Fans who watched the red carpet ceremony of the Emancipation premiere already have a few choice words to say. When producer Joey McFarland decided to pull out a part of his “historical collection,” several onlookers gasped in horror and that included all the viewers at home.
The movie is so fresh out of the can, the ink hasn’t even dried yet and Joey McFarland is already making a big stink. Will Smith plays the lead role of a slave named Pete who escapes captivity and is chased through the swamps of Louisiana where he finally finds the Baton Rouge Union camp where he eventually joins the fight to end the Civil War and, in effect, end slavery. While in Baton Rouge, a picture is taken of Pete’s scourged back as part of the examination, a photo that was originally published in Harper’s Weekly to show the brutality slaves faced at the hands of their owners.
In a moment of utter tone-deafness to the very movie he had just contributed to making, McFarland pulls the picture out of his pocket, perfectly preserved in a plastic case. “I wanted a piece of Peter to be here tonight” he announced as he held the photo like a trophy. He went on to talk about all the souvenirs collectors should be respecting and preserving to hand down to future generations, bits and pieces of people’s lives that they can own and display proudly above their mantel or carry in their pocket to a red carpet ceremony.
Fans didn’t hold back to let him have it. They let their feelings fly, and McFarland might have heard them by now. Did he get the message this time? Who knows. He worked on the movie and didn’t get it then.
To carry as a memento or collector’s item, a “piece of someone” that is preserved in a box, how many layers of messed up is that? McFarland, think it through. Just give it a moment and go over it every step of the way.
Actions like this one erode the confidence of the viewers. Is the movie industry trying to tell the story or is it merely trying to profit off of a hot topic? McFarland might have been genuine when he said he wanted Pete to be there, but would Pete have wanted to be reminded of each stripe and be dragged through that hell again? It wasn’t a field trip. There are no souvenirs to commemorate the occasion that Pete would have wanted.
Fans had all kinds of things to say about McFarland’s actions, but one fan summed it up perfectly. The nonchalance with which he pulled it out as if he couldn’t wait to show it off just like a kid with baseball cards.
The trailer has all the heart and emotion that Will Smith can bring it. At the end, there is a recreation of the famous photo just before fading out and making viewers want to see it next.
Emancipation was released in select theaters today. It will begin streaming on Apple TV on December 9, 2022.
