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rebelians · 7 years

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In my previous post about Presentation, and positive Representation, I listed many of the first times I saw Myself. Because of shows like The Cosby Show and A different World, we now have so much Black Love and Excellence seen on TV today. I am proud to be a youth in a society where my people are renaming what is is to be Black, the ivtersectionalities that exist in our community. I am proud to see a vast color spectrum, a variety of Continental Africans, Western African Americans, Caribbean, and West Indians. The fact that I can choose which beautiful melanin drenched scripted magic that enforces our Glo. It is trailblazers like Donald Glover, Issa Rae, Ava Duvernay, and Mara Brock Akil, that continue to push us forward and make it alright for us to Shine. This list encompasses my favorite shows that promote healthy living healthy black plight and success in the black community. The shows don’t glamorize or dehumanize black people to un-attainable level but rather show the real in the black community, giving real models not role models. I’m blessed to have such positive and real representations in my life that are relatable while being a guide and versions of what life can be in both negative and positive reinforcements. The first of the many beautiful productions is Queen Sugar.

“Queen Sugar is a visually stunning production, making the most of the waterlogged bayous and swampy farmland of rural Louisiana.”(Saraiya) This colorful description of how Queen Sugar’s production is a visually pleasing aesthetic that takes the mud and swamp and makes it powerful and poetic. Queen Sugar is epic with its glossed frames and natural back drops. Using the actual land to bounce of the melodic skin tones of its leading stars Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Kofi Siriboe playing the conflicted Bordelon siblings. The rough lives of community organizer, wife coping with adultery and separation, and a convict turned business man makes for many interesting tales. This contemporary drama, created by Ava Duvernay (my shero) with writing credits from Anthony Sparks, and on Oprah Winfrey’s network, stands in the sun and speak Confidence. I am Here is the theme for almost all of the positive shows on this list. The impactful and strategy dedicated filming is important to note. From the director of photography Ava Berkofsk of Insecure, to executive producer Ava Duvernay of Queen Sugar new tactics of shaping black faces has become major in creating these needed figures. “The sunlight filters through the clouds and over the shoulders of the Bordelon family with celluloid fluidity, rendering everything within the frame weirdly beautiful”(Saraiya). The importance of Queen Sugar is the humanizing of the south and the softening of our stereotype’s of it. The south is gorgeous, hot, sweaty, has good food, ghetto/country people, very masculine, behind in the times, and all about cooking, farming, and family. These are many stereotypes and fantasies of what the Black South life looks like. Queen Sugar stands up to the bar in order to show some discourse in the dehumanization of people with African ancestry. Although Aunt Vi can throw down and prepare food for her family she has aspirations for her talents. Being an ex-con doesn’t make Rah an unjust person it doesn’t take away from his heart. He is the personification of Tough Times not Lasting but Tough People lasting. While Nova likes to dance and enjoy the herb of the earth she also stands for a cause that isn’t just herself, she stands for her people. To be honest we all found Charlie extremely strong, to leave Davis, along with others I thought she was a role model of how to act with strength in abundance. But that over examination of black women has been in our movies, shows, and literature. Charlie’s character defies this. Having moments of breaking down, and being vulnerable is okay, and even better we will go on. I thank them for the tearing down and rebuilding of the black face. Thankful for the representation.

“…Because the lens so actively humanizes the Bordelons even as others in the narrative would diminish them.”

If we don’t tell our stories and show our face who will?

Continuing to look at how production and media representation is changing, the next show that is standing in truth and reality is Insecure. The white director of photography on Insecure, Ava Berkofsk, wants every scene to be aesthetically pleasing, like a photograph or painting. She says “When I was in film school, no one ever talked about lighting non-white people. There are all these general rules about lighting people of colour, like throw green light or amber light at them. It’s weird.”(Eweniyi)

The reason for this teaching is because the world we live in and the society we stay in have said white people are the worthy, they are going to be the ones on tv shows and movies so we need to not worry about how to light black skin because there will be no black skin in our all white cast. It is important that we are treated and seen as the prepossessing, light defying kings and queens that we are. Insecure captures that. With its writing on real issues that affect young black adults navigating who they are in their communities how to impact their communities and societies for the better, how women are viewed especially black women, and who is the narrator of our experience. The show brings to the table discussion of sexuality and how women are hindered by what they pursue, and how double standards afflict the black community by destroying itself from the inside out. It touches on losing our selves on the journey of life and how we can find our identity once again. There is talk about this show alone saving the “Black Sitcom,” and I believe in it. The ideals of teaching lessons thru humor and good dialogue are what our 90s Black sitcom was built on. The resurgence of genuine music and reality balancing each other out is giving us Soulful renditions of our movies and childhood. We are yet again given a model who exemplifies what is it like to be flawed and living in it day by day. Issa has repeated over and over that she didn’t want to create a show about “the struggle of being black,” but rather, one about “regular black people living life.” Which is a poetic way of giving different perspectives into how we live and continue to rise higher. I am thankful for this representation, and I am thankful to Issa Rae, Melina Matsoukas, Yvonne Orji, Amanda Seales, Natasa Rothwell, and Ava Berkofsk, I see you.

Honorable Mention: On January 10, 2018 at 8:30 on Freeform formally known as ABC family, Grown-ish the clever spin-off of Black-ish will premiere. The parallel of Cosby Show and A Different World, Brownish is exactly what college students like me are looking for. Similar to Denise’s story on The Cosby Show, Zoe goes to a fictional school, away from home leaving behind her younger siblings. Gratitude for this much needed series is more than overdue. For young-adults like me who love A Different World and aspire to be like the characters, having our own A Different World will be powerful. We Thank You Kenya Barris.

