The Uncle Tom Project - Build it and they will come...

2009-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Uncle Tom Project is an effort by me to update and bring to the (hopefully) big screen a trilogy of movies adapted from Harriet Beecher Stowe's incredible work of christian literature - Uncle Tom's Cabin. Unfortunately for the past 100+ years this book has been mired in the racial hate wars of the 19th century. In spite of this book's being directly attributed as one of the many causes of the civil war to free people from the evils of slavery it has also been denigrated by African Americans for its portrayal of some of its most iconic characters. All of this misses the true genius of this work of literature.

Mrs. Stowe's true genus is in her balance in showing that their were good and bad people on all sides and in how an individuals faith plays a role in their life choices in the face of social injustice. It is this aspect of the story that is still relevant today. Slavery is a thing of the past, at least officially, but how we choose to live our lives today in the face of adversity is still and eternally relevant.

It is not my intent to stir up old hatred or belittle or elevate any particular race but to hopefully be able to share this awesome story while bringing out these deeper eternal truths while keeping the slavery and racial issues as the historical subtext that reveal it. For this reason I feel it totally justified to reduce and remove language that has become equated with racial hatred and the language used by some of the characters. After 100 years language changes and educational levels change so I think it fair to update such dialog keeping the educational differences but without reducing them to stereotypes.

I realize that this effort is WAY beyond my personal ability and skill set to accomplish. So I have put some effort into creating a community space on this website for fans and those that have committed to contribute toward the effort. At this point I foresee the films as being animated full length feature films but at this point I don't rule out live action either since it is early in the effort. In order for this to become a reality I foresee the need for animators, computer molders, voice actors, Etc. I admit that I do not know how this will all work out or even work best together but I believe that in today's day and age that it IS possible. The biggest unknown at this point for me is how to balance contributors efforts to royalty distributions for this currently totally unfunded project.

I had given thoughts to a simple system of pirate share where everyone gets an equal share and the captain gets a double share but I don't know how acceptable this would be. Although it would keep the distribution of profits easy to do and track. If anyone has any Ideas on the best way to arrange such an effort please share your ideas and let me know in our public forums so we can all figure it out.

Wikipedia page for Uncle Tom's Cabin

The full original books text is available online here at the bottom of the page.

Uncle Tom Project - News & Events

The Uncle Tom Project - Build it and they will come...