Home Lifestyle Sorry ABW – Red Tails is Hot Without You
Sorry ABW – Red Tails is Hot Without You Print E-mail
Written by Kwesi McDavid-Arno   
red tails black woman movie flyer Black people suffer from a societal depression.  This depression has been caused by the over 400 years of slavery and oppression.  ABWS – Angry Black Women Syndrome one of the plagues of Black culture that are a result of this depression.  Red Tails the new George Lucas film has sadly fallen victim to this societal depression. The movie has received numerous criticisms over the internet for not featuring any Black women.  In reality, Red Tails is a simple, war film that depicts the struggles, achievements and most of all the brotherly bonds that form amongst the famous WWII African American fighter pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen.  Lucas does a tremendous job capturing the brotherly bonds that exist amongst Black men, and the also important bonds that formed that men form Black and White fighting together for survival.  

In my opinion Red Tails was a fabulous movie and George Lucas did a fabulous job.  It was basically Star Wars with Black people and I loved it, it was a happy movie, it was a movie of victory not one of depressing defeat.  No it was not Glory, but as Black people don’t always need to be reminded of the tortuous ways of Slavery and the Jim Crow South.  Although the movie was not a documentary, and not designed to be totally accurate – the battle scenes were damn good and most importantly the military accomplishments displayed in the movie were 100 percent accurate.

Of course Black women had a significant impact upon the Tuskegee Airmen, but Red Tails is a war movie that deals with the Tuskegee Airmen when they were in Italy fighting, not state side protesting for the right to fight.  And yes war is cruel, but honestly I am happy I didn’t grow up in a German concentration camp.  This is war in the 1940s, there were no women in the army or anywhere near the front line at that time.  In fact there were only two female characters in the entire film, and they were on screen for a total of 15 minutes.

red tails black woman tuskegee airman Capt Freddie Hutchins I received one critique via e-mail written by a Jean Damu, submitted to portside on January 23rd, 2012 titled “Red Tails in the Sunset.”  I don’t know if Jean is a male or female, so without loss of generality I will refer to Jean as a woman.  Even if Jean is White man, he still suffers from ABW syndrome.  In her critique Damu states that

"Red Tails, so named because the Tuskegee airmen painted the tails of their planes red, is a cartoonish caricature of great fighting men who contributed much to the world's titanic struggle against fascism that was WWII. But who, according to Lucas and film writers John Ridley (Under Cover Brother and Fox News contributor) and Aaron McGruder (Boondocks), had no personal relationships with family or black women (not one black woman appears in the film) and who were hopelessly criminal in their refusal to follow orders and complete a mission as assigned."

I find this critique of the movie off base; the movie was about men at war.  When men are faced with fighting for their lives they think of two things – God, and the man standing next to him that is fighting with him.  I have been in several fights, the only time I thought about my mother was when one of those fights was in her house and didn’t want her busting my ass for getting her furniture, art work, clothing etc. ruined.  When the fists start flying, you not thinking about your mother, brother, girlfriend or lover, you are thinking of knocking the person in front of you down, and making sure your partner beside you has your back and you have his.  Survival is a cruel teacher, and serious emotional bond maker.  I can only imagine what it must be like to have bullets shot at you 3000 feet in the sky going over 450 miles an hour.   To survive that kind of stress the emotional and mental connection that existed between these men must have been strong, and Lucas does a wonderful job depicting that.  The influence of the African American writers and African American director Anthony Hemingway on dialog and body language of the African American soldiers is phenomenal. 

The “Top Gun” in the film is named lighting, and instead of looking at the positive attributes of the character Damu attributes his behavior to that of a rouge criminal.  I am not an expert on fighter pilots but I did watch Top Gun, and I do know to be a fighter pilot you have to be extremely intelligent and the best of the best.  Further there will be a best or supremum of the best, and that person is the Top Gun and that is real.  For someone to fly a plane into war, you have to be a little crazy, and to be the best of the best you have to be flat out nuts,  and that was Lighting, he was George Lucas’s Tom Cruise Top Gun.  Lighting on the ground was a responsible romantic, but in the air was a daemon posed.  And just like Tom Cruise’s character, Lighting got the only girl in the film, unfortunately she was white, but he was in Italy, what else is he gonna do??? 

The funniest part of Damu’s critique is where she faults the film for failing to tell the entire historical story of the Tuskegee Airmen, but praises the companion documentary produced by the film makers.

"Red Tails companion piece, Double Victory-the Documentary. Here the real and nearly complete story of the Tuskegee airmen's struggle against fascism overseas and racism at home is honestly and inquiringly told. It ranks among the very best, if not the best documentary ever made telling the role of black military men in WWII.

Black women's role as spiritual and material sustainers of the black pilots as wives and girlfriends is fully revealed. We learn that when the first class of Tuskegee airmen graduated Lena Horn attended the dance that followed and danced with every graduating cadet.  We get misty eyed when one former Red Tail, now in his mid-eighties tells us that after the first graduation dance."

red tails black woman cast pic That is nice, but Red Tails is a Hollywood war film.  Let's be realistic in our assessment of the movie.  It is styled after the 1950s war movies.  Terrance Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. did excellent jobs as military men.  Military men are simple men who are focused on two simple goals, destroying the enemy and protecting their friends.     

This was a story of brotherhood and victory.  The Tuskegee airmen were given their opportunity because the White fighter pilots would not sacrifice themselves and stick to the mission of protecting the planes that flew bombing raids Germany.  Red Tails was a story of Black men being the best of the best; Red Tails was a story of Black victory.  Red Tails was also story of white men bonding with these African Americans as brothers in arms and providing the respect that all Black men crave to this day.  All Black men crave respect; it is another symptom of the African American societal depression.  Red Tails was a story of Black men achieving that and going from pariahs to Red Tails, and then Red Tail Angels – as they were dubbed by their fellow White pilots. 

Astonishingly lost in Jean’s article is the powerful presence of Black Jesus in the movie.  I commend Lucas for displaying this aspect of Black culture.  The Black man’s desire to define himself at the deepest of levels, our spirituality – Black Jesus played a prominent role in the film.  I don’t want to give away too much of the movie so will curtail my critique of Damu’s article, click here to read the full text, but I suggest seeing the movie first.  Red Tails is a good film, the acting is good not great but the action and special effects are outstanding; as a guy flick Red Tails will go down as a classic.  Bottom line, is Black men worldwide will be happy to see Black men in fighter pilot uniforms, it was kind of cool.  Red Tails is a film that every Black man takes his son to see with pride.  Sorry ABW – Red Tails is hot without you.  Good job George Lucas, and on behalf of Black men worldwide thank you.