Head of State: It's Not A Joke Anymore

I have to admit that I wasn't a big fan of this one when it came out in 2003. Actually it seems like it came out before 2003. That's just how much it flew under my radar. But now that we are a month into the first term of the country's first Black president, this movie deserves a little recognition.
So basically the whole movie is centered around a Black D.C. alderman who gets the Democratic presidential vote. Based on the Republican pick, the Democrats feel like they are going to lose one way or another so they pick lovable and easy to relate to Mays Gilliam to boost their image for the next presidential election. New century or not, of course the running joke is that this Black man could never make it all the way to the White House. About 5 years later, clearly the joke is on the doubters.
Phill Boogie mentioned that he is a fan of Chris Rock's stand-up comedy. I have never really been a fan of his comic style so his movies (Pootie Tang, Down to Earth) just haven't stuck with me. To me, Chris Rock always seems to be shoving the joke at me rather than letting it flow. Unfortunately, this movie fell right in line. It just all seemed so exaggerated and a bit coon-ish to me. I felt like at the time, when people were not entirely sure a Black man could become president, the subject matter was taken a little too lightly for my taste.
Now guys I know you said you liked it because of the closeness that developed to the Obama campaign (the catch phrase), the implications, etc. I'm just not sure that's enough for me to start giving this movie credit. I will admit that it is a great tool for illustrating that anything is possible. However, this movie just did not do it for me.

Slumdog Millionaire: New Movie Hype

This week the Illprofessors took a step away from "black" cinema which is a little refreshing for the blog. When Slumdog Millionaire first started getting a lot of buzz, I knew nothing about it. A title says a lot about a movie and this one took my mind directly to a foreign indie kind of film that would go right over my head. However, my professor (Phill Boogie) mentioned it in class one day and I thoroughly trust his movie judgement (gunning for some extra credit here lol). "Slumdog Millionaire" was officially on my radar. So my movie buddy and I made the $7.50 investment (student discounts are the best! Thanks Regal) and gave this film that people can't stop talking about a try...
WOW! This movie was so visually stimulating and engaging. It appealed to your emotions and inserted you in lives of the characters from the opening scene. I don't want to spoil this for anybody who hasn't seen this movie so I won't go too deep in the plot. However, it was good and this one caught me by surprise. Salim was my absolute favorite characters. If we ever do a post about "gangstas" and villians in film, I'm bringing up this guy. Absolute G!

With all of that out of the way, let's get to the real discussion. Phill Boogie made a valid point in our personal discussion as well as in the podcast. Although Slumdog Millionaire's overall story takes away from the fact that this is at the core a "boy meets girl" film, the one thing it lacked was establishing faith in the relationship the main character Jamal was chasing after. A short background, Jamal loves Latika. Jamal and his brother Salim save Latika during a Muslim-Hindu riot. Salim does not want to look out for Jamal as well as Latika. The three fall victim to a gangster who exploits children. Salim and Jamal get away, Latika doesn't. Years go by, Jamal has never forgotten Latika and goes on the Indian "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" in hopes she'll see him there. Phill Boogie mentioned that he felt like Jamal was more obessed with Latika than in love. I would have to agree to a certain extent. As a viewer who was not expecting much when I watched this movie, the love that Jamal felt for Latika was appealing to me. I will admit maybe it's the fact I'm a woman and what woman doesn't love it when the guy chases a girl so fervently. As a critic, I will have to say Phill Boogie is right when he says it got a little ridiculous. Out of all the things Jamal deals with in his short 18 years of life, you would have to think that he would've definitely gotten over Latika long ago (as his brother Salim crudy jokes at one point in the movie and makes reference to his "girl getting" abilities to keep it PG lol). I felt that Jamal's age and his experiences are part of what establishes his love for Latika.

Shifting gears a little bit, I thought the flashback element was a nice touch. I feel like flashbacks don't always do a good job of making the connection to the present but Slumdog Millionaire did a good job of this. The flashbacks kept me engaged in Jamal's character development. Had I known about how the director Danny Boyle came up with the title for the movie I would have probably gone in with a bias. Creating a name for this culture that you are not apart of is hard to justify. To label him slumdog based off of an analysis of the animals in the slums of India is leaning a little too close to racist.

Well I don't want to go into too much detail because I believe you should see this movie without any outside influences and then make your judgements purely based on your own experience. So go forth. Spend the 10 bucks. It's definitely worth it.

