tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618321368988528322.post7040221693767468490..comments2024-03-27T09:28:28.880+00:00Comments on Narrative Drive: That Slavery Malarkey: Django Unchained versus 12 Years a SlaveAndrew Cartmelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13006683245337354886noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618321368988528322.post-46942398615959096692014-02-13T16:23:18.305+00:002014-02-13T16:23:18.305+00:00Paul - why did you have to ask? I don't unders...Paul - why did you have to ask? I don't understand. Where did I write that white people cannot make films or write songs about race, slavery, etc.? Did Meeropol at some point make a comment that his way of approaching the issue the was the best or most effective?Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16152773998591751737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618321368988528322.post-27806693765802945882014-02-12T00:07:58.130+00:002014-02-12T00:07:58.130+00:00Palmer: Strange Fruit's songwriter Abel Meerop...Palmer: Strange Fruit's songwriter Abel Meeropol, like Quentin Tarantino, was white. Does that make you uncomfortable too? Had to ask.Paul Kellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07259742408803391459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618321368988528322.post-76133300327049091192014-02-11T18:34:09.283+00:002014-02-11T18:34:09.283+00:00Hi again - trust me, you need not respect my opini...Hi again - trust me, you need not respect my opinions *greatly*. :) I take your opinions seriously because I enjoy your work and creating stories is your area of expertise, not mine. I don't deny that something that is engaging and enjoyable can convey a message better than cold, alienating story. I just don't think Tarantino's movies are conveying messages. They're the cinematic equivalents of roller coasters (or whatever you folks across the Pond call them). Besides, viewers bring biases and prejudices with them and use them in parsing any given work of art/entertainment. And I understand that you respect the message in Strange Fruit and 12 Years while not necessarily finding them interesting musically/cinematically. No problem.<br /><br />I did see that Script Doctor was reprinted. I hope to purchase it soon. Right now I am in the midst of a DW BBC/Virgin novel buying spree.Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16152773998591751737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618321368988528322.post-16407955293027024532014-02-07T22:18:47.955+00:002014-02-07T22:18:47.955+00:00Hi there, naturally I respect your opinions greatl...Hi there, naturally I respect your opinions greatly. I'd only say that I'm not dictating to anyone, merely offering my own heartfelt opinions. And I strongly believe that an engaging and enjoyable work of art will deliver its message more effectively than a cold, alienating one. I think -- I hope -- that I gave the impression that I respect the message in Strange Fruit and 12 Years while still taking issue with the way in which the message was conveyed. Hope to see you at Chicago again soon, too. I'm angling to get another invite! Did you know Script Doctor has been reprinted? An e-book edition of it is due out this year but the paper version is very nice, with many pages of color photos. Thanks for reading!Andrew Cartmelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13006683245337354886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618321368988528322.post-8784792166802658232014-02-04T17:11:36.711+00:002014-02-04T17:11:36.711+00:00Again, Django Unchained added nothing to my ideas ...Again, Django Unchained added nothing to my ideas about slavery and race. It didn't contextualize anything nor did it enliven, enlighten, or in any way complement my experiences with race in this country (America). It was a fantasy action movie that featured a lot of killing and a black protagonist who was interested in finding his love, not freeing his people. DU is a movie about an individual and the pursuit of his narrow goal, not anything even approaching a conversation about slavery and its aftermath. An action/shoot 'em up movie that slips in the simplistic notion that slavery is wrong - something most people agree upon already - is not an effective way to purvey or discuss the issue of slavery and race in America. The already threadbare thematic material cannot be heard over the gunshots.<br /><br />Regarding the songs you mentioned, I can tell you that black people in my family think "Strange Fruit" to be anything but a heap of junk. But I'm sure they could also appreciate "It's the Same Old South" as well as, say, "Mississippi Goddamn" by Nina Simone. The problem I have with this blog post is that you're a white person in the UK essentially dictating to everyone what constitutes the "best" or "most effective" way of using art to mediate racial issues/experiences in the United States. It makes me uncomfortable that you, a white man, are, in essence, telling my black family members who lived through Jim Crow that the cultural artifacts they enjoy, that accompany their experiences and their identities are somehow inferior. That a white man, Quentin Tarantino, knows best how to discuss slavery. These do not sit right with me.<br /><br />P.S. - Hope to see you again at Chicago TARDIS soon.<br /><br />P.P.S. - Are any of your newer books going to be printed or available solely as e-books?Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16152773998591751737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618321368988528322.post-46805433325695995972014-02-04T17:11:16.036+00:002014-02-04T17:11:16.036+00:00After reading this I was reminded of LeVar Burton&...After reading this I was reminded of LeVar Burton's comment about Tarantino's claim that Roots was inauthentic in contrast to Django Unchained:<br /><br />“Too many people who look like me bled and died for you to have the opportunity to satirize the slave narrative. There’s a place for satire in culture. Taken at face value, as a piece of satire, I went and enjoyed it. It was fun. Let’s just not get it twisted. Django was not real.”<br /><br />Let me say that I am a white male, have a black significant other, and have never seen 12 Years as a Slave.<br /><br />Having said all this, I disagree with:<br /><br />"It will also be a more receptive audience because people enjoying an art work will be more open to the ideas it conveys."<br /><br />In my opinion, very few people watched Django Unchained and came out of it wrestling with moral conundrums and the ideas it conveys about slavery. I'd offer that most people went to it to get a visceral thrill from the violence, because it has big-name actors in it, and because of Tarantino 's reputation for rehashing 70s genres, i.e. - it was a Spaghetti Western/blacksploitation mash-up - and thusly came out of it having enjoyed it or not on the basis of these things.<br /><br />Besides, what ideas does Django Unchained convey? That slavery was wrong? Is that it? If that's all the film has to say on a thematic level then it's pretty thin gruel.<br /><br />I saw Django Unchained and loved the cinematography because Bob Richardson is great, but it added absolutely nothing to my ideas about slavery and race. When I think about slavery, race, etc., I think about my significant other coming home crying after having dealt with racist a**holes; I think about her father telling me stories from Montgomery, Alabama where he witnessed the bus boycott first-hand; I think about the stories he has told me about being active in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, e.g. - being arrested in voter registration drives and being setup by the FBI; I think about being in Montgomery and walking from the Alabama River up Commerce Street to Court Square and then being told that this was the route walked by slaves herded off boats and then auctioned off on the Square; I think about standing where the bus Rosa Parks was on was parked when she refused to move and then seeing that very bus in the Rosa Parks Museum. And so on.<br /><br />to be continued...Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16152773998591751737noreply@blogger.com