Patchworking together stills, animation, music and vocal tracks, the "website-stage play-screenplay" Feets! Don't Fail Me Now! treads on the shaky ground of racial stereotypes to address the history and legacy of slavery in the United States.
Inspired to write in response to his experiences teaching American history in various colleges in the United States, author David Trotman hoped to work through the discomfort of many students psychologically dealing with racial tension and concerns. The work, Trotman's first work of fiction, chronicles the story of an African-American slave and his flight to freedom in Canada. The inclusion of "Slave catchers," a Polish immigrant and a Native American woman, Trotman extends his study to include all aspects of displaced persons and European influence.
Forsaking concerns of time and period the story combines elements of the time of slavery with cellular phones, airplanes and phone-sex lines.
The Internet, a medium not always associated with high-culture, was the perfect choice for Trotman. "The Internet is the ideal medium for an individual of modest means to be able to reach a larger audience. Also, the dynamic nature of this young medium permits you to continually adjust and improve your presentation."
The [multi-part] website is in patchwork style, and features such commercial stereotypes as Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Colonel Sanders. "The collage style of presentation is a result of utilizing items originally developed for another purpose. Some images were used as part of a [early] stage version of Feets!, some came from shots of the show, other came straight from the net, and some are originals by site designer John Gabriel. This stylistic range helps free the story by allowing the viewer more freely engage his or her imagination,"
Though some may criticize the seemingly lighthearted tone with which Trotman approaches the topic, he summarizes his reasoning quite clearly, "If you can get `em laugh' and get their guard down, then maybe you can slip in a few ideas.