“Confederate States of America,” a mockumentary by Kevin Willmott, highlights current and past racial tensions through satire and comedy. The film recounts fictional events of what the U.S. would be like if the Confederacy had won the Civil War in documentary format. It recounts history while creating history itself. While the film contains hilariously twisted comedy, it also provides clear allusions to how people are still socially segregated today.
Program coordinator Pedro LopezDeVictoria wanted to break down cultural barriers between residents of Columbia by bringing this film to the Nickelodeon Theatre and hosting a talk back where people could openly discuss current issues about race produced by the film.
This event paired with the 150th anniversary of Sherman’s March and commemorates the burning of Columbia, where the political target of Columbia was burned to the ground by the Union. LopezDeVictoria described the film as a cautionary tale not entirely removed from reality where we can keep the conversation alive about the lasting effects from the war.
“A big part of the Nickelodeon is to be more than just a theatre. We want to be an apparatus of the community and we want to improve upon the cultural dialogue that should always be happening in a thriving city,” LopezDeVictoria said.
The film also highlighted a misrepresentation of African-Americans in media, which misrepresents America as a whole. A parody of “Cops” was turned into a show called “Runaway” where slaves escape their master’s homes instead of criminals breaking the law. This comparison was featured to show how many African-Americans and people of other races are arrested and tried more often then Caucasian criminals.
LopezDeVictoria also went on to say how recently there has been a trend in Hollywood where African-American characters are portrayed as magical or having certain wisdom that is different from the Caucasian characters. They aren’t portrayed negatively, but there is still a dividing factor that creates two separate entities of people and a whole concept of insiders versus outsiders.
However absurd the comedy might be, it certainly isn’t far off from today’s current issues. Valinda Littlefield, Director of African-American Studies at USC, led the talkback after the show and touched on how issues created in the film can be found in our own culture, such as a home shopping network satirized as a way for people to order slaves on TV from home. This concept may seem incomprehensible, but today, people still sell their bodies online in the form of pornography.
This screening of “Confederate States of America” was meant to shine light upon current issues in southern culture and get people out of their comfort zones by having them discuss uncomfortable or controversial topics. Littlefield stressed that you can’t grow as an individual if you surround yourself with clones of yourself that have the same ideas and values as you.
“Being uncomfortable with each other is the nature of making any progress,” LopezDeVictoria said.