Home- Resume
- Indie Soul Trailer
- Blog
- Vlog
- Twitter
- Video Work
- Contact Me!
Chakka
Community Builder
Video Maven
Writer
Visual story-teller with a passion for music, films, innovation and social justice.
Community Manager/ Co-founder of the Free Film Collective, a collaborative of diverse and talented media artists.
-
Info
- Media Blogger/ Writer | Video Producer | Documentary Filmmaker | Digital Marketing SpecialistMedia Production | Greater Philadelphia Area, USSummary
Summary
Accomplished marketing coordinator, video producer, educator, and initiator with a proven track record of creating thriving communities, online and offline.
Selected Achievements
• Co-founded and designed the social media strategy for the Free Film
Collective, a media arts community based in Philadelphia, PA (2010).
• Producing “Indie Soul,” a web video series chronicling the
independent music industry (2011).
• Spearheaded the re-branding of the Multicultural Programs office at
Drexel University (2008-2010).Specialties: * Marketing and Outreach– Roles in college administration, retail and arts management . Advanced knowledge of blogging and social media strategy. * Computer skills- Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, Microsoft Office, Final Cut Pro. * Video Editing and Production – Producing documentaries, music videos and viral shorts for small businesses.Experience- Oct 2012 - PresentSchool Communications Manager / Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
*Copy write for print and web publications
*Develop and implement content marketing strategy for the Academy’s academic programs
*Produce admissions videos
*Nurture press relationships
*Draft press materials, including press releases, pitches, press kits and FAQs.
- Nov 2010 - PresentDirector / Eighth House Creative LLC
A media production and marketing company.
*Producing and directing the documentary "Indie Soul," which follows the careers of pioneering musicians and producers Helen Bruner and Terry Jones.
*Produce promotional videos for creative individuals and companies.
*Develop and implement digital marketing and outreach strategy, using social media and video production
- Oct 2010 - PresentCommunity Manager/Filmmaker / Free Film Collective
A Philadelphia-based collective of media artists and professionals
*Implement the social media strategy and external communication plan for the collective
*Marketing media created by collective members
*Spearheading media production projects
*Responsible for internal communication among collective members
- Jun 2012 - Apr 2013Digital Engagement Coordinator / BlackStar Film Festival
Oversaw social media and digital outreach strategy. Designed and administered audience survey.
- Oct 2011 - Sept 2012Marketing and Outreach Coordinator / Mariposa Food Co-op
*Developing the marketing strategy for Mariposa’s expansion project
*Creating the marketing and advertising budget
*Coordinating volunteers for event-planning projects
*Manages all of Mariposa’s design and publications
- Apr 2010 - Dec 2010Project Manager / Fostering Action and Alternatives NOW! (FAAN)
Fostering Action and Alternatives NOW! (FAAN; An artist and media literacy project
*Coordinated fundraising and grant-writing
*Designed social media and public relations strategies
*Maintained financial and organizational records
*Managed administrative responsibilities among project partners
- Oct 2008 - May 2010Assistant Dean / Student Life/Drexel University
Office of Multicultural Programs
*Created intercultural educational opportunities for students, staff and faculty members
*Managed $15,000 cultural programming budget
*Partnered with faculty and campus units to create campus-wide cultural celebrations
*Supervised one co-op employee and one undergraduate student worker
*Conducted assessments of programmatic efforts and initiatives
*Generated reports and statistics related to the programs and functions of the department
- Jul 2008 - Sept 2008Assistant Coordinator / University of Maryland
*Collaborated with design staff to create the annual Academic Success Calendar for on-campus students
*Developed peer-based academic support programs for on-campus students
*Executed tasks related to New Resident Orientation and other departmental projects
- Jul 2006 - Sept 2008Coordinator of Academic Programs / University of Maryland-Resident Life
*Supervised three Head Math Coaches and 25-30 Math Coaches, peer tutors
*Managed the marketing and finances of the Math Success Program, a free tutoring service for University of Maryland students
*Conducted assessment and generated reports on the usage of Academic Success Programs
*Secured over $6000 in grant-based funding for the Math Success program
*Awarded “Pillars of Excellence” award by department for achievements related to the Math Success Program
- May 2007 - Aug 2007Intern, Office of Student Life / Community College of Baltimore County-Essex Campus
*Created a social networking website for the office
*Generated evaluation reports for major programs
*Developed a proposal outlining methods to make the operations of the office more effective
- Aug 2005 - May 2006Graduate Assistant / Department of Residential Life/University of Illinois
- Aug 2003 - May 2005Resident Advisor / Department of Residential Life/University of Illinois
Education-
2006 - 2008University of Maryland College ParkM.Ed. in Counseling, College Student Personnel
-
2001 - 2005University of Illinois at UrbanaBachelor of Science in Psychology
- University of Chicago Lab Schools
Additional Information-
Websites:
-
Indie Soul Trailer
- Helen and Terry
An upcoming documentary on Helen Bruner and Terry Jones, music industry veterans, as they navigate the trials and triumphs of being independent music artists in the current industry climate.
