#antebellum (2020)

[hug-kiss-marry-kill]

[fanofspooky]

Scream Queen - Jena Malone

Requested by @cultofcreatures

[disloyalroyal]

Imagine a US president being your comfort character

[cryptvokeeper]

the Dixie chicks were also vocally against the invasion of Iraq and George bush in 2003 and faced massive backlash for it

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Also I totally forgot about this until I saw something on FB but…

Ryan and Blake had a plantation wedding in South Carolina way back in 2012 when it was cool and chic to do that. The old slave cabins were even part of some of their photos. 🤦‍♀️

And remember when Blake tried to launch her own form of Goop? I think she called it Preserve, something uppity like that. Anyway, the lifestyle brand had a newsletter that she called…wait for it: Allure of the Antebellum, in which she essentially romanticized female slave owners. Here’s a good recap from Vox:

🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️

So people immediately started calling Blake out for her casual racism and she shut down Preserve not much longer after citing lack of interest (because her products were ridiculously overpriced…sound familiar?) but an ad analysis brand found that Blake lost her audience because she was so tone-deaf in that newsletter. (And also just last year, in 2023, Blake made comments loaning about how “hurtful press coverage” made her shut down her company. Jeez, it’s like looking in a crystal ball.)

Anyway, she and Ryan were able to sweep this under the rug for a lil bit. Till Ryan made his own tone-deaf comments about Black Panther, something to the effect of “congrats on being the first blockbuster with a Black superhero” and got slammed for it on Twitter with a bunch of people calling him out for having had a plantation wedding.

So then fast forward 2 years. It’s the summer of George Floyd protests and privilege (or the lack thereof) is being reckoned with. In May 2020, they make a $20,000 donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, along with a statement saying "We're ashamed that in the past we've allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is.”

But they get dragged for filth about having a plantation wedding and finally, three months later in August, Ryan issued a formal apology saying:“It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for. It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy.” He then went on to say they got married again at home some years later because “shame works in weird ways.” 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I don’t know. Here’s a thought. Maybe if you’re planning a wedding whose photos you’re going to sell to magazines later, maaaaaybe you should’ve done a tour of the place you found on Pinterest to see the warts they don’t talk about on social media before committing. Just a bit of advice for next time, Ryan.

So yeah. This has been, I’m sure, a great few days for Ryan and Blake, with all this dirt coming up.

All because Blake decided to make her movie’s promo tour Barbie 2.0. You know, I saw a thing on social media this afternoon that she and her squad were telling people to have a girl’s night out to see the movie and dress up in florals and bring flowers to share like they’re Taylor Swift friendship bracelets. 🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

And this is on top of Colleen Hoover deciding to make a coloring book companion for her novel. A coloring book, y’all. Thankfully she listened to the backlash and canceled it.

Also, putting a tag on these posts now so if anyone is uninterested, you can block and mute it.

[archliches]

sorry i said no more posting but i lied: anyone else feel fucking crazy about people acting like we've just regressed into some pre-antebellum pre-diluvial hellfire epoch the likes of which we've never seen before. because last i checked 2020 was literally all of 4 years ago. my blog header has been the same longer than Biden was president. not enough time has passed for me to need my ID card reissued, or to get a TB shot, or to wear through a pair of shoes. and cops with riot gear have been beating protestors the whole time. all these trump voters were here last week and six years ago and will be here tomorrow. the US Government commits war crimes by proxy the same way they have every day that ends in y.

what is genuinely new here? what giant switch has been flipped? "the administration will do evil things more/louder/faster" i hate to break it to you but they were going to do evil things anyway. and they have been doing them. constantly. whether by vitriolic action or simpering inaction the material results are the same.

[rmstitanics]

List 5 topics you could talk about for an hour without preparing any material.

With Malice Toward None: a Musical of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. I’ve been developing this musical since summer 2020. With Malice Toward None focuses on exploring the mental health struggles that Lincoln experienced during his presidency. The musical is narrated by Robert Todd Lincoln, who recalls the storyline’s events with complete omniscience while at the 1922 Lincoln Memorial dedication. Relevant themes for the show include mental health, public history, teams that become brotherhoods, compassion, the stages of grief, leadership, and a bunch of other concepts that I’ll probably end up yapping about on here at some point. Orchestrally, the show can be described as “if Les Misérables, Hello Dolly, and Evita decided to have a threesome in my brain”.

