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In the age of Diversity with a capital letter — a culture-shifting topic that influences entertainment to provide wider representation of and for audiences — it feels strange to watch a film like An American In Paris, a new rendition of the 1950s musical. The filming of the live musical, now re-released in theaters, does not feature a prominent person of color (or any person of color, to my awareness). It doesn’t take long into the plot before the fact of its whiteness is just one of several aspects that transports you to a world that tells the type of story we’ve now graduated from. Indeed, it’s a classic tale, and one that holds an undoubtable charm for those finding beauty in the “traditional values” of boy-meets-girl, perseverance through denial, and winning love to dance into the moonlight. For those who bristle at the Baby It’s Cold Outside-style seduction there’s little to hold onto in a film built upon its antiquated allure, but for others the 4-time Tony Award-winning musical will spark a feeling of international romance and enchantment that you might only feel on vacation.
On the heels of World World II, an American soldier named Jerry Mulligan (Robert Fairchild) decides to stay in Paris after several serendipitous encounters with a Parisian dancer. It’s a different Paris that he fell in love with, as the musical teleports us to a time before the romantic charm of the enchanting city — back when the city was more notably full of poverty, unemployment, and violence. The setting itself offers an interesting backdrop to its love story, as our characters — including our narrator who has also fallen in love with the same Parisian dancer as Jerry — climb the emotional staircase out of wartime as An American In Paris captures Paris’ transition into joy. That transition, the finding of hope and beauty both from and through art, is one of the most resonant and meaningful themes of the production.
A few other themes include standard fare: following your heart, the value of independence, living for yourself and not others. They are fleeting though, feeble and unworthy in comparison to the stunning performance by the heroine, Lise Dassin (Leanne Cope), who shines brighter than the lights that follow her strong, stunning, evocative performance across the stage. Three newly-acquainted men fall in love with her, unbeknownst to one another, and become friends as they share stories about their lives and the new woman they want to have join them. Only one of them is the frontrunner of course, Jerry, who woos Lise in classic romance fashion that plays out well in dance but reads notably rapey by modern standards.
Directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, the musical is anchored by the dance sequences between Fairchild and Cope when they’re at their closest, tangling and untangling like a magic trick of rope. For me, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin relay the most whiteness of the musical, with jazz rather barren of foot-tapping soul and “fun” songs you won’t remember past the final bows. Instead, the best is when things are slowed down a notch, and the stage cleared, left to feature only a few dancers at a time or, even better, just the two.
Overall, whether for the romance, history, or music, 2018’s theater release of An American In Paris is worth watching on its merits, not to mention for the history lesson (or reminder) of one of the most celebrated musicals of all time. Leanne Cope is easy to fall in love with, and so is Paris for that matter, if only in the end. And if nothing else, watch this one as a reminder of where we used to be in entertainment. Unfortunately 2018 looks a bit too much like the original premiere of An American In Paris in 1951. When it comes to diversity and romance, we’ve come a long way from then.
You can find a local screening of An American In Paris at a theater near you.
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The post “An American In Paris” Reminds of Classic Love Stories… For Better or Worse appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
In the age of Diversity with a capital letter — a culture-shifting topic that influences entertainment to provide wider representation of and for audiences — it feels strange to watch a film like An American In Paris, a new rendition of the 1950s musical. The filming of the live musical, now re-released in theaters, does not feature a prominent person of color (or any person of color, to my awareness). It doesn’t take long into the plot before the fact of its whiteness is just one of several aspects that transports you to a world that tells the type of story we’ve now graduated from. Indeed, it’s a classic tale, and one that holds an undoubtable charm for those finding beauty in the “traditional values” of boy-meets-girl, perseverance through denial, and winning love to dance into the moonlight. For those who bristle at the Baby It’s Cold Outside-style seduction there’s little to hold onto in a film built upon its antiquated allure, but for others the 4-time Tony Award-winning musical will spark a feeling of international romance and enchantment that you might only feel on vacation.
On the heels of World World II, an American soldier named Jerry Mulligan (Robert Fairchild) decides to stay in Paris after several serendipitous encounters with a Parisian dancer. It’s a different Paris that he fell in love with, as the musical teleports us to a time before the romantic charm of the enchanting city — back when the city was more notably full of poverty, unemployment, and violence. The setting itself offers an interesting backdrop to its love story, as our characters — including our narrator who has also fallen in love with the same Parisian dancer as Jerry — climb the emotional staircase out of wartime as An American In Paris captures Paris’ transition into joy. That transition, the finding of hope and beauty both from and through art, is one of the most resonant and meaningful themes of the production.
