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What to Watch for This Black History Month
The first Black History Month of the decade is upon us. Everyone–black, white, and every shade in between–may have an opinion on these annual 28 days (29 this year – wooh!) dedicated to blackness, but regardless of opinions, Black History Month is hard to ignore if you live in the United States, Canada or the UK. This decade also marks 100 years of African-Americans recognizing Black history; even though Black History Month only became recognized in the United States in the 1970’s, historian Carter G. Woodson first brought up the idea of a Black History Week in 1926. Here is a short list of some new media to consume this…
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‘Hidden Figures’ and the Importance of Representation
Remember that stand up routine of Chris Rock’s where he expressed that famous quote, “Why the black man gotta fly to something that the white man can walk to?” Well, if you don’t, here’s the video for your convenience. Hidden Figures is not only a film that captures the real life stories of black mathematicians working at NASA during US segregation, it is about female black mathematicians. I had never heard of the names Katherine Goble, Dorothy Vaughn, or Mary Jackson before entering the theatre to watch this film, and that troubles me. Despite a few inaccuracies, the film did a good job of portraying the double oppression these women faced at…
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New Trend: Romanticizing Abusive Relationships
A new image has surfaced of an alternate scene from the recent blockbuster Suicide Squad showing the Joker exerting dominant body language and scolding Harley Quinn during the helicopter escape. The image reinforces the abusive relationship that the Joker and Harley hold in the comics, but that was controversially downplayed in the film in order to cater to a broader audience. Although I found the film entertaining and well cast, it did not seem like anything more than the most basic of basic superhero films. The fact that I had to type superhero bothers me, because this should have been a film about villains fighting worse villains, or at the very least antiheroes, but because of…