-
Posts
- May 21, 13
This week, Kanye continued in the great tradition of other Gemini musical artists before him (Prince, Tupac, Andre 3000, Cee-lo) by launching an artistic phase that for any other artist, would seem like a complete contradiction to the earlier part of his career. The same rapper that recorded “Jesus Walks” on his debut album The College Dropout is now using the Mark of the Beast in his marketing by releasing an album on 6/18 (18= 6 x 3) and premiering the video for his new single “New Slaves” in six U.S. cities (10 total) on 66 screens (someone pointed out that 66 is also the number of books in the Christian Bible. Ahh, that clever Gemini two-sidedness strikes again!) Kanye’s new album is called Yeezus and his team announced that he’s launching a Tumblr dedicated to art, fashion and the occult.
I’ll allow the hip-hop illuminati conspiracy theorists to cook on all of that. They don’t need my help. Rather, this post reflects on the duality that has always existed in Kanye’s music and image. The child of educated black parents who were active in the civil rights movement, from the beginning Kanye has tried to reconcile the floss with the struggle. Even the Louis Vuitton backpack he donned in the beginning of his career was a nod to these two sides. Can a conscious rapper want designer labels, cars, jewelry, women and the other trappings of fame? Kanye said yes, and made it clear that he wasn’t going to pick one side over the other.
The Kanye of 2013 is both completely different from the one of 2003, and oddly familiar. Today’s Kanye is post-tragic passing of his mother, post-Taylor Swift media crucifixion, and post-acquiring all of the things the 2003 Kanye pined for. Fame has lost its luster, and as Kanye notes, doesn’t protect you from racism. On “New Slaves,” Kanye explains that whether you are a black man who’s perceived as poor or rich, racism and capitalism work to undermine your humanity.
You see it’s broke nigga racism
That’s that “Don’t touch anything in the store”
And this rich nigga racism
That’s that “Come here, please buy more”Throughout his catalog, Kanye has sprinkled in social commentary in his music, sounding like Dead Prez in one breath, then fiending for dead presidents in the next. Now, Kanye’s political consciousness has spilled out of clever double entendres and samples and now takes up full, angry sixteens, referencing lynching (I see the blood of the leaves- nod to Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”) and the prison industrial complex (Meanwhile the DEA, teamed up with the CCA/They tryna lock niggas up, they tryna make new slaves/See that’s that privately owned prisons, get your piece today/They prolly all in the Hamptons, bragging ’bout what they made).
While Kanye’s new music is angrier, it’s not a complete 180.
Below are some of Kanye’s most standout conscious moments (Shoutout to rapgenius.com for the lyrics):
5. We Don’t Care (The College Dropout)
Issue: Cuts to funding for public education.
You know the kids gonna act a fool
When you stop the programs for after-school
And they DCFS, some of em dyslexic
They favorite 50-Cent song “12 Questions”4. Murder to Excellence (Watch the Throne)
Issue: Skyrocking murder rates in urban centers, especially Chicago.
Is it genocide?
Cause I can still hear his mama cry
Know the family traumatized
Shots left holes in his face about piranha-sized
The old pastor closed the cold casket
And said the church ain’t got enough room for all the tombs
It’s a war going on outside we ain’t safe from
I feel the pain in my city wherever I go
314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago3. Diamonds from Sierra Leone (Late Registration)
Issue: Diamonds sold for weapons to fund civil wars and armed conflict in African countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone.
See, a part of me saying: “Keep shining”
How? When I know what a blood diamond is
Though it’s thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connects to what we go through today
Over here it’s a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus-piece was so harmless
Til I seen a picture of a shorty armless2. Crack Music (Late Registration)
Issue: Under Ronald Reagan’s administration, the CIA and Contras flooding urban streets with cheap cocaine to fund rebel forces in Nicaragua.
How we stop the Black Panthers?
Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer
You hear that? What Gil Scott was “Heron”
When our heroes or heroines got hooked on heroin
Crack, raised the murder rate in D.C. and Maryland
We, invested in that, it’s like we got Merrill Lynched1. Who Will Survive in America (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)
Issue: America’s contradictory messages of freedom, equality, democracy, colonization, and oppression.
Sample of a poem by Gil Scott Heron of the same name. Lyrics here.
Much like other rappers that share his sign (Again, Tupac, Miseducation-era Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar) Kanye’s more political songs are also examples of how an artist can address serious issues in their music and make it palpable to the music fan, with no heavy after-school special aftertaste. Though some are skeptical of the punk-rock flavor of Kanye’s recent offerings, I will say that as a Kanye fan, musically, he has yet to disappoint me.
Talk to me in the comment section. Are you feeling the (not-so) new Kanye/ his music?
- Apr 21, 13
Even before the Boston Marathon Bombings last week, I’ve been questioning my relationship with media. A study claims that people who keep up with the news regularly are no better for it, and may even experience negative side effects. Super-productive people like Tim Ferris advocate for a low-information diet, that includes limiting Internet, TV and social media time. There are times when I log into my Twitter account and cringe. Times where it seems like a scrolling assault on my senses and emotions: Rape-Rape-Black Women Pain-Rick Ross-Patriarchy-Rape Culture- and now? Bombing Suspects. I logged onto Facebook after the news about the Boston Marathon Bombing and caught my eyes just in time to prevent them from processing the image of marathon runners and bystanders who had their limbs blown off in the bomb’s wake. A few days later, images believed to be that of one of the bombing suspects, dropping a device just feet away from 8-year old Martin Richards, who was one of the three people murdered in the attacks, started circulating on my Twitter and Tumblr feed.
When did things get so real? What I mean is, when did the rush to be first with details, images and irrelevant information about tragedy (I’m looking at you, TMZ) override a sense of compassion, not just for the victims and their loved ones, but for others?
There’s a common desire to protect children from violent and harmful images, hurtful words and general negativity, but why not for adults too? I acknowledge my sensitivity but most people aren’t special agents or Navy Seals. We all have a limit to how much we can process before it starts to affect us.
I reached my limit a long time ago, and I’m owning that. Writing and sharing things that inspire me always helps, and I pledge to do more of that in the coming weeks. This also means that this blog will be light on social analysis for a while.
Amy Poehler knows where I’m coming from. Sometimes it all too much.
- Apr 05, 13
Roger Ebert’s death feels personal to me. He wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times, one of my hometown papers, he went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where I attended, and I grew up knowing that if a film was worth seeing, Ebert would show me the way. His film festival, The Overlooked Film Festival in his hometown of Champaign, IL, was the first film festival I ever attended. I always wanted to meet him, and take a picture with him and Ang Lee (another Illinois alum) with the caption: Illini at the Oscars.
I trusted his good reviews as much as I delighted in his bad ones. Ebert was a lover of film, and with this love, he masterfully read any film that didn’t meet the high standards for what he knew film could be. My favorite bit of reading from the Ebert Library came when Vincent Gallo responded to Ebert’s no stars review of “The Brown Bunny” by calling him fat, and by cursing his colon. Ebert calmly stated: “It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and he will still be the director of ‘The Brown Bunny.’” Gallo then edited the film, and Ebert review the redux, giving it three stars. The purpose of critique isn’t to destroy, after all, but to maintain standards.
I remember this as I find myself at yet another crossroads in how I want to approach my own writing. I am a writer, an aspiring filmmaker and a social justice educator, and at times it feels like these charges are in service to different masters. The writer wants to express themselves without boundaries or restrictions. The filmmaker wants to be free to make work without the burden of critiquing other artists, while the educator wants to start a dialogue about the intersections of identity and media, and one way to do this is to point out when these intersections are not addressed well, harmfully, or not at all.
With social media, blogs, vlogs and so on, everyone can be a critic. Anyone can create a platform rooting in their individual approach to shitting on something. There are a lot of noisy naysayers out there, and the targets of their onslaughts often deemed them “haters.” And maybe they are. What made Ebert such an amazing critic is that his love for film was obvious, even when talking about “The Last Airbender” (2010), a film that his said was “an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented.” As I shift my writing voice from critical to creative, I hope that more people see Ebert’s career as a challenge to have a loving obsession with the medium of their choice, and a commitment to crafting your critiques so masterfully, that they inspire not just ire, but growth.
