ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Chris Utley

Not-So-Random Thoughts after 2 Screenings of BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

by 1 Comment

EPIC SPOILERS IN THIS COMMENTARY. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM

They wrote his death into the story! 

Not a casual mention. Or a start with the all white funeral scene and tribute. Ryan Coogler added T’Challa/Chadwick’s Into. The. Movie – specifically stating that he died of a disease.

I wept. 

Grief. 

We theatre audiences walked into our seats with popcorn in hand and Chadwick in our hearts to the tune of $330 million worldwide and counting to watch a master class on GRIEF! Stunning! The impact of Thanos’s snap has NOTHING on this, IMO. 

Angela Bassett as Ramonda in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

The ladies now at the helm of Wakanda all experience it in heavy duty ways:

Shuri lost her father AND her brother.  

Queen Ramonda lost her husband and her beloved son. Halfway through this epic story, she would lose her life – propelling Shuri into ANOTHER wave of grief. 

Fierce and mighty Dora Milaje General Okoye experiences it. She lost her king – and, eventually, her title as the result of the surface level attack by Namor’s army. 

Nakia lost more than a king and ruler. She lost the love of her life. But instead of sitting in her grief and allowing it to consume her, she took that grief and moved forward. We discover in this story that she becomes headmistress of a Haitian school. We ALSO discover that King T’Challa had prepared her for what was to come…and left the ultimate gift to preserve his memory and legacy!

Grief is at the heart of Namor’s story, story. Witnessing the slaughter of his people on the surface land, his grief turns into fury. The fury consumed his heart and war ensues. 

Shaking my head as I type this as I think about this narrative. What happens when grief consumes the heart of mankind. When you watch Shuri take center stage in this story, you’re watching that fight take place in her soul. The consummation reaches its apex when, in the worst kept secret in 2022 cinema, she takes her place as the new Black Panther by creating a synthetic version of The Heart Shaped Herb and journeys to the Ancestral Plane. But it’s not her newly deceased mom, dad or CGI holographic version of her brother who meets her there. It’s her cousin – THE COUSIN whose own consumed grief was the catalyst of the first adventure! 

Killmonger offers her a choice: To be noble like her brother, or to handle business (TRANSLATION, give into the grief and burn the world down). To watch her in anguish make that choice left me utterly speechless. 

Watching her in grief made me think of my own losses. Like her, I have lost a parent and a sibling in my own life. For years the anger consumed me. The smile I used to have as a little boy developed into a scowl by the time I was 40. I spent the last 10 years of my life walking my own journey away from grief and back to joy. God offers us beauty for ashes, joy for our pain and a garment of praise for our spirit of heaviness. But, to embrace the new garment that God offers us, we must do what Shuri is reluctant to do: Burn that old heavy garment of mourning in order to walk in that spirit of praise and new hope. 

Those 2 hours 41 minutes are a lot. A whole lot. Ryan Coogler absolutely wrecks us in the best way possible. In terms of scope, depth, grandeur, performance and texture, it’s the biggest film a Black director has ever made. Hands down. I didn’t expect Coogler to make a movie at least 5 times bigger than the original. But he did it. And I’m still trying to pry my jaw off the floor!

It’s cliche to claim a film to be critic proof. But, for the target audience, in which I absolutely declare that I and my African/African American kinsmen were INDEED the target audience, this film absolutely is critic proof. As I said up top, we carried Chadwick in our hearts. He is ours. That movie was for us. As the dedication card declares, he was and is our friend. 

And our friend is smiling from the heavenlies as his legacy lives on.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now available in theatres.

Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul: Reality and Receipts

by Leave a Comment

“Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul” is a 1 hour 43 minute movie.

It took my wife and I 2 hours plus to watch it.

Because we kept pausing. And screaming. And yelling at the TV. And laughing uncontrollably. And cringing. And struggling to keep from crying. And feeling angry. And feeling hurt. And seeing flashbacks. 

Flashbacks. 

Flashbacks to all the faces. All the conversations. All the “deep theological insights.” All the counseling sessions. (Almost) all the senior pastors. (Almost) all the young pastors and their soft spoken wives. 

And the bling. And the competion. 

And ourselves. 

To my kinsmen of color, You Will Know. 

When you see Sterling K Brown’s pulpit declarations, you will know. 

When you see Regina Hall’s unspoken monologues written all over her face, you will know. 

When you discover the big plot twist (which was hiding in plain sight), you will know. 

