A Qualitative Examination of African Self-Consciousness and Time Value Orientation in Lee Daniel's The Butler.

Given the general negative image of Blacks in film, few studies have examined narrative perspectives of films that display Blacks in roles of servitude. To fill this void in the research, a qualitative content analysis was conducted on 70 comments provided by bloggers on The Griot in response to African American actor Harry Lennix's declaration that he turned down a role in African American Lee Daniel's (2013) movie The Butler because it was nothing more than "historical porn." Kobi Kambon's (1980) African self-consciousness and Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's (1961) Value Orientation Theory were the theoretical foundations for the study. Qualitative analysis revealed perceptions of the movie to be based on four primary themes: (a) Acceptance of Black Servitude in Film; (b) Rejection of Black Servitude in Film; (c) Neutrality of Black Servitude in Film; (d) Perspectives of Harry Lennix. Specifically, 22 comments (31% of bloggers) were neutral and focused on conflict regarding whether to view the movie, highlighting important Africans in history, discussing other movies that featured a Black cast and storyline, as well as the need for African Americans to be the primary agents of promoting their own history by learning and teaching this history to their children, or developing films that feature the accomplishments of Black people; (b) 18 comments (26% of bloggers) were related to their opinion of the African American actor Harry Lennix; (c) 17 comments (25% of bloggers) were negative; and (d) 13 comments (18% of bloggers) were positive. Supporting qualitative data are provided to support each of the aforementioned themes. In addition, a past, future, past and future, or multiple time orientation may influence how African Americans generally view this movie and movies like it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]