all of my original characters. seriously. I have SO MANY OF THEM that I’ve developed over the years, mostly for historical fiction. 😭 the ones that are living rent free in my head the most right now are Anastasia Andrews-Ismay (the human personification of the Titanic), Lieutenant General Ethan Clay, and Dr. Constance Pierpont Morgan. Honorable mention goes to my Star Wars OC Shi’al Valorum 💅 if any of these muses seem familiar to you then we’ve probably either been in a discord server together or you’ve somehow stumbled across one of my roleplay blogs.

the rms titanic. literally EVERYTHING about this ship and her sinking is my Roman Empire. I’m particularly fond of yapping about Captain Smith, Thomas Andrews, Wallace Hartley, William Pirrie, J.P. Morgan, or any of the officers — but if you get me talking about the vilification of Bruce Ismay by the sensationalist yellow press in the aftermath of the sinking, then I WILL NEVER SHUT UP.

star wars. my first exposure to the Star Wars franchise was when I was a sophomore in high school and I got to see a screening of A New Hope where the soundtrack was played by a live orchestra. suffice to say, this altered my brain chemistry and I’ve never been the same since. I’m a Prequels girlie and Jedi apologist to my CORE; my favorite characters are probably Yoda, Dooku, Mace Windu, and Bail Organa.

film and tv soundtracks. …the fact that I once did a TWENTY FIVE MINUTE LONG presentation on the film score for Titanic (1997) should tell you everything that you need to know about this silly fixation of mine.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: ghost hunting, tarot cards, classical music, Taylor Swift, creative liberties taken by Lin Manuel Miranda for Hamilton, historical fiction as a genre in an era where media literacy is on the decline, Antebellum America, the Great Triumvirate (Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Daniel Webster), the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, and public history.

TAGGED BY no one. I stole it from the for you tab LOL

TAGGING: @viellohi, @the-rmstitanic, @man-i-dunno, @allysah, @charmwasjess, @quicksiluers, @aceofthyme, @tipsywench, @macaron-n-cheese, @meerawrites, @elisabeth515, @its-rmstitanic, @mattaytchtaylor, @tommy-288, @chamberlainswifey, AND YOU.

* make a separate post. do not reblog.

[theunknownintrowert]

why do cute talented but not too famous actors always act in mediocre boring or even obnoxious films 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 i can't do this anymore

i watched "antebellum" (2020) bc of rob aramayo. his part was good but the movie in general doesn't make any sense and it's also a torture to watch, it's made very badly

gimme "lilies not for me" and "i swear" already I BEG OF YOU I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE

and i still haven't seen "nocturnal animals" ffs. heaven help me

why can't every actor just be like andrew garfield fr. the man started off strong from the very beginning of his carreer and every of his project is interesting. some of them are disturbing as well but still interesting. geez. yikes.

anyway i hope "harley and the davidsons" will be good. i'm saving it till the very last. i also need to rewatch "galveston" coz i saw it a few years ago and don't remember rob there at all. but i DO remember the film and the reason i'm hesitating to rewatch it. oh lord please let us see s3 of "the rings of power" as soon as possible

back in 2022 i had a hyperfixation party called "watch andrew garfield's every project" and i'm doing the same with rob coz the whole andrew's filmography is cool (i still haven't seen a couple of things tho), so it was very naive of me to think that i might have get another good filmography of my new favourite actor again. unfortunately things don't work that way every time. and rob is still a good actor, his characters are different and interesting, but the films are not that great.

besides "the rings of power", my fave projects with him so far are "behind her eyes" and "the standoff at sparrow-creek", i love his characters in both of them, and also both of them have cool plot twists

[noelcollection]

An American Voice

Since the events of 2020, we have attempted to be more active and reach out to LSU Shreveport campus. This action of outreach is meant to help student, faculty, and campus personnel be aware of a rare and unique resource that is available to them, and any visiting persons to the campus. We have just started our 2024 J.S. Noel Collection Pop-up Exhibits, we aim to highlight a vary small section of the James Smith Noel Collection that might interest various research. This time we focused on one person, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in June in 1872 after the United States’ Civil War, his parents were former slaves. He was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio; and started writing from a young age. He wrote is first poem at the age of 6 and read it aloud at the age of nine for a local church congregation, “An Easter Ode.” Dunbar was 16 when he published two poems in the Dayton’s newspaper The Herald; “Our Martyred Soldiers” and “On the River” in 1888. A few years later he would write and edit Dayton’s first weekly African-American newspaper, The Tattler. Paul L. Dunbar worked with two brothers that were his high-school acquaintances to print the paper that lasted six weeks. Those brothers were Wilbur and Orville Wright, the fathers of American aviation. Dunbar was the only African-American student at Central High School in Dayton.

