Unchaining Tarantino

"I'm just a lil' more used to Americans than he is."
~Django (Django Unchained) in reference to Dr. Schultz (a German bounty hunter) who isn't used to humanity (or lack thereof) in the United States during pre-Civil War.

Ahh!  It feels so great to be back!  I was on hiatus for the past couple of months as I embarked on 1) transitioning jobs and 2) a hefty graduate school course load.

I hope that my readers can appreciate that my first blog post in some time would be on a topic that many people have already talked about.  What I have to say may be redundant and not adding anything new to the conversation.  I just hope that it offers a different perspective, a fresh pair of "eyes" to look at the situation at hand.  Of course, I'm going to speak on Quentin Tarantino's latest film Django Unchained.  I have to as I am a huge fan of his work!

Prior to seeing Django Unchained, I (re)watched Alex Haley's Roots.  All 20+ hours of it.  BET ran a marathon of Roots (1977), Roots: The Next Generation (1979), Roots: The Gift (1988), and Queen (1993) right around the time of Django Unchained's release in theatres.  Roots was a television miniseries based on Alex Haley's book Roots:  The Saga of an American Family.  Tagged a biography, Haley's book was the result of researching seven generations of his familial lineage, tracing his ancestry back to Africa.  Both the book and the films have been acknowledged as "historically accurate." This is some of the smartest programming I've seen on BET!  While airing the Roots marathon, BET squeezed in Django Unchained commercials mixed in with commercials for their original programming.  I don't recall seeing too many commercials for products or other films.  Though I appreciated this programming, BET still didn't lock me in as a fan.  But, that's beside the point.  I viewed the miniseries on BET from Sunday through Tuesday (Christmas Day and the release date of Django Unchained).  Though I think that both projects have different missions, it was interesting to watch Roots prior to seeing Django Unchained.

This isn't the first time I've seen Roots.  The first time I watched it was in a packed elementary school auditorium with other third and fourth graders during the month of February aka Black History Month.  For school-aged children who grew up in a "embrace your Pan-Africanist" educational system like myself and other Detroit Public School graduates, you were reciting "Lift Every Voice and Sing" prior to writing in cursive.  We watched all 12 hours or so of the television miniseries (available on VHS at that time) in the duration of a month in the forum of occasional weekly assemblies.  This was my introduction to this tragic yet influential time in U.S. History.  I remember asking a lot of unanswered questions.  I remember lacking sleep because of all of the nightmares that I was having replaying various scenes in my vivid memory.

Many years later, my brother (who is significantly younger than I am) watched Roots in school, getting the same introduction to this period in history.  I remember my parents calling me, sharing with me the news that my brother "hated white people" after watching Roots. There's a reason why both my brother and I had negative experiences watching Roots.  There was no context.  Our teachers just stuck us in front of the television without giving us any background information, without any notion that 1) this miniseries reflects a moment in history; 2) our country has changed and evolved since the time reflected in the film and that many of the actions committed in Roots are now against the law and deemed morally wrong; 3) it was a film and depictions sometimes go overboard for shock value.

Fast forward to 2012.  I'm quite a bit older and have a substantial amount of knowledge under my belt with regards to the Middle Passage, the industry born out of slavery, the numerous human rights movements that emerged to free enslaved Africans in the Americas, film narratives, and the commercial industry of filmmaking.  All with interests in capital gain, one must be versed in a good chunk of these topics to understand and appreciate the worlds in which both projects (Roots and Django Unchained) exist.