- Apr 03, 13
If the saying ‘You’re as young as you feel” is true, then seeing Odd Future on the Jimmy Fallon show for the first time in 2011 made me feel like I had one foot in the grave. I’m talking about in bed by nine, joint-popping, starting each phrase with ‘these young people…”-type old. Though my initial impression of their sound quickly made me feel out of my element, upon closer examination, I definitely heard the talent. Odd Future represents a generation of young artists for whom YouTube is the school talent show. Instead of waiting until they reach a certain place of industry and interpersonal maturity before the masses know who they are, they are maturing and growing right in front of our eyes.
This is helpful to remember when listening to Wolf, the third LP by OF’s charismatic frontman, rapper, producer and award-winning video director Tyler The Creator. Tyler is 22 now, almost five years older than he was on his debut album Bastard, and while this growth can be heard in his content and production, he is the same Tyler that he was at the time of his debut, only with new problems (overzealous stans, a mortgage and a broken heart, to name a few).
Part review and part analysis, here’s a rundown of my impressions of Wolf:
Standout tracks:
Jamba- I’m here for the beat. Tyler and Hodgy Beats are as charming as anyone can be using gay pejorative language (more on that later) and making repeated requests for naysayers to fellate them.
Slater- Tyler (as one of his alter-egos Sam) admonishes journalists for their obsession with him, while pointing out the fact that he’s Straight Edge, no matter what his lyrics might suggest (“Y’all on my dick more than my index when I take a pee/Came up with ”Rella”, ain’t touch a bag of weed). The beat is downtempo, and the change-up with crew favorite Frank Ocean towards this end makes this one of my new zone-out tracks.
48- This track is on repeat. Of all of the tracks on the album, it is the most indicative of what Tyler’s production and rhyme scheme will be with continued development and mentoring from the likes of Nas and Pharrell. With the help of Frank Ocean and inspired by an interview he had with Nas in 2011, Tyler tries on the shoes of a young drug dealer. It’s refreshing and impressive to hear Tyler tell the story through the eyes of a persona that has sprouted many prominent rappers before him, Nas included, and which is so far removed from his own experience.
IFHY- This track reminded me of She but less creepy. The video for this song, directed by Tyler, has a lot to do with why I love this song so much. The I-Hate-How-Much-I-Love–You narrative is a familiar one, but self-conscious emo musings over insane drums and kicks and some of the best production of the album, with a jazzy bridge by Pharrell, allow this track to pass the old-head test.
Treehome95- Jazz piano and Erykah Badu. This album is a break from the tone of the rest of the album, and while it’s a great track, it keeps the album from being as cohesive as it could be. I’ll give Tyler a pass because I can imagine the Pisces dreamy love-fest he had with Erykah creating this track.
There are other solid tracks on the album, but if I were making a Tyler The Creator Mixtape for old heads, these are the songs from Wolf that I would include.
The Analysis
For anyone who thought that Frank Ocean’s letter confessing his romantic relationship with a man would get Tyler to cool out on using the word f*ggot, they are sorely mistaken. Tyler makes reference to his friend’s sexuality a few times on Wolf, (ex. “Life ain’t got no light in it/Darker than that closet that nigga Frankie was hiding in”- Cowboy), and on the album and in interviews, has held up Ocean’s and Syd tha Kyd’s affiliation with Odd Future as clear evidence that he isn’t homophobic, no matter how many times he may use the word f*ggot.
While pondering this problematic but common misconception (“I’m not racist/homophobic/ otherwise oppressive, my best friend is ___”), I wondered where were the groups of protesters decrying Tyler’s use of the word “f*ggot,” or his often violent narratives involving women? Are they too busy tearing Rick Ross a new one for his bone-headed date rape lyrics? Does Tyler’s persona as an upstart make him easier to shrug off? Has the word truly lost some of the sting since GLAAD called for a protest of The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem? Well, one difference is that while Tyler makes light of same gender-loving people and behavior with the word, he doesn’t call for violence against LGBT people, or makes blatantly hateful statements using the word (vs. Eminem’s “Hate f*gs/The answer’s yes” line from the song “Criminal”).
