[For each
of the last
few holiday seasons, I’ve made some
requests to the AmericanStudies
Elves. This year, I thought I’d highlight some amazing American stories that
are ripe for telling in historical fiction films, novels, TV shows, you name
it. Share the stories you’d like to see told, or any other wishes for the AS
Elves, ahead of a wish-full crowd-sourced weekend post!]
On the wish that’s
already been granted, in a historical film I can’t wait to see.
I’ve written in
this space once
or twice
or a
half-dozen
times—or,
well, an
entire week’s series of posts on top of those individual ones—about John
Sayles. What can I say, I don’t know of any other filmmaker who has probed our
national histories, identities, and communities more consistently and more
successfully than Sayles. He’s already made a number of historical films, including:
the very
underrated Amigo (2010), which focuses on one of the
histories that I believe all Americans should better remember, our post-Spanish
American War imperialistic
occupation of and war in the Philippines; and the slightly higher rated but
still too-often-overlooked Matewan
(1987), which focuses on another such under-remembered history, the 1920 West Virginia coal
wars. I know lots of film fans would hope that Steven Spielberg or Martin
Scorcese might tackle a tough historical subject, but for me nothing can
replace the excitement I feel when I hear that Sayles is doing so once more.
A few months ago
I felt that excitement again, not only because I learned that Sayles’ next film
will be such a historical drama, but also because in it he’ll be tackling an
even more difficult and complex and absolutely crucial American history and
story. In his upcoming
To Save the Man (still in development, but I’m certainly
hoping for a 2016 release), Sayles will tell the story of the young Native
American students who were brought to Carlisle, Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian Industrial School,
one of the early Native
American boarding schools created as our national policies toward this
community moved to embrace Captain
Richard Henry Pratt (the Carlisle founder)’s motto of “Kill the Indian:
Save the Man.” One of the first announced steps toward this film was a nationwide
casting call for young Native American actors, a move that didn’t surprise
me in the slightest but that nonetheless ramped up my excitement level for this
project that much more.
You’ve already
answered this wish, AmericanStudies Elves—now get to work on the other four
from this week, as well as any shared in comments! Tough work, I know, but I
have faith.
Crowd-sourced
post this weekend,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other wishes you’d share?
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