NotATrampoline

Short review: great movie but unfortunately has gross racist undertones that have NOT aged well at all and really taint an otherwise genuine and enjoyable film Long review: Seems like a lot of ppl rating this movie haven't actually watched it and have only seen the blackface stuff. This movie isn't centered around racism, but the racism within it does make parts of it uncomfortable to watch, hence the 3 stars instead of 5. The minstrelsy is under a sort of... meta context? Like the main character is casted as a blackface character for a play, which was seen as completely normal for the time. Still bad, obviously- don't normalize blackface no matter what- but it thankfully doesn't take up much of the movie. The actual overarching plot is a nice story about the importance of supporting your child no matter what and to not put unreasonable expectations on them. A healthy family requires all members to be kind to each other. At the end they use a minstrelsy song to represent this moral which is... oooofff... did NOT age well. All in all, I can acknowledge the racist undertones around the end of the movie and the fact that they are gross and uncomfortable to watch, but I'd also like to recognize this movie as a heartwarming story and a historical achievement for the filming industry since it's the first movie to have SOME sound in it. Amazing watch if you like silent films and are ok with watching minstrelsy related content!! Would be nice if that minstrelsy content wasn't in there thooo....