Dear White People, even with the freaking title we stepping on necks. Like honestly, this show was one of the best things to come out of this terrible year. With the alternative perspectives and new faces the meaning of what it is to be unapologetically black push through. The show is close to my own experience now, besides the bomb ass love life Sam has, with the pulling of many black groups, the division we face at PWI’s both from white people, disconnect with authority, and the hard journey of one of our most thought of attributes. Being black isn’t saying Dear White People you all are racist, insensitive, horrible, malicious people, but the show focuses on the pointing out of differences not ignoring them but the steps to readjust and fix the oppression that continues on our community. From intersectionalities and finding oneself through characters like Lionel, to the common feeling of trying to make black parents proud despite your goals in Troy, the outright nobility and courage in Reggie, the fear of failing and heavy value on americanization in Coco, and the restlessness and eager spirit of liberation and logic of Sam. Dear White People excels. I’m thankful for the experience of a black community at a White Institution. For me going to Towson is similar to DWP description of Winchester College. Issues like having more Black organizations than you can recall, and all being different in their own right, to slightly being attracted to a white boy, and feeling this betrays your Pro-Black personality, to the dynamic of having all white classmates who aren’t remotely close to you and all under the direction of a White Male teacher. So I thank Justin Simien for your bravery and transparent authenticity.

Another Honorable Mention: Survivors Remorse gives us a glimpse into why many of our pro athletes go broke, get caught up, or loose the bag all together. This show has taken many turns but I am glad to say I still love it- Even tho they killed off my Unc Julius. Still salty on that one.

Everyone’s favorite show to hate and love, Power always ignites a fire in black people to see a Boss like Ghost battle with keeping his footing in his place with success. From Black mothers being mad because Ghost starts falling in love with a white girl (who isn’t even really white, but because she isn’t black- she’s white), and siding with Tasha. To Tommy being a completely impulsive and un-resistable tough guy, who men love to watch. To Ghost making us fall for his charisma, fear his ambition, and be weary of his choices. Only one word sums the feeling of this show- Power.

From Mahershala Ali’s unforgettable, incomparable, and unbelievable performance as Cotton-mouth in only seven episodes, to Mike Colter’s irresistible stone face, Luke Cage makes us proud to be one of the newest Black Supper Hero series.

Honorable Mention: The Get Down and The Life of Jessica James. The series takes place in the Bronx during the 70s, and is all about the discovery of self through the arts, essentially music.

The parallels of different in the black community which usually end up being represented as weird. The fashionable love the 5 Kings have for each other. The rejection aesthetic that Jessica toys with. The love for the moments they all encompass. I’m thankful for both of these representations. I was initially so sad, and heated that Netflix pulled this all POC/black show, due to ‘funding,’ because I felt this was about race. But the way we can look at this is in the aspect of shows like Freaks and Geeks who only had one season and stand as Iconic, so Will the Get Down. Also sidebar Jessica James should be a series, she is literally a style, and self icon. I appreciate the representation.

This show made me wish the people who left my life wellness, had me write a new post-it every minute I felt ANYTHING, and made me see a glimpse of what my life could maybe consist of. Being Mary Jane. A show that doesn’t get enough attention or notoriety, but doesn’t need it. It pulls its weight in dialogue and interest in the community and isn’t affected by its lack of awards nor nominations. Of course as a day one fan of the show since the movie/pilot, I wish that one year my girl Gabriel Union would’ve swept best actress, or we would’ve won best Drama, but so is life. Being Mary Jane does a purposeful job and is deliberate. Of-course it has its times where we do not agree with the subject matter or find it demeaning, but this is seldom. The show gives us enough to be proud of and even more to relate to as growing black women in our careers. It gives light and passion on who we are and can be. I am thankful for this representation of a successful women who truly doesn’t have it all together, a real model. I praise you Mara Brock Akil and Gabriel Union.

Lastly and principally on the list is Golden Globe and Emmy winner, Atlanta. A dream winner who deserved all the accolades we wished them. This epic triggered so many emotions and did so in only one season. Remarkable is the only word to describe the progress. Many counted the rapper Childish Gambino out, thinking how can a rapper know anything of how to make a realistic and interesting show. But the realness Donald Glover brings to the screen is unbearable. From the light and cinematography to the use of trap music, rap, and social issues that strictly matter to the exploration of self, Atalanta is a crazy representation for real life. I praise Donald and Stephen Glover, Lakeith, Zazie, and Brian.

As I said in the first part of this two series epic, these beautiful people continue to promote positive energy for us as adolescence and young adults. It is major to my perspective especially, going to a PWI, that I have loved forced on me in different ways. The shows and short film up top have done just that. As the great hood scholar Tupac Amaru Shakur said “Marvin Gaye use to sing to me, He had me feeling like BLACK was the thing to be…” These souls are speaking to me and re-enforcing in me that Black indeed is the thing to be. We are More than Enough, Worthy, Beautiful, Important, and Needed, we continue to Shine, and to be amongst this ensemble of historic past and future makes me intensively proud each day. Peace x

Positive Representation: How We continue to Shine In my previous post about Presentation, and positive Representation, I listed many of the first times I saw Myself.

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