Yes! The book and movie are on my personal "top ten" list. Why? Didn't have your experience with racism, so while that is an important element it isn't doesn't rate as high for me. Rather, what racism represents, I think - man's inhumanity to man, the nature of honor, and of faithfulness to truth and justice, etc. etc.

I've been attempting to write my own "compelling, entertaining story that can at the same time hold up a mirror to expose social ills and cultural ignorance." But does Hollywood even care about making these anymore?

@Matisse: That's an excellent question. Could we take that up as a separate post / Reader Question?

I have vivid memories of our family driving through Georgia in 1962, on our way to Florida, where my great uncle had an orange grove--Georgia was similar to Alabama. Ages later, my young son was outraged when someone told him he should not be playing with his good friend because that person was of another race.

I'd say that Hollywood is in business, and when we understand that nothing's inherently wrong with the fact that we all have to make a living somehow, we can more easily see how to tell compelling stories that uphold our values. Look at Avatar--there are people in Native American communities that recognize parts of their own story in that movie. If art were easy, there would be more successful artists.

Well, I finally got to watch it and I thought it was a great film.

Another great film about this time in America is
MISSISSIPPI BURNING.

Gene Hackman's character defines the real spirit of America.

I'm not really an "ism" person as if you have a problem with ME I'm only concerned with the problem not the reason.

I'd love to see Matisse's question taken up in a Reader's Question post. I tapped into my experience up at Iowa State, in Ames, to write a sports bio pic about crossing the color line in 1923. I was on campus when a movement started among the students to name our new, multi-million dollar football stadium not after the highest donor, but after Jack Trice...the first African-American athlete to take the field for ISU, back in 1923. He played in only one game...during which he was injured so badly he died two days later.

Today, only one out of 120 NCAA Division 1 football stadiums is named in honor of an African-American. Jack Trice Stadium, at Iowa State University. He didn't win the Heisman. He didn't rush for 10,000 yards. He wasn't a war hero. He played in only a single game. Yet how he came to take that field and stand his ground for the right to do so, at the cost of his life...that's just plain pure and simple, unadorned, a GREAT story, isn't it?

But as Matisse asked: Will Hollywood care enough to tell that story, and others like it? FWIW, I think it will. These stories have what 90% of most high concept and comic book movies lack...heart.

jcarends, I love the Jack Trice story and definitely would go to see it in a theater.

I've been to two pitch fests and discovered that it seems that my own enthusiasm for a story is what tends to generate enthusiasm on the part of producers. I just need to finish writing and go through couple of revisions, then see if the screen play actually sells--and continue writing more screen plays.

Why not write the Jack Trice story? You can probably get access to historical archives about his life. If "Antoine Fisher" could be made, so can the story of Jack Trice.

"Will Hollywood care enough to tell that story, and others like it?"

Yes, but only if there's universal appeal behind your choice of story, rather than just soapbox opera that's preaches to the converted.

TKAMB might have been a very important and relevant story about black & white in a prejudiced society, but it was held together and driven by family, something that most of the world can relate to, no matter what creed, colour or how distanced they are from the reality of the subject matter. Getting that right is the key.

It's not so much about the subject matter but the emotional foundation of the narrative - the direct link between the subject of the film and the raw emotions of those that are watching.