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http://www.blackenterprise.com/spike-lee-blackkklansman/
If it was up to legendary filmmaker Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman, his latest film to date, would be screened in Donald Trump’s executive mansion.
The new film takes place in the 1970s and is based on the real-life experiences of Ron Stallworth, the first African American detective to join the Colorado Springs police force. In addition to facing a number of racial barriers, Stallworth managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan as an undercover and befriend former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke through a series of phone conversations. To complete the operation, Stallworth worked with his partner, a Jewish cop played by Adam Driver in the movie, who pretends to be him at KKK meetings.
Like many Spike Lee joints, the overarching theme of BlacKkKlansman underscores the prevalence of racism and the ongoing fight for racial equality. It opens with scenes from Birth of A Nation, a notorious silent picture released in 1915 that glorified the Klan and demonized black men. The controversial drama has been deemed a classic American film and was even screened for then-President Woodrow Wilson along with members of Congress and the Supreme Court.
“Birth of a Nation was shown in the White House. Woodrow Wilson saw it and he said it was like ‘writing history with lightning,’” Lee told Black Enterprise. “I think BlacKkKlansman should be shown in the White House—and make sure you put Jeff Sessions in the front row because there are certain things that people are wearing [in the film] that he might be in possession of!” Lee joked, apparently making a reference to the robes worn by Klansmen.
(Courtesy of Focus)
Telling A Part of History
The context of the movie is so surreal that Lee admitted that he had a hard time believing it was true, himself. In fact, when BlacKkKlansman producer Jordan Peele told him about the story, Lee initially thought about Dave Chappelle’s popular black KKK member sketch. Nonetheless, he pounced on the opportunity to create a film about a remarkable piece of American history that few Americans know about.
To tell the story, Lee cast John David Washington, the son of Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, for the lead role as Stallworth. “I just knew he could do it. I just offered him the part. He didn’t have to do a read for it. He didn’t have to do a tape [or] audition,” said the movie director. “I know talent when I see it. Many people have got their first roles in my films over the last 30 years,” he said, noting Halle Berry and Rosie Perez.
Washington, who graduated from an HBCU, says that he, too, was surprised when Lee told him about Stallworth’s story. “I went to Morehouse, class of ’06, so I learned a lot about my culture and our history [but] this one kind of slipped through the cracks,” he said.
The 32-year-old actor added that working on the film changed his perspective about police, especially those of color, and he hopes it will change how they are viewed by society as well. “I had no idea what it was like to be an African American cop and I’m hoping people will get the chance to see what it’s like with this film,” said the star of HBO’s Ballers. “We need to start celebrating more men and women that look like us that are police and are doing their job correctly. It’s a thankless job.” When asked if he felt anxious or excited for his father to see the movie, he cooly responded, “I hope he likes it.”
“Wake Up!”
BlacKkKlansman takes several jabs at President Trump and ends with a powerful scene that suggests that race relations in the U.S. are getting worse. It also includes a handful of scenes with the words “wake up,” a signature expression in Lee’s work.
“My most famous phrase for all my films is ‘wake up.’ School Days—that film came out in 1988—ends with Laurence Fishburne saying ‘wake up.’ Do the Right Thing (1989) begins with Samuel L. Jackson saying ‘wake up,’” he proclaimed. The term “woke—that’s that new sh-t. We were saying ‘wake up’ in ’88!”
BlacKkKlansman will be released in theaters Aug. 10, 2018.
The post Spike Lee: ‘BlacKKKlansman Should Be Shown in the White House’ [Video] appeared first on Black Enterprise.
If it was up to legendary filmmaker Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman, his latest film to date, would be screened in Donald Trump’s executive mansion.
The new film takes place in the 1970s and is based on the real-life experiences of Ron Stallworth, the first African American detective to join the Colorado Springs police force. In addition to facing a number of racial barriers, Stallworth managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan as an undercover and befriend former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke through a series of phone conversations. To complete the operation, Stallworth worked with his partner, a Jewish cop played by Adam Driver in the movie, who pretends to be him at KKK meetings.
Like many Spike Lee joints, the overarching theme of BlacKkKlansman underscores the prevalence of racism and the ongoing fight for racial equality. It opens with scenes from Birth of A Nation, a notorious silent picture released in 1915 that glorified the Klan and demonized black men. The controversial drama has been deemed a classic American film and was even screened for then-President Woodrow Wilson along with members of Congress and the Supreme Court.
“Birth of a Nation was shown in the White House. Woodrow Wilson saw it and he said it was like ‘writing history with lightning,’” Lee told Black Enterprise. “I think BlacKkKlansman should be shown in the White House—and make sure you put Jeff Sessions in the front row because there are certain things that people are wearing [in the film] that he might be in possession of!” Lee joked, apparently making a reference to the robes worn by Klansmen.
(Courtesy of Focus)
Telling A Part of History
The context of the movie is so surreal that Lee admitted that he had a hard time believing it was true, himself. In fact, when BlacKkKlansman producer Jordan Peele told him about the story, Lee initially thought about Dave Chappelle’s popular black KKK member sketch. Nonetheless, he pounced on the opportunity to create a film about a remarkable piece of American history that few Americans know about.
To tell the story, Lee cast John David Washington, the son of Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, for the lead role as Stallworth. “I just knew he could do it. I just offered him the part. He didn’t have to do a read for it. He didn’t have to do a tape [or] audition,” said the movie director. “I know talent when I see it. Many people have got their first roles in my films over the last 30 years,” he said, noting Halle Berry and Rosie Perez.
Washington, who graduated from an HBCU, says that he, too, was surprised when Lee told him about Stallworth’s story. “I went to Morehouse, class of ’06, so I learned a lot about my culture and our history [but] this one kind of slipped through the cracks,” he said.