I would like to commend the artists that worked on both projects for taking depictions of slavery is such a daunting task.  I'm going to be honest, as an artist, I don't want to touch anything as controversial as slavery or even the use of the N-word (even though most of my work deems on the side of offense to some).  Yet, as these topics continue to incite rage and heated debates, with both extreme conservatives and extreme liberals fighting for the title of "I'm right," 

I have so many points to begin conversation on this film.  Below is not a list of reasons why I liked the film but topics to begin a discussion about the film and why it's receiving so much attention:

1. It is a very long movie.  However, to me, it didn't feel like a long movie.  Thinking about other recent films I've seen, they are overridden with overdone spectacle.  In Django Unchained, Tarantino doesn't underscore the dialogue with music.  The dialogue stands on it's own.  I've read multiple posts that say that Tarantino could have easily shaved off 45 minutes from this film.  I could easily say that about his earlier work.  With this film, I think that Tarantino is beginning to really master the art of dialogue and holding his audience's attention for long periods of time without us questioning his rationale.
2. Though this film was extremely violent, the blood was over the top.  I hope that my readership would agree with me that though the overuse of blood was unsettling, it was more appetizing to the eyes to see cartoonish blood.  I've read in previous interviews with Tarantino that he dislikes guns and a lot of violence, yet he makes violent movies.  I actually use a lot of guns in my work.  In my award-winning play get (t)his, you would see about 6 guns....all within 10 minutes!  I use guns in my work as an extension of the self, as many people do in reality.  I absolutely hate guns and would like more done with gun control in this country.  However, I know that guns provide many families a sustainable living (i.e., hunters).  But, I think that what guns and gun usage has become in the U.S. is ridiculous.  As an artist/writer, I use a lot of violence as a critique of the reality.  Maybe Tarantino is attempting the same thing.  I don't think this question has ever come his way.
3. A black female actor got to play a damsel in distress.  Yes, Kerry Washington had maybe 10 words in the film.  However, she got to play a role that's normally assigned to white actresses.  This made me smile a lot.  Black women don't have to be the "mule" or "work horse" or breaking through the glass ceiling all the time.
4. Kerry Washington's character is multilingual, which is a privilege in itself.  If you've seen the miniseries Roots or Queen, there were many conversations about limiting access for blacks by not teaching them how to read.  Though reading and speaking are two different forms of communication, to know that Tarantino allowed for one of his characters to have multiple modes to communicate is definitely revisionist.  But, however Tarantino is trying to change history, this is an important point of conversation to talk about how history unfolded and how it may have led us to our own feelings about literary and education in communities of color. 
5. Yes, Kerry Washington's character only has about 10 words in the entire film and ensures severely violent punishment (i.e., the hot box, whipping, etc).  However, these forms of punishment were dramatized (or lack thereof...a lot, we didn't see onscreen or completely played out) because Washington's character attempted to escape the plantation multiple times.  She is rebellious.  That's having agency within itself.
6. Christoph Waltz's character's consciousness.  Does this stem from the fact that he's not American?
7. An enslaved black man with some agency!  Django is really smart (see the quote above that opens up this post).  Though I wasn't that impressed with Jamie Foxx's performance, I really enjoyed watching his character unfold on screen.
8. This is one of the best performances I've ever seen of Leonardo DiCaprio!  He played a spoiled, privileged brat.  This had to be a very difficult role to play.
9. There was a black producer behind this film!  Reginald Hudlin, known for his work on the films House Party and Boomerang, on music videos, on BET, and Black Panther (the series based on the Marvel Comics character), was interviewed about working on the film.
10. There was so much humor!  I can't remember when and if I laughed during Roots.  I'm not saying that I needed to laugh during Roots.  Laughter helps an audience to connect with the work, as my experience as a playwright and poet of difficult material has taught me.  However, it becomes easier to enjoy a film with difficult content if I had a moment to breathe.  I'm not saying that all times were not hard for enslaved people but damn.  This leads me to the conversation on Roots as a victimization film.  BTW, I think that people forgot how many times they used the N-word in Roots.  I'm about done with all of the commentary on Tarantino's use of the N-word in Django Unchained.  If he were to take out the word, he would be rewriting history.  Sometimes, being politically correct makes us ignorant.  Though I believe that Roots is a must-see, I do believe that there needs to be some dialogue around viewings of this miniseries series.
11. This film is being coined as a love story.  When was the last time we saw a black couple at the head of a love story?  It is rare when I can see "my people" in a mainstream film falling in love and fighting for each other.  I see a lot of us fighting each other.