When the credits roll, you will have known all 1 hour 43 minutes of that story. 

Because WE have lived that life. 

They will say it’s a mockery of the church. They will dismiss it as worldly and carnal and call out “demonic” Hollywood cashing in the expense of the people of GAWD!

And you will know that they are lying their asses off. Because you know. And I know.

We all know. 

Let the receipts go cashing in. 

Let the toxicity be revealed. 

Let the truth be told. 

Because we all know.

Special features on the Blu-ray:

An alternate Opening for a different setting the stage; deleted scenes – “Showtime,” “Skate Rink,”
“Childs in the Attic,” “Trinitie in the Bath,” “Highway Pedestrian Guy,” “Trinitie Bringing Food,” “Trinitie Praying Over Lee-Curtis in Bed,” “Trinitie Sees Sidewalk Woman Again,” “Anita Speaks”, and a gag reel of outtakes.

Don’t Worry, Darling: Haunted by Toxic Nostalgia (Spoilers)

by Leave a Comment

Within certain sectors of American Christianity – particularly those on the Nationalism side of the fence – is a huge enamoring of 1950’s – mid 1960’s culture. In their minds, those suburban Leave It To Beaver days was America at its most perfect. Perfectly manicured homes. Beautiful landscaping. The dinner parties. The laughter. Girls were girls and men were men…

…unlike 2022 when women were finding success as doctors working 30 hour shifts, CEO’s, managers, project directors and countless other careers. These women are thriving. Some of their men, not so much. Job opportunities run dry. Passion is lost. They let their hair grow out and just sit in front of the computer salty and jealous because their women have lives of their own and they don’t. 

And that is the plight of Jack (Harry Styles); who watches his wife Alice (Florence Pugh) working those shifts with a simmering rage and jealousy. One day while searching the internet, he finds a podcast ran by Frank (Chris Pine), the leader of the Victory Project. Victory promises Jack the life that he wants – where he can be THE MAN and Alice can be the dainty little girly wife he wants her to be. 

So…as with all 2022 era movies, he arranges the both of them to be put into…a 1950’s metaverse. In said metaverae, Alice is the perfect wife. Dinner prepped every night. Ballet classes daily to practice uniformity. Clothes immaculate. Swinging and swanky dinner parties. Passionate PASSIONATE sex. It all seems perfect…

…except for Alice being haunted. Haunted by memories of a forgotten past. Haunted by her neighbor who has caught on the deception. Haunted by an overwhelming sense of being trapped and suffocated. 

Here’s the kicker about Don’t Worry Darling: the first 90 minutes of the flick are all in the metaverse. We don’t find out what REALLY happened – as detailed in the first section of this review – till the last 30 minutes or so. The moment we find out just what the heck is going on, I grinned. 

Why?

Because I thought about those Nationalists. I thought about those pastors who have been outed for their indiscretions. I thought about those men who lost their careers over #metoo #timesup and others. 

I thought about the vitriol I’ve seen from Christian communities, social media pages and comments from 10001 posts that shame our sisters for rising up and taking their authority as women of God AND women of modern society. I remembered the jealousy. The mocking. The sneering. The hate. The blaming of “woke” and “liberal culture.” The tweets I saw from Christian leaders and influencers that insinuate that women who pursue careers and college degrees are being deceived by Satan in an attempt to destroy God’s plan and design for family. To them, true deliverance is to go back to a modern day hybrid of that 1950’s utopia with Jack in his board meetings having cocktails after work and Alice in her SUV/Minivan shuffling off to school dropoffs, Target runs, soccer practices and all that…while she’s secretly haunted by memories of the woman she once was; the woman she STILL wants to be. 

Yeah. I thought about all that. Amazing how Olivia Wilde and team packed all that allegory into this movie. This is one of those “either you get it or you don’t” kind of movies. I got it. And every time I think about it – and the truth and lies that it exposes, I can’t stop grinning!

Don’t Worry Darling is now available in theatres.

Regarding We Need to Talk About Cosby

by Leave a Comment

I was just trying to get to Thursday nights. 

Fall 1985. New to California. A week into 7th grade at a rough and hardcore inner city middle school, my dad was killed by his brother. Take that insurmountable pain and grief and add to that being a Black nerd knee deep in puberty and the emotional whirlwind that goes with that…and THEN add the fact that I was l surrounded by mini gangbangers, thugs and 13 year old girls growing up way too fast. 