A few other themes include standard fare: following your heart, the value of independence, living for yourself and not others. They are fleeting though, feeble and unworthy in comparison to the stunning performance by the heroine, Lise Dassin (Leanne Cope), who shines brighter than the lights that follow her strong, stunning, evocative performance across the stage. Three newly-acquainted men fall in love with her, unbeknownst to one another, and become friends as they share stories about their lives and the new woman they want to have join them. Only one of them is the frontrunner of course, Jerry, who woos Lise in classic romance fashion that plays out well in dance but reads notably rapey by modern standards.
Directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, the musical is anchored by the dance sequences between Fairchild and Cope when they’re at their closest, tangling and untangling like a magic trick of rope. For me, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin relay the most whiteness of the musical, with jazz rather barren of foot-tapping soul and “fun” songs you won’t remember past the final bows. Instead, the best is when things are slowed down a notch, and the stage cleared, left to feature only a few dancers at a time or, even better, just the two.
Overall, whether for the romance, history, or music, 2018’s theater release of An American In Paris is worth watching on its merits, not to mention for the history lesson (or reminder) of one of the most celebrated musicals of all time. Leanne Cope is easy to fall in love with, and so is Paris for that matter, if only in the end. And if nothing else, watch this one as a reminder of where we used to be in entertainment. Unfortunately 2018 looks a bit too much like the original premiere of An American In Paris in 1951. When it comes to diversity and romance, we’ve come a long way from then.
You can find a local screening of An American In Paris at a theater near you.
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!
Are you following Black Nerd Problems on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Google+?
The post “An American In Paris” Reminds of Classic Love Stories… For Better or Worse appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
I remember at the time, actress, Michelle Rodriguez (above clip) exclaimed,"Stop stealing all the White peoples' superheroes!", I was relieved that someone gave an honest response regarding the flip side of the need for "minority representation in cinema" debate. And then, of course, I knew the court of (disingenuous) public opinion would weigh in, forcing her to do the requisite mea culpa. Without coming off as hypocritical, there is a place for an alternate interpretation or reimagining that could allow for race/gender/culture/sexuality "bending" a character. Unfortunately, these changes oftentimes don't come about organically. I've spoken about this trend in previous posts and now I'm being pulled back in the discussion due to the alleged departure of Henry Cavill from the Superman role and the DCEU proper. To be accurate, as I am drafting this article, it still isn't wholly confirmed that Cavill has left the role, however, Killmonger himself, Michael B. Jordan has come up in the media as one of a number of actors that might be seen as a replacement.
Let me be perfectly clear, it might be time to explore the idea of a Black Superman.....just not Clark Kent. This need to literally take the place of a historically White character as opposed to exploring a project that gives the minority audience "autonomy" befuddles me. During our last podcast, we delved into the mythology of Milestone Media's Superman analogue, Icon. The feedback from that episode affirmed that there are enough existing characters of color (and others ready to be made) that are worthy of print exploration and cinematic depiction. Icon, like Superman, is an alien who adopts Earth as his planet, however he differs from the Man of Steel not only by phenotype but also with a backstory that starts from the antebellum South to the present. And then, let's be mindful that there are "Black" Kryptonians. DC Comics, to my knowledge, has not explored what that really means. To be more specific, the Val Zod character exists as a Black Superman but we have yet to see him operate as an "alien" navigating Earthen notions of a pigmentocracy. Check out artist, BossLogic's almost immediate rendition of Jordan as Val Zod (and not Kal-El):
Admittedly, the picture is bad ass.....but what does it mean if there's no story or investment from the audience for this character? And again, this is under the assumption that he's not just a visual stand in for canonically White looking Kal-El. We should be well beyond the "fish out of water" oddity trope when it comes to exploiting audiences' prurient interests. Even the J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter character, who also possesses an Africoid visage as a fictional extraterrestrial acknowledges his Blackness:
I have said on numerous occasions on Afronerd Radio, I want real and fictional Black Ubermenschen in the public sphere......just on our own terms. By the way, I'm not keen on Jordan as Icon but I yearn for the discourse....to be continued.