I really like what Tarantino is doing with the revenge narrative that he takes on in his latest films:  Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchained.  The oppressed assuming positions of the oppressor.  I'm not saying that it's right but who wouldn't want to get revenge on someone who has done them wrong?!  I know that I'd love to do that.

I also really appreciate that Tarantino has taken on the genre of alternative history, which has been a staple of science fiction and fantasy for sometime.  But, why alternative history?  Why the revenge narrative?  Why a spaghetti western?  Think about Complicating my love and admiration for Tarantino, is he abusing his privilege as a white male filmmaker with a lot of autonomy to insert his voice as a storyteller for narratives of marginalized people?  I think that all of his critics (whether for the love of his work or for all of the haters), it is time for us to tackle these questions rather than automatically bashing or swooning over his work.

Here's another point for conversation:  Even in watching the trailers for each of the projects, I noticed significant differences in the narrative.  Please view the trailers below and let's chat.  I realize that it might be unfair to compare a "biopic" to a spaghetti western, films that reflect the culture and worlds in which they were produced.  But, others have been doing it.  So, let's join that party!

The trailer for Roots (1977)

The trailer for Django Unchained (2012)

I have multiple issues with Roots. To my knowledge, the only black person working on the film behind the scenes was Alex Haley and being the author of the source material, there is no telling how much or how closely he worked on the project.  There's some debate as to whether Haley was able to trace that far back into his family history (remember, Ancestry.com and DNA projects of today didn't exist in the 1960s/1970s).  There was also claim to his book being plagiarized.  I don't want to discredit Mr. Haley's work at all.  I just want to state the facts.

Also, my biggest issue with Roots was the narrative.  It was violence and sad black people all the time.  Everyone was a victim in this film!  And, though violent acts weren't depicted on screen, they were suggested and talked about immensely (i.e., Toby/Kunte Kinte having half of his foot cut off after an attempted escape).  I don't remember hearing anyone complain about the bare breasts or the use of the N-word or how black people were treated in this film or how white people were rendered as bad without a conscience in Roots because "it's the truth."  I'm sorry but I am an informed spectator who will question every supposed "biopic."  And, I hope that members of my readership would as well.

The other "beef" that I have with Roots is the spectator's interaction with the film.  Unlike Django Unchained, there was a time that Roots was readily available for home viewing.  It first aired on CBS in January of 1977 (Happy New Year to families of that time period!).  For many families (I know mine was one of them at a time), there was only one television in the household.  Whatever was on that TV, if you were interested in watching something, it had to be what the head of the household was watching at that given time.  Considering the viewership of Roots during its first airing (quoting the Wikipedia entry for Roots:  "the finale still stands as the third-highest rated U.S. television program ever"), I'm guessing that many heads of households watched some portion of Roots during its eight-day airing schedule.

I do think that Roots is an important film and that everyone should see some points of it at some time, but with some context and also ways to discuss the film after viewing it.  Roots serves as a great point of entry for viewing other films about representations of chattel slavery and the Middle Passage.

Yes, I really enjoyed Django Unchained, aesthetically and for the dialogue starter.  When was the last time we talked about a film this much?!

What makes both of these films, especially Django Unchained, is how it gets us to talking about cultural production, the production of culture, and how race has shaped this country.  As a cultural critic, it is important for me to both write on culture and to facilitate/encourage conversations on culture.  We define culture.  How will culture change unless we're the change agents?

As spectators/film consumers, we can enjoy or dislike these films or anything that we watch.  I'm ready to listen and digest opinions about Tarantino's work, Django Unchained in particular, from people who hate this work.  However, I'm not willing to have a conversation with anyone regarding this film and any other films about slavery if the following issues are not considered:  just because someone is white doesn't mean that they can't contribute artistic responses about and on the black experience in the Americas, rendering art about negative experiences in our history isn't necessary because we shouldn't talk about them, and deeming one film/novel/slave narrative as an authentic account on slavery while dismissing others just because of its author.  So, before we lynch or chain Tarantino to higher artistic expectations, please become aware of other representations of slavery.  Don't just depend on our usual suspects to tell this story nor hold one artist to a set of standards that you wouldn't hold against another. 

