FOR THE BROTHAS: AN INTRODUCTION

It must have been about 20 years ago when I first began thinking about creating a "Cultural Salon" as a reaction to the mundane social circles In Washington D.C. The richness of intellectual and artistic interchange had died, college friends had moved, the internet had not yet become the phenomenon it now is... I romanticised about the Salons of the mid to late 1800's in Paris, London and Berlin and the cultural dynamo of the Harlem Rennaisance. I was fortunate enough to meet a gentleman, an artist who lived and traveled with James Baldwin... Jimmy he affectionately called him, and he spoke often of their small cottage in southern France and of the many Artists, Poets and Luminaries that dropped in to chat and relax. Well, the impressionists, cubists, modernists, etc. all hung out together famously in those days and shared their ideas with one another creating a creative greenhouse in a world that was rapidly changing. I longed to have lived in those times, to have met Cassat, Rodin, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Baker, Balwin, well I did finally meet Baldwin and others purely for the joy of intellection upon the arts. This was in the late 1980's and by the mid 2000's I happened to run into a friend of mine from Hampton University who had been living in New York since he graduated in the early 90s. Well, I was surprised to hear him comment that in all of the wonder that is New York he never met anyone who ever really had anything interesting to say about art, literature, architecture, science, fashion or anything... I was so surprised to hear this since it had also been my experience. Well here I am in 2011 attempting the Virtual Salon...

Sunday, December 30, 2012

A THOUGHTFUL CRITIQUE OF "DJANGO UNCHAINED"


DJANGO UNCHAINED ANSWERS THE RACE QUESTION THAT RECENT FILM “LINCOLN” LEFT DANGLING…
 
An excerpt from my review of Django:
 
"As recent film release, “Django Unchanined” opened up before me I experienced all of the trusted hallmarks of an epic Tarentino film: a 1970’s aesthetic, realness and depth of field; a hyper graphic depiction of death and dismemberment; an ironic humorous digression to humanize the villains; a nitty-gritty 1970’s stlye in your face language; morbidity served up as undeniable humor; the distinctly rich, soulful flavor of blacksploitation a la carte; astute attention to detail and an iron-clad plot with surprises galore… But what I did not expect was an eloquently developed proof that the assumptions of racial superiority used to justify slavery and racism are utterly bankrupt.  As such Django did the job that its contemporary film, “Lincoln” did not complete!  This begs an argument regarding what exactly is the role of an historical drama?  Is it acceptable to merely present a dramatisation of the facts as they are, typically, only loosely known or conjectured or does the director have a larger role to interpret the facts while telling a story and bring it full circle to the present?  Most importantly is Django an historic drama at all?  I will let the viewer answer this question but I will interject that unlike Lincoln, the character Django and his story are not historically verifiable.  In my opinion the genre in which I would comfortably place Django is that of an Historical Fiction."
 
READ THE FULL REIVIEW AT: 
http://thestoriesofblackmen.blogspot.com/2012/12/django-unchained-answers-race-question.html
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1 comment:

  1. Inspirational Genius February 25, 2013 at 11:23 AM

    So glad someone (known to me) would pen their review. I'd been reluctant to see the film as I felt (strong emphasis) that it is comical and 'jumped all around' (thematically) and didn't seem formidable. BB, I appreciate your outlook and anticipate forming a new opinion therewith once I see the film on DVD.

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