Movie Night Link: The Woman King at 6:20pm EST TONIGHT
Added 2023-04-30 18:26:27 +0000 UTCCan’t wait to watch with y’all
Comments
To be clear(and i apologize if i wasnt) i understand enjoying the film, and getting some empowerment out of it. Even if this wasnt my cup of tea, that In it of itself its fine. Im not tryna yuck up the fun. And i apologize if i came off abrasive. But it was just listening to your commentary and logics, i just thought it was missing some context regarding the discourse, from the historical facts to how historical epics are received in general. I do enjoy your honest thoughts, just had some of my own watching is why i wrote
Stephen B
2023-05-03 18:29:30 +0000 UTCHi, thank you for your comment, and I appreciate the pushback as it gives me a chance to respond more thoughtfully than just what I'm saying off the cuff. As someone who is online a lot, the diaspora wars are something that, to me, makes me frustrated because it tends to flatten the conversation about the nuances of representation. And while there were and are legitimate issues to address about the woman king and the sort of Pan-African approach it takes (the ending monologue was a bit much, I would agree), there were also people criticizing it for emasculating men. Yes, there was backlash for those other movies, but if you talk to Black creatives (and as a Black creative myself), there is also a long-standing conversation about how much we can engage in telling stories without it only being about representation (which yes it matters, but representation means different things to different people). As someone who is a descendant of Slavery, I get the idea that people would be offended by putting Dahomey in a hyper-positive light, especially how it chooses to end by not addressing that Ghezo continued the slave trade. That is worth discussing and critiquing. I just also think it is worth critiquing in the lens that this genre flattens history all the time and being hyper-critical of BIPOC works for the sake of historical accuracy feels disingenuous when it is by people who (a) don't care and (b) are not invested in the history or even the storytelling, but the optics of creating division. What I saw negative online in my part of the internet was largely that, which is what colors my perspective.
Princess Weekes
2023-05-01 15:27:26 +0000 UTCIm confused by your response to the discourse and dissent on this film. You often speak about representation and how impactful it is in media when it comes to the most fantastical stories but see the dissent towards this film as ill thought. You say you dont know the history but also downplay wjat the Dahomeys brutality. I understand its a film, but there will be dissent like any other film using history. If they wanted so bad to make a lean in feminist film in africa(which this is) couldve made it up at least. Because you talk about nuance, but ironically, none of that is given to the Oyo, regarding slave trade, the main Oyo is just a chauvinistic rapist, tho even tho most historians agree(black or not) the Dahomey were the biggest and that King Ghezo overthrew is brother to *continue* the trade. They didnt enslave people who robbed or harmed them, they fought and enslaved them. The last thing i disagree here is about "why is this film getting blame for whitewashing". But that just not true. The Patriot got massive backlash as well as 300 and even epics whos source material is fantasy up like Troy, or biopics of any musicians. This isnt out of nowhere, we just now have a historical in Africa. And yes, there will be black people, who will find it very offensive, knowing what i know. There are plenty of accounts of the Dahomey from other Africans. No its not american slavery but even the very film saw it well enough to think it was bad at the beggining when they talk about what the *Oyo* did. But heres the thing, the discourse isnt idicative of where most people are. The film didnt get an oscar, but it got NCAAP image nomination and will likely get a BET Award nom. So its not like its disliked uniquely as any other major film with black people, regardless of how badly it warps history.
Stephen B
2023-05-01 15:12:03 +0000 UTCAmazing. Stoked to join this for the first time!
Eric C
2023-04-30 19:09:22 +0000 UTCI will stream it into the platform so we can watch my screen
Princess Weekes
2023-04-30 18:45:47 +0000 UTCHow does Crowdcast work? Do we stream the movie on our own? I thought this one was on Netflix in Canada but it isn't :(
Eric C
2023-04-30 18:31:55 +0000 UTC
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