My Top 10 Favorite (Independent) Films

I just realized that I haven't written a blog post in a long time!  This is what graduate school and a full-time job does to you:  distances you from society.  Its so great to be writing again!


Its taken me a long time to curate this list.  As my readership is extremely important to me, I wanted to ensure that this list contain films that are important to our culture and the independent film industry.  As I am a strong supporter of the independent artist and their "hustle," its not out of the ordinary that my favorite films happen to be those that first appeared in art houses.  Yes, I really enjoyed the recently released The Avengers, this summer's blockbuster...it was directed by Joss Whedon at least ;)

1.  Secretary, dir. Steven Shainberg, 2002, United States

What don't I like about this movie?!  Amazing performances.  Steaming, hot love story.  AND S&M!!!!  Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader's performances are amazing!  But, the most important reason why I love this movie is because, unlike the traditional romance film, neither person of the couple changes for the other.  Instead, these characters found someone who compliments their "styles." 

2.  Pulp Fiction, dir. Quentin Tarentino, 1994, United States

I was 21 years old, a recent college graduate, when I first saw this movie.  And guess what?  One of my now favorite films, I absolutely HATED at the time when I first viewed it.  Why?  Maybe because I fell asleep at the very beginning of it and then woke up during the scene where Mrs. Mia Wallace (played by Uma Thurman) receives an adrenaline shot to the heart following a mistaken cocaine overdose.  It took an ex-lover (one who shall remain nameless because we no longer speak to each other) years later to ignite my passion for both this movie and almost all of Quentin Tarantino's films.  I now own almost all of his movies. 

3.  Malcolm X, dir. Spike Lee, 1992, United States

I've been professing this on my self-designated soap box since I first watched this film:  Denzel Washington deserved the Academy Award for this role rather than for Training Day!  To play such a complex, historical figure over a span of a lifetime (well, almost a lifetime) is a huge task to accomplish.  I first saw this film during an all-school field trip to the movie theatre.  I'm from Detroit and was fortunate to grow up in a positive Afrocentric school system, one that taught us about the contributions of African-Americans to American culture and history from kindergarten to high school (it was through my elementary school where I first watched the mini-series Roots).  My favorite part in this film is when Malcolm X visits Mecca.  The voiceover of the letter home to his family and then watching him pray still gives me chills!  This is a film that I can watch over and over again, for I gain a different perspective on both Malcolm X's life and also Spike Lee's filmmaking techniques. The other thing that I admire about this film is the hustle that Lee had to undertake in order to finish this film.

4.  Vicky Cristina Barcelona, dir. Woody Allen, 2008, United States

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz = too much sexiness in one film!  Unlike the other films on this list, I can't remember when I first saw this film.  However, I can tell you how many times I've watched it since buying it on DVD recently!  If I were to ever curate a film festival of movies about Americans Abroad, this would be the film to open the festival!  There's so much to love in this film, including Penelope Cruz's Academy Award-winning performance and the cinematography!  The vast portraits of Spain's landscape are so beautiful (I think that it helps to have the Spanish cinematographer, Javier Aguirresarobe, work on this film).  And Penelope Cruz looks stunning throughout the entire movie, including during her numerous fits of rage.  This is the film that percolated my interested in Woody Allen.

5.  Biutiful, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2008-2009, Spain

This is one of the many films that I've seen at Amherst Cinema, and one of the films on this list where I couldn't stop crying (I advise to never see a film that's a tear-jerker in the trailer by yourself).  Another film starring Javier Bardem, Biutiful is a story about a terminally-ill father who tries to correct all of his wrongs while he's still alive.  Bardem was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in this film, becoming the first performance that's entirely performed in Spanish to earn this nomination.  The cinematography and the dialogue are amazing in this film.  I highly recommend renting this movie.  Just make sure to have plenty of tissues handy.