The 32-year-old actor added that working on the film changed his perspective about police, especially those of color, and he hopes it will change how they are viewed by society as well. “I had no idea what it was like to be an African American cop and I’m hoping people will get the chance to see what it’s like with this film,” said the star of HBO’s Ballers. “We need to start celebrating more men and women that look like us that are police and are doing their job correctly. It’s a thankless job.” When asked if he felt anxious or excited for his father to see the movie, he cooly responded, “I hope he likes it.”
“Wake Up!”
BlacKkKlansman takes several jabs at President Trump and ends with a powerful scene that suggests that race relations in the U.S. are getting worse. It also includes a handful of scenes with the words “wake up,” a signature expression in Lee’s work.
“My most famous phrase for all my films is ‘wake up.’ School Days—that film came out in 1988—ends with Laurence Fishburne saying ‘wake up.’ Do the Right Thing (1989) begins with Samuel L. Jackson saying ‘wake up,’” he proclaimed. The term “woke—that’s that new sh-t. We were saying ‘wake up’ in ’88!”
BlacKkKlansman will be released in theaters Aug. 10, 2018.
The post Spike Lee: ‘BlacKKKlansman Should Be Shown in the White House’ [Video] appeared first on Black Enterprise.
Wow, the show that so many fat women and body positivity activists said looked like a dumpster fire from the trailer actually turned out to be a real turd? I am so shocked that a show with a fat-suit could be so reductive.
The show’s creator, Lauren Gussis had attempted to explain why the initial criticisms were wrong and that the people who were protesting were protesting the trailer which is “a different piece of art than the show.” She asked them to give the show a chance and see everything within context. Well, people have and are reporting that the show does not live up the satirical promises that Gussis claimed were in the text.
Before getting into the feedback from reviewers lemme just say this: Gussis and others may have had the best of intentions in writing this series. They may have had their own body issues that came into play when creating this series. That is valid. However, just because you call something satire doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have some responsibility about how it presents its message to the public.
Carrie Wittmer from Business Insider said this about the series:
It thinks it is making a point about society and beauty by having its characters aggressively make the opposite point. But it doesn’t work.
To get this confusing message across, “Insatiable” uses dated clichés. It pits all its female characters against each other, makes jokes about statutory rape and molestation, and has a cast full of thin women. Characters, both male and female, constantly call women things like “crazy,” “insane,” and “b—-,” and its main character at one point calls another woman “a resting anus face of a wife.”
But none of this leads to anything, or makes any poignant point.
Fun. When it comes to main character Patty’s relationship with her weight Wittmer says, “Patty’s history with her weight is pretty much erased. It seems to be used solely as a reminder that this show is inclusive because its main character used to be fat. […] This is not a show about someone who gets back at bullies; it is about a hot teenager who lusts after an adult man, and about a bunch of people who are horrible to each other.”
So it’s not even the Carrie 2: The Rage teen drama that it could have been. Although apparently there is quite a bit of murder?
Jenna Guillaume from Buzzfeed opens up her piece with a scene from the final episode that basically shows that even if you finish the whole show in the hopes that it will improve it does not. I won’t spoil the scene, in case, for some reason, someone wants to watch it, but I will put in Guillaume’s conclusion about the series:
“[…] I just felt sad. Sad that I’d sat through 12 episodes of the new Netflix drama, waiting for some moment of triumph that would supposedly redeem all the problematic and fatphobic messages that had come before. Sad that what I was being given instead was a weak throwaway line and a lazy visual metaphor that undid none of that damage, and rather reinforced the same tired old jokes about fat people’s toxic relationship to food. Sad that it’s 2018 and fat people are still treated as less than human, as something monstrous, as the villains in our own stories.”
Which is exactly what people have been fearful of from the beginning. Gussis may have wanted to start a conversation and that conversation has put her show as an example of things that we need to move away from.
Joe Berkowitz from Fast Company admitted that he sided with Gussis’ ‘don’t knock it till you watched it’ philosophy and felt empathic due to hearing about Gussis’ own weight struggle. However, “after bingeing four episodes that made me wish I could purge them from memory, it seems like the show’s conception of “revenge” is restricted mostly to “becoming a beauty queen.” Even if Patty wanted something other than to prove the extent of her hotness in a competitive setting, the show offers an irresponsible, dangerous depiction of her too-easy physical transformation, the seamless results of it, and their miraculous sustainability.”
According to Berkowitz the show mocks Patty for her weight constantly and everyone is hyper aggressive to fat people and “sometimes the school marching band follows Patty around with a tuba.”
But again: satire.
Berkowitz also brings up another really fucked-up aspect of the show with one of the show’s secondary characters Bob, who is Patty’s Lawyer and also has a side hustle of being a beauty pageant instructor. Bob is also “recently disgraced because the mother of one of his beauty pageant protégées has falsely accused him of touching her daughter’s ‘hoohoo,’ which is something she decided to do just on a whim.” Oh and the character’s wife is played by Alyssa Milano, who has been at the forefront of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
Insatiable.
Finally, Variety‘s Caroline Framke broke down that at its core the series is just a dated, shallow, and just not that good.
“Insatiable” tries extremely hard to throw edgy jokes at the wall, hoping that they will turn the show into a sharp satire of how our society shuns the weak — or something. But despite some late-breaking attempts to right the ship, neither the show’s punchlines nor its characters are sharp enough to transcend their clichéd foundations.
Sometimes things can look bad and surprise you like Blockers, but there are also times where things are exactly what they seem. Insatiable is one of those times.
(image: Netflix/Edited by Author)
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