Dunbar’s parents had been slaves in Kentucky, following the emancipation, his mother moved to Ohio, and his father escaped before the Civil War ended. Joshua Dunbar went to Massachusetts and volunteered with the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. His parents, Matilda and Joshua, were married on Christmas Eve and Paul L. Dunbar arrived six months later. His parents had a troubled union, they separated after the birth on Paul’s sister; but his father would pass away in August in 1885 when Paul was only 13 years old. His mother played a key role in his education, she hoped her son would become a minister. He was elected president of his high school’s literary society which lead to him to become editor of the school newspaper and debate club member.

Paul Laurence Dunbar finished school in 1891 and took a job as an elevator operator to earn money for college where he hoped to study law. Dunbar had continued to write and soon a collection of poems he wanted to publish. He revisited the Wright brothers, but they no longer had a printing faculty and lead his to the United Brethren Publishing House in 1893. Oak and Ivy was soon published and he busied himself selling copies as he operated the elevator. The book contained two sections, Oak with its traditional verse; and Ivy was written in dialect.

His literary talents were recognized and Attorney Charles A. Thatcher offered to pay for college; however, his interest in law had shift to his writing. Dunbar had been encouraged by the sell of his poetry, and Thatcher helped by arranging for Dunbar to do readings in a nearby city. Psychiatrist Henry A. Tobey also took an interest and assisted in distributing Dunbar’s first book. The two contained to support Dunbar through the publication of his second collection of verse, Major and Minors, in 1896. While he was consistent at publishing, he was a reckless spender resulting in debt. He was a traditional struggling artist as he tried to support himself and his mother.

There was hope in the summer of 1896 when his second book received a positive review in Harper’s Weekly, William Dean Howells brought national attention to his poems; calling them “honest thinking and true feeling” and praising his dialectic poems. There was a growing appreciation for folk culture and black dialect. His popular works were written in the “Negro dialect” that is commonly associated with the antebellum South; though he also wrote in the Midwestern dialect that he grew-up hearing. Dunbar would write in various styles, including conversational English in poetry and novels. He is considered to be the first important African American sonnet writer. His use of the “Black dialect” in writing has been criticized as pan-handling to readers.

Dunbar was a diverse writer, he experimented with poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and a musical. He even ventured beyond the lens of the lives of African Americans and attempted to explore the struggles of a white minister. The Uncalled, Dunbar’s first novel, held similar names and themes of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and was not well favored. It was with his venture into novel writing that he dared to cross the “color line” with his first novel which focused solely on white society. He continued to try to capture white culture but the critics found them lacking.

He moved past novel writing and began to work with two composers, Dunbar wrote the lyrics for the first musical that would be preformed by an all African-American cast on Broadway; In Dahomey. Beyond his writing career, Dunbar was also active the early civil rights movements happening in 1897. He married after a trip to the United Kingdom in 1898, Alice Ruth Moore was also a poet and teacher from New Orleans. She also published a collection of short stories, and they wrote companion poems together. There was a play in 2001 based on their relationship.

Dunbar had taken a traditional job with the Library of Congress in D.C. and with his wife in tow they moved there. However, with his wife’s urging, he left his job to focus on his writings and his public readings. This also allowed him to attend Howard University for a time. However, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1900 and his doctors suggested that drinking whisky would alleviate the symptoms. They also moved to the cold dry mountains of Colorado for his health. This resulted in trouble in Paul and Alice’s marriage, they separated in 1902 but never formally divorced.

Dunbar returned to his hometown of Dayton, Ohio in 1904 to be with his mother, his health continued to decline and depression consumed his mind. Paul Laurence Dunbar died from tuberculosis at age 33 on February 9, 1906 and was interred in Dayton.

Dunbar did not become one of the forgotten poets of literature, his use of dialect in his poetry allowed for his works to remain relevant and important in poetic criticism. We of the James Smith Noel Collection at LSU Shreveport are proud to retain and maintain a small collection of his works and show case their importance.

[thatonebirdwrites]

This book is basically where we are heading, and in some parts of the country (especially those ravaged by climate crises and lack of government response) they're already there. A lot of other dystopia books are heavily influenced by this one.

Lauren Olamina, grows up in a 'gated' community in Robledo, on the outskirts of Los Angeles. She's the daughter of a preacher. It's set in mid-2020s, where climate crisis has gotten much worse due to lack of action and corporate greed, where the government fails to help and grows more fascist.

As Lauren herself says, “things are unraveling, disintegrating bit by bit.” She writes in her journal about her Earthseed religion she devises, and eventually, when a crisis destroys her home, she and a group of diverse people head north to find a safe place to rebuild.

