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The Butler

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The Butler
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Lee Daniels' The Butler (previously known simply as The Butler) is a historical film directed by Lee Daniels, who also directed Precious. It stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines (based on the Real Life figure Eugene Allen), the head butler of the White House from 1952 to 1986, where he served under eight different Presidents, and bore witness to the changes in the political and racial landscape of the United States during his tenure.The movie was released on August 16, 2013. The trailer can be seen here.
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Heroes Love Dogs
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Heroes Love Dogs: A Running Gag with President Johnson is that he is almost never seen without his dogs.
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The Cameo
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The Cameo: A few historical ones, including Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon.
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The Stoic
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The Stoic: Frequently Cecil, in contrast to his son Louis.
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Faceless Goons
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Faceless Goons: Some of the KKK thugs, though most of them actually avert this.
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Unfolding Plan Montage
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Unfolding Plan Montage: The sit-in scene cuts between the preparation and the actual event (with a little butlering on the side).
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Scary Black Man
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Scary Black Man: The Black Panther Party are a whole group of these.
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A Birthday, Not a Break
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A Birthday, Not a Break: Cecil learns of Charlie's death while he and Gloria are celebrating his birthday!
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Foregone Conclusion
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Foregone Conclusion: Due to this being Historical Fiction the audience knows going in what will happen to everyone except the main characters.
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Bittersweet Ending
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Bittersweet Ending: Cecil loses both his wife and one of his sons and ultimately resigns from his job after realizing how thankless it is, but he also reconnects with his other son and lives to see the first black President take office.
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 The Butler / int_443b78cd
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Tranquil Fury
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Tranquil Fury: Cecil to Louis at the fateful dinner scene, before becoming not so tranquil. Followed immediately by Gloria trying to deescalate the situation, only to go full on Tranquil Fury herself when Louis insults Cecil's profession and she orders her son out of the house.
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 The Butler / int_4781adbb
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Jerk with a Heart of Gold
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Jerk with a Heart of Gold: President Johnson is portrayed as incredibly crass but also passes the Voting Rights Act.
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 The Butler / int_56515a39
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Artistic License – History
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Artistic License – History: As the film is loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen, several artistic liberties were taken. For instance, Allen started his White House tenure in 1952 under Harry Truman after he directly applied for the position, whereas Gaines started in 1957 under Dwight Eisenhower after impressing a White House administrator at a hotel. Furthermore, Allen's son did not die in Vietnam, and he did not resign in protest of Reagan's apartheid policies either.
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 The Butler / int_598513bb
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Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling
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Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Cecil's sons take turns being the two roles.
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Invisible President
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Invisible President: Mostly averted, but the presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter are rather glanced over via a news montage, presumably because their tenures weren't as important to the Civil Rights Movement. Richard Nixon comes close, getting only a very brief cameo. After Cecil's resignation, the presidencies of the Bushes and Bill Clinton are skipped over to Obama's meeting with Cecil in 2008.
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 The Butler / int_713d994b
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Token Romance
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Token Romance: Louis and Carol. It doesn't last, and Louis even winds up doubting if Carol ever loved him at all.
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 The Butler / int_73d4b01a
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In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It
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In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: Averted in an odd way. The film was originally titled simply The Butler until Warner Bros. blocked The Weinstein Company at the MPAA title registration bureau based on the fact that they already released a film under that title... a short film, in 1916. The MPAA ended up allowing the film to keep the title as long as they put director Lee Daniels' name in front of it.
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Job Title
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Job Title: Butler is a job.
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"The Reason You Suck" Speech
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"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Cecil gives one to Louis during the dinner scene, mixed with Tranquil Fury.
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Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil
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Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Suffered by Cecil's mother.
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Asshole Victim
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Asshole Victim: Howard, at least as far as Gloria is concerned.