I was just trying to get to Thursday nights. 

After spending day in and day out trying to manage grades, grief and absolute chaos from my classmates – slapping me in the back of my head for no reason, nerd insults, jokes about the way I walked, (false) gay slurs, etc – I had one job: Get to Thursday night at 8 PM CT on NBC 4. For, at that time every single week: BLISS. RESPITE. ESCAPE via the trials and tribulations of Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable and his family. 

Those 30 minutes watching Dr. Huxtable and his family was a release valve for me. All that stress I was under disappeared in that moment. When we got our first VCR, I began recording each episode and played them all on repeat on a daily basis. 

I needed that bliss. That respite. That escape. 

Imagine how I feel right now after binge watching We Need To Talk About Cosby and finding out the depths of suffering and pain that Bill Cosby inflicted upon those women…and lied his ass off calling it “consent” for dropping date rape drugs on his innocent victims…some of whom appeared on my TV on those Thursday nights! 

Were my Thursday nights a lie? What was BLISS to me was PAIN on countless numbers of women through the entire run or the show. 

The Cosby Show was my favorite TV series of all time. I still watched it regularly on Prime and other apps. 

Can I enjoy it again? Can I separate the character known as “America’s Dad” from the real man who was a stone cold sociopathic sexual predator?

Helluva tension to sit in when all I was trying to do 35 years ago was just survive and get to Thursday night. 

☹️😢

Part of Our World: Black Girl Joy & The Little Mermaid

by Leave a Comment

Of all the commentary I’ve seen from the reaction to The Little Mermaid teaser trailer – particularly the videos of Black girls enraptured in pure joy while watching the trailer – my friend Joe said something incredibly profound that is 100% correct:

“Let them have this moment. You had yours.”

THIS. 

And, yes, the You he is speaking of is the white led, financed and engineered motion picture industry. 

“You” have had an entire end run on the whole of this industry since it’s inception. The only time WE (Black girls, boys, our parents/grandparents/extended family/etc.) saw ourselves in “Your” stories was as inhumane caricatures and stereotypes until the 1950’s and 60’s. (The Birth Of A Nation, Buckwheat, Mammy & Stefan Fetchit ring a bell?) And only THEN you only bothered to capture a glimpse of our humanity via Sidney Poitier’s body of work and our emergence into tv work like the late great Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in Star Trek

Then we busted doors down in the 1970’s and WE told OUR STORIES of life in the seedy underbelly that SYSTEMIC RACISM crafted for us via Sweet Sweetback, Shaft, Superfly and all the other “Blaxploitation” films. By the grace of God, we were also able to show you stories depicting our inner strength and steadfast determination to live as well. Examples include Claudine, Sounder and Cooley High among others. 

The 80’s & 90’s caused You to see us as economically viable…as long as we made You laugh (see Eddie Murphy and the buddy cop comedies that came in the wake of 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop).  We also took ownership of our own narratives via Spike Lee, John Singleton and countless other great Black film directors. Those voices spoke via celluloid as the new century dawned upon us. 

But, save for maybe that soulful choir in Disney’s Hercules, our daughters and sons never got to see themselves front and center in an animated film. We, just like everyone else, plunked out $$$ at the movies for The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty And The Beast, etc. So when we finally GOT an animated film where our little girls got to see themselves in their own likeness in 2009, she was turned ned into a frog for almost the entire story. 

So, in light of that history, I’m with my friend Joe. Let us – and our Daughters – have this moment! Resist the urge to judge those videos. Shut down your so called “Christians Against Little Mermaid” FB pages (Yes. This is Real). Just sit with us in this moment. A live action Disney Princess is in the same Imago Dei of those little girls who are overflowing with joy. 

Can’t you just be, please won’t you be, Part Of Our World?

Judas & the Black Messiah: “I Want to Live”

by Leave a Comment

The film has been on HBO Max for about a month now. I knew watching it was gonna require courage, as historical dramas about Black pain and suffering only serve to make me angry. So, I avoided it as long as I could until I finally sat down to watch on the first Saturday in March.

And, as I figured, I got angry. Very angry.

I wasn’t angry at the acting or the story or the filmmaking process. I was angry at the reality that has not gone away 50 years later.

The thing that leapt off the screen for me as I watched: The SYSTEMIC racism. Emphasis on the word SYSTEMIC. I’m talking specifically those scenes within the FBI and their chessboard maneuvering.

