The Intouchables: Film Analysis

The films, ‘The Butler’ and ‘The Intouchables’ are representations of the ordeals that African American’s were forced to go through in the past years and the implications of such experiences to the current production of films. It is without any doubt that because of the inferior status that was given to African Americans, most films that are produced today exhibit African Americans to be of a lesser status (Toledano and Olivier 5; Ager and Aubyn 1). For example, in both of the aforementioned films, black people are conveyed as servants (Toledano and Olivier 5; Ager and Aubyn 1). To add onto this, in the film, ‘The Intouchables,’ readers are told of the actuality that Driss served a jail time for a crime that he had committed thus showing that African Americans were stereotyped as criminals by nature.
In the past years within the United States, black people were treated as an inferior race to the white community. This was seen from the actuality that African Americans were subjected into the world of slavery (Ager
and Aubyn 1). These individuals were perceived as nothing more than mere servants to their white masters. As such, while white people were regarded to be best suited for the white-collar jobs, African Americans were considered legible candidates for casual labor posts as was seen in the duties they were given as servants in white household including attending to the houses and cultivating plantations. The inferior status that was ascribed to people of the black skin in the past years is something that is clearly brought out through the events of the film ‘The Butler’.
In the aforementioned film, Cecil Gaines who was of the black race was brought up within a family in which the parents worked as household servants for the white people. However, through his own determination and consistent fight for supremacy, Gaines manages to work his way to the post of a butler within the White House. In his new role as a butler, he is presented with numerous opportunities to serve dignitaries including presidents. The events of this film are clear reminders of the civil rights period, Watergate and the Vietnam War (Burr 1). In addition, the events of the abovementioned film were clear indicators to the struggles that were being made by African Americans in their efforts to fight for equality within the United States. For instance, Louis, who was Gaines’ insistent son, struggles for equality for all. In his perspective, he believed that all persons were equal in the society even with the slight differences that subsisted between diverse groups who resided in America; one thing that was for sure was that all persons were under the emblem of the United States as citizens of the state. Therefore, all persons were to enjoy just as much rights as individuals from the white community.
Conclusion
On the contrary, the film ‘The Intouchables’ portrays events that are quite different to the happenings in the film, ‘The Butler’.
In the film ‘The Intouchables’ one of the major characters. Philippe who was regarded as an affluent ‘quadriplegic’ accepted an African American, Driss, as his caregiver (Toledano and Olivier 10). However, during Driss’ time of service as Philippe’s caregiver, he was treated in a much more respectable manner even with the differences that manifested between Driss and Philippe. Even with it being that Driss was an African American while Philippe was of the white race, Philippe treated Driss to be of equal status as him. This was because Driss was the only person who did not treat him in self-pity because of his state of disability. Occurrences in this film are clear indicators to the fact that there were those who believed in equality for all persons regardless of individuals’ race or ethnicity in the history of
Americans.