May 2012
9 posts
“I am curious about aspects of my life that I am in a conundrum over, things like thwarted love, the dynamics between the needy and the needed, and the paradoxical desire we have to connect and to put up barriers to connection.” - Sook-Yin Lee, Ottawa Magazine
YES. YES. YES.
A thorough list of QPOC films/Documentaries that I need to watch.
reblogging for later
April 2012
29 posts
If you didn’t get enough of Kim Wayans in Pariah (her acting, I know some of you may have conflicting thoughts about her character), the younger Wayans will have a new show on the network called Second Generation Wayans. And remember Kevin Hart’s The Real Husbands of Hollywood sketch on the BET Awards? The sketch that parodied The Real Housewives and Basketball Wives series has morphed into a semi-scripted show (House Husbands).
Check under the cut for other BET TV/movie premiers.
I like how he describes his doc as more of a conversation with the major figure heads in rap/hip hop (however you identity with the genre) and using that space to discuss the genre on a more intimate level beyond the stock questions they usually are asked. But hey, when you make music for several decades, you make a few friends!
Of the many articles I’ve read about the ongoing conversation about the dearth of roles for POC in TV and film and now specifically on Dunham’s latest effort, Girls, I found this article to most succinctly “get it” on the race front. It’s not about throwing mud in the face of a woman who is at the helm of her own show, but holding such a “pioneering” show accountable and part of the larger issue/discussion when it comes to the lack of non-stereotyped and varied roles for POC in TV and film.
I will say that I was very excited for Girls. While watching the first episode, I definitely got all the ironic jokes, but just wasn’t laughing last Sunday. I don’t know if it was my over-identification on some fronts and feeling uneasy looking in the mirror of my own missteps post-grad (I’m guilty of saying the whole McDonalds/college educated comment before), but I just couldn’t empathize or find humor in the characters ballooned entitlement. But that’s supposed to be part of the humor of the show, right?
Sometimes it’s hard to judge an entire show based on 20 minutes, so I’ll give it another try. Thoughts?
And I was like, “Um, yeah, I am.” I have no idea why though. I had nothing to do with that movie. It’s just some people that kind of look like me are in this movie that everyone loves, and winning Oscars and stuff.
And then I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are white people just psyched all the time?” It’s, like, “‘Back to the Future’! That’s us! ‘Godfather’! That’s us! ‘Godfather Part II’! That’s us! ‘Departed’! That’s us! ‘Sunset Boulevard’! That’s us! ‘Citizen Kane’! That’s us! ‘Jaws’! That’s us! Every fucking movie but ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Boyz n the Hood’ is us! We are white people! Suck our dicks!”
” —Aziz Ansari, “Are White People Psyched All The Time?” (via makeupandprofanity)
first of all, i love aziz ansari. second, to answer his question: yes. yes they are. also this is ridiculously relevant to the paper i’m writing right now.
(via puzzled-panther)
Truth. LMAO.
so i’m doing a paper on black women and behind-the-scenes representation in the film industry and need some folks who are in some way involved in the industry (you can be a student or an actor or a production assistant or a person that sits at home alone and edits their own short films or whatever, just as long as you are ‘a part’ of the whole thing) to fill out this survey.
Thanks ya’ll!
Great article/essay with a personal and historical context given for the continued limited, 1-dimensional & oftentimes outright stereotyped portrayals of Asian Americans in film and TV.
