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Perfect Parenting.

The phrase “perfect parents” seems impossible, perfection can only be done for one thing. No child is exactly like another and each parent has to learn and adapt to the many changes a child will go through as they grow up. This is even harder when an outsider sees one’s efforts, which to their knowledge may not be enough. The movie “Mr. Crockett” takes a look at this. Mr. Crockett seems to be an unholy entity set on making sure children are always happy. Whenever a child is being mistreated, he appears as a video cassette, slowly keeping his eyes on the children. The first time we meet Mr. Crockett occurs when a father forces his son to eat his greens by himself. His mother tries to speak up for the boy but his father stops her. After forcefully trying to get the boy to eat Mr. Crockett appears. He gruesomely returns the father’s work back on him, forcing him to eat something disgusting and when he doesn’t cuts a hole into him and stuffs in the meal. By the time the mother realizes something is wrong the boy is gone with Mr. Crockett. This is shown once again with a little girl whose father seems to be a drug addict. He is also brutally murdered upon the arrival of Mr. Crockett. We follow our main character, a mother who just lost her husband, trying to relate to her son. The boy is a nightmare, making it incredibly difficult for his mother to be a “good mother.” At the end of her rope, she lashes out verbally at him, which was all Mr. Crockett needed. He collects the boy, prompting his mother to go looking for him. What baffles me about the movie however is, the parents are given an ultimatum. Yes, not all the parents were good ones, but even those that tried to be better almost had no better luck. Mr. Crockett also seemed to have a vendetta against males due to his childhood, which if that is the case makes his take on fathers a bit...biased. Why I say this is, upon the return of her son, the boy is worst than when he left. Actively wounding anyone he deems a threat. Which may very well cause the same cycle Mr. Crockett aimed to eradicate to repeat.

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The Curse of Polymorphing

In the game of Dungeons and Dragons there is a spell called Polymorph, which transforms a creature in your field of view into a new form. Humans can do something close to this through “passing”. The issue however is that with polymorphing the creature only changes its form. To help my point the film “Sorry to bother you” offers a visual. In an alternate version of Oakland, we meet our main character Cassius Green. He takes on a telemarking job selling things to predominantly white people. Despite his best efforts nothing he seems to try works, that changes after a conversation with a more veteran workmate. He recommends Cassius to use his “white voice”, a way of speaking to make himself appealing to customers. Cassius having exhausted his other options takes the advice and finds himself doing far better. He does so well that he is promoted to a “Power Caller” an incentive held over the other telemarketers. This position comes with a price, he now sells very questionable things or exorbitant prices. This allows him many luxuries, he gets a new house, a fancy car and even the elevator to his office is unnecessarily fancy. However, the friends he came with also start to leave, even his girlfriend claims he’s no longer the person she knew. It takes a head when he becomes the media laughing stock after having a can thrown at his head. However much like with Polymorph the only thing that changes is the form. Cassius finds out the dark secrets that the company has been hiding, creating the perfect subservient work force, making people into tireless work horses, literally. He now has to show that his “white voice” isn’t what he is, he is still the same person under this mask. He does everything he can, going to the media, taking ridicule, facing his workmates and law enforcement. Despite all of that when he finally believes himself to be back to his original form, he quite literally transforms into a work horse.

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Why has no one made this?

During the era of the slave trade, pirates existed, why has no one ever come up with why couldn’t an escapee become a pirate and the biggest threat to the trade. A young member of a thriving tribe is captured and chained, loaded onto a ship and they set out for the Americas. On the voyage they see how the “cargo” is treated. One particular day a sudden storm wrecks the ship; they struggle to keep afloat until the weight of the chains pull them underwater and they loose consciousness.  They wake up surrounded by people. They learn that around the path the ships take they are islands of escapee’s who have been trying to make the best with what the islands have to offer. As they start to grow the island is found by pirates, pirates make trade and talk to the main character about their adventures and the trade. Main character sneaks onto one of the boats and during a fight between the pirates and a ship, main character proves themself useful. They are welcomed into the crew and as they years go by, they amass a following of their own. Taking down more and more ships as they add more people to the islands going so far as to form a kingdom of their own.  Privateers start to hunt them, discovering the islands, which causes a small war. It ends with a woman telling the story to her child, like it’s some sort of myth, only for the crew to break in and find the pair, welcoming them to their island kingdom.

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Chess the game of war.

To anyone who knows how to play the game of chess it is unlikely that you can win a game without the loss or sacrifice of pieces. If that does happen your opponent played badly or is severely under skilled compared to you. The same can be said for war in every definition of the term. In the film “The Spook who sat by the door” we follow Dan Freeman a soft-spoken veteran. He is recruited by the CIA along with a few others in an effort to improve a white senator’s standing with black voters. The program is made to fail with the only reason for it’s creation being to appear inclusive. Many of the other recruits slowly fail until the only one left is Dan. He is then used as a poster to show just how inclusive the agency is while he does absolutely nothing. He later decides to leave going back to Chicago where he now works for a social services agency...as his guise. He realized that the training he received could be thought to street gangs. During the time set in this film negros are still looked down as far less than whites. Dan believes that if these gang members were better equipped and educated much of the problems that they are currently facing would diminish. He puts his plan into motion, training the gangs in various forms of warfare and establishing factions amongst them so if he is unable to lead, they can do so themselves. This causes a rift between one of his close friends, who he later has to kill. He explains to his followers that this is the cost of war, not everyone will be on your side and much like with chess sometimes you need to sacrifice a piece to win the game.

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The Struggle of fighting the Ouroboros called life.

