Links Roundup 12.13.12
- More Than A Few Words (Maybe Too Many…) About ‘Django Unchained’ (Shadow and Act)
It is not the definitive, ultimate film about slavery, and it was never intended to be that. It is, after all, a Hollywood studio movie made for the main purpose of entertainment. What it is, is a fantasy of sorts. A sort of wish fulfillment of what one wishes might have been, of black avengers righting wrongs. A black hero who goes through hell and high water to save his damsel in distress. There have been a million movies like that with white characters, so what’s wrong with having a black one doing that for a change? When was the last time you saw a black man on the screen going through the gates of hell and back again with one single purpose in mind, to save the women he loves? I’m think like, never. Some have called Django a “black revenge” film and there’s nothing wrong with that, though some have complained about it. I don’t recall anyone complaining about Jewish revenge films like Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, Spielberg’s Munich or Edward Zwick’s Defiance. Didn’t hear a peep. No one had a problem. But seeing a black men getting payback against slave owners and suddenly people, lots of them who were black, were getting hot under the collar.
- Nelson Mandela Is Going To Die–It’s Sad, But It’s OK (Ground Up)
But Nelson Mandela is mortal. He’s also old. He is 94 and in obviously very frail health. It might be 10 years from now, 5 years, in 2013 or even in the next few weeks, but he is absolutely, unequivocally, unavoidably going to die, as are we all. Moreover, most very old people begin to lose their mental faculties. It’s by time someone said it publicly. After all, most of us talk about it privately: Madiba is losing his mental faculties. Only those closest to him know how seriously he is losing his faculties but we all know, from several public clues, that there is some loss and it appears to be quite serious. It is sad, but there should be no shame in this and no embarrassment. It does not tarnish his legacy. What’s happening to him is a natural part of life and death and it’s by time we said and accepted it, openly, publicly and without euphemism. The currently living Nelson Mandela no longer has any substantial influence on South African politics. On the other hand, his lifetime’s work and our memories of what he has achieved have a profound influence on South Africa and the world. They will continue to do so long after he has died. The myth-making about Mandela, the continued suggestion by the ANC that he’s infallible and superhuman and the pretence by the DA that it carries his mantle, coupled with the failure to critically discuss and debate his lifetime’s ideas, actions, successes and failures, does him a disservice. It reduces his life to feel-good quotes and excuses all kinds of bad behaviour done in his name. This dehumanises Mandela and actually means we fail to learn from his achievements.
- Ebony Looks To Its Past As It Moves Forward (The New York Times)
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