the tone
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of recent African American scholarship
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It tries to say about the mammy that
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that her largeness of figure is desexualizing
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degrading dehumanizing
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um and this seems to me so utterly wrong
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Where the large woman is a symbol
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of abundance and fertility
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is a kind of goddess figure
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even the presence of the mammy in the kitchen
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it seems to me has been misinterpreted
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Uh Oh the woman in the kitchen is a slave
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a servant a subordinate
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Well my grandmothers my Italian grandmothers
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never left the kitchen
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In fact this is why I dedicated my first book to them
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And Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind
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is a spitting image of my grandmother
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and her style and her attitude
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her ferocity and so on
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brings tears to my eyes
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Movie Summary
A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
Actors
Camille Page