Life is a strange phenomenon, you are born one day, you might be taken care of for a few years, then you have to figure it all out on your own from there. This usually results in cycles, a repetition of what you have seen or experienced good or bad. A film that looks at this is “Boyz N the Hood.” Boyz N the Hood follows the lives of three boys; Doughboy, Ricky Baker and Tre Styles and the fact that they are close friends but their lives differ drastically. Doughboy and Ricky are half brothers, sharing the same mother but follow two completely separate paths. Ricky is gifted a football by his father and makes it his whole personality. He always keeps it by his side, claiming that one day he’s going to be a famous football player. He succeeds at this getting himself the opportunity to get a scholarship for the sport. His mother loves this about him. On the other hand, Doughboy goes down a darker path, at a young age he’s arrested for robbing a store and as he grows up only goes down further. The differences are even more apparent as the audience sees the blatant favoritism their mother shows for Ricky, even going so far as to blame Doughboy for his death, when there was nothing, he could have done about it. The two sides of this coin are met by Tre, the only person in the trio with an active father figure. His father tries to teach him how to be a good man, possibly a better man than he is. However, at the end of the day it is clear that no matter how hard you try to direct someone, unless they choose it for themselves, they will not change. This is made clear when Tre wants to follow Doughboy to kill the persons who killed Ricky. On the way there, he wants out and leaves before the act is done. Doughboy catches Ricky’s killer and kills him. A few weeks later Doughboy is killed as well. Tre is the only one of the trio that lives in the end. Ricky wanted to break the cycle and leave but before he could he was shot. Doughboy accepted that he was a part of the cycle and his eventual death as a result of it. Tre seeing this wanted out, and luckily for him he succeeded.

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Is the bliss of ignorance worth the pain of discovery?

The phrase "ignorance is bliss" suggests that a lack of knowledge can lead to a happier, more carefree existence. Having an awareness of things and troubling realities can cause distress or complicate life unnecessarily. This is seen best in, “Blink Twice” as it explores themes of awareness and the consequences of ignorance. The film’s protagonist, feels complacent about her life, a lack of excitement per se. She is given the opportunity to change this as she is welcomed to the private island of a millionaire along with a few other girls. She enjoys the life but overtime it feel wrong. It all comes to a head when someone is bitten by a snake. Giving a ironic sense of two negatives make a positive. Apparently, all the girls have been drugged with an amnesia inducing serum and snake poison counteracts that. The main character learns that knowledge is power, but it also comes with significant burdens. As the characters uncover what has been going on the question is posed, how will you grapple with the moral implications of your newfound awareness. While ignorance might offer temporary peace, “Blink Twice” illustrates how facing uncomfortable truths can lead to personal growth and empowerment. The journey of the characters highlights that, although knowledge can be daunting, it is ultimately necessary for taking control of one’s fate and fighting against manipulation. The tension between these two ideas serves as a central conflict, showcasing the importance of awareness in navigating a complex and often dark world.

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Tradition...peer pressure from dead people?

One thing history is known for is tradition. A set of rules or activities that have been passed down by older generations. This however is not always a good thing, some traditions were done out of survival or to maintain a power dynamic and as such become barbaric over time. A great example of both sides of this is the movie Moolaade. It follows Colle the third and favourite wife of the most reasonable man in the village. She is known in the village for refusing to have her daughter “cut”, as a result of this a group of young girls seek refuge with her in hopes of preventing themselves from being cut. Colle invokes the Moolaade, a “magical protection” which prevents the elders chasing the girls to come after them while they are in her home. Things come to a head upon the arrival of the chief’s son from France. His arrival puts a strain on the traditions of the village because his father refuses for him to marry Colle’s daughter because she is uncut but would have him marry a child because she is cut. The merchant of the village, Mercenaire, calls out this backward behaviour and is later killed for it. It is not until after watching Colle be almost whipped to death that the women of the village come together to stand against this ritual. They are joined by Colle’s husband and the chief’s son, signalling the possibility of change.  

In closing tradition is not a bad thing however if you explain it to a foreigner and they question it, it may be time to review why that tradition is done. The moolaade was a tradition and following it is what saved the girls, it did far more good than bad. On the other hand cutting only served the men of the village and if something only serves one group it is bound to hurt the other.

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The Cost of Intellect

Intelligence is often believed to come along with depression. Having a higher understanding of things makes you question the way reality works and as such grossly affects one’s mood. Imagine speaking a different language and trying to communicate with someone who cannot speak it. It puts you in the position where either, you try to find someone who can share in your tongue or you learn the tongue of those you seek to speak with. In the film “American Fiction” the audience is given a visual of what this is like. Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is a great academic writer, his novels receive academic praise, and yet they sell poorly, with his publishers rejecting his latest manuscript for not being "Black enough". After an altercation with a student over a racial issue, (a white student having issue with the presence of the n-word in a piece of literature) his university places him on temporary leave, and suggests he attend a literary seminar and spend time with family in his hometown of Boston. At the seminar, his panel is poorly attended, in contrast to a packed room for an interview with Sintara Golden, whose bestselling novel We's Lives in Da Ghetto panders to Black Stereotypes. His trip to Boston is laced with events, his sister’s death, his mother’s Alzheimer’s disease and his estranged brother Cliff. In hopes of looking after his mother’s bills he writes a “joke book” a piece of literature he doesn’t take seriously and attempts to publish it. To his surprise not only does it do will but it becomes a best seller. Monk even tries to make it worse in renaming it but it only seeks to make the book even better. It all comes to a head when he is on a panel for Literary Awards  and his book comes up and wins.