ABSTRACT

In an earlier confrontation, Powell flips power position on Caulder, binds his mouth with masking tape and demands, “Write what I have taken from you! What have you lost?” After scribbling “Control,” then “Freedom,” Caulder finally gets it right: “My Illusions.” Denzel Washington’s never had such a genuine moment on screen. Powell’s solace to Caulder (from veteran actor to young Gooding) is also genuine and stinging: “You’ve lost nothing but your illusions and a little bit of skin.” In this moment Gooding gets to the meat of Hollywood representation. Is skin identity? Blackness? Ethnicity? Professional status?