6.  Departures, dir. Yōjirō Takita, 2008, Japan

Another film that I saw at Amherst Cinema, I've only seen this film once but remember it vividly.  Its another film that you need a couple of boxes of tissues prepared prior to viewing.  Though I don't want to spoil the plot, I wanted to give a little bit of insight into what its about.  The protagonist, a professional cellist, lost his job with the country's symphony orchestra.  Recently married and with a baby on the way, he needed to find a source of income.  Responding to a newspaper ad, he interviews and scores a job with a departures agency.  Thinking that it was a travel agency, it takes him some time to get adjusted to this line of work.  This agency specializes in preparing the deceased for burial.  Unlike its American counterpart, this Japanese film captures grief in a way that western movies probably could never accomplish due to how our society deals with emotion.  Be prepared to cry throughout 3/4s of the movie.

7.  Little Miss Sunshine, dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, 2006, United States

I hope that everyone has seen this film by now!  It plays regularly on basic cable and is available on Netflix.  What isn't to like about this film?!  I would talk more about the plot but I would be giving the entire movie away.  I recommend watching this movie prior to any others on this list!

8.  Election, dir. Alexander Payne, 1999, United States

I remember when I first heard about and saw this movie.  The VHS (yes, this was WAY back in the day) was on sale for $5 at the local brick and mortar video rental place in the neighborhood where I grew up.  I bought it in 2000 and I still own it!  Well, my parents have it, along with many of the films I collected while I was living at "home."  This film, a satire about a high schooler running for student body president, introduced me to Reese Witherspoon (who I loved in Legally Blonde...yes, I'll admit to not only seeing this film multiple times but also to really liking it).  Election offers a unique critique of suburbia, politics, and teenage culture.


9.  Brown Sugar, dir. Rick Famuyiwa, 2002, United States

The soundtrack!  The soundtrack! The soundtrack!  Its SO GOOD!  I was recently introduced to this film by one of my closest friends.  The soundtrack (yes, its that good) brought back some fond memories.  From Jill Scott to Erykah Badu to Mos Def to the Roots, this film's soundtrack reminded me how amazing the music of the late 1990s to early 2000s was to both me and African-American culture.  This is one of a long list of films where the gorgeous and multi-talented Sanaa Lathan plays the protagonist and romantic interest.  Get ready...there's a steamy love scene in this one!  This is a film that can be watched with friends and with significant others!

10.  Eve's Bayou, dir. Kasi Lemmons, 1997, United States

This is the only film on the list that I was introduced to via a class.  It was the Spring of 2009 when I took a graduate-level film class, Black Female Image in Cinema...a class that changed my entire career trajectory.  In this class, we talked about films made by black women and also films made featuring black female characters.  Of course, filmmaker Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou is her directorial debut) had to be on the syllabus.  This film is so important that it made it onto Time Magazine's list of The 25 Most Important Films on Race.  From its opening voiceover, its easy to note the importance of this film and its impact on our culture.

Being the cultural critic that I am, I want to note that there are not too many women on this list.  Unfortunately, there are not too many women film directors out there.  Better yet, there are not too many female theatre directors, female playwrights, female film, television, and theatre producers out there.  There are too few women at the head of the creative process.  As a female writer and arts administrator, I think that its beyond time for us to assume positions at the head of the table, both in commercial and independent art-making circles.  Kathryn Bigelow, director of the film The Hurt Locker (2008), became the first woman to receive an Academy Award for Best Director.  This was in 2009!  Though I haven't seen this film yet, I've definitely added it to the list of films to watch because it is important to support those who are breaking barriers, quite like the films on this list. I also want to add to this list the new television series Scandal, created by Shonda Rhimes and starring Kerry Washington.  When was the last time a television series featured an African-American woman in a lead role?  Nuff said.  I haven't seen Scandal yet, but trust that over the next couple of months that I'll get caught up on the series.

Over the summer, I will be working on a post containing a list of female artmakers who we need to support.  Be on the lookout for it!

There's also many independent films that did not make this list.  It is simply because I haven't seen a lot of other important films of the industry yet (i.e., Do the Right Thing, a film that I'll be watching in a couple of days).  I hope that as I add to my own personal DVD collection that this list will only expand.