Another factor that works in Tyler’s favor, that makes Tyler’s use of inflammatory, pejorative language, narratives of bad boyfriend behavior and clear jabs at bourgeois sensibilities (“And tell Spike Lee he’s a goddamn nigga”-Tamale) so much easier to digest than Eminem, Onyx or the other comparisons that Tyler and his OFWGKTA comrades receive? The fact that as popular as the gang has become, with the exception of Frank Ocean, Odd Future is an independent act that receives no major radio play. They are clearly underground, and designed for a specific audience. No major label/media conglomerate is shoving them down our throats. Thus, we don’t need to agree with everything they produce or represent. Tyler and the gang have carved a rare niche that allows them both mainstream credibility (Kanye West loved the video for “IFHY” so much that he took his own website down and replaced it with the YouTube clip), and underground freedom.
I hope the youngins in Odd Future relish this for as long as they can.
Bonus: Tyler and the crew are also behind the Adult Swim series Loiter Squad. They parodied The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and gave me my life for at least the next month.
- Feb 25, 13
Last week, I sent an email to my colleagues and sisters in the media literacy project FAAN Mail about what I could only describe as feeble attempts by some white writers and comedians to make racism funny. It took me a while to articulate this because I get this kind of humor. After all, my mother raised me on “All in the Family,” a show about an overtly racist/sexist/homophobic lead character named Archie Bunker. What made Archie Bunker funny and even endearing was the fact that his bigotry was the joke. The show firmly placed his discriminatory beliefs in the context of a white, working-class man from Queens who was uneducated, and at his core, genuinely frightened by how fast the world was changing around him. Above all, even as a white man, Archie had little power himself.
Another factor that made Archie Bunker funny is one trait that is being taken too far in comedy these days: Being an EOO (Equal Opportunity Offender). If you are a white person who hates black people, that’s not funny… UNLESS, you also hate Latino/as, Asians, Indians, Pacific Islanders, Inuits, etc. If someone is equally hateful/satirical of all groups, even their own, it’s okay. Edgy. Profound even. It’s the premise that has kept South Park on the air for half of my life and it’s the same premise that has allowed me to laugh as much as I cringe at all of Seth Macfarlane’s animated programs (Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad).
It’s no mistake that South Park and Macfarlane’s shows are animated and feature characters who are children, working class, animals or just generally lacking in intelligence. This is also why having Peter Griffin, a character who once registered an IQ that deemed him mentally retarded, sing a song about boobs is different from turning on the Academy Awards and having Peter’s creator and voice Seth Macfarlane do the same, as the highest-paid comedy writer in the industry and as a straight white male.
Am I implying that someone’s identity determines whether they can use oppression to be funny, and how? I’m not implying it, I’m saying it directly. I promise to write a more thorough post about how power and privilege work but for now, this is an excellent primer. The more social power someone has, the more careful they need to be. This is why, for example, the word “nigger” has way more weight than the word “honky,” or why a man can’t playfully call a woman friend a “bitch,’ while it may be perfectly fine for his female counterpart to do so.
So, how do you know if using identity-based humor is okay? I’ve created some guidelines, based on very unscientific research:
Okay: Making Fun of -cisms (e.g. racism)- Also known as the “Archie Bunker” archetype. The person who holds the oppressive beliefs is mocked for it, or has some other characteristic that makes them the subject of ridicule, such as being overweight (Cartman from South Park), unintelligent (Peter Griffin), or a talking stuffed animal (Ted from the movie “TED”).
Not Okay: Trying to make -cisms funny- What I call the “Lampanelli Law.” Lisa Lampanelli is not the first comedian who has tried to pass off racism as comedy, but she is the most recent, and in my opinion, the least effective example. One example is Lampanelli’s comment that her Venezuelan co-star on The Apprentice would be “knocked up by the end of the week” because she’s a “spic.” Comedians have made jokes about ethnic groups and birth rates before, but is using the term “spic” necessary? This is more than a joke. It’s an assertion of power.
Okay: Talking Critically About Stereotypes - Even though this infamous Chris Rock routine may in fact be the origin of many misguided claims that Black people are as racist as white people, or that the term “nigga” is more permissible than “nigger,” what Rock is doing is acknowledging that many of the stereotypes that are associated with all black people (stealing, not being responsible, violence) are actually true of some black people, and for specific reasons, such as lack of education and access.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3PJF0YE-x4
Not Okay: Promoting Stereotypes - “What do you call a black women who gets an abortion? A crime fighter!”-Lisa Lampanelli. I’ll leave it at that.
Okay: Acknowledging Your Privilege- Example: Louis C.K., or the Tim Wise of Comedy, as I like to call him. He makes discussions about white privilege accessible and hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY
Not Okay-Exercising Your Privilege Without Examining It Critically – Basically, all of Seth Macfarlane’s Oscar antics from last night. Buzzfeed did a great job of summarizing them here. Some choice ones include calling Jennifer Aniston a stripper and saying that it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand Selma Hayek’s accent because she’s hot.
