For the uninitiated, "Giant" (1956) started out as a story of cross-cultural, single race, love, trials and tribulations, but who couldn't love Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor? It morphed into a story (partly) about cross-racial love. It took ol' Bick a while to accept the fact that his son was in love with a Latina woman, married her, and (gasp!) had a mixed baby. In the final scene Bick took the family to a diner (he was woke by then), only the waitress and the proprietor wouldn't serve his Latina daughter-in-law and her baby. A fight broke out between Rock Hudson's character and the owner. As Bick lay in a heap after losing, the owner tossed the sign on him, "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone," revealing the excuses we made for intolerance, the hubris of white privilege. We grow.
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Impressions on "Giant:"
Verdant territory, youthful beauty beyond belief, love blossoming
A brown wasteland, dusty, too bright, shielded eyes, foretelling inner conflict
Texas tea, bubbling up, free for the taking
Oil supplanting cattle, greed more important than legacy
Power against power, human volatility in a handsome guise
Alcohol bringing down the impression of the mighty, the once meek
Esteem, both public and of the self, bankrupt
A final brawl between budding acceptance and withering hate
Bigotry triumphs and let slips its widespread ugliness to the uninitiated and the intentionally ignorant, its seemingly superior strength, its lowly roots
Humanity upward, uncovering its sheltered eyes
Splendor beyond words, youth gone by, a new, more innocent generation, realizing new morals, wisdom
From Mr. Hudson's closeted days to National Coming Out Day
Stories for the ages