Hello everyone! To start things off, I'd like to ask all of you to post one comment to share your favorite African diaspora film title, titles, or a list, and for one film briefly describe why you like it. You have to register if you are not already a Blogger member.
Also feel free to comment on the media coverage that I have included here.
Before taking this class, I did not think about films concerning the African diaspora. Previously before they were just films with black people in the movie. I say this to say that, this course has changed the way I view films that depict A.Americans.
ReplyDeleteFilm List:
1.Hotel Rawanda
This is probably my favorite because of how it was embraced on a global scale. This is film was accepted by mass media and those of non African decent. It's focus on the genocide in Rawanda was the first time many people heard about this tragedy. For that is the main reason why I love this film.
2.School Daze
3.Do the Right Thing
4.The Great Debaters
And others that I cannot think of right now.
Brittney W
My favorite African American film's are
ReplyDelete1. Coming to America!
This is one of my favorite movies of all time, it's so funny and Eddie Murphy is great. He does a great job poking fun at the adjustment from Prince to McDonalds-esk employee. It's a fun movie to watch
I also really love: Ray, American Gangster, Philadelphia and I am Legend.
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ReplyDeleteIntroducing Dorothy Dandridge
ReplyDeletebecause Dorothy Dandridge is phenomenal #1, and #2, Halle Barry is fantastic portraying her. It really gave me some insight on what it must have been like to be a black performer during the 50s. Also i loved rewatching Carmen Jones with a new context.
lean on me & notorious
Kristen
I would have to say that the 1967 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner staring Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn is at the top of my list. For the time, discussing interracial marriage like this was so new, which made for an iconic and well acted film.
ReplyDeleteMelissa's Comment:
ReplyDeleteMy favorite film would have to be "Do The Right Thing". This film by Spike Lee depicts the trials and tribulations of being an african american person in an urban environment. It highlights racism, oppression and the hardships of living in an urban environment.
Without any doubt, I can say "The Bodyguard" and "Dreamgirls" the music is just amazing. I deeply believe these movies have some of the best singing and greatest songs in the world. Their accolades are there to prove it also.
ReplyDeleteAnd Also, "The Great Debaters" I really like the realistic approach of the story and how the characters evolve throughout the film.
I'm a huge movie buff, which is a big reason why I picked this course, but I have always been interested in African-American culture and the history of race in this country as well...so this course was a perfect combination for me. I have seen a few of the more contemporary movies on our syllabus, and Malcolm X is one of the few movies Spike Lee did that I actually loved (I've also read the book, so I think he did a good job staying on track with it). I'm going to name three movies that feature African-Americans; although I have a couple more, I haven't watched them yet, so it's unfair to recommend them if I have not seen them yet:
ReplyDeleteGeorge Washington - This was an independent film done by David Gordon Green fairly recently (last ten years?) and is a great movie about a group of black preteens and young teenagers spending their summer in small, depressed town. It's a fantastic movie, which is both funny, naturalistic, but also fantastical, dark and experimental at times. White people actually play the minority in this town, although it is not a focus of the movie, but it is interesting to note and always interesting to see a movie filled with young people who are predominantly black.
Menace to Society - Unlike Boyz in the Hood, which I think sensationalizes the incredibly hard life of an early 90s black youth in LA, Menace actually goes cartoonishly far to show how tough that life is. It is a hard movie to watch, at the very least for its violence, but it is important to note that not everything is as equally hopeful as it is miserable (which I think Boyz tries to prove in a losing effort).
Killer of Sheep - This is a must-see film, period. It is one of the best I've ever seen. Set in the late 70s in LA, it is a movie about a man dealing with the problems of any disenfranchised, poor person....he's depressed, his marriage is struggling physically, his life is mundane and causing him great troubles....but none of it is exploitative. It is the exact opposite. The music is beautiful, the black and white is a wonderful choice for the filming, and everyone from the children to the friends of the husband, to the husband himself, no one feels like a product of a blaxploitation film. Just the opposite. This is an honest and natural portrayal of people dealing with familiar life issues in a specific time and place. It is a great, great, great movie that I cannot say enough about.