Never Okay: Identity-based humor about children. I’m looking at you The Onion. Lowest of the low. Note: As of 11:40am EST, The Onion issued an apology for that disgusting tweet.
This list isn’t an attempt to police anyone’s speech. You have to know what the lines are if you’re going to cross them. So, don’t let anyone tell you that there are no lines. Any decent comedy writer knows where they are.
- Jan 15, 13
It never ceases to amaze me the variety of feelings I’m able to have at once when it comes to media. Hope. Joy. Fear. Cringiness (if that’s not a word, it should be).
I understand what went into this video. We Are The World had the music industry looking for the next hot celebrity cause carol. Hip-hop was growing in popularity, and Dr. Martin Luther King did so much for us, let’s honor him with a song! What could go wrong?
I feel like the fabled woman from the future, sent back to 1986 to issuing the following warnings:
1) Almost NO music from the 80s will age well, particularly anything with artists from the first wave of hip-hop (fight me on this if you must. Do you play “These Are The Breaks” at family BBQs? How about “Planet Rock?” Didn’t think so).
2) In order for rapping and singing to work together, the ratio has to be vastly uneven. 80-20. Even 70-30. But never have as much rapping in a song as singing.
3) The fact that Whitney Houston (RIP) did her part in front of a green screen should have told y’all something. Nippy ain’t have time for that!
Please enjoy this video and remember: Dr. King’s Dream was about people being judged on their character, not their color, creed or class. It was NOT, however, about the right to use Photoshop to do the debil’s work. I’m talking to you, party promoters.
Whitney Houston ‘n Dem-King Holiday
- Dec 26, 12
Note: This isn’t a review of Django Unchained, as much as a call for dialogue regarding the controversy surround the film. There are no spoilers. Enjoy!
I’ll start by saying that I’ve been waiting for Django Unchained to be released since I saw 2009′s Inglorious Basterds. After watching Tarantino’s holocaust revenge opus, I left exhilarated and said, “Man, if Tarantino does a similar flick about slavery, I am SO there.” When I learned that Django was in the works, I sat (not so) quietly, and waiting with anticipation. I expected two things: 1) Watching a masterful blaxploitation film about slavery, that in post-Obama America, would remind people of all shades about the severity and ridiculousness of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and 2) People of all shades refusing to see it based on the premise alone. My expectations were met on both fronts.
From what I heard from people who refuse to see the flick (which includes Spike Lee. However the rumor that Will Smith is boycotting the film is unsubstantiated. He just passed on the role, like when he decided to pass on the role of Neo in The Matrix to be in Wild Wild West, but I digress), the decision not to see the film is based on three assumptions:
1) Quentin Tarantino, a white man, should not make a film about slavery/ He just wants to claim his “black pass”/He wants to use the n-word and get away with it.- The recent resurgence of both independent and major studio films directed, produced or written by black people have stayed to a few themes: A love story, a romantic comedy, a comedic love story where everyone realizes that Jesus is the answer, with slight variations. I don’t fault black filmmakers for this because we don’t have the privilege to take the same risks in the movie industry that our white counterparts have. Now THAT is something that we should be holding forums about. When black people do anything, it is with the spoken/unspoken burden of “the race.” Our work has to represent all black people in a positive light. We can’t write ourselves being pimps and prostitutes, which is why Craig Brewer’s Hustle and Flow ruffled so many well-to-do negro neck feathers. We can’t write ourselves as anything but upstanding citizens, and ESPECIALLY not as slaves. So we don’t. But then a white person does and does it well. This may be the most unsettling aspect of Django Unchained for most black people. A black person didn’t create it.
You should still see it because- When a system is created to favor one group over another, like in the case of racism, you can’t really take it on without help from enlightened members of the privileged group. In social justice work, these people are called allies, and they are as important to the work as the oppressed. Like it or not (and the film has a great moment of internal critic about this fact), because Django (Jamie Foxx) was a slave, he need a white ally, Dr. King Schultz (Another Oscar-worthy performance by Christoph Waltz) to free him before he could realize his goals. Until black people in the industry have fewer restrictions on their creative freedom, white people like Tarantino who use their privilege to take risks, and their mastery of the medium to do it well, are essential.