Looking Back on "Boyz n the Hood"

Once again the Illprofessors have hit me with a film a little bit before my time. However, that is the beauty of movies some times. The good ones live on in infamy, bringing understanding to generations that follow its release. And the bad ones? Well we'll save that one for another post lol.
I've seen this film numerous times but when I watched it again a few nights ago I ended up getting a different look at it. Recently in my film class, the issue of images of Black females in movies has come up. The one thing I noticed in "Boyz n the Hood" was the under representation and/or misrepresentation of Black women. Granted I under it's called "BOYZ" and not "Girlz n the Hood" but the moments where women stand out are not always the best. The main image I picked up on was of Tre's (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) mother, Reva (Angela Bassett). She was a strong woman, raising her son while going back to school for her Master's. She maintained a civil relationship with Tre's father, Furious (Laurence Fishburne), and encouraged a relationship between the two of them. She even made the sound and responsible decision to have Tre move in with Furious once he began to act out in school. She realized that he had reached a point in his life where he needed to learn how to be a man and he could not learn that from his mother. All of that is perfect. It sets a great premise for Tre's story. However, there is a short scene when Tre is on the phone with Brandi (Nia Long) and his mother calls. When the scene changes to her setting, she is in a much better apartment than what she had several years before. I felt that this small portion of the movie sent a message that for a woman to truly succeed, she has to give up certain responsibilities (in this case, raising her son). The scene continues to an argument between Furious and Reva as she expresses her desire for Tre to move back in with her now that she is settled. Furious makes comments about her not being able to just uproot him and how he's a man now and so on.
I do not think that John Singleton purposely painted Reva this way (or at least I hope not). Maybe he meant for viewers to interpret her as they saw fit. I saw a woman being shut out of the process. Once Tre moved in with his father, there were no more references to the work that she put in when it came to providing a foundation for him. It is almost as if the film alludes to that fact that being a man means ignoring any female influence in your life. Maybe I'm being a little sensitive to the issue but it definitely caught my eye. The portrayl of Reva sent a powerful hidden message to me.
Overall, I love "Boyz n the Hood". It's by far a classic in the Black community and it achieved waht it set out to do. I know I'll be watching this with my nephew and my nieces and some day in the not so near future my kids.

School Daze: Then and Now

Spike Lee released his second feature film, School Daze, February 12, 1988. This musical comedy attempts to expose the issues surrounding the division of young Blacks on HBCU campuses. Spike brings up two big issues in the film, light skin v. dark skin and the informed(radical) Black v. the "fun loving floater". Massive conflicts masked by singing, dancing, and stepping are thrown in the faces of audiences. In true Spike Lee fashion (or at least during this time) he talked about what the community wanted to keep under wraps.

Before I give my thoughts I have to lay down some background information. I'm only 20 years old and I was born in December at the tail end of the year this movie was released. I'd like to discuss the impact the movie had and how the masses took in the direct addressing of the issues but I don't even think my mom was pregnant with me yet. I can't speak much to the issues that Spike felt inclined to address about the state of HBCUs and Black Greek life. However, for my generation, the question that arises when School Daze comes up is "Has anything changed?". Honestly, I don't know. I attend Hampton University. On this HBCU campus, I don't believe that skin color is still an issue, at least not among Black people. I can't lie. I have been in classes where some of my colleagues would beg to differ and I have noticed the lighter hue of certain cheerleaders and flag girls. However, I think that skin tone is more of a coincidence now and the true conflict is hair texture. Among my generation, you can have a different hairstyle every day if you choose. Natural hair has definitely been an ongoing trend and it creates a rift between those who follow the trend and those who choose to take advantage of what Madam C.J. Walker started all those years ago. As far as the movie's call for more Afro-centric educated Black students, for my generation, the two most prominient life impacting events were 9/11 and Obama. I say all of this to say that the college kids of then and the ones now are living in two separate times, experiencing completely different things but that does not mean that the issues (either the same or with a new face) are not still in existence to some extent. I will lend myself to the possiblity that the same skin tone issues do still exist but my generation has found a new way to exploit it. I wonder if Spike Lee were asked to remake School Daze now (20 years later) what his take on HBCU life would now? Will he, or any other filmmaker, be able to see what I may not as a college student? Would Dap's anti-apartheid demonstrations be replaced with "Pull out of Iraq" rallies? Would he even think that this generation partakes in things of that caliber anymore? (I'm not completely sure.) Wishful thinking maybe but I don't think it's a bad idea to let the past catch up.
School Daze accomplished a lot for those it was meant to impact of that time. For those who came along later and viewed it, it freezed an aspect of life in time for us to go back and compare our own world to. If an HBCU wants to bring any significance to those University 101 classes then they should show School Daze. Despite how long ago it was, it still changes how you view the things around you.