Black mobilization is a threat. Always has been. Always will be. It’s why slaves couldn’t learn to read. It’s why the flame of Reconstruction was doused by Jim Crow. It’s why King, X, Medgar Evers, Fred Hampton and countless other Brothers and Sisters had their lives taken.

It’s why they label BLM as “communist” and “Marxist.” It’s why over 40 states are currently in the process of remixing voting laws – even drafting bills to make it illegal to serve food and water while standing in line for hours waiting to vote. 1969. 2021. Mobilization Is still a threat. And their greatest fear.

An IRRATIONAL fear.

J. Edgar Hoover in the film hypothetically asks Mitchell, the FBI agent handling Bill (Judas) O’Neal, what he’d do if his baby daughter brought home a Negro whom she was in love with. His point: Survival. Protection of their way of life. Fear of being conquered. Hoover’s words echoed the now famous Charlottesville Tiki Torch sentiment. Those marchers targeted Jews. But they could have inserted anyone in their war cry.

(WHOMEVER) WILL NOT REPLACE US!

REPLACE YOU? 🤣🤣🤣

For the record, we are not trying to replace Whites. We don’t want your throne. We don’t want your seats of honor. We don’t want your status or your authority. “New World Order” is laughable to us. Marxist regimes are the furthest thing from our collective minds.

Fred Hampton, MLK, BLM are all fighting for the same sentiment – a sentiment best expressed by a Jay Z song title:

CAN I LIVE?

Can I work for a livable wage to raise my sons and daughters without restriction?

Can I go to my job wearing the hairstyle I want, speaking my normal dialect without having to codeswitch? Can I get the opportunities to advance in my field without those previously stated issues being an issue?

Can I go to church without having to assimilate into a White Evangelical approved form of Christianity that denies my true expression of who I am? Can I sing, shout, say AMEN, embrace my African heritage in my expression of faith without it being a threat?

Can I buy a house in the same neighborhood as you and you not feel so threatened that you engage in non-neighborly microaggressions insinuating that I am not welcome there? Can my house get the same appraised value attached to it even with my photos of my African American family of 5 framed on the walls?

Can I just get a ticket for speeding? Can I just walk home from a store? Can I just drive to my new job? Can I do ANYTHING that results in me just getting a write up instead of a toe tag at the morgue? And can my expression of righteous anger and frustration not require the use of deadly force because you see Black anger as a threat?

If I CHOOSE to love your daughter, Agent Mitchell, is that enough? Can I not be subjected to jests about how dark the baby’s skin color will be? If other family members express their racist thoughts about my presence in the family, will you defend me? Or will we be ostracized from your family – and our children lose their birthright – because we won’t “play the game?”

Replace you? No, White community. It’s never been about that. We just want to live. All we want is our modern day equivalent of that promised 40 acres and a mile and we’ll keep living. Some of us will live with you in our space. Some of us won’t. That’s our choice.

You have a choice too. Let Hoover’s fear consume you. Let the irrational horror of what we might do take over your hearts and minds. Continue to mangle Scripture for your own benefit.

Or…you can live. With us. Lose your fear. Lose your terror. Lose your life…and find it again like Jesus said. When you’re ready, our arms are wide open ready to live with you and love you.

Thank you Chairman Fred.

The film is available now on Digital and out on Blu-ray and DVD on May 4. The Blu-ray combo pack includes “Fred Hampton for the People” and “Unexpected Betrayal” as special features.

THE FISHING HOLE: Oscars 2019

by Leave a Comment

Welp, the name of the game here at ScreenFish is MOVIES.  So the team embarked on their annual pre-Oscar chat where they discussed who WILL win and who SHOULD win on Hollywood’s biggest night!

Chris U: Alrighty! Pre-Oscar Fishing Hole Time! Who WILL win? Who SHOULD win?

Arnaldo R: Lol, I know nothing so will contribute nothing…Wakanda Forever!

Chris: I thought you saw Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Arnaldo: Nope, no interest in them. 2018 I saw probably 3 movies. And all 3 were with my daughter. Poppins, Spiderverse and Incredibles 2.

Chris: Let me call the easiest win first…Shallow will win Best Song. That race was over when the first trailer dropped.

Jacob S: I need to see Vice and Green Book.

Chris: Won’t get to see Vice. Didn’t play well out here in GOP-heavy Texas.  Wait, Arnaldo!  Didn’t you see Black Panther?