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Heel Realization
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Heel Realization: Louis has one after spending too much time with the Black Panthers. Ronald Reagan has one in regards to whether or not he's on the right side of the Civil Rights struggle in South Africa.
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 The Butler / int_9a1d239e
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Been There, Shaped History
 The Butler / int_9a1d239e
comment
Been There, Shaped History: Cecil Gaines ends up witnessing or even participating in most of the major events of the Civil Rights Movement: Eisenhower discussing sending the Army to enforce the desegregation of Little Rock High School; Robert F Kennedy discussing how to move forward with desegregation in general; Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act; the Freedom Riders (through Louis); the rise and militancy of the Black Panthers (also through Louis), and Nixon's fight against them; the international boycott and economic sanctions of apartheid South Africa; and finally, the election of Barack Obama.
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 The Butler / int_9c5e78d0
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Kill the Cutie
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Kill the Cutie: Charlie is one of the nicest and most endearing characters in the movie, but is ultimately killed in Vietnam.
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 The Butler / int_a4c37cbe
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Mood Whiplash
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Mood Whiplash: Don't get too comfortable whenever jokes are making you laugh. Something tragic is coming right after.
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 The Butler / int_aabe2fb
type
Deliberate Values Dissonance
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comment
Deliberate Values Dissonance: After her (presumed) grandson rapes a field hand and shoots her husband dead out of spite, Annabeth Westfall's decision to make their young son a house servant is presented plausibly as an act of kind contrition. Also the common usage of the n-word, including by African American characters who don't know any better (which includes Cecil).
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 The Butler / int_abad35b4
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Soundtrack Dissonance
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Soundtrack Dissonance: When the soldiers come to tell Cecil and Gloria their son Charles has been KIA, their reaction is accompanied jarringly by disco music (they were watching Soul Train). Which only makes it that much worse.
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 The Butler / int_af3ea0e3
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Face–Heel Turn
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comment
Face–Heel Turn: Carol goes from an idealistic freedom rider to, as Oprah puts it, "a low class bitch".
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 The Butler / int_b58b4e3c
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Too Dumb to Live
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comment
Too Dumb to Live: Louis from Cecil's perspective. Also Charlie, who goes to Vietnam seemingly on a whim...and gets killed.
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 The Butler / int_bec0417c
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Happily Married
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comment
Happily Married: What Cecil and Gloria are for most of the movie. Gloria also pretty much lampshades this near the end of the movie.
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 The Butler / int_c132c0c5
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I Have No Son!
 The Butler / int_c132c0c5
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I Have No Son!: An argument after Louis shows up for dinner for the first time in seven years leads to Cecil not speaking to him for about fifteen.
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 The Butler / int_c3b51bb3
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You Are Better Than You Think You Are
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comment
Your Father Is Better Than You Think He Is: Essentially, what Martin Luther King Jr. tells Louis is that his father, as a domestic servant, is contributing to the advancement of racial justice and equality in his own way.
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 The Butler / int_cda501da
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Killed Off for Real
 The Butler / int_cda501da
comment
Killed Off for Real: Cecil's Father, Charlie, and Howard.
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 The Butler / int_d39e327f
type
What the Hell, Hero?
 The Butler / int_d39e327f
comment
What the Hell, Hero?: Cecil and Louis both suffer from this from a couple different people, including (and most prominently) each other.
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 The Butler / int_d66cd0e6
type
Training from Hell
 The Butler / int_d66cd0e6
comment
The teacher who first gets Louis and Carol into the Freedom Riders, putting them through Training from Hell to prepare them for what they will face, and being completely unsympathetic to potential recruits who are afraid of being killed.