PARIAH: Every Teen's Story

Adepero Oduye  as Alike in "Pariah" (2011)

I am so excited that I can finally say that I've seen the critically-acclaimed film Pariah!  It's been playing at Pleasant Street Theater in Northampton, MA for the past week and a half and has been playing in selected theaters nationwide since December of 2011.  Thanks to Out for Reel LGBT Film Series and Amherst Cinema/Pleasant Street Theater for bringing this important film to our area.

I advise that everyone, teenagers, parents, teachers, mentors, siblings, anyone who has been a teenager (practically everyone) to see this film.  Coined as a coming of age story about a black queer teenager, I am confident that everyone will connect to this film.  The protagonist, Alike (Adepero Oduye), begins to navigate cultural politics associated with her sexual identity and negotiates the stakes of important relationships, including those with her parents (played by Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell), her best friend, Laura (Pernell Walker), and her poetry.  Just like everyone young and old, she's trying to find out where she fits in the world:  the reality of humanity.

By the way, I want to congratulate Kim Wayans (of "In Living Color" and comedic notoriety) for a successful job as a dramatic actress!  She was amazing in this film and I look forward to seeing her in other dramatic roles in the near future.

Instead of me writing extensively on this film, I'd rather encourage all readers to go and see it soon.  For those in Western Massachusetts, it is scheduled to continue playing until sometime this weekend.  Please visit Amherst Cinema/Pleasant Street Theater's website for information on show times and ticket prices.  I've included the trailer below.  Please encourage others to see it.  Better yet, arrange to see it with friends.  And, after watching the film, please go out afterwards to discuss the film.  I'll bet that you all will relate to many of the issues raised in Pariah.

Thanks to Dee Rees, director and writer of Pariah, for bringing us such an amazing story, one that I hope will begin necessary conversations on how to ensure that today's young people become the best citizens they can be, living their best lives.

Noon in America

Last night, I finally got a chance to watch Woody Allen's latest film Midnight in Paris (2011).  A story I can relate to, the film situates around a screenwriter, Gil (played by Owen Wilson) who, while in Paris, discovers the flaws in his relationship with his fiancee (played by Rachel McAdams) yet becomes comfortable in his newest endeavor as a novelist.  At the stroke of midnight among several nights, the protagonist is taken back to the 1920s, mingling with expats such as Getrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway, writers who discover a little bit of themselves away from their home country of the United States.  Though sleeping through the first 20 minutes, I found myself enthralled in this story as it sounds a lot like my own (well, minus the "fiance/e" part).  I'm at this crossroads with my writing, attempting to find paying gigs and trying to make writing the main source of my income.  I just need the courage to just go out there and do it, but would appreciate some writers that I admire to lead me along the way.

One thing I kept thinking about while watching this movie is what it would look like if it were me in the central role.  Yes, I know its egotistical, but who hasn't want to star in a movie about themselves?!  My movie would take me back to the 1920s, except, it would look quite different.  It would still take place in Paris but some other faces from that era would have monumental roles in this film. It would also have a foot in America, specifically in Harlem, New York. Josephine Baker, who has a non-speaking role in Midnight in Paris, would be my tour guide, showing me around the city and introducing me to other important people of the Harlem Renaissance.  I would have tea on a terrace with James Baldwin, swap stories of recent travels abroad with Zora Neale Hurston, and explore Europe via rail with Richard Wright.  Langston Hughes and I would have a close relationship as he would become my next door neighbor.  I would occasionally visit Romare Bearden's studio, getting a first glance as his latest work.  I would be embraced in a world where my blackness and my artistry is well-defined and appreciated, though different than the norm.

I hope to one day experience what Gil had in Paris.  I wouldn't need a romance for I would be fulfilled through my work.  I just want the chance to be all of "me" rather than be pieces of me only sometimes.

"Jeunesse" by Palmer Hayden (date unknown)

***BTW, I'm happy to mention that two of the shorts mentioned in my blog post won Academy Awards in their respective categories!  The Shore won for Best Live Action Short and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore for Best Animated Short.  Congratulations to this year's winners!