tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post4009410513694900789..comments2024-03-17T20:04:18.872-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: Happy Dancing Black People: The White Racial Frame and the New Movie "The Way, Way Back"Lady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-10489726659478749632013-07-09T15:28:18.134-05:002013-07-09T15:28:18.134-05:00I think that those young people learn at a very ea...I think that those young people learn at a very early age that the game is rigged. The luxury to lie is a luxury of the privileged.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-59077440702683003042013-07-09T15:27:07.358-05:002013-07-09T15:27:07.358-05:00And was Singleton overrated...interesting but sepa...And was Singleton overrated...interesting but separate question.<br /><br /><br />That is the dilemma of the artist who is part of a marginalized or otherwise "oppressed" group. Is your true freedom embodied by the choice to "just be" an "artist" without having to be a black, brown, gay, female, etc. artist?chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-76533399866180922862013-07-09T10:23:02.340-05:002013-07-09T10:23:02.340-05:00"...and others that benefit from unearned adv...<i>"...and others that benefit from unearned advantages in American society..."</i><br /><br />Old people are entitled to be bitter, but this attitude is poison when fed to young people. It leads directly to flash mob looting and assaults. If the game is rigged, why bother to try? Why not just engage in recreational crimes against The Oppressor? My leaders tell me my life is going to be ruined...so big deal, let it be ruined some more.The Sanity Inspectorhttp://atlantarofters.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-85785394666002962082013-07-09T10:04:46.530-05:002013-07-09T10:04:46.530-05:00Doesn't a variant of blaxploitation roll aroun...Doesn't a variant of blaxploitation roll around in Hollywood every couple of generations? Who was John Singleton's successor, anyway. <br /><br /><br />And earning a good living in the arts and telling one's story are not exactly the same thing. The author Frank Yerby and the cartoonist E. Sims Campbell (the first black artist to have his syndicated strip in the newspapers) were black, but very little of their work was concerned with blackness.The Sanity Inspectorhttp://atlantarofters.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-62005050218648511342013-07-09T05:13:59.974-05:002013-07-09T05:13:59.974-05:00I just wanted to afirm what you believe to be true...I just wanted to afirm what you believe to be true about indifference. As to the sociological reasons i dont know, but the fact is the observations are correct.guestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-47853982664448168872013-07-09T03:10:51.082-05:002013-07-09T03:10:51.082-05:00I think
that the use of popular culture as a propa...I think<br />that the use of popular culture as a propaganda vehicle is not just the<br />provence of "Hollywood" anymore. Rappers have established, once<br />again, that there are new financial empires to be built. The question is really<br />:"Now that we have our freedom, what will we do with it?" <br /><br />The term "flip the script" comes to mind. I've seen plenty of AA<br />films on Netflix that, despite the negative user reviews, were<br />"quality" slice of life stories. Those AA actors that have gold<br />standard box office appeal should channel their efforts, along wiht the<br />financial power of the rap empires, to establish a new paradigm for AA produced<br />films.<br /><br />For example, A few years ago I read that Will Smith was trying to develop an<br />action adventure script about the famed Nubian Kingdom and the Kush<br />cavelry/archers of antiquity. <br /><br />This epic tale would have fit the Conan/Scorpian King niche of action adventure<br />films but would have a message beyond the historical "whitewash" of<br />the Egyptian/Nubian/Kushite kingdoms and of our "African" military<br />prowess that has never been truly (WhiteWash Egyptians?) represented by major<br />motion pictures. <br /><br />As described, the film would have certainly needed a $150M budget to do it<br />justice. Considering the box office sales figures of "comic book"<br />films, this would have had the potential to be a PR bonanza and a financial<br />success based on world wide distribution and sales.<br /><br />I haven't heard anythng more about the development of this script. The<br />potential to tell a heroic story about the epic historical power struggles<br />between the monarchs of Pharonic Egypt and the monarchs of the Kush/Nubian kingdoms and cast his family as the ruling royalty, Will needed mo-money and PR<br />support. <br /><br />Perhaps the world wide (re:Europe/Africa/Middle East) box office revenue from "After Earth" will help Will Smith, Inc. reserect this project. Maybe the Fresh Prince<br />can release the script as a Kickstarter proposal. The right PR would have the<br />potential to raise the necessary funding an assure a pre-sold world-wide audience.<br />Just a thought.......Black Sci-Finoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-63714135075603602812013-07-09T00:57:07.144-05:002013-07-09T00:57:07.144-05:00Lots there. How does one earn a living as a person...Lots there. How does one earn a living as a person of color in a system that is very hostile to full representations of the lives of people who are not white, straight, middle/upper class/ and male?chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-35089739372312925922013-07-09T00:56:21.724-05:002013-07-09T00:56:21.724-05:00Is that some version of the psychological power of...Is that some version of the psychological power of Whiteness or other types of in-group behavior? We do not look to ourselves as long as there is some other scapegoat?chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-32411927526536146302013-07-08T19:36:32.299-05:002013-07-08T19:36:32.299-05:00Yes. You are correct. The "other" ethn...Yes. You are correct. The "other" ethnicities do not exist in the minds of white people until we need a villian or someone to blame when things dont go our way. As a white man my whole life i can attest to this as a witness to my experiences and conversations on a daily basis. As people get higher and higher up the economic ladder the less and less, or more invisable "ethnics" become. At the lower economic condition the more blacks are blamed for antisocial behavior by whites who just happen to exhibit the exact same behavior they accuse others of representing. The poorer white folks are the more they need someone less than themselves. Rich folks dont need to care.guestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-6888070207611454742013-07-08T19:13:53.133-05:002013-07-08T19:13:53.133-05:00Another great article. I can always depend on you ...Another great article. I can always depend on you to get to the heart of the matter. I, like you, prefer clearly denoted racist anger to the "you don' count" but we'll include a token for marketing purposes "Friends" morality lessons in marginal black characters trying to "fit-in" without having to get their "do" wet in the opening credit fountain of frienship.<br /><br />I always feel empty when compelled by peer pressure to embrace the latest offerings from an art form that has never tried to rise above being "whites only" propaganda/entertainment. I really don't see a dimes worth of difference between "Hollywood" and the racist treatment of American school books by the publishers and editors in Texas. <br /><br />Netflix, although well meaning, only underscores our otherness by catagorizing/marginalizing our films. The reviews of our films are really a hoot and a study in Yahooesque critique. <br />I'm glad that the majority population loves them some Denzel and Will. Except, of course, when Will makes a film that go against the acceptable stereotype of the Fresh Prince being a grinnin' trickster. It's interesting that the vicious attacks on Wills production efforts (After Earth) and the inclusion of HIS son in HIS film was met with more pure hate by film critics than any of the equally empty lines delivered by the cast from the Harry Potter films. Oh Well...the film sucked..but damn...!!! <br /><br />Even Tyler Perry, whose business success and sharing the wealth I applaud, creates films with just the right amount of over-the-top nauseating black stereotypes to reinforce "minstrelism" as THE only acceptable alternative to white tokenism. <br /><br />Sorry for the length of my rant but even Star Trek has abandoned BLACK MEN and embraced the naggin' Hottentot stereotype and cheapened Uhura into an unrecognizable ghost of racism past, present and future. I know plenty of black people employed in the space program. I never see their stories. True Dat.<br />I could just scream.Black Sci-Finoreply@blogger.com