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Post by anansi on May 25, 2016 6:20:36 GMT -5
Do we need this series?? coming off 12yrs a Slave a T.V series Roots remake.Underground.Birth Of A Nation.12 years A Slave. www.youtube.com/results?search_query=django+unchained+trailerDjango Unchained.And I am sure there is more on the way, this is simply over kill imo, yes we need these stories told but forchrissakes that's not all there is, who is deciding and green lighting this new rash of Slave epics every other month it seems, whats the message behind the message.
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Post by nebsen on May 25, 2016 18:49:30 GMT -5
Yes, It seems like over kill on the Slave Narrative films that are coming out of Hollywood & television these days. Hollywood is very formulaic in that a film like " 12 years A slave" received critical success( Best Picture Of The Year Academy Award; along with its Black British director Steve McQueen , Best Supporting Academy award for Lupita Nyong'o & made the star of "12 Years A slave," Chiwetel Ejiorfore almost a house hold name, who is a fantastic trained actor! Hollywood saw $$$ being made, by trying to replicate the success of 12 Years A Slave, with knock off films so to speak, although the film about Nat Tuner seems like a great independent film, that I'm glad was made. It was said 12 Years A slave " was a game changer" & it was !
For me the other part of this, is demand . If more people of African descent made it known that they( we ) want more than films about slavery & enslaved Africans (some think it is blasphemy to not embrace this part of our history which quilt seems to stop many from seeing beyond the salve narrative ) IMO . They do not teach African history in our schools, I believe Philadelphia school system was the first back in the early 2000's to have a text books about Africa, along with the history of African American . I have stated a number of times in my post here that even on PBS during Black History month, will only cover Slavery & the Civil Rights Movement & never have any documentary's about Africa, past or present , although they have done doc on Timbuktu & the lost manuscripts, Louis Henry Gates made a doc on African early 2000's, & of course those suspect doc on ancient Nubia, with all the white talking heads separating White Egypt, from Black Nubia ! Other racial groups like now in May is Asian History Month, & you get a plethora of documentaries , on ancient China, Japan, etc. The same with Hispanics( Latinos ) documentaries on the Aztecs & Mayan civilizations , but we get nothing on that order, & mind you PBS is suppose to be a so called Liberal network. Now about film makers, where are their documentaries, on ancient civilizations of ancient Africa ? Are they being made ? I would say yes, all one has to do is check out the African Film Festival every year , & you will see at lest one, concerning Africa . But we don't seem to be very interested in our ancient history, & I'm not just referring to ancient Egypt either. In the late 80's into the 90's their seemed to be a great interest in our ancient history but it seems that has peaked . Many will not read a book, but will see a film" A picture is worth a thousand words"; It seems like Black people with money still have chains on their brains when it comes to Africa & it's history. We need to demand more of ourselves our children schools & the film industry. I believe well researched documentary's can lay down the ground work for a feature film to be made. China has build the worlds largest film studio, & getting ready to make mega block busters film on ancient China. Also they are partnering with American film studios to make joint films together , China long term goal is to over take Hollywood & dominate the worlds film industry, & if so they sure in the hell will not be interested in making films about ancient Africa, & Black people !
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Post by nebsen on May 25, 2016 19:09:42 GMT -5
This is what China well be doing more of , we need to be taking notes !
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Post by nebsen on May 27, 2016 3:24:35 GMT -5
Cameron Clarke, scored a 2400 on the SAT ! This brother is also a 1st chair cellist, & also runs on the cross country team . I thought this info. reminds us that a whole bright future awaits many young black children, only if we encourage their genius ; than the face of film making will sureally change. Attachments:
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Post by obsidian71 on May 28, 2016 18:52:34 GMT -5
Blacks in Hollywood are afraid and for good reason. Once you get blacklisted in Hollywood you essentially fall into a black hole. The only way we are going to get what needs to be done is to align eventually with Nollywood.
