The "Integration Under the Sea" dance -- only in Mississippi

In 1997, actor Morgan Freeman offered to pay for the senior prom at Charleston High School in his hometown of Charleston, Mississippi, where he still resides today. The school declined. Why? Because Freeman was only willing to foot the bill on one condition: The prom had to be integrated. Even though the school had been desegregated since 1970, every spring the seniors had two separate privately-hosted proms -- one for white students and one for black students. Ten years later, filmmaker Paul Saltzman approached Freeman and asked if the offer was still on the table. This time, the school agreed, and thus the HBO documentary "Prom Night in Mississippi" begins. When I first heard about this film about a year ago, I was still living in Greenwood, about an hour south of Charleston. If you're living in (insert name of any non-southern white-bread American suburb here) and you hear about a high school that doesn't allow white and black students to mix at the prom and it's the 21st century, you might be shocked. But if you live in the Mississippi Delta or in many other places around the South, this story is so familiar you feel like you could have written it yourself. In Greenwood, for example, having separate proms isn't an issue -- because black and white students don't even attend the same school (yes, this is still happening, in the United States, in 2010.) "Prom Night in Mississippi" focuses mainly on the students of Charleston High School, many of whom don't agree with the segregated proms and are excited about changing the tradition and making history at their school. As Saltzman learns through the school administrators and the students themselves, it's mostly the parents and the school board members who have forced this out-of-date custom. And as plans for the integrated prom are underway, the film crew learns that some parents, who refused to be interviewed, are still planning on hosting a "private" prom for the white students. This theme of passing the blame onto the older generations is replayed throughout, but the film's weakness is that it's missing the voices of these parents and school board members. We hear the students, staying true to their young ideals, calling the separate proms "stupid" and saying they "don't care about race and just accept people for who they are," but it doesn't dig much deeper than that. In fact, though the racism of the people of Charleston was discussed throughout the film, no one who actually represented these views agreed to an interview. So we never really get a taste of the bitterness at the heart of the story. So, in the end, even though the school's first integrated prom went off without a hitch, there was still a white prom, and we don't quite understand why. Perhaps for many people, just the idea of modern high school students being subjected to Jim Crow-esque segregation is a novel concept, but I was hoping for more out of "Prom Night in Mississippi." More information, more insight, and especially more honesty. I was left wondering how the students of Charleston High School and residents of the town REALLY felt about each other and about this historical event.

Fear and loathing in Connecticut

I recently read "The Feminine Mystique," mostly just so that I could say I read it, but I did really enjoy it. In addition to being a fascinating book in and of itself, I've also found that many films and television programs have become more interesting to me when viewed in the context of "The Feminine Mystique" -- most notably AMC's "Mad Men" and the 2009 film "Revolutionary Road." If you're not watching "Mad Men," you should be. It's probably one of the best shows on television right now. But, since I've chosen movies as my focus here, let's turn our attention to "Revolutionary Road." The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, takes place in the 1950s and tells the story of the Wheelers, a middle-class suburban couple who, despite their big dreams, have turned out to be average, no different from anyone else. The first time I saw the film, this concept drew me in instantly, because don't we all feel this way sometimes? As children, most of us have big dreams about becoming an astronaut, a movie star, a football player, etc. But then we grow up and settle for more realistic professions, get married, have kids -- we become "ordinary," just like we told ourselves we'd never be. Of course, most people never take their frustration to the extremes that the Wheelers do, they just sigh and move on with life, but that's why they aren't fictional characters. After reading "The Feminine Mystique," I saw "Revolutionary Road" a second time. This time, I got to thinking about Frank Wheeler, DiCaprio's character, and how he seemed even more trapped and confused than his wife. He was even less willing to dare to dream bigger than she was. Though "The Feminine Mystique" focused on women and was a driving force behind the feminist movement, wasn't Betty Friedan's "problem that has no name" an issue affecting men as well? Perhaps even as much as it affected women? Didn't men also feel trapped by the expectations of society during that time period? Another interesting tidbit was that "Revolutionary Road" was directed by Sam Mendes, who a decade ago brought us "American Beauty," which shows a family dealing with many of these same issues in modern-day suburbia. Again, this got me thinking about how far we've actually come in the past 50 years. Of course social progress has been made in terms of gender equality, but psychologically, aren't people still looking around and thinking, "Is this it? Wasn't there supposed to be more to life than this?" Thought-provoking issues aside, "Revolutionary Road" was a brilliant film all around, especially the performances by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, two of my favorites. And yes, I will stop carrying on about how awesome Leonardo DiCaprio is...just as soon as he stops being awesome.

The answer to my love-hate relationship with rom-coms

So don't get me wrong, I love a good romantic comedy as much as the next gal. Problem is, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find "good" movies within this genre. Most of the rom-coms out there these days follow the same generic formula and are: A) Not funny, so can barely be classified as comedies, and B) So unrealistic that they bear little resemblance to actual relationships and make us all question our existence as imperfect people. That being said, it's hard to even consider "(500) Days of Summer" a romantic comedy because it is: A) Funny, and B) A truly realistic depiction of a relationship -- the ups and downs, the exhilaration and the depression. If you've ever fallen in love or had your heart broken, you'll be able to relate. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play Tom Hansen, a hopeless romantic looking for the love of his life, and Summer Finn, an aloof young woman who is not, as it turns out, the love of Tom's life. Don't worry, I didn't just give away the ending. "(500) Days of Summer" begins at the point of the couple's break up and then examines the relationship in reverse through Tom's eyes, from the initial attraction to the point where things went wrong. In that sense, it reminded me of sort of a less depressing version of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," which is a great film and one of my all-time favorites, but let's be honest, kind of a drag. (Speaking of, I can't find my DVD copy of "Eternal Sunshine." If you borrowed/stole it, please return. You can just drop it on my doorstep -- no questions will be asked.) Tom's first attempts to win Summer over and then his later efforts to cling to her as Summer becomes obviously bored with him were played with such charm that Joseph Gordon-Levitt (yes, the kid from "Third Rock from the Sun") has definitely solidified his place as one of my new favorite actors. And of course, Zooey Deschanel is always a pleasure -- Bonus: you get to hear her sing in one scene. I think what I loved so much about "(500) Days of Summer" also is that it avoided the traps that many independent films tend to fall into. It was intelligent without being pretentious, and it was off-beat without being inscrutable. I get tired of movies that try way to hard to be "artsy" and end up sacrificing anything that would have made them actually enjoyable to watch. "(500) Days of Summer" proves that a film can be witty, original, AND entertaining.