Vacation Plantation

Vacation Plantation (2024), directed by Alex Bezeau, is an American documentary presenting parallel perspectives on the use of Plantations as business models for tourism. Through interviews conducted by Lauren Cudmore, an in-depth investigation is conducted to convey a rich picture of the way racism operates within modern-day spaces of Black ancestry. 

On the one hand, Kevin Kelly, a traditional white southerner and plantation owner, argues that the ‘beautiful’ aspects of the plantation are marketable and should therefore be used to make a profit. He is alarmingly unknowledgeable about American history, unable to recall the name Aaron Burr, and stating that tourists enjoy seeing history for the aesthetics, the architecture, and the artwork, and that these supposedly beautiful estates are great vessels for this. 

On the other hand, there is the owner of Rosedown Plantation who insists that he is purely focused on presenting facts to tourists, however, he is unbothered about providing any context to what is on display and appears to hold no firm opinions on the politics behind displaying harmful content. 

The documentary switches between interviews of these two plantation owners, merging clips with interviews with black activists and academics, notably Jo Banner and Joseph McGill, taking place at and on the outskirts of the plantations. These are insightful, from a place of experience of the racism that still exists, as well as relation to ancestors who were victims of slavery, and in-depth historical knowledge which is left out of school curricula despite its importance and relevance to how things are today. 

Blended in with these are clips and images from conservative American film and TV, showing a sanitised version of American history, highlighting the way that slave owners have been shaped by mainstream narratives to be idealised figures. 

The documentary excellently highlights the issues posed by plantations being used as tourist attractions and the way this contributes to a whitewashed version of history, honouring a traumatic past. These plantations and their twisted history, through ignorance towards the black community, made these landmarks into spaces characterised by whiteness and ‘southern hospitality’ rather than the racial violence which built them. 

Many aspects of Vacation Plantation are disturbing to see, such as when we hear from Kelly, whose racial aggressions come through in several modes- particularly humour, as he compares himself to Mickey Mouse, and rage as he rants about ‘woke’ ideologies surrounding the harm caused by displaying white supremacy. He is also alarmingly misinformed and spouts dangerous lies about history which paint a completely false, racist retelling of slavery which makes white people innocent. Meanwhile, Cudmore painfully nods along, unable to express any distaste towards his words in order for the documentary to organically capture his thoughts and opinions, she simply allows him to speak through remaining silent. This is highly effective in shocking the viewer, as well as importantly demonstrating how real the struggles are that the black activists are discussing intelligently in parallel. The film presents a perfect irony in the shape of a tourist plantation. 

Overall, Vacation Plantation importantly highlights that slavery is the story behind Plantations. The vital truth behind the so-called ‘beauty’ and Southern American history is the violence that created it. The documentary is an important revitalisation of twisted truths, as well as a highly interesting and engaging in-depth look at the phenomenon of Plantation tourism.