Remember that Will Smith was supposed to play Taharka in the movie The Last Pharaoh. They even announced that Randal Wallace (Braveheart) was going to assist on the script. That was 5 years ago and it appears mothballed. I said to myself "it'll never happen" and sadly I'm correct thusfar. A Taharka movie is problematic for a couple of reasons.
1. It forces the West to confront the reality of a darker Egypt than they feel comfortable with. Even if you put really pale people in as Egyptians it would show a black ruling class ..also a no no. 2. Jews like to believe that God mysteriously vanquished the Assyrians and that Egyptian forces had nothing to do with anything.
Younger blacks see Kemetian symbols and don't think "wow cool Egypt" they start yammering about Illuminati (sigh). I've just accepted the fact that the slave narrative fulfills the ideology that the majority likes to see here. They love seeing a dysfunctional portrayal of black people. It's become the natural order.
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Post by nebsen on May 28, 2016 22:40:44 GMT -5
Blacks in Hollywood are afraid and for good reason. Once you get blacklisted in Hollywood you essentially fall into a black hole. The only way we are going to get what needs to be done is to align eventually with Nollywood. Remember that Will Smith was supposed to play Taharka in the movie The Last Pharaoh. They even announced that Randal Wallace (Braveheart) was going to assist on the script. That was 5 years ago and it appears mothballed. I said to myself "it'll never happen" and sadly I'm correct thusfar. A Taharka movie is problematic for a couple of reasons. 1. It forces the West to confront the reality of a darker Egypt than they feel comfortable with. Even if you put really pale people in as Egyptians it would show a black ruling class ..also a no no. 2. Jews like to believe that God mysteriously vanquished the Assyrians and that Egyptian forces had nothing to do with anything. Younger blacks see Kemetian symbols and don't think "wow cool Egypt" they start yammering about Illuminati (sigh). I've just accepted the fact that the slave narrative fulfills the ideology that the majority likes to see here. They love seeing a dysfunctional portrayal of black people. It's become the natural order. shadowandact.com/Here is a link that you might like. " Shadow & Act", Films Of the African Diaspora It is sad for me to hear your thoughts on the subject esp. about the Illuminati which is a very corrupt, & distorted understanding of the term . I don't know about Nollywood being an alternative for the making of historical films such Taharka . I think will Smith had good intentions, but it also sounded like he was" full of himself" when he started announcing to the world he wanted to make such a film as Taharka. In stead he made that horrible flop" After Earth" & it has been down hill ever since for him ! We all thought, if any one could get a film such as Taharka green lite ; it might be him, since he was the" darling' of the Hollywood industry at the time.But he wanted to star in such a film which I thought would not work, you really need some one with acting chops such as a Idris Elba, or the likes. I think he would have been better as a producer along with other black & whites heavy wights, to do such a film. The source material was there in the book" The Rescue Of Jerusalem" : the Alliance Between Hebrews & African in 701 BC,by Henry T. Aubin, which many here at ESR, feel is a "stellar" book on the subject . A missed opportunity for it takes years to lay down the ground work,for such a film project, before one starts announcing to the world your intentions. Hopefully he learned a good lesson, & in the mean time, we will have to wait for the " chosen one", to make such a film in the future, if ever.
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Post by obsidian71 on May 30, 2016 5:52:17 GMT -5
Nebsen i'm one of the few people who are beating the "Idris Elba as Taharqa" drum. He'd be great! I thought Will Smith was only suitable for star power Thanks for highlighting that book i'm going to go check it out now.
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Post by anansi on Jun 1, 2016 18:41:24 GMT -5
How Snoop feels about the whole thing, I donno if he views ESR but he was on point with his comments.