It's absolutely beautiful, heart-wrenching at times, but also a warning that offers up possible solutions to the ills we face.

It resonates so much because it feels frighteningly prescient at times. Butler told an audience at MIT in 1998 that "My rule for writing the novel was that I couldn't write about anything that couldn't actually happen.”

Earthseed, the religion the main character devises to help cope, is heavily influenced by Buddhism. Butler chose to study Buddhism for the tale because change is a crucial element in it.

As Lauren writes in her journal, "God is change."

For a good discussion of the book, here's this article. If you wish to avoid spoilers I provide an excerpt below that covers an overall analysis of the book themes that are relatively spoiler free.

Here's an excerpt from the UIT article:

Parable of the Sower also resonates in this time of Black Lives Matter protests and the ensuing societal reckoning with the racist foundations of the US because of its thoughtful engagement with practices of enslavement both past and present. In many ways, the novel is a neo-slave narrative: it tells the life story of a young African American woman through journal entries, her journey north in search of freedom and safety recalls that of fugitive slaves travelling along the Underground Railroad (as well as evoking Latin American immigrants illegally crossing the border into the US), and the many citations of and allusions to the Bible echo classic slave narratives, as does the importance placed on literacy and the quest for education. Moreover, twenty-first-century forms of economic servitude and social oppression, such as debt bondage to multinational corporations and sexual trafficking, are explicitly interpreted by the characters in terms of a continuation of or variation on antebellum chattel slavery. Thus, the novel challenges redemptive accounts of US racial history and discredits self-congratulatory proclamations of the triumph of capitalism. An additional reason for the recent resurgence of interest in Parable of the Sower, besides its frighteningly realistic “collapse of civilization” story and its timely reflection on the enduring legacy of slavery in America, is that the novel provides a narrative blueprint for a sustainable future, achievable through processes of societal transformation prefigured by the community Lauren founds on the principles of a religion she has created herself. She realizes early on that nostalgia is not a viable solution to the problems ailing society. Ruefully observing that “People have changed the climate of the world. Now they’re waiting for the old days to come back,” she knows that the old order is broken beyond repair. Embarking on a perilous northbound journey on Highway 101 after her Robledo community has been destroyed by drug-crazed intruders, she gathers a diverse group of people around her whom she tells about and teaches the religion she has invented, “Earthseed,” a belief system whose basic tenet—“God is change”—emphasizes flux and impermanence. Acknowledging that the world is in constant change, and that people can and must adapt, Earthseed rejects individualism, private property, and discrimination based on race, gender, class, or sexuality; it embraces diversity, interconnectedness, and interdependence with the human and non-human world. Through Earthseed, the novel offers a utopian vision that can serve as an alternative model to the unjust and moribund system which led to the political, economic, and environmental crisis.

Also, some amazing people turned it into a musical/Opera, and it's FIRE. I hope to someday find a full video of it.

Seriously, go read it. It has some really great ideas on solutions to our current crises.

We need novels that tackle these topics and do so with injections of hope and possible solutions. Octavia Butler was excellent at that.

I'll end with a song from the musical:

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week (#173):

3 by young Chinese prodigy Gu Xiaogang:

🍿 Even though Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains is his first (and only) feature so far, it feels so mature, as if an old master put it out after a long and successful career.

It's an slow epic saga (2.5 long hours) of a large family struggling during four seasons through life's ups and down in this provincial city. It's a metaphor for a classic scroll painting from the 14 century, and apparently only the first chapter in an upcoming trilogy. A tremendous, slow-moving achievement told in magnificent style, and half a dozen transcendental set pieces. 10/10 - Best experience of the week!

I was steeped in that Chinese mentality and culture, that of practicality, resourcefulness, tradition and hope, for nearly a decade, and I miss it. 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes.

🍿 The Sail of Cinema (2020), a beautiful mood piece which can be used as a perfect introduction to his work. Bonus points for use of 'Moonlight Sonata'. 10/10.

🍿 As Spring Comes Along (2024), a short art poem about a couple who hasn't seen each other for a long time.

🍿

Menashe (2017) is one of the few films in Yiddish that I've seen (Not too many of them, eh?). A24 indie production from 2017 about a Hasidic widower, struggling to keep his 10-year-old son with him, within the restrictive ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn.

I dislike all religions equally (Well, some more than others...) but this is an uncritically and authentic beautiful piece of film making. Especially since the 'hero' is an unlikely ordinary man and he's not going to change. 8/10.