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 The Butler / int_e16217f8
type
Historical Villain Upgrade
 The Butler / int_e16217f8
comment
Historical Villain Upgrade: The movie suggests that Ronald Reagan opposed sanctions against Apartheid South Africa because he was indifferent to the plight of black South Africans and even goes so far as to imply that he was pro-Apartheid. While the real Reagan opposed such sanctions and even vetoed a bill imposing them (his veto was later overruled by Congress), he was known to be privately appalled with Apartheid and his opposition was for more pragmatic reasons. note First, he believed that sanctions would do more harm than good for blacks (due to the "last to hire, first to fire" nature of segregated societies) while pro-Apartheid whites would continue to prop up the system. Second, this happened in the context of the Cold War and the South African government was heavily anti-communist, having supported the US in several proxy wars against Soviet-backed governments, while South African dissident groups such as the ANC were backed by the Soviets. Reagan believed it was better to take a carrot-and-stick approach with a known faction than risk replacing it with another government that could potentially be more hostile (which would be especially troubling since South Africa had nuclear weapons at the time). With that said, the Apartheid government collapsed due to economic pressures from international sanctions, ultimately proving Reagan wrong in hindsight.
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 The Butler / int_e4b69188
type
Very Loosely Based on a True Story
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comment
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: How loosely? The only member of the butler's family whose name is not changed is Charles. Film!Charles goes to Vietnam and is KIA. Real!Charles went to Vietnam and watched a private showing of this film. More importantly, the rape of Cecil's mother and the murder of Cecil's father never actually happened and were solely added in for dramatic effect.
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 The Butler / int_e543a655
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Light Is Not Good
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Light Is Not Good: The KKK, though having said that, not all of them wear the trademark white uniform here.
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 The Butler / int_e67ff203
type
Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder
 The Butler / int_e67ff203
comment
Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Gloria, who winds up having an affair with her neighbor Howard before deciding to end it. It's also around then that Cecil tries to make the effort to spend more time with his wife.
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 The Butler / int_f2c895f
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Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters
 The Butler / int_f2c895f
comment
Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Louis may be trying to get equality for African Americans, but his father views him as being irredeemably stupid and irresponsible.
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 The Butler / int_f42f96fa
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Would Hit a Girl
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comment
Would Hit a Girl: The KKK and other racists show no compunctions about going after women and minors with nothing short of total sadism.
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 The Butler / int_fb6b207f
type
You Killed My Father
 The Butler / int_fb6b207f
comment
You Killed My Father: Averted. While he doesn't confront the ones who cruelly took away his parents, Cecil gets some form of closure by returning to the plantation where he "lived" as a child. The plantation has long since been abandoned and overgrown with vegetation. But while it fell into ruin, Cecil outlived it and survived to the present day.
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 The Butler / int_fd4f8299
type
Well-Intentioned Extremist
 The Butler / int_fd4f8299
comment
Well-Intentioned Extremist: The teacher who first gets Louis and Carol into the Freedom Riders, putting them through Training from Hell to prepare them for what they will face, and being completely unsympathetic to potential recruits who are afraid of being killed.
 The Butler / int_fd4f8299
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 The Butler / int_fed1a09d
type
"Back to Camera" Pose
 The Butler / int_fed1a09d
comment
"Back to Camera" Pose: In the poster, Cecil Gaines looks out from a White House window at kerfuffle outside. His back is to the viewer and his hands are primly tucked behind his back and in crisp white gloves, indicating his butler position. Symbolically, it shows that Cecil, as a black man, did not have a voice in American politics for much of his employment.
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 The Butler / int_ff7f34c5
type
Pet the Dog
 The Butler / int_ff7f34c5
comment
Pet the Dog: Ronald Reagan gets one when accepting Cecil's resignation along with listening to Cecil's complaints of the pay gap and being willing to force Cecil's boss to give the same privileges. His wife gets one earlier when she invites Cecil and Gloria to dine with them as guests rather than as a butler and his wife. Richard Nixon when he's still Vice President visits Cecil and his coworkers working on down in the White House kitchens. Yeah, he's a little creepy about it, and asks them to vote for him, but it's not like anybody else comes down there to tell them all what a good job they're doing.
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The Butler

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