Here’s a touching and important film about how Barack Obama is helping shatter the mythological image of what African American men are “supposed to be like.” The filmmakers ask what’s the difference in masculinity between Barack Obama and 50 Cent. I like it. A lot. Stunningly simple and honest, I also appreciate the film’s intelligent [...]
Here’s a touching and important film about how Barack Obama is helping shatter the mythological image of what African American men are “supposed to be like.”
The filmmakers ask what’s the difference in masculinity between Barack Obama and 50 Cent.
I like it. A lot.
Stunningly simple and honest, I also appreciate the film’s intelligent premise, which avoids blindly blaming rap artists (the artist 50 Cent is cast symbolically as the embodiment of the black hip hop gangsta masculinity image that many see as so damaging to young African American males).
While not perfect, it’s one of many great new projects that add momentum to what some are calling the “Great Awakening” or the “Great Shift” of mankind.
What are your thoughts?
Here is some raw footage from the project that is equally interesting:
More raw footage:
Even more:
Byron Hurt’s documentary “Hip/Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” touched on this theme a few years back….if we are to witness change, or be a part of the “Great Awakening” then the music has to reflect that…bring back X-Clan, bring back Public Enemy, et al. Until the music / media representation reflects a wider range of (black) masculine expression we’ll continue to struggle as a whole.
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Roy I think what’ll happen is that as more people become more awake, they will represent a bigger audience of consumers, which will in turn create a bigger demand, which will spawn a new awakening in music on the biz side, much like with Hollywood, which is also slow but at least has created some memorable work lately in The Great Debaters, The Express, Pursuit of Happiness, Akeelah … and the question will always go back to whether these projects make money regardless of how good they are. But there’ll be a tipping point in terms of demand and then we’ll have PE, XC, but also go back to EWF, etc.
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Thanks for posting this and to my man O’Real for linking me here.
I think so many things as I reflect on this piece…here’s my stream of consciousness.
Byron’s focus is on black manliness. I for a long time have wondered about manliness in general. If the guy that wrote Freakanomics is right in that our general cultural preferences and attitudes trickle down, I think our signals for masculinity come from the captains of our political and economic systems. Does Dick Cheney have a wife? Or Larry Ellison? George W. has one but to me she’s represented as more of a placed product or image than as a human with an opinion.
From the outset however – none of us know either of these guys – we know the image they’ve each created to serve their respective purposes. Still, I suppose we can comment on the images believing that in some way each man intentionally created what we see on the screen.
The DaVinci Code seemed to really kick up the most dust around this male/female cultural imbalance. Then I also think about one of Michael Moore’s films wherein he reflects on what would happen if women stop giving birth as a kind of war protest – I forget the exact argument but it was something along those lines – I found it profound at the time.
Clearly we as a culture are suffering from a gender imbalance. Q-Tip’s latest album has a song that speaks to the power of the male/female unity – I like it.
To the point of bringing back PE and XClan – I think we tend to romanticize the past as if in it lies the secrets to the present…whoa…now I’m railing against this whole site. If you don’t know where you came from you won’t know where you’re going – people like to say that but somehow I feel like what will be has more to do with understanding what IS than with what WAS. It’s a balance and I’m not breaking it down very well here as I type quickly at work but I think we can get so stuck in the past … instead of informing our present experience with wisdom it can shackle our flexibility and limit our creativity because we’re attached to some old idea of how it’s all supposed to look.
But I do keep banging that Black Star album so…maybe I need to take all that back.
Anyhow – this is an important topic. Barack will certainly serve as a counterpoint to the hip hop stations on XM and Sirius that I turn to and promptly turn away from opting to listen to the Chill station instead so that I can at least get a little bit of a groove to snap to from time to time and not feel frustrated when I exit the vehicle. I am happy for us all. These are chaotic times but there’s a hopeful thread running through it all.
Yes we can…in every moment of every day…change.
We’ve heard the quote about the long arc of history bending towards justice…the other day in an email the Dean of the local Episcopal Cathedral here in San Diego said that the arc of the gospel is long and it bends towards inclusion.
Somehow, for me, those images blend together and help to shade the picture of this nation struggling with issues of gender and race and sexuality, wrestling with outdated beliefs and forced to craft a new tomorrow.
I believe we’ll see more women and black folk regarded as the complex, multidimensional gifted and capable human beings that we ALL truly are.
I remain forever hopeful.
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MBM, thank you for your beautifully written and thoughtful words. I agree with all of what you say here. Especially, I believe we are stuck in the past. There are certain lessons that are instructive … but not if we take our eye off of the present and the future. We’re in an unprecedented period of awakening and enlightenment. Very few lessons from the past will serve us, other than the fundamental core universal laws that might have made themselves visible from time to time in history, that we can look at now and show as proof to any non-believers that they really do exist and that a more enlightened future is inevitable whether we go kicking and screaming, or not. My opinion! Meanwhile, I’m a check out that Q-Tip and Black Star!
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