🍿

The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry, my first film from Jordan. An enigmatic, nearly wordless story of a young woman who travels to the desolate outskirts of Aqaba in search of Ismail who had disappeared without explanation. 6/10.

🍿

10 more selections from the US National Film Registry, all seen for the first time:

🍿 Newark Athlete is the earliest film in the collection; a 12 second silent short from 1891, produced at The Edison Studio.

[ Also, The "Phonautograms" recordings by Edouard-Leon Stott de Martinville, the earliest known sound recording from 1853!]

🍿 The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight, a 1897 documentary of a championship prizefight boxing match, which took place in Nevada. At over 100 minutes, it was the world's first (and longest) feature film. But only 19 minutes survived today.

🍿 The classic The Great Train Robbery (1903), my first film by Edwin S. Porter, director of over 250 silent films. A "sensationalized Headliner", which included a separate close-up shot of the outlaw leader shooting directly at the camera. My r/todayilearned post: After retiring from the movies, the actor who played the lead robber, (Photo Above) became a milkman. 9/10.

🍿 First viewing of Gone with the wind was not what I expected! I knew it was a bloated confederacy 'Lost Cause' fanfiction and a revisionist myth-making, glorifying slavery and the fantasy of the antebellum South. But I also thought it was the 'greatest love story of all time', and that was harder to get. Scarlett O'Hara grew to become a strong woman with fierce survival skills, but she was so flawed; Vain, selfish, conniving and unscrupulous. Her lover and third husband, Clark Gable, was no hero either. Their tragic on-again off-again love story was a 4 hour long soap opera. The gorgeous cinematography and massive production were breath-taking though. 4/10.

🍿 All the King's Men, a fictionalized and badly-dramatized story about the corruption of power. A veiled story about populist Louisiana governor Huey Long, how he rose from humble ideological beginnings to become a power-hungry despot. 4/10.

My first film by Robert Rossen, who was blacklisted for being a communist sympathizer, but who later "named" 57 of his friends to Joseph McCarthy's HUAC. I need to watch 'The Hustler'!

🍿 "There are plenty of warm rolls in the bakery; stop pressing your nose against the window!"

Pillow Talk, a frothy romantic comedy with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. A charming story about two neighbors who have to share a party-line, a phone technology that is now all but forgotten. Like Ted Gioia, I love Doris Day's jazz singing, so in spite of the out-dated genre politics, I found this light-hearted movie lovely and enjoyable.

🍿 Saul Bass was world-famous for his astounding graphic designs and inventive title sequences. But he also directed a few films, one of which, Why Man Creates, won the 1968 Oscar for Short Documentary. It's a whimsical plaything, with Bass's geometrical genius and good-nature foolery on display. Strong whiff of Terry Gilliam wildness and style. George Lucas was an un-credited second unit cameramen on the film. 🍿 Quasi at the Quackadero, a home-made 'Yellow submarine' inspired psychedelic short, about 2 ducks and a robot at an amusement park. Made by a 'Sesame Street' animator, it's like Max Fleischer on acid. M'eh. [*Female Director*].

🍿 Before Stonewell, an informative 1994 documentary about how gay people existed before the Stonewall riots. Fascinating, even if you knew much of it. Oppression, hatred, uprising. [*Female Director*].

🍿 Scratch and Crow was a symbolic, non-narrative word-less art-short by an indie artist, Helen Hill, who was murdered at 36 in New Orleans. [*Female Director*].

🍿

4 Documentaries:

🍿 City of Gold, my first atmospheric documentary by Canadian Colin Low. A pleasant nostalgic trip back to the small Yukon town of Dawson City, which for one summer in 1895 was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush. Its slow panning style, overlapped with soothing narration, inspired Ken Burns to develop his famous 'Ken Burns Effect'. Winner of the 1957 Cannes Festival, and nominated for an Oscar. 9/10.

🍿 A day in Tokyo was created in 1968 by the Japan National Tourism Organization to promote tourism in the rebuilt city. It captured the time, 23 years after it's destruction, when it was ready to take its place as the primer metropolis of the world. It tells of its history from the Edo period until then, (but it doesn't mention the war).

🍿 "He articulated what the rest of us wanted to say, but couldn't say..."

When Martin Scorsese kicks the bucket, sometime in the near future, his obituaries will lead with 'Taxi Driver' and 'Raging Bull'. But besides his 27 features, his World Cinema Project, acting in commercials, producing, etc, he also directed 17 documentaries, including 5 excellent music docs, all about "our" sounds and times, and "our" heroes.