Arnaldo: Oh yeah, that one also. And Avengers. So five. LOL

Chris: So you saw 2 Best Animated Feature nominees. That qualifies!

Arnaldo: Spiderverse wins.

Chris: Agree 1000% percent, Incredibles 2 was very mediocre; hated the ending.

Jacob: Agree on Spiderverse. Disagree that Incredibles 2 was mediocre.

Chris: I felt no sense of real danger with the villain. Also didn’t buy her criminal machinations. Jack Jack and the raccoon was cute.  The Elastigirl/Mr. Incredible role switch was good. (Same thing has been going on in my house for the last 12 years).

Arnaldo: Incredibles 2 wasn’t better than the first.

Chris: Agreed.  15 year wait for a sequel have packed a much bigger punch.

Arnaldo: What were the other animation films nominated?

Chris: Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks The Internet, Mirai

Arnaldo: Oh yeah, I saw Ralph lol.  Spidey wins.

Chris: So, allegedly, Roma stands to win 4 Oscars for 1 person: Picture/Director/Cinematography/Producer.  Who HAS seen Roma?

Jacob: Saw some of Roma. I don’t read subtitles.

Chris: I liked The Favourite. Three women with varying degrees of wickedness and depravity…in corsets!

Steve N: Sooooo, you liked the wickedness and depravity? Or the corsets?

Chris: LOL!  Definitely not the corsets!  Although you do get an eyeful of Emma Stone! Very glad BlacKkKlansman didn’t get lost in the awards shuffle. It was on shaky ground after Thanksgiving but rebounded in the race after Christmas. Probably the pre-Christmas awards rush turned out to be wack. There are 3 $200 million + grossers on the list.

Darrel M: My expectation for best pic is Black Panther. It or Roma would get my #1 vote. I think best doc will go to RBG, should go to Free Solo, although Of Fathers and Sons is perhaps the most important. Cinematography to Cold War. Animated feature to Spidey. I hope Spike Lee gets director, but it will probably go to Cuaron. Actor Rami Malek (I’d prefer Christian Bale). Actress Glenn Close. Sup actor: Mahershala Ali.  Sup Actress: Regina King. Foreign Language: Roma, but I’d prefer Shoplifters.

Chris: They predict Spike will get Adapted Screenplay They’re also predicting Amy Adams over Regina King, which will INFURIATE me to no end.

Darrel: My choices for screenplays: First Reformed and Beale Street.

Chris: Hopefully Beale Street wins Score too.  That score was FANTASTIC.

Darrel: Yeah, I may throw things at the TV if it doesn’t get score.

LATER THAT EVENING, CHRIS U watches Roma on Netflix…

Chris: Well…the mainstream cinema has stepped up its game. The snobby, pretentious, talk AT YOU stuff that the elitists adore had to answer with vigor. Roma is the answer.

Chris: Cannot believe Black Panther is gonna lose to THIS!

Jacob: We agree on that.

Chris: Sound on this is probably insane in an Atmos equipped movie theatre.  I’ll give it that. My soundbar is capturing the ambiance.  I DO see why it will win.  Movie closed out with 4 of the saddest movie scenes of the year.  Can’t share without spoiling. But…yeah.  Legit gut punches.  But is that fair for it to win just off of 3 gut punching scenes when the rest is just an exercise in Ego Filmmaking? Best Foreign Film? I’d buy it. But Best Picture?  Green Book, Star, KkKlansman, Favourite, Bohemian AND Black Panther –  ALL better than this! But…I get it.  Awards Season -is for the elite. Roma is the type of film they eat up. It’s almost…WEINSTEINIAN!

Shelley M: Anybody seen Cold War? I’m seeing it tomorrow on recommendation of a friend – says it’s the best she’s seen all year.

Darrel: Cold War is very good. Outstanding cinematography. Great music. The story may keep the characters at arm’s length a bit..

Chris: As far as Best Picture, Roma will win.  Black Panther ABSOLUTELY SHOULD win.

Arnaldo: I want BP to win because I’m a comic guy and of course I LOVE the movie.

Chris:That movie transcended the movie screen and left an unprecedented and immovable footprint in the culture of the world. Chadwick’s acceptance speech at SAG said it all.  I don’t think I put this in my review. But halfway through the first viewing, I turned to my wife  and said “THIS IS A DAGGONE SHAKESPEARIAN TRAGEDY, not a comic book movie!”

