Feb. 18, 2003 | KU Radio News Line

Audio



More than whistling Dixie: New film gives Civil War victory to Confederates


Contact: Frank Barthell, University Relations, (785) 864-8869.

Radio News Line text:
KU professor's new Civil War film alters history

WHAT IF THE SOUTH HAD WON THE CIVIL WAR? A NEW FILM BY UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THEATRE AND FILM KEVIN WILLMOTT EXAMINES THAT POSSIBILITY.

"CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA" PREMIERES IN LAWRENCE ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21.

IN A PSEUDO DOCUMENTARY STYLE, MODELED AFTER KEN BURNS' "CIVIL WAR" SERIES ON PUBLIC TELEVISION, WILLMOTT TELLS THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY FROM THE SOUTH'S VICTORY AT GETTYSBURG THROUGH PRESENT DAY.
WILLMOTT: "The story is told from the point of view of Confederate Television, so you see the film as if you're watching Confederate Television. So you also get to see their commercials and promos for their TV shows and movies." (10 sec.)

ALTHOUGH SLAVERY IN MODERN AMERICA SEEMS ABSURD, WILLMOTT SAYS THE FILM NEVER WINKS AT THE CAMERA.
WILLMOTT: "The thing that we worked really hard to try to achieve with the film is to really make it believable, that takes you into this world and doesn't allow you to ever step out of it. The humor of it comes from taking it seriously. The jokes come from the fact that we play it totally straight." (15 sec.)

WILLMOTT HOPES THE FILM WILL OPEN A MUCH-NEEDED DISCUSSION ABOUT SLAVERY IN AMERICA.
WILLMOTT: "Part of the problem that I have always felt is that black people can get angry with these issues and white people can feel guilty about them. We don't grow from that, and what the movie hopes to do is to break open a dialogue that kind of says, 'This is who we are, this is America.'" (15 sec.)

THE HISTORY BOOKS SAY THE NORTH WON THE CIVIL WAR. BUT WILLMOTT ISN'T SO CERTAIN.
WILLMOTT: "Why is it the Topeka Board of Education case? You would think it would be the Mississippi Board of Education case. But every large city in Kansas had to be segregated. Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City, Wichita all had to be segregated. The South loses, but they sell us on their way of life. And that's really the point." (17 sec.)

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