Master: The Horror of Deceptive Racial Politics in Academia
“It's not ghosts. It's not supernatural. It's... It's America. And it's everywhere.”

The discovery of rubies on a rural mountain sends factions from all across the country to clammer for it, doing everything they can to hold a monopoly on the mountain. A gun mechanic takes up the challenge alongside his cousin, but they are both soon ambushed by a gang led by a brutal godfather. When his cousin is killed, he reaches a boiling point and a new goal in his mind arises: kill everyone.
“It's not ghosts. It's not supernatural. It's... It's America. And it's everywhere.”
Poor Black characters are usually surrounded by crime and violence, while poor White characters are portrayed as noble and hard-working.
You can’t talk to my grandpa about The Sopranos. You can’t talk to him about The Godfather either. Merely by bringing up the subject, you’d be treated to a lecture on how movies and TV want you to believe that all Italians are criminals and mobsters. He won’t watch any of it, in protest.
There is a lot of controversy around Q-force. It’s certainly not hard to see why—the series is quite hyperbolic. I will say, that was the first aspect I noticed on my initial watch. Right from the get-go Q-Force barrages you with gay joke after gay joke. This is hit or miss throughout the series.
The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.
Growing up without a dad, I got a lot of my fatherly advice from the prototypes I saw on the silver screen. It’s these characters and films that gave me a glimpse into a dynamic I had never known but also made me realize that I was missing out. Here are my top 10 paternal films.