I do not understand why all of the woman characters in these movies have dependency issues. They are either angry or harsh like Blondie, who is willing to kidnap people for her husband, or like the senator’s wife who is a drug addict. The women in this movie can barely function independently. The senator’s wife and Blondie are presented, in the movie, as two women who are completely opposites of each other.
They come from different class backgrounds, but both women have more in common than what is superficially apparent in the movie. Both women are not happy with their lives. They are wishing for more out of life. Blondie wants to be like a movie star, and wants the status that comes with it. The senator’s wife has the status, but she takes drugs because she is not happy with her political life. Either way once again, we have women characters who are dissatisfied with life.
Then you have black women characters, who are maids and fourteen-year-old pregnant girls. The black women in this movie are demur, obedient and tentative. And why does Rose, the black maid to the Senator, wake up crying when he calls her. Then of course black men are mobsters and jazz musicians.
I also thought that at the beginning of the movie they presented an obvious binary in the racial tension. For example, the old white man gets up and moves when the little black girl sits down. And I am thinking is this really reality. Maybe I am just naïve, but why is this old white man “running” away from this little girl. It is just too convenient and simplistic. I also thought it was interesting that a white man dresses in black face to rob someone. When he says, “so long Amos” it situates the idea of race interestingly, because he, a white man, is able to wipe off his skin, while others are not able too. But the mob gangster conveniently says that whites, hustle and rob, and rape, they are ruled by greed. But the black guy is a hustler as well; he has been in jail three times. Why does he think that he is better than the white guy who robbed the taxi cab?
In conclusion, obviously there were many things that irritated me. See ya'll tomorrow.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Reader Response: Names, puns and archetypes
This week I am giving the presentation for Mo’ Better blues, and I decided that for my blog I would stick strictly to the importance of names in the movie and what they represent for the character and their interactions with each other. Amazingly enough, this is not what I plan on doing my presentation on for Tuesday.
First, it is blatantly obvious that Denzel Washington’s character, Bleek, is also a pun for the word bleak. Spike Lee does not even try very hard to hide that little fact. Bleek as a person had a bleak existence as a child, when he was forced to play an instrument that he hated and not allowed to play with his friends outside when he wanted to. In his present life, his name becomes a joke upon himself because Bleek goes throughout life thinking he is happy or that he has achieved true happiness through his music. But as Spike Lee, in his obvious and simplistic way, portrays in the movie, Bleek’s existence is actually pretty bleak in real life, because of his disconnected relationships around him.
In parallel to Bleek, you have his competitive band member Shadow. Once again Spike Lee does not want the audience to work too hard to figure out his character. His skin tone is darker by many degrees than Bleek’s, he is always confrontational, and he plots to take over the band. Shadow is a shadow by direct translation. But the parallel that I specifically want to demonstrate is how Shadow becomes the unconscious suppressed representation of Bleek. To understand this psychoanalytical motif we must first understand the level four of the Graves and Jungian developmental model to the human threshold system. And I promise, it is much easier to understand then it sounds.
First, a level four person, on the conscious level, is a rigid orderer in society. They follow rules, and set a boundless set of expectations for themselves and others. They sacrifice on a conscious level and they sacrifice themselves. Sound like someone familiar. Bleek consistently sacrifices himself for his music and order is practically the middle name for Bleek. Bleek respects authority, and for him music is authority. The craft of his art becomes his obsession. Bleek lives, sleeps and breaths music. He wakes up thinking about music; he goes to sleep thinking about music. Music creates order in his life. And he structures his life around the “order” of music. He sets specific times to practice, to clean his instrument, and to create new songs. As he tells Clarke, “Life is short, I need it like this to do all the things I gotta do, I like order.”
But in order for Bleek to have this much control in his life through music what exactly does he suppress unconsciously. Interestingly the archetype for the orderer is the shadow. A coincidence, I think not. The shadow archetype of the orderer has needs, doubts, sins, or happiness that becomes suppressed by the orderer in the unconscious. Therefore, my premise is that Shadow becomes the perfect example of the archetype of Bleek. Shadow does not respect authority, he does not respect the authority of Bleek, and he does not respect boundaries because he sleeps with Clarke. Shadow will never compromise or sacrafice himself for anybody. Shadow plots to steal the band, but most of all Shadow wants to play music for money not art. And Bleek will never compromise his art for money. Shadow represents just about everything that Bleek is not.
In conclusion, I was going to analyze the character of Giant and how name is also a metaphoric representation for his inferiority complex, but decided not to, this blog is already too long. Indigo, of course is a shade for a darker blue and is also the name of one of Bleek’s girlfriends. There also happens to be dark shades of blue throughout the film. So maybe through blue in the film, Spike Lee is continually linking Indigo to Bleek. And Clarke, the other girlfriend of Bleek, is the last name of an American jazz drummer who was a significant contributor to bebop. Do not know if I am pushing that last name link, but the tie is interesting.