2) Films about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, if we must have them at all, should be solemn and not include anything stylized or remotely entertaining Media is so powerful, so pervasive, that it’s easy to muddle the lines of what media is really for. Journalism, whether in the form of a documentary, news special or article, should be held to a higher standard than say, a western or a rap song. We expect movies to say something true about life, but the point of fiction in any form is escapism. For $10, we agree to be entertained by worlds that live in the imaginations of others. There may be historical elements that the story is constructed around, but the rest of it is to engage our imagination. Like in this well-worn premise: A man hit a low point after his beloved is taken and held hostage. He meets someone in his travels, finds out that they have connected goals, and they venture off to find his love and seek vengeance on the men who took her away and tortured her. Set it in the 1990′s and it’s a Jean Claude Van Damme flick. But set it in the south, before the Civil War, and make the lead protagonist a black man, and you have Django.
You should still see it because- If black people want greater representation in media, we have to be willing to create entertaining stories about ALL aspects of our history. Do we really want to say that black people can’t appear in movies in any situation before Jackie Robinson integrated baseball? Which brings us to the last point…
3) I don’t want to see black people as slaves. Obama is in the White House, and wait, let me call you back once Scandal is over. - One of the main critiques that people have with Gone With The Wind is that slaves were shown as jovial, white people-loving child-like figures who were happy to have kind white people to take care of them. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was a horrifying stain on the record of human history that should never be forgotten. However, there is a risk that it will be. In 2010 Texas school boards approved a measure to remove the term “slavery” from their history books and primary school lesson plans. Earlier in 2012, Arizona banned alternate (read: non-White) historical perspectives from their primary and secondary schools. The erasure of history is already happening, and while there are dedicated groups of activists that are fighting it, it’s not enough.
I had a moment when I was watching Django when I could feel the fatigue setting in. I was fine with seeing Schultz and Django blasting round after round of ammo into slave owners and their accomplices (Sidenote: Leave it to Samuel L. Jackson to deliver the most compelling performance as a house negro EVER to grace the screen. Watch out Dr. Dre! He’s a REAL NWA, but I digress again). But whereas most films set in slavery stop the cruelty at whippings and hangings, Django goes further. Way further. Branding. Harnesses. Being strung up by your limbs and left to hang. The threat of having your genitals removed. And one act of violence that every character in the film, white or black, found hard to shake off. Short of rape (which I applaud Tarantino for omitting from the film. We know that black female slaves were forced to have sex against their will. It’s referred to in Django but the act isn’t shown), Django struck a stunning contrast between stylized, shoot-em-up, Spaghetti-western-style violence (which is fictional) to the harsh, demonic violence against enslaved blacks (which was very real).
You should still see it because- Revisionism is harmful in all forms. There was never a moment that Tarantino let the viewer forget that slavery wasn’t just about black people being physically bound to work that they didn’t get paid for and didn’t choose. Slavery wasn’t just a lack of autonomy. It was cruelty that I struggle to find words for. It was dehumanizing to both the black people enslaved and the white people who owned them, making descendants of Africans docile, fearful, inferior beings, and their white masters monsters. However, slavery is historical trauma, and asking the descendants of slaves and slave masters to willfully watch any film about slavery is a tall order. But we can’t bask in the post-racial glow of a black president and have no context for why his position in our country was such a miracle. And while I love watching the gorgeous Kerry Washington walk fast in Prada and run the world from a DC loft in Scandal, her role as Broomhilda, Django’s wife, is an important as well.
Someone I greatly admire, a marketing executive who was born in Germany but has lived in the U.S. for the past 20 years said something to me recently that summed up my whole philosophy about media and art. She noted how reluctant Americans are to acknowledge our dark past. Coming from a country who experienced an embarrassing human history as well, she said this:
“If you aren’t honest about who you really are, the bad as well as the good, someone else will be. Then, you’ve lost the chance to be credible. Show it all.”
I invite all media makers to take this philosophy to heart.
If you’ve written a post on Django Unchained and you want me to read it, please leave a link to your post in the comment section. Thanks!
If you want to read more about Django Unchained, I recommend these links:
From Indiewire: The ‘Django Unchained’ Cheat Sheet: 10 Things That Will Help You Understand Tarantino’s Referential Bloodfest
From Slate: When Blaxploitation Went West
- Nov 19, 12
2012 is almost over, and it has been a pretty good year for music. Frank Ocean, Flying Lotus and Nas released some of my new favorite albums this year, but the best new edition to my iPod this year has to be Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. I had read the buzz surrounding this album in reviews and on the Twittersphere, and I was reasonably skeptical of the comparisons to Illmatic by Nas, one of the best hip hop albums in history. What makes this album so remarkable is that it is a complete, conceptual hip hop album, something that in the single-oriented climate of major label music, is a rare find.