Arnaldo: I also want it to win because I want the bath in the tears and whining of those who will say “it’s a PC SJW win and the only reason it won”

Chris: The thing about those folks. Those tears are because we live in a world that is leaving them behind. And it’s their fault for not getting on the train.

Arnaldo: Oh yeah I know their problem. Also their loss. BP was more than a comic book film! And no amount of tears will change that.

Join the conversation! Agree or disagree with our band of ScreenFishers? Ready to challenge their POV? Feel free to share in the comments!

BlacKkKlansman: America’s Original Sin

by 15 Comments

“Oh goody!  Here’s comes that Black racist troublemaker Spike Lee with yet another movie about how White people are EVIL, Black people are victims and all that jazz.  We, as Americans, are so sick and tired of Black folks constantly tossing these issues in our faces and rubbing our noses in the dung of a long buried and shameful past.  YES, there are some racist White people!  YES, their actions are deplorable!  But, YES, Black people are guilty of the same thing!  The constant bitching and moaning is annoying!  They’re not the only race to have been oppressed!  There are others who have risen past their abuse to become good upstanding members of society!  I don’t believe the rhetoric!  We proved through the election of Barack Obama that we are indeed a post-racial society united and joined together as one.  Black folks just continue to fan these flames and make it hard for our country to evolve past this narrative.  Why, oh why, won’t this issue JUST! GO! AWAY?!?!”

Here’s why:

“There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, Yet is not washed from its filthiness.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭30:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

“There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, And whose fangs are like knives, To devour the poor from off the earth, And the needy from among men.” (Proverbs‬ ‭30:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

“‘The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. ’”
‭‭(Numbers‬ ‭14:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

ScreenFish is a Christian based film/entertainment analysis website.  We view pop culture through the lens of Christ.  We endeavor to see how He sees, to analyze a film how He would analyze it.  Having seen and analyzed Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” for myself, here is my Christ influenced opinion on the matter:

Racism is America’s Original Sin.

The issue has not gone away because America has neither repented nor turned away from it.  There is STILL a generation in America who deem themselves to be pure in their own eyes. There is STILL a generation who is bitterly against the notion of judging men and women by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.  There is STILL a generation who, although they accept the fact that other races shop in their neighborhood stores, go to school with their children, and work in the same offices as they do, when they get behind closed doors they harbor a mindset about non-Whites that is straight outta the Jim Crow/Confederate/Old South playbook.

And you can’t be mad at Spike Lee…or the guy or girl who filmed BBQ Becky, Poolside Patty, or anyone else who captured footage of Black folks committing heinous crimes like swimming in swimming pools or BBQ’ing in the park or selling water on the street to raise money for a school trip.  All they did is turn the camera on and expose the sin buried deep in the hearts of (some) White people for  generations.

That’s all Ron Stallworth and the members of the Colorado Springs Police Department did: Expose the “organization.”  Mr. Stallworth and team shined a light on the darkness.  SPOILER: They ultimately exposed a plot to kill a Black Student Union group.  Upon the thwarting of this plot, KKK Grand Wizard-turned-early 90’s Republican candidate for Governor of Louisiana David Duke (I was a student at Grambling State University when he ran) discovered that the Colorado man he befriended and wanted to MENTOR due to his similar views of White Supremacy was actual a Black undercover cop.  Light shined.  But did the darkness hide?  Nope.

The final scenes of the film show that darkness vibrant, alive and in full force – making a generational leap from 1970’s Colorado to 2017 Charlottesville, VA.   No turning.  No repentance.  Ultimately leading to death…just like it did in 18th/19th/20th century America.

So, yeah, until there is true repentance and a collective turning away of a four-hundred-year belief that one group is superior over another, this issue ain’t going away.  Their mindset has put them at war against God Himself.  The iniquity of the Confederacy has been revisited upon their children all across this nation to the 3rd and 4th generation and beyond.

But I see hope.  I see the chains falling.  I see hints of the curse about to break. For while I was traversing through the North Dallas, TX mall where I saw BlacKkKlansman, I saw an ocean of Black and White couples – from teenagers to fully grown adults – arm in arm, holding hands, boldly and unashamedly displaying their love for one another. I smiled.  Because that’s the future.  THIS generation may be the one to break the curse once and for all.

One can only hope…and pray.