First, it is blatantly obvious that Denzel Washington’s character, Bleek, is also a pun for the word bleak. Spike Lee does not even try very hard to hide that little fact. Bleek as a person had a bleak existence as a child, when he was forced to play an instrument that he hated and not allowed to play with his friends outside when he wanted to. In his present life, his name becomes a joke upon himself because Bleek goes throughout life thinking he is happy or that he has achieved true happiness through his music. But as Spike Lee, in his obvious and simplistic way, portrays in the movie, Bleek’s existence is actually pretty bleak in real life, because of his disconnected relationships around him.
In parallel to Bleek, you have his competitive band member Shadow. Once again Spike Lee does not want the audience to work too hard to figure out his character. His skin tone is darker by many degrees than Bleek’s, he is always confrontational, and he plots to take over the band. Shadow is a shadow by direct translation. But the parallel that I specifically want to demonstrate is how Shadow becomes the unconscious suppressed representation of Bleek. To understand this psychoanalytical motif we must first understand the level four of the Graves and Jungian developmental model to the human threshold system. And I promise, it is much easier to understand then it sounds.
First, a level four person, on the conscious level, is a rigid orderer in society. They follow rules, and set a boundless set of expectations for themselves and others. They sacrifice on a conscious level and they sacrifice themselves. Sound like someone familiar. Bleek consistently sacrifices himself for his music and order is practically the middle name for Bleek. Bleek respects authority, and for him music is authority. The craft of his art becomes his obsession. Bleek lives, sleeps and breaths music. He wakes up thinking about music; he goes to sleep thinking about music. Music creates order in his life. And he structures his life around the “order” of music. He sets specific times to practice, to clean his instrument, and to create new songs. As he tells Clarke, “Life is short, I need it like this to do all the things I gotta do, I like order.”
But in order for Bleek to have this much control in his life through music what exactly does he suppress unconsciously. Interestingly the archetype for the orderer is the shadow. A coincidence, I think not. The shadow archetype of the orderer has needs, doubts, sins, or happiness that becomes suppressed by the orderer in the unconscious. Therefore, my premise is that Shadow becomes the perfect example of the archetype of Bleek. Shadow does not respect authority, he does not respect the authority of Bleek, and he does not respect boundaries because he sleeps with Clarke. Shadow will never compromise or sacrafice himself for anybody. Shadow plots to steal the band, but most of all Shadow wants to play music for money not art. And Bleek will never compromise his art for money. Shadow represents just about everything that Bleek is not.
In conclusion, I was going to analyze the character of Giant and how name is also a metaphoric representation for his inferiority complex, but decided not to, this blog is already too long. Indigo, of course is a shade for a darker blue and is also the name of one of Bleek’s girlfriends. There also happens to be dark shades of blue throughout the film. So maybe through blue in the film, Spike Lee is continually linking Indigo to Bleek. And Clarke, the other girlfriend of Bleek, is the last name of an American jazz drummer who was a significant contributor to bebop. Do not know if I am pushing that last name link, but the tie is interesting.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Reader Response: Round Midnight
In general, I thought the movie “Round Midnight” was interesting. But for me personally the narrative was kind of hard to follow. I personally hated Dale Turner’s accent, dialogue, diction, whatever the hell caused him to mumble, slur his word. With all honestly I just could not understand a thing the man was saying, and it was not until subtitles were activated that I was able to fully comprehend the dialogue.
Furthermore, once again we are presented with another movie about jazz whose protagonist character is self destructive and riddled with drug problems. Dale Turner, as presented in the movie, has an alcohol problem which feeds into his self-destructive nature. Turner is hardly able to function in Paris without help from his band members and the black woman staying at the hotel. But what became most apparent to me about Turner was his isolation and alienation from everyone around him. Paradoxically, Turner is lonely, but he is always surrounded by people. He is a jazz artist at the end of his prime, and through his self-destructive habits, Turner can barely function. He cannot feed himself, dress himself or pay his own bills, but brilliantly even if he is drunk and stumbling he is able to still perform on stage in front of an audience. The movie gives the impression that this artist lives for his music, and music or jazz is the only thing that keeps Turner alive.
In conclusion, I thought I would comment on the racial dynamics of the movie a bit. I think that it is interesting that the white man (forgot his name) is taking care of his daughter financially, but her mother will not give him any money to even take care of her. Juxtaposed to the white man and his daughter is Turner who always mentions a daughter but, the audience, never sees her or her mother. Emotionally and financially the white father has decided to take care of his daughter, even though he is struggling, but Turner does not even see his child on a weekly or monthly basis. I understand that Turner is in another country and his time is limited, but he also does not converse with any family members that we know about. It reaffirms the notion of the white man as legitimately responsible, while Turner, the black man, is not responsible with his personally life or his outside responsibilities.
