Salon.com > Tony Kushner

Lessons from Lincoln leave gay immigrants behind

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:59:00 +0000

“I believe, in my heart of hearts, that what you’re doing is the right and just thing, but I believe this is the wrong moment, and this is the wrong bill.” That was Sen. Dick Durbin yesterday, one of several Democratic senators who wistfully explained -- some of them even convincingly -- why a provision allowing binational gay couples to reunite under immigration reform shouldn’t even be voted on. Republicans, notably Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake, were openly threatening to sink a bill with LGBT provisions, risking the unbroken momentum of immigration reform. Indeed, the bill was successfully voted out of committee. All those "Lincoln" screenings in Washington last year have evidently sunk in, because Tony Kushner couldn’t have scripted it better.

Who should win the Oscars (but probably won’t)

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:35:00 +0000

It’s been an unusually dramatic Oscar race this year, with a remarkably strong roster of films – most of which are actually popular with the general public! – and several unexpected switchbacks. Here we are, five days away from the big night, and nearly everyone expects the big winner to be “Argo,” a movie that was given up for dead after Ben Affleck wasn’t nominated for best director. So let’s stipulate that while three of the top six categories appear to have been decided beyond any reasonable doubt, there’s probably one big surprise out there somewhere that no one sees coming.

Just how factual is “Lincoln”?

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:45:00 +0000

The debate over the facts in "Zero Dark Thirty" rages on, as the sources behind Kathryn Bigelow's self-proclaimed work of cinematic journalism remain obscure. Fortunately for Steven Spielberg, his film has not been the target of media scrutiny. But while "Lincoln" arguably leads the field for the best picture Academy Award and is a huge financial hit, there are historians who believe the film paints a simplistic view of the Great Emancipator and the process of passing the 13th Amendment.

"It coheres, in some ways, very well, and, in some ways, not so well," says Bruce Levine, a historian from the University of Illinois who just published the well-received Civil War history "The Fall of the House of Dixie." "I give them a mixed review."

The film's focus on a narrow period of history — from after the 1864 election to Abraham Lincoln's assassination — necessarily overemphasizes Lincoln's role in ending an institution that was nearing its death, said Levine. "There are fundamental gaps in 'Lincoln.' Watching the film, you don't know that by the time of the events described, slavery is already badly undermined — slaves have been running away from their masters in border states and Confederate states even before fighting began."

Spielberg gets Lincoln wrong

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 21:55:00 +0000

ONE OF THE MOST gratifying aspects of Steven Spielberg’s movie Lincoln has been the debate that its release has generated among historians and journalists, a debate more important than the movie itself. What were the complex dilemmas that Lincoln faced as President? What were the political realities and conduct of the time? How should we interpret the decisions that Lincoln and others made? What role did slaves and free blacks play in their own liberation?

Despite the fact that the film focuses on a short period of time in Lincoln’s presidency and deals primarily with the political cut and thrust associated with the passage of the 13th Amendment, there is a real sense in which the film can be described as deeply philosophical. Lincoln is portrayed as a man of discipline, concentration, and energy, all characteristics that sociologist Max Weber defined as part of the serious politician’s vocation. By forging an effective and realized political character — one aspect of Weber’s definition of charismatic authority — an astute politician can change the nature of power in society. By controlling his all-too-human vanity, he can avoid the two deadly political sins of lack of objectivity and irresponsibility. For Weber, a certain “distance to things and men” was required to abide by an “ethic of responsibility” for the weighty decisions that leaders are often required to make.