Black Panther: I STAY WOKE!

by 6 Comments

SPOILERS FROM THE FILM WILL BE DISCUSSED AND DISSECTED.  DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM

My former Grambling State University Theatre Department classmate turned prolific R&B artist Erykah Badu has a song on one of her albums called “Master Teacher.”  The hook goes, “What if there were no N*****s, only Master Teachers?  I STAY WOKE.”   If you substitute the phrase Master Teachers for the word WAKANDANS, then you’ll get the vibe of where I’m going in light of this cinematic event that has been given to us this Presidents Day Weekend 2018.

I will leave the MCU fanboying to the experts here at THE FISH to ponder BLACK PANTHER’s place in the pantheon of Marvel films, analyze its connection towards the road leading to Avengers: Infinity War, etc.  I’ve got bigger fish to fry.  As does this movie.

Instead, I will build off of my thesis statement from my classmate – paraphrased and reappropriated for this movie.  Of course I know that Wakanda is not an actual place.  It’s birthed from the imagination of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  But, in my own mind, I see Wakanda as what might have been for my ancestors and I.  What would my motherland of Africa and my kinsmen be if the natural minerals and resources had not been fleeced and its people oppressed by apartheid and their ancestral offspring not led away in slaveships to the Carribean, South and North America to endure 400 years of violent, dignity robbing, identity snatching hardship by real life “colonizers?”  I look at those 5 tribes which form the fictional Wakanda and I see the true essence and spirit of who God has graced the African man and woman to be – regardless of whether the designation American appears afterwards.

I see honor and dignity. I see fierce devotion to ideals.  I see great technological and scientific advances.

I see PRIDE.

I desperately wanted my 12-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter to see and feel the same thing as I did when I watched the movie.  Their response was definitely more muted than mine.  I get it.  Because in our home – with God’s help – we have continually taught them to see honor and dignity in themselves; to have a fierce devotion to the biggest ideal of all: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD; and that technology, science, and all areas of greatness are available to them via education.

As I thank God for my kids, I also have to think about the other kids out there; the real life Erik Killmongers of the world.  The ones whose hearts have grown numb to the images of Strange Fruits in trees hung, maimed and slaughtered by more evil “colonizers.”  The ones who have attempted to take the derogatory ‘N-word’ label and soften it up by slicing 2 letters and adding an A on the end.  The ones who wish to continue the work of the real life Black Panthers.  I don’t think director Ryan Coogler set this film in Oakland by accident…especially when you consider that:

  1. The Panthers were born in Oakland
  2. Erik Killmonger’s plan of action – inherited to him by his father Wakandan Prince N’Jobu – is straight out of their playbook.

Call the real life Black Panthers a hate group if you want.  You’re missing the point.  These were a group of men and women who got tired of seeing the unjust oppression of their kinsmen by the ruling class and were ready to defend them even if it meant overthrowing the current systems of power.  Disagree with them and Killmonger all you wish. But before you judge, look at their point of view in the light of those dead Black men and women of the past…and present.

Killmonger, rightful heir to the Wakandan throne, wants to take the resources from his homeland and equip warlords across the world to free his kinsmen.  But T’Challa – our hero – knows there is a better way.  A way, as spoken in Post Credits Sequence #1, that does not involve creating division and using his homeland’s resource to foster oppression. T’Challa wants to use his kingdom to be a LIGHT to the world.  There was a time when Wakanda hid itself in fear of what MIGHT happen should their greatness got into the wrong hands.  But T’Challa recognizes that it’s time to come out of the darkness and into the light.

But that light only shines when we, as humanity, come TOGETHER.

That’s the one area in the real world where all of mankind needs to stay woke.  It’s not about White Supremacy or Black Pride reigning on the throne of society.  There is only one Throne and only one Kingdom in which every knee will bow to. And that King will be glorified when He sees all of His creation – all races, creeds and colors – united together to shine His light on our broken world.

Black Panther gets 2 fists up from me! ✊🏿✊🏿 May its record breaking success cause studio execs to GET WOKE about the abilities of Black filmmakers handling big budget blockbuster material.  I’ll say it loud!  BLACK PANTHER MADE ME PROUD!

 

 

 

Scenes From A Thursday Night In A Galaxy Far Far Away

by 1 Comment

SPOILERS FROM STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI ALL OVER THIS ARTICLE.  DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!


