"...all will be well in the garden."

Still from "Being There,"(Dir. Hal Ashby), a 1979 film, starring Peter Sellers. It traces the experiences of a simple-minded gardener whose impressions of the world are based almost entirely on what he has seen on television. The film, which is set in the 1970s,  is ultimately a commentary on various aspects of contemporary culture.

Here goes. This is the first blog entry for the students taking “African Americans in the City.” Sorta. Since we have not yet done any readings, I am posting “their” first entry, which contains some insightful replies to the following prompt: “When I saw ___________________it made me ____________________________.” These replies were composed in response to clips from  “Being There,” a film about a Chance aka Chauncey Gardner, a simple-minded, Washington D.C.-based, er, uh, gardener, who for the first time is forced to leave the house in which he has lived all of his life. He is a middle-aged white man in a postwar city in which African Americans, especially males, young and old, are not flourishing socially. But Chance/Chauncey approaches them all with seeming ease. He has nothing to fear. The only African American he has ever known is Louise, a maid in the house in which he lived, and she was very nice (“She brought me my meals.”). Beyond her and his now-dead benefactor (the “Old Man”), nearly everything he knows is based on what he has seen on television. I used this comedy, in which Peter Sellers stars, as a way to push the students to think about several things, among them, the degree to which we make assumptions based on what we think we know about so much, African Americans included. The students composed a five-minute written reflection. Here are excerpts from what the students wrote:

1.       “When I saw Chauncey [interact with the African American teenagers]….it made me think a message was being sent.”

2.       “When I saw Louise’s response to Chance [speaking on television as a political authority after meeting the President of the United States] (“It’s a white man’s world!” she said), it made me think [that's] a general statement often repeated.

3.       When I saw Chance walking down the street near the Washington Monument, it made me think of when I rode down that street over the summer. Being in D.C… [makes you] overwhelmed by all [of] the history you’re surrounded by.”

4.       When I saw Chauncey interact with the black doctor, it made me think that he saw some sort of connection…between small and large black males, as if …they inherently know each other.”

5.       When I saw Chance take his first steps outside of the only home he knew, it made me think of the times when stepping out of your comfort zone becomes necessary…He draws from what he learns from T.V. to function in the ‘real world.’ College [,] for me [,] was a similar experience.”

6.       When I saw the way Chauncey interacted with the world…it made me think about the way people assume things…based on their limited experiences – often failing to truly understand.”

7.       When I saw Chauncey[lying] on the table getting an X-ray, it made me think of the movie “I Am Sam”…when Sam had to prepare the birthday party for his daughter. Their facial expressions were the same.”

8.       When I saw “Chauncey Gardner/Chance’s” obsession with the television and gardening, it made me think of my great grandmother’s former neighbor, _______________. Whenever my sister or I would go next door, he would always give us a seed to plant. Whenever we would visit he would take us to water our seed [and] he always assured us that he would take care of our seeds while we were [away]….”

9.       When I saw Chance describe the different seasons, it made me think of how much I dislike the cold, rainy weather we have been getting for the past week.”