on 12 YEARS A SLAVE... lemme start with commendations... CHIWETEL EJIOFOR and STEVE MCQUEEN are wonderful artists. kudos to the 12 YEARS A SLAVE business. filmmaking IS NOT easy, by no means. it is unforgiving and daring; especially so when done with no popular support or comfortable means. that said, i felt nothing. not-a-thing. wtf? how could i feel nothing??? about black folk??? whats wrong with me??? couldnt quite put a finger on why i felt nothing until after having an in-depth conversation with another high profile, legendary filmmaker. anyone who knows me knows that conversing in-depth with me means that there most assuredly will be heat. my dude got my heat. but he also got my love because he made a film over 10 years ago that got it right! i felt THAT film, deep. it treated similar subject matter; a film waaaay ahead of its time that got SHAFTed. he understood my heat and empathized. thats how we get down so, its all love. back on 12YRS,... cinema is an EPIC medium. cinema is the most powerful artform of the 21st. the AFRICAN AMERICAN HOLOCAUST is peerless in being the most impactful occurrence of the 21st that continues to infect US ALL. its only fitting that the AA holocaust gets treated cinematically, yes? if done, i believe that the subject matter and characters treated should align. cinematic characters should match the medium. they should suggest something a bit higher; a proposition, a goal, an aspiration, a dogged determined spirit that serves as a paradigm. they do what we may not have the courage to do. thus, warranting us tuning in. cinema is NOT the medium for self-absorbed characters. cinema is the medium for characters who may suggest a little more and may require a little more of us when experiencing them. they are not like your next door neighbor though they could be. they are the would-be s/heroes who rise above. harriet tubman, maybe? i can tune into anything currently trending on youtube to see characters who care for nothing beyond self or their families (an extension of self). the thing that makes a s/hero watchable and engrossing is her capacity for communal love and her willingness to do what the next person IS NOT willing to do, for the greater good. at very least, if only in theory, this sense of community is what makes our torchbearers and icons such. its the thing that makes the filmmaker the daring individual that she may be. she puts it out there with no apologies. at her finest, she suggests something higher, greater, deeper, maybe? I REFUSE TO ACCEPT the myth that every black man surviving the holocaust was accepting of his lowly lot in life. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT the myth that there was not a single black man who wouldnt or didnt die fighting. or liberate others by some self-less means. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT the myth that there were no thinking black men or revolutionaries who held their people in highest regard; despite some of their peoples inability to see light and love. we had field niggas. we had runaway slaves. we had abolitionists who died for the cause, on principle. we had garveys and malcolms and cinques and newbys. 12 years completely missed me. makes me ruminate on the whole american-born/european-born african debate. is there any credibility to it? hmmm. this is one of a few points on the film that left me feeling how i feel. i could go on and i will with those close but, again,... this is just THE WAY I SEE IT. DO NOT MIS-TAKE this post and use it to perpetuate some kind of twisted divide and conquer phenomenon. its completely in the spirit of cinematic critique and dialogue. MCQUEEN is my brethren filmmaker. he told the story he wanted to tell and im proud of him for that. go see it and lets rap a taste on it. now, back to mine...
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 20:32:42 +0000
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