The Devil Finds Work: Essays

The Devil Finds Work: Essays

James Baldwin

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James Baldwin At The Movies...  Provocative, timeless, brilliant. Bette Davis's eyes, Joan Crawford's bitchy elegance, Stepin Fetchit's stereotype, Sidney Poitier's superhuman black man...  These are the movie stars and the qualities that influenced James Baldwin...  and now become part of his incisive look at racism in American movies. Baldwin challenges the underlying assumptions in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist, offering us a vision of America's self-delusions and deceptions.  Here are our loves and hates, biases and cruelties, fears and ignorance reflected by the films that have entertained us and shaped our consciousness.  And here, too, is the stunning prose of a writer whose passion never diminished his struggle for equality, justice, and social change. From The Birth of a Nation to The Exorcist --one of America's most important writers turns his critical eye to American film.


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    I don't want to give this book a rating, simply because there were many times I was lost because I didn't know the movies or actors Baldwin was talking about specifically. However, I am once again in awe of his insight regarding culture, race, politics, religion, and life. There were some moments which I just had to read over and over because they were dense, but breathtakingly beautiful. One of my favorite quotes: "To encounter oneself is to encounter the other: and this is love. If I know that my soul trembles, I know that yours does, too: and, if I can respect this, both of us can live."

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