GKMC is not conscious hip-hop. Rather, it’s self-conscious hip-hop. It tells a story of black male adolescence, marked with universal themes of chest-puffing, sexual discovery, peer pressure, and loss. Any of the songs on GKMC could lose their impact as singles, but as a narrative, they are wonderfully complex. By the time you get to “Backseat Freestyle,” when you hear young K.Dot exclaim, “Damn I got bitches/damn I got bitches/damn I got bitches/Wifey, girlfriend and mistress,” you know that the high school sophomore who is borrowing his mother’s van no more has a binder of women than he has a sport car. As my beloved so eloquently put it, hip-hop is black male fiction. Like romantic comedies and supermarket paperbacks are to some women, hip-hop is fantasy for the disenfranchised man and escapism for the privileged of all races. Kendrick’s boasting is not a dig at women so much as a claim to the top of the oppression pyramid, the same one that simultaneously robes men of color of their economic and culture power, while making them ignorant of their own power to oppress others, especially women.
I think about this because even though some hip-hop music has marginalized women of color since its inception, I don’t feel that censorship is the answer. 2 Live Crew had lyrics that would make artists like Two Chainz look like Cliff Huxtable (as a sidenote, like many hip-hop artists, Two Chainz is more of a family man than his lyrics would suggest), but there were other acts to balance their message. Furthermore, people often point to A Tribe Called Quest as a nod to hip-hop’s more conscious days, but what’s conscious about Electric Relaxation? Let’s take a look at these female positive lyrics, shall we?
“Honey, check it out, you got me mesmerized
With your black hair and fat-ass thighs”-Q-Tip“Take you on the ave and you buy me links
Now I wanna pound the putang until it stinks”-Q-TipAnd my personal favorite…
“Let me hit it from the back, girl I wont catch a hernia
Bust off on your couch, now you got semens furniture”-Phife DogNot only did the members of Tribe want to penetrate a woman with so much zeal that her privates would smell bad, but they weren’t even “conscious” enough to keep their emissions from staining the woman’s couch. It’s funny to hear hip-hop heads my age and older scoff at songs like “I Beat the P*ssy Up,” when Q-tip’s lyrics were very similar. However, Tribe didn’t have to craft their message with a series of singles. They were allowed to make full albums, covering a range of the black male experience.
It is my belief that not enough hip-hop artists on major labels are being encouraged or allowed to paint full pictures. There is more to the black male experience than the pursuit of sex and violence. Songs like “The Birthday Song” by Two Chainz not only fragment the black female body, but the black male experience as well. Record labels are corporations, and corporations only have to be profitable, not fair or balance, or even moral, unless the customer demands that they are. The success of GKMC is proof that there is still an audience for complete, complex narratives featuring men of color. This video by FAAN (Fostering Action and Alternatives NOW) is also proof that there is a growing group of people who will no longer accept these fragmented as business as usual.
In the comment section, let me know what you think about hip-hop and the complete black male narrative, and whether there’s room for it in the major label music industry.
-
Uploads
-
Tweets
- RT @RCdeWinter: It was true then & it's true now. There's something wrong with a country that feels it's OK to shortchange education. http:…
- Even though it's "spring", something told me to wear tights today. That something was Jesus.
- RT @richmedina: Sending me & 1,000 other artists insincere "check my shit" links will continue to get u crickets fam. Seriously. Chill & do…
- RT @robinbloor: Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. ~ Japanese Proverb #quote
- RT @flyinglotus: Thundercat thunder thunderrrrr Apocalypse June 4th
- RT @YourAnonNews: Two FBI agents involved in arrest of #BostonBombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev “FALL” Out of helicopter and die | http://t…
- RT @airfarewatchdog: Fares to @VisitNewOrleans e.g. from #Philly $179 rt on @United http://t.co/rVgakZZ9vz
- Oh snap! @evernote for iPhone added reminders!! *shimmies*
- RT @ALBDamn: “@AlterNet: 75% of Americans are unhappy with their friendships http://t.co/e0LCslLWSB” <- is this based on Instagram?
- I'm wearing a silk white blouse and it's windy. I feel like I'm in a Brian McKnight video.
-
Videos
