Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’ is a biographical drama depicting the story of Cecil Gaines, a man who escaped a life of slavery and oppression to serve for eight presidents as a butler in the White House.
The film focuses on African American historical events, with special concentration on the civil rights era. With the White House segments of the film starting in the oppressive Eisenhower years, it offers a presidential level insight into the historic freedom movements of the 1960’s, all the way through until the day that Barack Obama is elected president in 2008. I am going to argue that Daniels’ representation of history and race are much more than a ‘parody of historical drama’, as he defies the ‘conventional’ stereotypes of Hollywood (Martin 2013) through the focus on individual character depictions and rejection of generalisations seen previously in African American films.
Cast and drop shadows are another common way to add depth. Reflections work similarly in that a reflection appears on a different surface. The illusion of depth can be increased by making the shadow larger and lighter and further away from the object. Blurring the edges of shadows also increases the illusion of depth.