  • Dear Disney: You’ve got money up the wazoo! How hard can it be for y’all to give Lucasfilm a proper movie studio logo with bells and whistles and such?  Marvel’s all spiffed out.  Pixar and the animation wings are spiffy.  Lucasfilm’s got that same placeholder madness from the 90’s.  Update that thing!   PLEASE!!!
  • So…Luke’s journey with the Force started with a binary sunset and ended with a binary sunset?  Coincidence?  Doubt it. Poetic?  MOST DEFINITELY!
  • How many of y’all besides me reduced the Force to moving rocks and other inanimate objects?  That mind-melding between Rey and Kylo to get in each other’s head/physical space? Mind. BLOWN!
  • And till now, we thought that Leia’s Force gift was just sensing thoughts and feelings.  Teleporting herself in a semi conscious state?   Mind. Blown. Again! Although my heart sank when it appeared that was how she was gonna die.
  • YODA!!!!
  • I’m not so sure Finn earned that “kiss from a Rose.”  There’s gotta be some cutting room floor material from that casino planet scene to justify her falling in love with him.
  • My SF colleague Arnaldo Reyes summed it up for us all in his review.  LET THE PAST DIE…but hold on to HOPE!  And that’s why fanboys are up in arms.  We will go into Episode 9 with a dead Vader, dead Han Solo, potentially Force ghosted Luke (and Yoda) and, ever so sadly, dead Leia.  The past has died.  All we have ever know about Star Wars is gone.  And that’s a good thing.  It’s what the last scene – along with the revelation of Rey’s parentage – leads us into: A TRUE NEW HOPE – the promise of something new.  Newness can be horrifying. So many times we cling to familiarity at our own expense.  We hold onto old memories, old lives, old sins that God clearly states that we are to put away.  Paul in Romans gives us one of the hallmark statements of faith when he declares that his mission in his journey with Christ is to forget those things which are behind and press forward toward that which is in front of him.  Rian Johnson has done that for us, the audience.  The past must die in order for us to move forward.  Just like our position in Christ:  Old things passed away.  Behold, ALL THINGS ARE NEW.
  • One final point about Luke. Addressing the fanboys again who were searching for their hero who they loved back in 77-83:  Heroism has a cost.  We see our heroes in real life and admire their greatness.  But we have no idea what that heroism cost them emotionally, mentally and spiritually.  Luke was supposed to be the manifested Jedi prophecy bringing balance to the Force and restoring the Jedi order.  But he failed in the process.  That failure cost him his nephew and the students he was training and also unleashed the power of the Dark Side to a new level.  Now mind you: THIS is on top of being a presumed orphan for the early part of your life, watching your aunt and uncle who were your caretakers die, finding out your sworn enemy is YOUR DADDY, losing your hand while confronting said enemy, the utter mind-blowing discovery that the most beautiful princess you’ve ever seen (and stole a couple of kisses from) is your friggin sister AND taking eleventy gazillion bolts of Force lightning from the Emperor as your enemy/Daddy saves your life and loses his in the process.  Talk about your burdens being carried!  But no one sees that.  They just see the blowing up of the Death Star, using the gift of the Force and Vader’s redemption. Heroism to the masses…failure behind the scenes.  Much like our own lives.  But as Yoda said, FAILURE is just as crucial to the journey as the successes. The American wing of the Christian Church is infected by this anti-failure mindset.  It has seeped into the fabric of the entire country. We celebrate success. We denigrate failure.  I have seen failure get people who genuinely love God removed from churches because of it. I have seen friends lost because of it.  I have seen the outright dismissal of people’s walks with Christ because of it. But, in my life, I have seen FAILURE be the launchpad into the revelation of the grace and mercy of God.  I never would know God’s genuine love if I hadn’t failed.  And I have failed epically. Just like Luke. But out of the ashes of my failures have come my greatest victories.  Just like Luke.  Luke’s final act in this film was paid for through the cost of his failures.  He became greater and more powerful than at any point in the Star Wars saga!  Can’t wait to see the lessons his Force ghosted self will teach Rey – and hopefully that little boy in the final scene.
  • JJ: Pressure’s on you, bruh.  You alienated a legion of Trekkers through your remake of The Wrath of Khan in which you made Khan an English dude and flip flopped Spock’s death into Kirk’s death.  We cannot have those shenanigans for Episode 9! No digging into your crates to find another movie to remix. The gauntlet has been thrown. Rian Johnson has set the table. It’s on you to bring the feast that will end this trilogy. DON’T SCREW THIS UP!!!