No direction home: Bob Dylan (2005) is centered on a lengthy interview Scorsese did with the 'bard' about his early years, leading up to his 1966 bike accident. Re-Watch ♻️. Here's my 2003 "Grow-a-brain" Bob Dylan link-blog.

🍿 Related: Joan Baez: I am a noise is her recent biography, embarking on her career-ending tour at 79, while reflecting back to a full life of peaks and traumas. I loved her music deeply all my life (her, as well as her beautiful sister Mimi!), and she always meant so much to me.

And of course, I will always remember the time on June 11, 1984, when I met her walking down the street, and she kissed me on the mouth... [*Female Director*].

🍿

"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea - or perhaps something stronger?..."

Return to Glennascaul (1951) is a spooky Irish ghost story, framed and narrated by Orson Welles, as he picks up a stranded motorist on a dark and (not) stormy night on his way to Dublin...

🍿

Re-watch: Laurel and Hardy classic The Music Box, (1932). These two numbskulls never learn. 9/10. ♻️

🍿

2 by Argentinian Mario Soffici:

🍿 Italian-born Soffici directed some of the highest rated Argentinian films of the classic era.

His Rosaura at 10 O'Clock (1958) is a strange crime drama with a story that changes so much, that it's hard to know what is true and what fiction. It takes place at a boarding house, where a shy painter starts getting perfumed love letters, and the nosy owner who meddles in his affairs. It turn out to be nearly like 'Rashomon', where everybody has their own story. There's one violent scene where a pimp beats up a woman brutally and unexpectedly.

🍿 For many decades, Prisoners of the Land (1939) was considered as the "Greatest Argentinian movie". It's a tragic revenge story about peasants fighting a cruel plantation owner in the jungles of 1915, a drunk doctor and his beautiful daughter. Very John Huston and South American Herzog-like in sweaty, feudal nightmares of whip lashing and booze.

🍿

Another film from Argentina, Viruta, is a high-production home movie made by a woman named Otilia Shifres. Her grandparents emigrated to Buenos Aires from Grodno, a small town in Poland, at the turn of the 20th century. In the film she searches for and constructs a family tree of the relatives that were left behind, going all the way to 1770. It's impressively slick for an amateur feature-length project.

The only reason I came across this personal documentary is because my own father, Eli, (who died in 2016 in Israel at the age of 90) is one of the relatives whom she discovers, and my two sisters even make an appearance in the film (at 56:00) telling her about our side of the family! [*Female Director*].

🍿

"Why don't you study a blank piece of paper for a while, and improve your mind?..."

Ready, willing and able (1937), a second-rate Broadway-style song-and dance musical, trying to emulate the finesse of better talents (like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers). But this un-charismatic movie is the one which introduced the Johnny Mercer song 'Too Marvelous for Words', and it ended with The fantastic Typewriter Dance, an over-the-top Busby Berkeley style number.

🍿

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013), my first film with the cringey wanker character of Alan Partridge. It opens with the Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi theme, which was nice, but the pompous, misogynistic radio host asshole didn't resonate with me. 3/10.

🍿

Throw-back to the Adora Art project:  

Adora as Bob Dylan and with Suze Rotolo.

Adora with my sister, Dafna.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here)

[newhistorybooks]

"Police brutality has been a defining controversy of the modern age, brought into focus most readily by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the mass protests that occurred as a result in 2020. However, the problem of police brutality has been consistent throughout American history. This volume traces its history back to Antebellum slavery, through the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, the two world wars and the twentieth century, to the present day. This handbook is designed to create a generally holistic picture of the phenomenon of police brutality in the United States in all of its major lived forms."

[bambamramfan]

Year in Review

This year I wrote two LARPs, went on more than a few road trips, started Lexapro, went to one con, and otherwise did not accomplish a lot that can be measured, except for watching a truly absurd number of movies. Fortunately Letterboxd makes it a lot easier to record that.

By my count, I watched 469 movies this year. This does not count rewatches. When this counts television, it is only for an entire series counting as one movie. Many of the movies - basically anything 1.5 stars or less - I did not finish because they weren’t worth my time.

Full movie list here, because it's too large to fit into a Tumblr post.

I would say none of the movies I watched this year were truly great, S-tier movies, compared to last year which had two (EEAAO, and Vengeance.) However, I found this year had a good variety of movies at the A-tier below that (some of which I still need to see.)

But this makes choosing “the best” difficult. Instead I will hand out awards:

The “Hold a Gun to my Head and Threaten Cronenberg Style Violence on Me to Pick 2023’s Best” Award goes to Infinity Pool, by Brendan Cronenberg.