Also, I was also irritated at the limited constructed portrayal of the black woman in this movie. The black woman, who helps Turner, is shown to be loud, rude, abrasive, nosey and controlling. While she helps Turner, she always has an attitude about it. As if Turner is a burden to her, and he may be. But Turner does get home, he has a place to live and he eats, even though the black woman treats him as a child. It seems to echo that, yes, black women are strong providers but in order for them to do so they must emasculate all men especially black men.
Furthermore, once again we are presented with another movie about jazz whose protagonist character is self destructive and riddled with drug problems. Dale Turner, as presented in the movie, has an alcohol problem which feeds into his self-destructive nature. Turner is hardly able to function in Paris without help from his band members and the black woman staying at the hotel. But what became most apparent to me about Turner was his isolation and alienation from everyone around him. Paradoxically, Turner is lonely, but he is always surrounded by people. He is a jazz artist at the end of his prime, and through his self-destructive habits, Turner can barely function. He cannot feed himself, dress himself or pay his own bills, but brilliantly even if he is drunk and stumbling he is able to still perform on stage in front of an audience. The movie gives the impression that this artist lives for his music, and music or jazz is the only thing that keeps Turner alive.
In conclusion, I thought I would comment on the racial dynamics of the movie a bit. I think that it is interesting that the white man (forgot his name) is taking care of his daughter financially, but her mother will not give him any money to even take care of her. Juxtaposed to the white man and his daughter is Turner who always mentions a daughter but, the audience, never sees her or her mother. Emotionally and financially the white father has decided to take care of his daughter, even though he is struggling, but Turner does not even see his child on a weekly or monthly basis. I understand that Turner is in another country and his time is limited, but he also does not converse with any family members that we know about. It reaffirms the notion of the white man as legitimately responsible, while Turner, the black man, is not responsible with his personally life or his outside responsibilities.
Also, I was also irritated at the limited constructed portrayal of the black woman in this movie. The black woman, who helps Turner, is shown to be loud, rude, abrasive, nosey and controlling. While she helps Turner, she always has an attitude about it. As if Turner is a burden to her, and he may be. But Turner does get home, he has a place to live and he eats, even though the black woman treats him as a child. It seems to echo that, yes, black women are strong providers but in order for them to do so they must emasculate all men especially black men.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Space is the Place: Reader Response
"Calling Planet Earth...Calling Planet Earth" PLEASE can somebody answer the damn phone....
I love crazy sci-fi movies so when approaching this movie I was intrigued, but soon became very confused and tired. Therefore, I will keep this blog nice and simple by only analyzing two scenes in the movie that I was the most interested in deconstructing.
The first scene is in the youth center where on the wall they have various pictures of black activist. There are pictures and sketches of Huey Newton, Angela Davis, Fredrick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, Marvin Gaye, Malcolm X and some others that I do not recognize. The scene makes it apparent that the room holds not only the present generation of youths but an older generation of blacks as well. This scene becomes even more interesting because the young adults in the room are playing pool, singing, shooting craps, yet all around them are examples of black activist, yet the young black people are doing nothing revolutionary. They are not changing history like the other blacks presented on the wall have done; instead they are singing, playing pool and stealing shoes from intoxicated men. I also thought it was interesting that Martin Luther King was not present on the wall or maybe I did not see him. But I rewind the scene quite a few times, and I still did not notice any King’s on the wall. There were many pictures of Angela Davis and the picture of Fredrick Douglass stood out, but I did not see any pic’s of Martin Luther King. But they were a lot of black panthers in the pictures as well.
When Sun Ra appeared in the room he is yet again confusing when he says to the young black people“you don’t exist in this society, if you did your people wouldn’t be seeking equal rights. You’re not real..So we’re both myths.. I come to you as the myth, because that’s what black people are. I came from a dream that the black man dreamed….I am actually a presence sent to your by your ancestors.” This quote of course is confusing and ambiguous, but I still think that Sun Ra is saying something important and of significance here. So in order to gain insight we have to read beyond the ambiguity of his language.
For example, when he states that black is just a myth and they do not exist because they do not have any rights is a valid description of racial politics in the United States. When Sun Ra said this I kept remembering the Langston Hughes poem, “Let America Be America Again”. Where Hughes has a line that reiterates the subservient social status of minorities in America:
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
But, as Hughes has articulated in his poem, freedom and equality, which constructs America, has never been that place for blacks. Therefore, when Sun Ra states that black is a myth, I can perceive that he may be defining race as a social construction. Sun Ra is also summarizing, in the quote, that because blacks are marginalized and pushed to the boundaries of history or civilization then blacks do not have any citizenship or status. This argument of course is not something new or revolutionary to the historical discourse surrounding racial politics, even though Sun Ra and this movie present it as such.
