myosotis
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Interesting comments about Ava Du Vernay, who is campaigning anti-Trump, aiming at black women's votes (LN-relevant extracts below) :
Why Is Ava DuVernay Targeting Black Women?
......Earlier this year, DuVernay had sided with Oprah when the latter decided to step down from her role as an executive producer on the Russell Simmons #MeToo documentary On the Record, which focused on three Black women’s alleged experiences of being sexually assaulted by the record producer. Oprah had misgivings about the way some of the stories were represented in the film, and initially gave very vague statements before confirming that she did believe all the women who came out against Simmons and had not at all been influenced by the accused music mogul to exit the project. Oprah told The New York Times that DuVernay helped her make that decision and even gave a harsh appraisal of On the Record’s two white directors, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, ability to “[capture] the nuances of hip-hop culture and the struggles of black women.”
.....Perhaps, what had been important to Oprah, and by extension DuVernay, was whether such a sought-after name brand should be on something that didn’t fully represent either woman’s view of the world.
Oprah had already supported Dan Reed’s Michael Jackson child-abuse documentary Leaving Neverland, having neither produced nor overseen it in any way. Why such a different standard for a film about Black women’s experiences with abuse in entertainment?
Powerful people, no matter their identity, can themselves become cultural gatekeepers rather than groundbreakers. DuVernay has made a career off of reinterpreting history on her own terms, to varying results, and her distribution company, Array, has been responsible for getting excellent films by new directors to a wider public—most recently Residue, a film tackling the effects of gentrification in a Washington, D.C., neighborhood, has made waves. Yet her very vocal public positioning seems to be much less in solidarity with Black people than it is in power amongst those in entertainment and beyond it. This would be the legacy of Oprah, Jay-Z, Puff Daddy, and even Kanye West, and not of William Greaves, Nina Simone, Ruby Dee, and Ossie Davis, or the L.A. Rebellion.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-is-ava-duvernay-targeting-black-women?source=articles&via=rss
Why Is Ava DuVernay Targeting Black Women?
......Earlier this year, DuVernay had sided with Oprah when the latter decided to step down from her role as an executive producer on the Russell Simmons #MeToo documentary On the Record, which focused on three Black women’s alleged experiences of being sexually assaulted by the record producer. Oprah had misgivings about the way some of the stories were represented in the film, and initially gave very vague statements before confirming that she did believe all the women who came out against Simmons and had not at all been influenced by the accused music mogul to exit the project. Oprah told The New York Times that DuVernay helped her make that decision and even gave a harsh appraisal of On the Record’s two white directors, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, ability to “[capture] the nuances of hip-hop culture and the struggles of black women.”
.....Perhaps, what had been important to Oprah, and by extension DuVernay, was whether such a sought-after name brand should be on something that didn’t fully represent either woman’s view of the world.
Oprah had already supported Dan Reed’s Michael Jackson child-abuse documentary Leaving Neverland, having neither produced nor overseen it in any way. Why such a different standard for a film about Black women’s experiences with abuse in entertainment?
Powerful people, no matter their identity, can themselves become cultural gatekeepers rather than groundbreakers. DuVernay has made a career off of reinterpreting history on her own terms, to varying results, and her distribution company, Array, has been responsible for getting excellent films by new directors to a wider public—most recently Residue, a film tackling the effects of gentrification in a Washington, D.C., neighborhood, has made waves. Yet her very vocal public positioning seems to be much less in solidarity with Black people than it is in power amongst those in entertainment and beyond it. This would be the legacy of Oprah, Jay-Z, Puff Daddy, and even Kanye West, and not of William Greaves, Nina Simone, Ruby Dee, and Ossie Davis, or the L.A. Rebellion.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-is-ava-duvernay-targeting-black-women?source=articles&via=rss
art 2.