The Studio Ghibli Award for “I Meant to See This but my Theater Stopped Showing It” Award goes to How Do You Live AKA the Boy and the Heron.

The “I Can’t Believe Three Contenders for Best Movie of the Year Were All Released on the Same Day” award goes to Oppenheimer, Barbie, and They Cloned Tyrone.

The “Dogtooth” Award for Yorgos Lanthimos Sure Does Like Fucked Up Sexuality goes to Poor Things. Also a recipient of the “Cruella award for Damn Emma Stone is Fine” Award.

The Don Glover Award for “Black Made Movie that Manages to Hugely Offend the Identity-Left” goes to Antebellum.

The Most French Award goes to Holy Motors.

The First And Only Time Directing Awards are split. The “I Really Want to Be Nicholas Refn and Everyone Hated It” Award goes to Lost River by Ryan Gosling. The “If You All Liked It So Much Why Hasn’t Anyone Hired Me to Make Another Movie” Award goes to Emma. 2020 by Autumn de Wilde. (Though Don Jon by JGL is a runner up.)

The Alice Krige “Borg Queen, Controlling Mother of a Cult Leader, Vengeful Hollywood Witch - What Can’t She do?” Award goes to She Will. 

The Brit Marling “Creates a Cult Following Also a Cult” Award goes to Broadcast Signal Intrusion, by Jacob Gentry.

And finally, the Zack Snyder “Everyone Hates This but C’mon It is Clearly Amazing Camp” Award goes to Saltburn, by Emerald Fenell.

[mermaidinthecity]

Antebellum Rooftop Cinematic Experience at The Grove in Los Angeles, California - September 14, 2020

[laurenlavianafamer112a]

Blog Post #3

How Two Films, a Generation Apart, Explore Intergenerational Trauma

It might seem odd that “Candyman” (2021), the sequel to “Candyman” (1992), came out almost a full thirty years after the original film.  But, taking a closer look, that thirty year gap is not just appropriate, it is thematically important too. The relationship between “Candyman” (1992) and “Candyman” (2021) speaks to the theme of cycles of racism, cycles of oppression, and most of all cycles of generational trauma, and in this respect the thirty year gap between the films becomes a poignant thematic device in itself.  The 2021 film builds upon the first, and while the 1992 film has Candyman haunting Cabrini Green in the 1980s, the 2021 film shows Candyman passing down his legacy to another young man, our protagonist, Anthony McCoy.  

The first film is told from the perspective of an educated, wealthy, white woman, Helen.  But the second film is told from the perspective of an educated, up-and-coming but still struggling artist, a young Black man, Anthony.  But the difference in protagonist perspective is just the beginning.  It is not just the protagonist’s race or gender that is different in the two films; it is the type of horror itself that is vastly different too.  In the first film, the horror the audience is asked to empathize with, related to, feel the fear from…it is a horror caused by a Black man haunting a white woman.  But in the 2021 film, the horror doesn’t come from being terrorized by Candyman, now it is the utter terror of becoming Candyman.  The horrifying ending of the 2021 film shows precisely this, as we see Tony Todd’s face (who played Candyman in the first film) blur and merge with Yahya Abdul-Matten’s face (who plays Anthony in the new film).  

And these theme of cyclical oppression was always there, even in the first film.  Candyman was, in life, a free Black man living in the antebellum South before the Civil War.  He was murdered by white men for having fallen in love with a white girl, who loved him back and became pregnant with his child.   But Candyman does not haunt all of 1980s Chicago, just Cabrini Green, a very real and infamous housing project that came to symbolize the economic oppression, social injustice, and geographic urban isolation that Black communities faced and that were the reverberations of, the ripples that came from that original sin of enslavement.  

But if cycles of oppression are important in the first film, they are doubly so in the 2021 film where we see the slow, terror-filled process of Anthony becoming the next Candyman.  All of the trauma Candyman had to endure, the racism and the pain of his murder, are things he is exacting on Anthony.  The trauma of the past comes back not just to haunt a white woman (like in the 1992 film) but to re-traumatize a young Black man.  And generational trauma is a very real thing.  Researchers now know that trauma can have epigenetic effects, and can literally be passed generation to generation through DNA, not to mention through social learning (Quintero, 2020).  Another scholar, Joy DeGruy, wrote a book called “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing,” and in it she argues for recognition of a very specific form of generationally transmitted PTSD, “a condition that exists when a population has experienced multi-generational trauma resulting from centuries of slavery and continues to experience oppression and institutionalized racism today.”  The 2021 film, I think, asks us to investigate this issue of generational trauma, specifically as it affects African Americans today.  And I hope that Quintero (2020) and DeGruy (2017) will be articles every one of us reads, not just to better understand the 2021 “Candyman” film, but to understand the point it was trying to make.  