The second scene that I thought was interesting was the prostitution scene. Specifically, when the black and white women are supposed to have sex with the influent white men, and yes the scene is basically self explanatory. But a closer analysis of the scene can be useful in demonstrating the overall gender and racial power matrices presented in the movie. Obviously, the white men hold power and prestige in which they exert over other people and specifically black people in that particular scene. Hence when the one man says to the black prostitute, “We been trying to get a coon on the moon, but we can’t have any run in and say the jig is up,” the climax of the scene unfolds when the two black men in the room jump out of the closet and tells the white men that the “jig is up” after the white men are not able to perform sexually. Now the power hierarchy in the room has changed and the status of the white males’ sexuality has been diminished because they cannot perform sexually like the other black men in the room. The black men never have problems performing sexually with women.
Furthermore, the white men not only feels inferior to the black man’s Phallus, but is further emasculated when the white and black women laugh and call them punks. But of course the power structure is not able to function with the white males’ sexuality and masculinity diminished. To reaffirm their status and social power as white men, they proceed to go back to the room and beat both women until they lose consciousness. And if that is not enough proof of their masculinity and social power, both white men decide to remind the other black woman, the owner of the establishment, of her subservient position and status by calling her a nigger.
I love crazy sci-fi movies so when approaching this movie I was intrigued, but soon became very confused and tired. Therefore, I will keep this blog nice and simple by only analyzing two scenes in the movie that I was the most interested in deconstructing.
The first scene is in the youth center where on the wall they have various pictures of black activist. There are pictures and sketches of Huey Newton, Angela Davis, Fredrick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, Marvin Gaye, Malcolm X and some others that I do not recognize. The scene makes it apparent that the room holds not only the present generation of youths but an older generation of blacks as well. This scene becomes even more interesting because the young adults in the room are playing pool, singing, shooting craps, yet all around them are examples of black activist, yet the young black people are doing nothing revolutionary. They are not changing history like the other blacks presented on the wall have done; instead they are singing, playing pool and stealing shoes from intoxicated men. I also thought it was interesting that Martin Luther King was not present on the wall or maybe I did not see him. But I rewind the scene quite a few times, and I still did not notice any King’s on the wall. There were many pictures of Angela Davis and the picture of Fredrick Douglass stood out, but I did not see any pic’s of Martin Luther King. But they were a lot of black panthers in the pictures as well.
When Sun Ra appeared in the room he is yet again confusing when he says to the young black people“you don’t exist in this society, if you did your people wouldn’t be seeking equal rights. You’re not real..So we’re both myths.. I come to you as the myth, because that’s what black people are. I came from a dream that the black man dreamed….I am actually a presence sent to your by your ancestors.” This quote of course is confusing and ambiguous, but I still think that Sun Ra is saying something important and of significance here. So in order to gain insight we have to read beyond the ambiguity of his language.
For example, when he states that black is just a myth and they do not exist because they do not have any rights is a valid description of racial politics in the United States. When Sun Ra said this I kept remembering the Langston Hughes poem, “Let America Be America Again”. Where Hughes has a line that reiterates the subservient social status of minorities in America:
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
But, as Hughes has articulated in his poem, freedom and equality, which constructs America, has never been that place for blacks. Therefore, when Sun Ra states that black is a myth, I can perceive that he may be defining race as a social construction. Sun Ra is also summarizing, in the quote, that because blacks are marginalized and pushed to the boundaries of history or civilization then blacks do not have any citizenship or status. This argument of course is not something new or revolutionary to the historical discourse surrounding racial politics, even though Sun Ra and this movie present it as such.
The second scene that I thought was interesting was the prostitution scene. Specifically, when the black and white women are supposed to have sex with the influent white men, and yes the scene is basically self explanatory. But a closer analysis of the scene can be useful in demonstrating the overall gender and racial power matrices presented in the movie. Obviously, the white men hold power and prestige in which they exert over other people and specifically black people in that particular scene. Hence when the one man says to the black prostitute, “We been trying to get a coon on the moon, but we can’t have any run in and say the jig is up,” the climax of the scene unfolds when the two black men in the room jump out of the closet and tells the white men that the “jig is up” after the white men are not able to perform sexually. Now the power hierarchy in the room has changed and the status of the white males’ sexuality has been diminished because they cannot perform sexually like the other black men in the room. The black men never have problems performing sexually with women.
Furthermore, the white men not only feels inferior to the black man’s Phallus, but is further emasculated when the white and black women laugh and call them punks. But of course the power structure is not able to function with the white males’ sexuality and masculinity diminished. To reaffirm their status and social power as white men, they proceed to go back to the room and beat both women until they lose consciousness. And if that is not enough proof of their masculinity and social power, both white men decide to remind the other black woman, the owner of the establishment, of her subservient position and status by calling her a nigger.
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