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Post by nebsen on Jun 1, 2016 19:47:08 GMT -5
How Snoop feels about the whole thing, I donno if he views ESR but he was on point with his comments. Snoop Dog, is a person of the' Hip hop culture " that I really could not stomach . Even in watching this video my first instinct was to turn it off! The use of the N word, & all the over the top profanity, does nothing to redeem him in my eyes; but if Snoop dog is decrying all the slave narrative films, than we should take heed ! But one must give credit where credit is due. It seems no one else that can get media attention is speaking out.Just came from the Root.com & they seem that they can't wait for the series to start. With Snoop Dog complaining, I feel he will be taken like a grain of salt & dismissed. We need some real ' heavy hitters " in the Black media world, to come out with some' shade" on Roots , than maybe the complaints will be taken seriously, & to start thinking critically about these slave narrative films & in which context to view them .
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Post by seekeroftruth on Jun 11, 2016 18:27:44 GMT -5
Cameron Clarke, scored a 2400 on the SAT ! This brother is also a 1st chair cellist, & also runs on the cross country team . I thought this info. reminds us that a whole bright future awaits many young black children, only if we encourage their genius ; than the face of film making will sureally change. Wow!I never thought in a million years I'd see my friend on a site like this. Not only is he an intelligent person, but he's a great friend.
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Post by anansi on Jun 12, 2016 3:37:07 GMT -5
Great link Nebsen will bookmark it for future reference. And yeah Elba would make a great Taharka, but at the time when he went to war for the rescue of Jerusalem he was quite young probably no more than a teenager, but him playing Piankhi would be on the money.. Ironically the dude that played Kunta Kinte could be a neat fit, the only problem he would face according to me is drawing power, if it's a theater release rather than cable.
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Post by nebsen on Jun 12, 2016 4:43:23 GMT -5
Yes the brother that plays kuta Kenty Malachi Kirby would be great. I also think that Mike Colter who is now playing the lead in this film production from Marvel( Luke Cage) would also be a good fit. When I first saw him on the' Good Wife' a couple a years ago, I said to myself, he would be a great Taharka for he has a very regal air about him; One thing about the 25th dynasty you can have more than one brother playing in such a film as Taharka They are now beginning to cast brothers in hero roles as Comic book hero's , so maybe the next step, would be casting the brothers in historical heroic leads, such as in a film like Taharka Attachments:
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Post by zarahan on Jun 22, 2016 11:15:27 GMT -5
Great link Nebsen will bookmark it for future reference. And yeah Elba would make a great Taharka, but at the time when he went to war for the rescue of Jerusalem he was quite young probably no more than a teenager, but him playing Piankhi would be on the money.. Ironically the dude that played Kunta Kinte could be a neat fit, the only problem he would face according to me is drawing power, if it's a theater release rather than cable. It would be great if they could put together one on Taharqua or at least the Kushite-Egyptian empire. Hell they could even tie it into a Black-Jewish thing, only this time it is black folk coming to rescue Jerusalem. That would be a real change and a much more lively challenge compared to another slave narrative. Maybe too challenging for Hollywood.
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Post by samuel on Jun 23, 2016 22:45:47 GMT -5
No shit yo. It gets so tiring. Birth of a Nation is coming out. Roots was good though in the sense that it showed Africans in Africa as having civilization and a strong social culture. I also learned that it was greedy Africans who kidnapped other Africans sold them to Europeans for money weapons etc and not white Europeans conquering the poor Africans. It empowers Africans more from my view. I would love to see a movie or show with an Egyptian pharoah portrayed by a black actor. That would be amazing.
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Post by samuel on Jun 23, 2016 22:56:21 GMT -5
This is what China well be doing more of , we need to be taking notes ! China is also investing a TON of money into Africa. Infrastructure business partnerships etc. Did you guys know about that huge damn that is almost complete in Ethiopia?? The grand Renaissance Ethiopian damn. The largest in Africa. ITS ALMOST COMPLETE. amazing. All thanks to China and their money. Will Ethiopia put in most of the money but the Chinese put in their engineering expertise and workers. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam
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