References

DeGruy, J. (2017). Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Portland, Oregon: Joy Degruy Publications, Inc. Quintero, A. (2020). The multigenerational transmission process of healing social cultural wounds within the Black community: a comprehensive analysis. Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review, 3(1), 8.

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30 Top Novels of the Last Ten Years The last decade has been a golden era for literature, with a diverse range of voices and stories coming to the forefront. From groundbreaking debuts to stunning works by established authors, the literary world has been treated to an array of novels that have captured the imagination of readers worldwide. This article delves into 30 of the top novels from the last ten years, exploring their themes, impact, and the reasons behind their acclaim. The Power of Storytelling: A Decade in Review The past ten years have seen significant shifts in the literary landscape, with novels tackling complex issues such as identity, politics, and the human condition. These stories have not only entertained but also challenged readers to see the world from different perspectives. The rise of digital platforms and social media has also played a crucial role in promoting diverse voices, allowing for a more inclusive and global literary conversation. Exploring the Top 30 Novels Compiling a list of the top novels from the last decade is no small feat, given the sheer volume of quality literature produced. However, by considering critical acclaim, reader reviews, and cultural impact, we've curated a selection of 30 novels that stand out for their originality, storytelling prowess, and contribution to contemporary literature. Groundbreaking Debuts and Literary Triumphs "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern (2011) - A magical duel between two young illusionists sets the stage for this enchanting debut. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (2012) - This thriller redefined the genre with its twisty plot and complex portrayal of marriage. "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt (2013) - A Pulitzer Prize winner that combines exquisite prose with a compelling narrative about art and loss. "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013) - A powerful exploration of race, identity, and love across continents. "The Martian" by Andy Weir (2014) - A gripping survival story set on Mars, showcasing human ingenuity and resilience. "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr (2014) - A beautifully written tale of two lives intertwined during World War II. "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara (2015) - An emotionally intense story about friendship and trauma that has sparked much debate. "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead (2016) - An imaginative reenvisioning of the historical Underground Railroad as an actual railway system. "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi (2016) - A sweeping narrative that traces the lineage of two sisters and their descendants across continents and generations. "Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders (2017) - A unique blend of historical fiction and supernatural elements, exploring themes of grief and redemption. Continuing the Literary Legacy "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng (2017) - A thought-provoking look at race, class, and motherhood in suburban America. "Normal People" by Sally Rooney (2018) - A nuanced portrayal of young love and the complexities of social class in Ireland. "Circe" by Madeline Miller (2018) - A feminist retelling of the life of the Greek goddess Circe, filled with magic and mythology. "The Testaments" by Margaret Atwood (2019) - The long-awaited sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale," exploring the dystopian world of Gilead from new perspectives. "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens (2018) - A mesmerizing mystery and coming-of-age novel set in the North Carolina marshes. "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2019) - A profound tale of slavery and supernatural redemption in the antebellum South. "Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo (2019) - A vibrant tapestry of black womanhood in modern Britain, co-winner of the Booker Prize. "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett (2020) - A compelling exploration of race, identity, and family through the lives of twin sisters. "Hamnet" by Maggie O'Farrell (2020) - A heartrending account of the life and death of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, and its impact on his work.

"The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig (2020) - A thought-provoking novel about life's possibilities and the choices that define us. Emerging Voices and New Perspectives "Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021) - A poignant look at love and humanity through the eyes of an artificial intelligence. "The Prophets" by Robert Jones, Jr. (2021) - A powerful debut that reimagines the lives of two enslaved men in love on a Deep South plantation. "Detransition, Baby" by Torrey Peters (2021) - A bold and insightful exploration of gender, parenthood, and identity. "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (2021) - A thrilling space adventure that captures the spirit of human exploration and survival. "Beautiful World, Where Are You" by Sally Rooney (2021) - A reflective novel about the complexities of friendship, love, and the search for meaning in contemporary life. "The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles (2021) - A captivating journey across 1950s America, exploring themes of freedom and destiny. "Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr (2021) - An ambitious and sprawling tale that connects past, present, and future through the power of storytelling. "Harlem Shuffle" by Colson Whitehead (2021) - A crime novel set in 1960s Harlem, blending humor, social commentary, and noir. "Matrix" by Lauren Groff (2021) - A visionary reimagining of the life of Marie de France, exploring themes of power and creativity. "The Love