How the Movies Made a President

Through the years, great actors have played the role of President in countless films. In 1998’s “Deep Impact”, it was Morgan Freeman who bravely led the nation while a comet was headed for collision with earth. Today, with America on its way to a “Deep Recession” Barack Obama has an ever more challenging and real scene to play. But could Obama’s real-life casting as the American President, be linked to actors such as Freeman, Cosby, Smith and Poitier; collectively preconditioning the nation, and the possibly the world, for the long-overdue reality of an African-American president?

This New York Times article maps out an interesting connection.

In the past 50 years — or, to be precise, in the 47 years since Mr. Obama was born — black men in the movies have traveled from the ghetto to the boardroom, from supporting roles in kitchens, liveries and social-problem movies to the rarefied summit of the Hollywood A-list. In those years the movies have helped images of black popular life emerge from behind what W. E. B. Du Bois called “a vast veil,” creating public spaces in which we could glimpse who we are and what we might become. Read the full article