richardmurray

in facebook < https://www.facebook.com/groups/162792258578547/permalink/595312771993158/ > 
In the literature , carmen is not the villainous, as later in the play or movie. In the play and definitely movie versions carmen is the seductress who tempts a good man away. but in the literature carmen didn't have a part in his original sin so to speak, she simply proves he hasn't changed but is angry when she moves on from him, which all versions have oddly enough. The woman moving on from a fallen guy is the end hook in each:) ... to the white produced film, written by a white man with an all black cast:)  I have huge issues with Kleiner's interpretation, like Heyward's porgy and bess. Both stories do not have a proper comprehension of the financial levels or internal social strata's of the black community in the USA. What do I mean?  Kleiner suggest that a black woman who has "hoodoo voodoo" is equivalent to a romani woman. the romani are considered another race in spain. A black woman who does "hoodoo voodoo" is not deemed another race in the black community in the usa. From a storytelling perspective, the correct thing for carmen jones is similar to OScar Micheaux's symbol of the unconquered. No disrespect to harry belafonte's joe but in the black community in the usa since world war II is a small, usually high yellow, usually passing, financial black aristocracy who embraced the usa faster than other black people. Joe should be that, like in said michaeux film. So, the vision of the black community is totally false. The reason the movie made money was the same reason cameron's avatar  movies make money, the spectacle. A film of black people, with the sexy pearl bailey/dorothy dandrige the handsom well known white female sex symbol [I just quoted or paraphrased james baldwin] is the selling point. For all audiences the image of an all black cast and no mamies, forgive me hattie mcdaniel , during the time of premminger's carmen was the same as the totally digital blue people of cameron's avatar.
in youtube LINK < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBISrX84MpU > 
Before 10:15 One key you didn't mention is the role of women inability to own things based on male power.
After 10:15 great point, one of the biggest problems with many later carmen's that the original literature doesn't miss is the other racial category of carmen. Carmen is the tragedy. Dorothy dandrige was clearly very pretty but Carmen isn't the beautiful woman every man needs to fornicate with who when withers if they fornicate with her. Carmen is an outsider , deemed another of the dominant race, who meets a dishonorable/criminal man who still lives a very good life because of his racial status, and when her admiration to him makes him feel better all is good, but when she desires a change and a better man, at least in terms of criminal record, the disgraced man of "a better race" terminates her. That is the lesson of carmen. A person of a potent race can commit crimes and still live affluent or oppulent compared to one of an impotent race, and when the one of an impotent race decides to leave the one of an opulent race the true racial relationship is revealed in the murder.